Login / Signup

Free Access

Pet Clouds

Illustration
Stories
While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. (v. 34)

Remember Pet Rocks? Some marketing genius in the mid-seventies packed rocks as pets that provided solid companionship and required next to no maintenance. The rocks came in boxes with ventilation holes and instructions for their care. Though the fad was short-lived, it lasted long enough to make its creator a millionaire.  And more recently, they’ve become a craze again in South Korea.

Then there was the Tamagotchi craze of the late nineties (the name means “Egg Watch” in Japanese). You named your little electronic pet, and the more attention you gave it, the “happier” and “healthier” it became. You could “train” them, and  you had to “clean” up the environment the pet lived in on the screen.

But how about a “pet cloud?” Well, you don’t walk them or feed them or care for them, but Pet Clouds are a real thing!

How many times have you looked up in the sky and seen a cloud that stopped you in your tracks? Later, you may say to someone, “No, really, it looked like a whale, swimming through the sky, with two baby whales nearby.” And if your friend is anything like polite at all, they’ll say, “That must have been interesting,” instead of what they’re really thinking!

Nowadays with smart phones it’s a lot easier to take a quick photo so others can look at the cloud too and say, “You’re right. It does look like a whale!” even though it doesn’t.

Of course, the best-case scenario would be if your favorite cloud appeared at regular intervals, almost on command. Well, believe it or not, there are certain places on earth where a phenomenon known as a “pet cloud” appears regularly at the same place. Everyone can see it. Everyone can photograph it, including satellites in space.

One of those “pet clouds” appears in a valley in the South Island of New Zealand. The cloud, often seven miles in length, makes its appearance over the Otago region between the towns of Hyde and Middlemarch. Locals refer to it as the “Taieri Pet.” This particular cloud has been described as looking like a stack of plates, or a stack of pancakes, hundreds of yards high. The cloud is familiar enough to locals to have earned its “pet” name.

This particular type of cloud is technically known as a lenticular cloud, which according to the Oxford English Dictionary means, “having the shape of a lens or a lentil.” The word is used to describe beds, fevers, ganglions, glands, and any devices also having that unique shape. That lens shape suggests a flying saucer to some, and is credited by the United Kingdom Meteorological Office as being the commonest explanation for UFO sightings.

A lenticular cloud is not safe to fly into, because they are often colder that their surrounds, with the result that ice can form on the wings of aircraft. They are often a bell weather for changing climatological conditions, often an increase in rainfall.

In addition to appearing in New Zealand, they are also spotted above the telescopes on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea, Mount Kilimanjaro, the Mayon Volcano in the Philippines, and other beautiful spots.

In contrast to natural phenomena like lenticular clouds, which obey the laws of science, are predictable, and repeatable, and explainable, the cloud which descended upon the Jesus and his three disciples at the time of the Transfiguration was neither predictable, repeatable, or explainable – but it was extraordinarily revealing. Not only were two mighty prophets, Moses and Elijah, revealed upon the mountaintop, but Jesus was revealed as a being of divine light and majesty, and the divine voice was heard as well.

(Want to know more? Follow these links to articles at space.com. You may wish to download [and properly credit] photographs to display with the story).

Earth from space: Bizarre 'pet cloud' reappears above its favorite spot in New Zealand | Space

Ghostly 'UFO cloud' hovering over mountains wows judges in weather photo contest | Space

Flying saucer-shaped cloud floats above Hawaiian telescopes | Space
UPCOMING WEEKS
In addition to the lectionary resources there are thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...
Proper 7 | OT 12 | Pentecost 2
30 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
30 – Children's Sermons / Resources
29 – Worship Resources
34 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 8 | OT 13 | Pentecost 3
29 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
27 – Children's Sermons / Resources
20 – Worship Resources
29 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 9 | OT 14 | Pentecost 4
34 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
32 – Children's Sermons / Resources
26 – Worship Resources
31 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Plus thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...

New & Featured This Week

CSSPlus

John Jamison
Object: This is a role play activity.

Note: You will need to select six children to play roles in this activity. If you have a smaller group, you might ask some older youth or even adults to play the parts of the two attackers and the man being attacked. I will give suggestions for how they can play their roles, but feel free to help your children make the story as fun and memorable as you can. I have used boys and girls in the various roles, but you can change those however you want to change them.

* * *

The Immediate Word

Dean Feldmeyer
Katy Stenta
Thomas Willadsen
Christopher Keating
George Reed
Mary Austin
Nazish Naseem
For July 13, 2025:
  • Samaritans Among Us by Dean Feldmeyer based on Acts 2:1-21. Samaritans were despised and dismissed by the original audience who first heard Jesus tell this parable. Who are the Samaritans in our lives and how does this parable apply today?

StoryShare

Frank Ramirez
I say, “You are gods,
    children of the Most High, all of you;
nevertheless, you shall die like mortals
    and fall like any prince….”
(vv. 6-7)

There have been any number of brother-sister acts that achieved a measure of fame. Take the Carpenters, famed for their singing, musicianship, and songwriting skills. Also worthy of mention are John and Joan Cusack who have acted together in over sixteen films.

Emphasis Preaching Journal

Wayne Brouwer
An ancient legend tells of a remote mountain village where people used to send their senior citizens out into the woods to die. The villagers had an eye to the future; they felt that those beyond a certain age would only slow down progress or use up valuable resources to no economically profitable end. Those who reached a certain age weren’t “put out to pasture” or “put out of their misery”; they were simply put out of other people’s way.
Mark Ellingsen
Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Amos 7:7-17 and Psalm 82
The tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It is more than 2,700 feet high—over half a mile tall. It has 160 floors and is twice as tall as the Empire State Building in New York City. It is home to the world’s fastest elevator which reaches speeds of forty miles an hour. The Burj Khalifa also hosts the world’s highest outdoor observation deck (on the 124th floor) and the world’s highest swimming pool (on the 76th floor).

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Mabel hummed a familiar hymn tune as she made her way to church. She always enjoyed her Sunday morning walk. It was one of the few times she felt safe to walk alone through the inner city, for she knew nobody would be up at 7.45 in the morning. Today was a particularly beautiful morning, with blue sky, warm sunshine, and the song of a few intrepid blackbirds who still inhabited the city.

SermonStudio

James Evans
Often, a distinction is made between the pastoral or priestly work of the church and the prophetic work. Pastoral care has to do with the care of souls, the offering of comfort in times of loss. The priestly character of pastoral work seeks to mediate the presence of God to those who are hurting.

Schuyler Rhodes
Trusting is never easy. Even in the best of relationships, people step into trust slowly. There is wariness -- questioning -- worry. What happens if trust is betrayed? What if this doesn't work? Sometimes it's like a dance. We step in and out of trust, moving to the rhythms of fear. For many, the routine is achingly familiar. Indeed, it's not easy to trust.
John Jamison
It was back in the days when the railroad was the most common mode of transportation. There were automobiles, and some airplanes, but the steam locomotive was the way most folks traveled and the way that most of the goods were distributed around the country. After dinner, people sat in the drawing room and listened to the radio programs, fading in and out from some faraway location, over the magical broadcasting signal.
Robert Leslie Holmes
Not many tourists to Washington, D.C., look for the Federal Bureau of Standards offices. It's the Capitol and the White House, the Supreme Court Building or the Smithsonian most of us want to see when we go there. Yet, at the Bureau of Standards offices something very important is stored, something that impacts your life and mine every single day. Have you ever bought the materials for a new project? When you did, most likely you purchased so many inches or feet or yards. Or, you stopped to buy gasoline for your car and purchased it at a certain price per gallon.
David O. Bales
I have the two best jobs in the world. I teach social studies at Leon Griffith Junior High School (a fairly small junior high) and I am Sunday School Superintendent at Calvary Presbyterian Church (an enormous church school). Each job is my vocation. I tell people that at school they'll find my room where the halls cross. At church they can look but probably won't find me. I'll be in someone's classroom. At each job I practice what I most deeply believe: it's how you see the world that determines how you respond to it. I'll give you an example, actually, two examples.
Erskine White
O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed,
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
(Stuart K. Hine)

Special Occasion

Wildcard SSL