Clayton Lubbers

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Mission at a Chess Club

Dec 11, 2024 | thebanner.org | Cassie Marcionetti |Clayton Lubbers |Leah Jolly |Dean R. Heetderks

It’s Friday night at Casa Adobe, a ministry house in Costa Rica, and the loudest chess club ever is meeting. Resonate Global Mission missionary Micah Schuurman and his friend, José Mario, just explained how to checkmate with two bishops. As the kids start their games, birds chirp in the garden, a German Shepherd barks at the front gate, and someone strums a guitar nearby. But the kids are definitely the loudest. “Jokes, laughter, and victory dances are all pretty common,” Schuurman said.
God and the Unknown

Dec 9, 2024 | thebanner.org | Clayton Lubbers |Leah Jolly |Dean R. Heetderks |Sam Gutierrez

I believe one of the things God calls us to do is explore and understand. By trade, I am a science teacher. As a human, I am constantly curious. It’s one of the reasons I do what I do. Telling me something simply isn’t enough; I need to understand. I think that’s true for many of us, and I think this drive to understand could be one of the attributes of being created in the image of God. Let me start at the beginning.
Lake Effect

Oct 14, 2024 | thebanner.org | Clayton Lubbers

Those of us living near the Great Lakes often hear the term “lake effect” or “lake-effect snow.” The lakes have a huge effect on the weather. They can temper storms or make them worse. To understand how the lakes affect weather, it’s important to know that heat means vibration. The faster something vibrates, the hotter it is; the slower it vibrates, the cooler it is. The faster air vibrates, the warmer it gets and the more water molecules it can hold.
Reconciliation and Doughnuts

Jun 6, 2024 | thebanner.org | Victoria Veenstra |Brian Clark |Clayton Lubbers |Loren Haarsma

Have you ever met someone for a meal and afterwards walked away feeling closer and more connected to that other person? Has a friend ever introduced you to a new food? These moments can take on particular significance when they happen in intercultural relationships. In the early 1600s, the Haudenosaunee, an Indigenous group in North America, invited Dutch settlers in their area to live together under the Two-Row Wampum Treaty.
Turning Over a New Leaf

Jun 3, 2024 | thebanner.org | Lorilee Craker |Loren Haarsma |Clayton Lubbers |Naomi Bula

The more I delved into the world of houseplants, the more I began to see life-changing spiritual metaphors all around me. I used to be the kind of person who inadvertently killed any houseplant to cross our threshold. One time I even watered an African violet without noticing it was not at all real.
Eggs

Dec 11, 2023 | thebanner.org | Clayton Lubbers

Have you ever come across a nest that looks like it’s been all broken up with nothing left but egg shells? This is part of God's design for birds to protect themselves. The United States and Canada are some of the few places in the world where people refrigerate eggs. The government’s food safety rules require eggs to be washed to make sure the eggs we buy in a store are clean and free from the potential contaminants that can exist where a chicken lays.
Fireflies

Jul 10, 2023 | thebanner.org | Clayton Lubbers

Have you ever wondered about fireflies—those smallish beetles that flicker on summer evenings? There are more than 2,000 different species of fireflies worldwide!Fireflies—in some places known as lightning bugs—have a fascinating life cycle. After mating, most fireflies lay their eggs in the ground. Very few lay their eggs in the water or on plants. After a few weeks, the eggs hatch, and the larvae live underground, where they eat various other small creatures.
The Fish Run

Feb 6, 2023 | thebanner.org | Clayton Lubbers

Have you ever wondered what makes some kinds of fish swim back up the streams and tributaries to where they were spawned and hatched? The technical term for fish who do that is “adfluvial.” You can find adfluvial fish no matter where you live. Many species run from the oceans into fresh water to spawn. Probably the most famous are the salmon species—those fish that make spectacular leaps over rapids and dams as they make their way back to their spawning waters.