Salty Zebra

  And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”   Mark 15:39  What was it the centurion saw that convinced him that Jesus was God’s Son? This scripture tells us that the centurion confessed this after he saw how Jesus died. I don’t think it was the moment of Jesus’ passing* that impressed this truth on the bystanders, but all that they had witnessed leading up to it. So, what was different about how Jesus died?   Perhaps the centurion first saw Jesus as He was led to Pilate, bloodied and bruised from the beating He had received from the high priest’s guards and compatriots. Perhaps he was in the room when Pilate questioned Jesus and Jesus remained silent before him, as a sheep before the slaughter ( Isaiah 53:7 ) except when He was asked outright if He was the king of the Jews and Jesus confessed only that Pilot had said it was true. Scripture tells us that Pilate was amazed that Jesus re...

  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26  Who am I? I am a wife, a mom, a follower of and believer in Christ. I am a traveler, a writer, a lover of coffee. None of these are necessarily physical attributes, and yet, when I think of death, the first thing that comes to mind is a natural, physical death. That is what has made these verses so difficult for me to grasp.   From the moment I wake up in the morning, I feel the reality of my physical body. I spend the better part of most days taking care of that body – feeding it, cleansing it, trying to decrease it’s pain. I use my physical body for so much, even writing this post. And yet, my physical body does not represent all, or even most of me. Who I am, like I mentioned before, is made up of relationships, interests, thoughts and dreams. None of these are...

  Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will save it.”   Luke 9:23-24  Jesus ushered in His upside-down kingdom. In it, whoever would like to be first must be last. Whoever loses their life for Jesus’ sake will save it. It went contrary to everything the religious institutions stood for. It defined true success and happiness and divested the clergy of all of their perceived power and uniqueness. Turns out that God loves everyone and wants us all to come to Him and live in relationship with Him. Instead of it being a select few that acted just right in public and gave lots of money to the temple, God actually saw value in prostitutes and tax collectors as well, if not even more so because they were capable of seeing their need for God and appreciate His grace and provision for them.   Pe...

  The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14  As I was vacuuming the living room this morning, I was thinking about Christmas coming up. I was considering where I should place my Christmas tree this year. I was wondering if my daughter would be able to come home for a day or two to help me decorate. I was up late last night working on Christmas gifts for my family. It’s still October, and yet I’ve got Christmas in my heart! I can’t help but wonder if the last four weeks of studying God’s faithful love for us throughout the Old Testament have been preparing my heart for this. But, just as the world was both perfectly ready and completely clueless when Jesus arrived, I feel the same way about our celebration of this wonder that is fast approaching.  God taught us to mark special occasions and important memories with celebration. No, there ar...

   On our way home from the beach Sunday evening, I told my husband that I would like to stop by our favorite little hole-in-the-wall restaurant and get some celebratory milkshakes, a way to mark our thanks to God for giving my husband a job. He thought this was a little strange since he has not yet gotten a job, but I insisted that I wanted to thank God and celebrate in advance because I knew  without a doubt that God has things lined up perfectly and has just the right job in store for him at just the right time.   To be honest, I'm kind of hoping that God put this on my heart because it's coming soon, my husband's new job. It's been a rough road of late and we'd both really like him to be employed. God has provided wonderfully and abundantly for us, we're not short on money or stressed about how we will pay our bills. It's just that my husband really  feels like he wants to have a job. The idea of his job being finding a job has worn off and to say he is...

  I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.   Ezekiel 34:16  Many (Most? All?) of the prophecies in the Old Testament had both a near-term fulfillment as well as a future, eschatological one. What is eschatological you might ask? According to Wikipedia (because I couldn’t get webstersdictionary1828.com to load up) it, “concerns expectations of the end of present age, human history, or the world itself.” So, many of the prophecies in the Old Testament referred to something that would happen soonish, like within the next few hundred years, as well as something that would happen closer to the end of the world itself. In this case, the prophecies in Ezekiel referred to the people of Israel being freed from Babylon and returned to their home in about 70 years. When Ezekiel was talking about the wicked shepherds at the beginn...

  He was wounded because of our rebellious deeds, crushed because of our sins; he endured punishment that made us well; because of his wounds we have been healed. [Isaiah 53:5 NET]  There are lots of ways I could approach today’s SOAP verse, in fact it took me two days to settle on where I wanted to go with it. There is SO MUCH in Isaiah 53 , and I think this was the first time I had read it in the NET version. What made it different? The language used in this translation was more in line with the physical than the emotional or spiritual. For example, in Isaiah 53:3 most versions say, “A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” The NIV takes a slightly different approach and says, “a man of suffering, and familiar with pain,” but the NET goes further in this ‘physical’ direction saying, “one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness.” Now that’s an aspect of Jesus that I had never heard nor considered. Yes, of course I know He experienced great pain leading up ...

  And may your hearts be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.”   1 Kings 8:61  Last week we looked at things that could become little ‘g’ gods in our lives, taking God’s place in our hearts and minds. Today we shift to the opposite approach and consider what it means to have a heart fully committed to God.   I read somewhere recently that people have often had to learn who God is not before they can begin to comprehend who God is, so I’m going to first approach this question by looking at what it doesn’t mean. Putting God first in our lives doesn’t mean locking ourselves away from society and blocking off all other people and influences. God made it pretty clear through Jesus that while “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength” is the greatest commandment, the second is like it, “Love your neighbor as yourself” ( Mark 12:28-34 ). Part of loving God...

  Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”  2 Samuel 7:16  This is quite the promise! Why do you think God made such a great promise to David, a man who failed time and time again? Scripture tells us in 1 Samuel 13:14 and then later in the New Testament in Acts 13:22 that David was a man after God’s own heart. What was it about David that God would call him this? It certainly wasn’t his perfect righteousness. He was a confessed adulterer and murderer. He failed time and time again during his life and it was well documented for us later. Got to be honest, I’m pretty glad all my failings aren’t documented for posterity! So it isn’t righteousness that earns us this place with God. I was curious about what the Bible showed about David that would cause God to say this and I happened across this article . In it the author breaks down seven reasons that David would be called a man after God’s own heart including: h...

   But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”  We had to have Saul before we could have David.  David wasn’t ready yet initially – According to the timeline on this website , David wasn’t even born until Saul had been in power for 12 years. God knew what kind of a king would be best for Israel, but He also knew that they would have to have their kind of king first before they could appreciate what God had for them. Sometimes our best option isn’t ready for us when we are ready for it, so we have to be patient!   The people wanted a king like the other countries, one who was handsome and tall and strong. Samuel sought the same, both in Saul ( 1 Samuel 9:2 ) and in his successor ( 1 Samuel 16:6 ). They probably wouldn’t have even accepted David if God had brought him to them fi...

Make sure you are very strong and brave! Carefully obey all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep. Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful in all you do. Joshua 1:7  Do you feel strong and brave? I know I often don’t. People sometimes tell me that I am though. I don’t know what to do with this. Much of the time I’m doing good to get around the house, strong is not something I’ve identified with for years. But people aren’t often commenting on my physical strength, but the strength necessary to live life under the circumstances I face. Constant, daily, chronic pain is a difficult burden to bear. Uncertainty about health issues, like degenerative illness and a brain tumor, give each day a different look and feel. The loss of my ability to function normally in daily life, to get around and to do the things that most people my age wouldn’t give a second thought, is something that I still wrestle with mentally and emotionally. I have arg...

  You must love the LORD your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:5  Have you ever thought that you ought to be able to earn heaven on your own merit? You look around and see the evil in this world and, by comparison, you look pretty good! You don’t see anything particularly awful in your life. You don’t kill people, and apart from that pen you walked away with from the bank, you really don’t steal things. You live by the golden rule and generally treat people the way you want to be treated. Surely God wants a heaven full of people like you, right? Hmm…   Shortly after parting the Red Sea and rescuing the Israelites from the Egyptians, God gave them a short list of laws, rules to live by. These were to maintain their relationship with Him but also to provide a good place for them to live. We all have laws we have to live by and they are primarily made to keep us safe and healthy. You need to wear your seatbelt and drive *ab...

   Last night, minutes before heading to bed, I decided to pop up the Solo Cruise Search on CruisePlum.com . With my husband's career situation being in flux, I haven't been able to book anything for us in the foreseeable future. It's been a hot minute though since I've been on a trip by myself so last night I thought I'd just take a peak to see what was out there. Initially it was about comparing the price per day with an offer I'd found on Holland America for standby travel . $198/day seemed like a lot for an inside room, even for a solo price, but I wanted to confirm that feeling . Turns out I was right! MSC had a ton of sailings under $50/day for solo travelers, but unfortunately, they only sail out of the East Coast and Europe at the moment and I'm not in the mood to fly to Florida. You know who sails out of the West Coast in the fall? Norwegian, that's who! Ok, there's lots of other cruise lines that do this too, but Norwegian is my favorite, ...

ChatGpt's depiction of the Israelite group traveling Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. Exodus 14:21-22 According to Exodus 12:37, 600,000 men plus women and children left Egypt with Moses. This could mean that as many as 2 million people were marching out of Egypt together. I rather appreciated ChatGpt’s description: Picture this: * A vast sea of tents, animals, and carts stretching as far as the eye can see. Families walking together, carrying children and supplies. * Dust rising** from countless feet on rocky ground, with flocks of sheep, goats, and cattle** interspersed among them. * Groups organized by tribes, banners fluttering to mark each family line. * Moses and Aaron leading from the front, perhaps on a rise or small hill, wi...

  The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, so that when I see the blood I will pass over you, and this plague will not fall on you to destroy you when I attack the land of Egypt.   Genesis 12:13   Do you need a sign that you are loved? Sometimes we feel all alone in this world. Sometimes we feel like we don’t matter. Sometimes we feel like we aren’t worthy of feeling loved and cared for. Praise God that He knew in advance that we would feel that way and He has already provided an answer!   My son needs socks. That’s probably not the sentence you were expecting to come next in this narrative but bear with me. For a long time now he has been wearing socks that don't fit. You see, he has big feet. He has super, man-sized feet! He typically wears a shoe size of 14. Regular socks don’t fit him, and it takes a little extra effort to find the ones that do. Not wanting to make an issue out of things or make anyone feel bad, he’s been wearing socks th...

  God said to Moses, “I AM that I AM.” And he said, “You must say this to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”    Exodus 3:14   I’ve mentioned before how in scripture we only get snapshots of the timeline of history. Years, even decades, can take place in between verses and we don’t know all that took place in them. Sometimes we are given clues though, and from what we are told about Moses’ life, we can infer a lot…  You can read the incredible story of Moses’ birth and adoption into Pharoah’s family by his daughter in the first part of Exodus Chapter 2 . That part is known, but what we don’t read about is what that was like. What privileges did Moses receive being raised in Pharoah’s household? It is clear that he knew he was adopted and who his people were because in Exodus 2:11 we read about Moses going out to see “his own people.”  Odds are this wasn’t a perfect, idyllic childhood because of this. He likely faced prejudice and racism in his ...