Salty Zebra

  “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the honor both now and on that eternal day.”  2 Peter 3:18 People worry a lot about the end times, about the time to come. Sometimes they even worry about whether we are living in them now. I’m just not sure how that benefits them. You see, God placed us where we are, right here, right now. We are where we are supposed to be. The question is, are we doing what we are supposed to be doing? If the world has not ended yet, which I’m pretty sure it hasn’t (unless this is all some crazy Matrix thing and then I give up), we are in a time of grace. It is by God’s grace that He hasn’t wrapped it all up and called His loved ones home, punishing those who so justly deserve it. And why would He do that? Because He loves us. Yes, He even loves those who have set themselves up as His enemies. He would call even them to come home. Because home is what He is. He is our beginning, our creator. It is from His love

  “I have issued an edict that throughout all the dominion of my kingdom people are to revere and fear the God of Daniel. “For he is the living God; he endures forever. His kingdom will not be destroyed; his authority is forever. He rescues and delivers and performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions!”   Daniel 6:26-27 Being faithful to God isn’t something you do in a big moment in your life. It isn’t a one-time decision. The reality is that when faced with a major life choice, when you’re under the gun so to speak, especially if it’s a moment of stress and pressure, you’re not likely to make an admirable choice that is different from the types of choices you’ve been making in your life up to this point. We all wonder if when faced with a terrible choice we would make the noble one. Would we sacrifice ourself for others? Would we stand up for what we believe in even if it would cost us everything? The reality is, you c

  “So the king gave the order, and Daniel was brought and thrown into a den of lions. The king consoled Daniel by saying, “Yor God whom you continually serve will rescue you!”  Daniel 6:16 Darius, the king, had an anxious night of waiting. He hoped that Daniel would be saved by his God, but he didn’t know for sure. If he did, he would have had peace and rested well. The devotional author equated this to seasons of waiting in our own lives. I’m in a strange one. I have a brain tumor, that I’ve mentioned often before. I had a surgery last year that took out part of it, but was told that it would eventually grow. That began a season of waiting, that I thought had ended this spring when I was told that it had begun growing. We started down the path of treatment, seeking out a team, learning, and figuring out what treatment modality would best suit us. Then, this last Monday, we learned that the tumor had not actually grown at all! According to our new doctor, who uses different ways of

  “Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, “Praised be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent forth his angel and has rescued his servants who trusted in him, ignoring the edict of the king and giving up their bodies rather than serve or pay homage to any god other than their God!”   Daniel 3:28 I think this was the easiest part of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s walk of faith. Being thrown into the furnace required no choice on their part. They were bound by men far stronger than them and they had no choice. They could not recant, they could not do anything to save themselves. Their paths were set, all they could do was see how their choices would play out. The harder part was what came before, choosing not to bow. For me, the walk of faith is the most difficult in the choice. Once the choice is made, following it, as long as I believe in the choice, is easy. It’s that moment of choice that trips me up more often than not. How do I know what God wants me to do? How do I know

  “However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the times to come.”   Daniel 2:28a The biggest things that Daniel accomplished, what he is known for throughout history, came from times that he sought out and heard from God. If he was to be known for any accomplishments, it would be for being a man of prayer. This often catapulted him to fame and high position, but as the country’s leadership changed, so did his position. Even when Nebuchadnezzar’s son came into power, he did not keep Daniel in his position as a wise man but put him out to pasture until the day he needed his services. Then, once more, he offered him a high position, but it was too late because that very night his kingdom was taken from him ( Daniel 5 ). Daniel never sought glory for himself. He never took credit for his accomplishments or the things he knew. He always gave the credit to God and pointed back to Him. In the same way, we nee

  “In the day of those kings the God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will not be destroyed and a kingdom that will not be left to another people. It will break in pieces and bring about the demise of all these kingdoms. But it will stand forever.”   Daniel 2:44 In Daniel chapter 2 we read about King Nebuchadnezzar and his dream. I’m inclined to believe that his dream was given to him by God. In any case, it was so impactful that he was ready to kill a bunch of people in order to have it interpreted for him. Really, killing all those people wouldn’t have gotten it interpreted, he was just throwing a fit. Sometimes it seems like kings are no better than toddlers when it comes to getting their way. But his decree certainly got the word out and motivated everyone to do what they could! Thankfully, Daniel and his friends knew the One God who was able to give the answer the king was looking for. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream detailed several kingdoms that were to come, start

Scrolling through my Facebook feed is often discouraging, even depressing. You wouldn’t think that seeing all that people are accomplishing and enjoying would make me feel that way, or you’d think I was a pretty awful person if it did. The thief of comparison steals my joy for them though. I wish I could hike like that, travel like that, clean like that, paint like that, homeschool like that. I wish I had grandkids. I wish I had the energy to do those things. I wish I didn’t have pain so I could go to those places. I wish I could eat those things and not be ill. Jealousy. Envy. Ugliness. For a long time I couldn’t be on social media because of it. Slowly, over time, I was able to learn to celebrate and be glad for people, even though I couldn’t do the same things. I stopped comparing and I acknowledged that what I saw in their feeds were happy moments of their lives, not complete pictures. Funny thing, but I’ve had to learn to do the same with the Bible! “O God of my fathers, I ackno

Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.   Romans 12:2 This world is not our home. Its goals are not our goals, its values not our values. I live in America, but I do not share the American dream. My heart is not set on building wealth or establishing a financial legacy for my family. Of far more importance is the legacy of grace that I am attempting to live into. This verse in Romans calls us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Our fleshly minds, those we are born with, tend to think of themselves. As we walk with Christ and live life with Him, we watch and are taught to think of others, to see others more highly than ourselves. We are taught to love God and trust Him, even when our fleshly mind doesn’t understand what He is doing. Over time practicing this way of thinking, our mind is renewed. We start to think in ne

  I will give them the desire to acknowledge that I am the LORD. I will be their God, and they will be my people. For they will wholeheartedly return to me.’   Jeremiah 24:7 You know how when you were little adults would tease you that if you were bad Santa Claus would put coal in your stocking? Today I’m thinking a little extra about that coal. More specifically about the carbon that it is primarily composed of. Carbon, and coal, are boring, ordinary things. They, like us, are not very special or spectacular, until they are put under pressure. You see, when you put carbon under pressure, it becomes graphite. Now graphite is something truly useful. We’ve all used it – it forms the center of every pencil everywhere. You can’t do math without it or take a test where you fill in those little bubbles! But let’s be real, once you graduate from high school, pencils loose much of their usefulness. I’ll pick one up now and again, or use one to help a kid with math, and I do use them when d