Salty Zebra

 Our pets are truly a part of our family, and what affects them affects us deeply as well. A few weeks ago, I noticed that my little old man dog, Shadow, was squinting a lot and had watery eyes. I began to get concerned and took him into our local vet.  Shadow joined our family as a puppy 12 years ago. My youngest son, who was 9 at the time, loved our Golden Retriever, Ginger, but longed for a little dog his size that he could pick up or cuddle on his lap. Sure, Ginger would have loved to do this with him, but they weighed about the same amount, so this just didn't seem practical! He saved up his money and when he saw a flyer in one of the shops in Ocean Shores for puppies, he was sold! We got to go meet the parents and see what they were like, and my son chose the puppy that spoke to his heart. The day we brought the puppy home, we stopped at the hardware store so that I could run in and grab a couple of new food and water bowls for him, he could literally fit inside of Ginge...

  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  Revelation 21:3-4  Do you ever dream of a day when you are no longer in pain? I sure do! How about a day when the relationship issues that plague you are healed? A day when the weight of depression is lifted? A day when you do not have to fear death or mourn the death of loved ones? God’s promises to us at the end of the Bible, in the book of Revelation, are so precious and give us something to hold on to as we endure the challenges of this present age.  Sometimes things are so difficult that we need a little hope to hold onto. In the darkness of winter, we get Christmas. In the sadness of Good Friday, we have East...

  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.   Ephesians 2:8-9  Have you ever felt like spirituality was complicated? Like there’s a huge long list of “Thou shalt” and “Thou shalt not”s? Have you been overwhelmed by the weight of your sin debt and felt like nothing could set you even in the scales of eternity? Have you thought about “getting right with God” but hesitated because you didn’t want to have to quit certain things or change behaviors? I’ve got really good news for you today – God didn’t want to make coming to Him complicated or overwhelming, He made it super simple .   I think that people like to make things complicated. They’ve said that in order to be right with God you need to accept Jesus as your Savior and go to church every week. In order to receive salvation from your sins you need to believe in Jesus and read your Bible and pray every...

  But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.   1 Peter 2:9-10  Some people enter into the faith as a transactional relationship. God gives them forgiveness and salvation and they give him allegiance and try to obey. What they don’t realize is that unlike other transactional relationships, like the ones we have with our cellphone or internet providers, this one is permanent. When I became a Christian I didn’t just become a God client, like a T-Mobile user or a Comcast customer, I became a member of God’s family. This verse expresses it in three ways: a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.   In Jesus, we are chosen to be God’s people. In fact, we couldn’t come to Christ if we hadn’t ...

  Classic picture of a Southern Baptist potluck, the epitome of fellowship! They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.   Acts 2:42  What does it mean to be a part of a church? Now, I’m not talking The Church, God’s global body of believers that are joined together in Him. I’m talking about a local church where you meet together regularly in person. Why did God give us this design for how we are supposed to live together and grow in Him? We already have the Holy Spirit and our call is to the lost ( Matthew 28:19-20 ) who are typically not found in churches. So, why did God establish local churches in the New Testament?   In a local church, we have the opportunity to receive regular teaching. I know that these days we have so very many teaching platforms available to us from books to podcasts, YouTube videos to Facebook groups. But sitting in church on a Sunday morning (or Sunday evening, or Saturday...

  Wordle courtesy of CoPilot But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”   Acts 1:8  God has no limits, and when we serve Him, neither do we when it comes to doing His will. In our reading today, Acts 2:1-13 , the disciples spoke in languages they didn’t know when they were indwelt by the Holy Spirit. They didn’t take a quick DuoLingo course or attempt to gesture their way through explaining things, no, they spoke clearly, fluently in a language that they had never spoken or understood before. The people in the city were amazed. The passage lists out 15 different people groups, though these could certainly represent far more than that and tells us that they were God-fearing Jews from all over the world staying in Jerusalem. Had they come to Jerusalem for business? To worship God? For a festival? I couldn’t say, but the fact is they all spoke differen...