Salty Zebra

“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.”   1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children. And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ) – if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him.”   Romans 8:15-17  As we explored earlier , once Adam and Eve ushered sin into the world, we have all fallen victim to its lies. The ultimate generational sin is sin itself. Just as certain behaviors are encoded in our DNA, I wonder if this is one of them? Like, once they sinned, Adam and Eve’s DNA was changed and when they procreated their tendency to sin was passed on...

“he will swallow up death permanently. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from every face, and remove this people’s disgrace from all the earth. Indeed, the Lord has announced it! At that time they will say, “Look, here is our God! We waited for him, and he delivered us. Here is the Lord! We waited for him. Let’s rejoice and celebrate his deliverance!””   Isaiah 25:8-9 “Look! He is returning with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes on the earth will mourn because of him. This will certainly come to pass! Amen.”   Revelation 1:7  When we all get to Heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be! I love that old song. I’ve got to be honest, I don’t understand the timing of all of it. Will we go straight to Heaven when we die? Will it be like we did even though many years will have gone by on the Earth? The most important part though I am sure about. I will get to Heaven. If the timing were important for...

  So said a plaque in my Mom's office at the Fire Department. She worked in IT there for more than 30 years before she retired last year. One of the main things she learned? At the Fire Department, everything is an emergency!   For many years (maybe decades?) I've been a big proponent of having a meal plan. This informs my grocery shopping and keeps me from overspending and wasting food. It also solves the age-old question of "What's for dinner?" One of my favorite tools? I use a meal planning service called Plan to Eat *. On it I store my recipes (I have nearly 2,000 saved at the moment). Then, using the planning tool, I schedule my meals by dragging and dropping them onto a calendar. Plan to Eat then generates a shopping list based on the ingredients from my recipes. It learns over time which stores I prefer to buy things at and what category (like produce or dairy) things will be found in. It takes just a few minutes for me to delete any items I already have on...

 I know a fair amount about travel, but one of the most important things in travel, or anything else in life, is knowing your limits! For most trips I am happy to do the research and book things myself, but every once in a while, it's time to call for help. There are a variety of reasons to do this.  This year, as I mentioned last week , our family is taking a trip to Disney World. This is both one of those trips that has lots of details as well as a trip that is very important to me. Some members of my family have affectionately referred to it as my "Death Trip" because when I was asked what travel was really important to me during this season while I'm able (recognizing a season is coming, and potentially soon, when I won't be able), I knew I wanted to take my family to Disney World. My husband and I got to go for our 25th anniversary, just before I was diagnosed with my brain tumor. Disney, and in particular Disneyland, has held a special place in our family...

  “After he had said this, while they were watching, he was lifted up and a clouds hid him from their sight.”   Acts 1:9 “He, the very one who descended, is also the one who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things.”   Ephesians 4:10  For forty days after Jesus’ resurrection, He appeared to many people. He was physically touched. He ate food with some. He proved His physical resurrection in many ways. Then, He ascended through the clouds into Heaven before a large group of witnesses ( 1 Corinthians 5:3-8 ). Today, Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father ( Mark 16:19 and 1 Peter 3:22 ). But His work on our behalf did not end at the cross, or at His ascension. Today, Jesus is interceding for us before the Father, advocating for us, and preparing a place for us, so that someday we can be there with Him!  As I considered today’s verses, I began to wonder what role Jesus plays in our lives today. I wondered if He handed off the ...

“For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received – that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures”   1 Corinthians 15:3-4 “We know that since Christ has been raised form the dead, he is never going to die again; death no longer has mastery over him.”   Romans 6:9  When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, it is a completed act. At that moment, we are saved in Him. In keeping with the scriptures, typically one goes on to follow in baptism. While the act of baptism does not save us, it is a marker in our lives. It is our public profession of faith in Christ.   At the moment of our baptism, we are saying we believe that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture. We identify with Him in His death, dying ourselves to the “old man.” Here are some other references to how our “old man” is put to death when we align ourselves ...

   If this is the first time you've encountered this scene, I highly recommend you add Kindergarten Cop  to your movie watching list. It's a classic. This scene is funny because, of course, he doesn't have a tumor. He has a headache because this man who has nothing to do with children in his normal life is attempting to wrangle a class full of Kindergarteners. But I feel more and more things when I watch this scene today.  Ten years ago, if I had wondered if I had a brain tumor when I was dealing with a particularly bad headache, most people would have called me a hypochondriac. Today, on the other hand, I actually do have a tumor. If you're just tuning in and this news has caught you by surprise, you can catch up here . Almost two years ago, my surgeon resected *about* 75% of it. I write that in such uncertain terms because we truly are uncertain. Turns out that MRI measurements are terribly fallible and can have a margin of error that is about the size they estimat...

 The crucifixion of Jesus is the most pivotal moment in human history. It is the ultimate before and after. It is the hinge point upon which eternity bends. Before Christ died for us, we were lost in our sins. There was no hope, but the hope of a future Messiah.  The Messiah was prophesied over and over, beginning with the advent of the first sin in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 3:15 God pronounces, “I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; her offspring will attack your head, and you will attack her offspring's heel." This is the first hint at God’s perfect plan of redemption. I love what David Guzik had to say in his commentary on this verse, “God’s plan wasn’t defeated when Adam and Eve sinned because God’s plan was to bring forth something greater than man in the innocence of Eden. God wanted more than innocent man; His plan is to bring forth redeemed man.” True love is given by choice, not forced, as I described in...

  This image of a circle rainbow was taken by my airplane companion next to me on my flight home from Europe last week. “For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin.”   Hebrews 4:15 “He committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth.”   1 Peter 2:22  Here’s the difficult concept to wrap our heads around today, Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life. This is an important part of our faith because it made Him an acceptable sacrifice for the sins of the world, it made Him able to identify with us in our struggles, and it gives us a true plumb line, an example to set our eyes upon that will not falter or fall.   During the Old Testament days, when Israel lived under the Mosaic Law and the Abrahamic Covenant , the people made animal sacrifices to pay for their sins. In Hebrews 9:22 we read, “Indeed according to the law almost everything w...

Hey there! I'm an Amazon Associate, which means I earn a commission when you click one of these links and buy something. This does not change your cost at all.  One of the things that often puts people off cruises is the fear of getting sick. You hear reports of Norovirus on cruise ships all the time. Who wants to pay a bunch of money and go through all the trouble of travel just to spend a week in your room with a stomach bug? Let me alleviate some of those fears right now! According to this article, the CDC reports that only 0.02% of cruise passengers end up with Norovirus. Those odds are pretty good! In fact, they are much better than if you stayed on land.   Over the last 10 years, cruise ships have declined significantly in their number of outbreaks. In 2006, 4,507 cases were reported, but in 2019 they only had 1,201 cases. Cruise ships are subject to incredibly stringent cleanliness standards with regular inspections. If you sit in a public place, like the Observati...

 I shared with you a while back about the fabulous Travel Insurance offered on purchases made with the Chase Sapphire Preferred * card. Since then I've had not one, but TWO exciting rewards events I want to tell you about!  First, as you may know, at the beginning of January I set off on a fabulous transatlantic cruise aboard the Norwegian Bliss. This was a solo cruise, and I had intended to try out flying standby on other airlines for the first time on my way home. After reading through the non-rev reddit forum , I decided to buy three tickets, with the intention of refunding whichever ones I didn't use. These cost between $280-$315 each. When you fly with other airlines you incur a small cost, and when you fly internationally you must pay the taxes and fees accordingly as well. I didn't mind though since this ticket cost about $2,600 to buy outright!   Late one night when I was up because I was in too much pain to sleep, I was listening to a podcast to distract me...

“When he had contemplated this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: "Look! The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him Emmanuel," which means "God with us."  Matthew 1:20-23  One of the most important aspects of our Christian faith is the Virgin Birth. Why does this matter so much? Is God against sex? Does He like virgins more? No, that’s not it at all. There’s a reason why it matters that Mary was a virgin, but first I want to share with you what I learned today about this whole concept that surprised and changed me.  I was about to write a paragraph here about original sin and the doctrin...