Salty Zebra

Sometimes life isn't ideal. Let's face it, most of the time it isn't! So, we do what we need to, to make things work. In my "Making It Work" posts, I share life hacks and ideas that have helped me so that, maybe, they can help someone else too. I hope you enjoy!    So, I've officially entered my Fall Risk Era. Yeah, I didn't think I'd hit this for a few more decades either, but God had other plans! As I approached  Radiation Therapy this spring, my vertigo really kicked in. I found the world around me tilting and whirling like I was on a ride at the fair (not Disneyland, Disney wouldn't do this to me!). My husband noticed that I was leaning to the right again (this happened before my brain surgeries as well) and that my path did not proceed on as straight a line as I intended. One Sunday at church, things got really bad! Our sanctuary is very dimly lit during services and the way everyone lines up to receive communion has lines of people going in ...

  Be careful, therefore, to do exactly what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn right or left! Walk just as he has commanded you so that you may live, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land you are going to possess.   Deuteronomy 5:32-33  Today’s verse starts out with a directive. “Do exactly what the LORD your God has commanded you…” It’s not a guideline, not a suggestion. He’s told us exactly what we are to do. Jesus clarified it for us in John 13:34-35, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” And in Galatians 5:14 it emphasizes, “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” So, what are we to do? Love others. Pure and simple. How are we to love them? What is that to look like? Jesus said that we are to love others in the same way that He lo...

  Moses stretched out his hand toward the sea, and the LORD drove the sea apart by a strong east wind all that night, and he made the sea into dry land, and the water was divided. Exodus 14:21  In this world we will have trouble ( John 16:33 ), but God is with us, He will never leave us nor forsake us ( Deuteronomy 31:6-8 ). When we encounter trouble or temptation, God will remain faithful, and He will make a way out so that we will be able to endure it ( 1 Corinthians 10:13 ).  In today’s passage ( Exodus 14:13-22 ), Israel has encountered a terribly difficult situation. They’ve been hemmed in with the Red Sea on one side of them and the Egyptian army bearing down on them on the other. It seems like they’re done for, like there isn’t any hope to be had. But. God. Before God had shown Moses how He would protect the Israelites, Moses encouraged them, saying, “Do not fear! Stand firm and see the salvation of the LORD that he will provide for you today; for the Egyptians...

  then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’” Then the people bowed down and worshipped. The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.   Exodus 12:27-28  Obeying God is important. Sometimes, it can mean immediate life or death. Today we look back at the story of the first Passover, when the Angel of Death passed over the homes of the Israelites on the way to execute the plague of the firstborn of Egypt. If the Israelites had blown Moses off, thinking he was wild to have them painting blood on their doorposts and eating in haste because their time in Egypt was just about up, they would come to swiftly regret it!   Much of the time, when we receive a command from God, either through His Word or from the Holy Spirit, it is guidance for our life, helping us to draw closer to Him or live out the blessings He has for us. Ever...

  Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them.   Exodus 7:6   Moses had a big job, and it took God 80 years to prepare him for it , but when he was presented with the opportunity, Moses still felt inadequate. He argued with God , listing out all the reasons that he wasn’t suited for the task, wasn’t the right man for the job. It’s not explicitly laid out here, but it seems that Moses was scared. Scared of the task he was being presented with. Scared of going back to Egypt. Scared of what his people would think of him. Scared.   It’s interesting that in back-to-back weeks we are presented with men that responded so differently to the call of God on their lives. Or did they? Abraham heard God’s call and moved out. He had God tell him to sacrifice his son, and he got up the very next morning and obeyed. As I reflect on the story, though, there are a few times where Abraham looks for clarification. In Genesis 15 , the first recorded conversation between Abrah...

  “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”  Genesis 22:12  I learned so many new things about this familiar story this week as I studied this chapter. Old assumptions were corrected. New insights were gained. I can’t wait to share it all with you! Today we consider the story of Abraham being instructed by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac. As a child, this story was frightening. As a parent, horrifying. But looking at it closer, I now see it as reassuring, hopeful, and an exhortation and incitement to trust God and live my life for Him.  At the beginning of Genesis 22 , we read that Got set about to test Abraham. God tells him that he is to take his son, his only son, whom he loves and sacrifice him on Mount Moriah. Yes, Abraham had another son, Ishmael, but at this point in the narrative, Ishmael has been banished, removed from the family, and ...

  Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”  Genesis 18:13-14  When Stephen was being questioned in Acts 7:2-4 , he told us that Abraham was called out of the land of Ur. This would have been his ancestral home, the only one he had ever known. Generations of his family lived here, as denoted in Genesis 11 , and it would have been entirely counter-cultural for him to leave, but he did. He and Sarah (then Sarai) picked up and moved their entire household across the known world. Yes, he originally brought his dad with him, and they stopped over in Haran for a long time, likely decades, until he passed, but eventually they all ended up in Canaan, the land that God showed him. Abraham had to believe that God was calling him to move across the world, and show that belief with action. He then h...

  On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him. Genesis 17:23  Over the last several years, God has taught me that when I know I need to do something, I should do it right away . This started out because I might get distracted, or the action would fall to the bottom of my to-do list. These days, it has a lot more to do with memory. If I don’t do it right now, I won’t do it at all because I’ll likely not recall that I’m supposed to! Every once in a while, I really don’t want to do something and I put it off, and God keeps bringing it up to me, reminding me either internally or externally through those around me. But realistically, when I feel like God is instructing me to do something, I either stop what I’m doing and take care of it right away, or else I set a calendar or phone reminder to do it at the appropriate time if necessary. I actually jus...

  Then the LORD’s angel said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority. I will greatly multiply your descendants,” the LORD’s angel added, “so that they will be too numerous to count.”   Genesis 16:9-10  In Genesis 16, two women are highlighted: Sarai and Hagar. These two women found themselves confronted with the option to believe and obey God, or not, and they made different choices. Neither was perfect, neither did exactly as she should have, but we can learn from them both.   Sarai was Abram’s wife and had traveled with him across the known world. Presumably, she knew about the promises God had made to Abram in Genesis 12:2,7 , Genesis 13:14-16 , and Genesis 15:4 , but ten years had passed since they entered the land that God had called them to, and still she had no children. It would make perfect sense for her to determine that she couldn’t have children as she was well past the child-bearing age and had not conceived. But this is where ...

   By this time, my husband had the opportunity to see the house. In fact, the previous owners were very gracious and allowed us to have a fence installed before closing. This made it so much simpler to have kids and a dog down there! Our first visit to the house as its official owners was a quick one. It was just the kids and I since, again, my husband was busy with work. He was very possibly still on his trip to India. We went down for less than 24 hours to do a quick inventory. You see, the house had been sold to us with all its accoutrements: all the furniture, the dishes, the linens, even the paper towels and toilet paper! I wasn't sure exactly what was there, so we went down to take stock and see what we might need to bring down with us to make our first official trip comfortable.  That was a quick, but exhausting trip. I was up late going through drawers, cupboards and closets and writing it all down. How many towels? Sheets? Spoons? It was a beautiful gift as ...

  The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.”   Genesis 12:1  This study is focusing on obedience, and Abram, later Abraham, is one of the cornerstone stories of obedience in the Bible. Chapter11 of Hebrews is referred to as the “Hall of Faith.” In it, the author catalogs highlights from the past of people who followed God in extreme situations. Obedience is the result of faith. You won’t obey someone you don’t trust. And, interestingly, obedience leads to deeper faith. When we trust God enough to do what He tells us to, and things work out in incredible ways we couldn’t have imagined, we trust God even more.   I had always remembered the story of Abraham as him being called to leave Ur, his ancestral home, but as I was reading today in Genesis 11, it was actually his father, Terah, that initially picked up his family and moved. He left Ur with the intention of going to Canaan ( Genesis...

  Our lives are lived in seasons. Some long, some short, but all of them matter and affect us in different ways. And in each of these seasons, God is present. He leads, He guides and He uses them to change and influence us. Today, I'd like to tell you about our season with the Beach House.   It started more than a quarter century ago, when we were a young family. We didn't have a lot of disposable income. I wouldn't say we were living paycheck to paycheck, but there wasn't much, if any, left over at the end of the month. Vacations weren't something we really considered. A friend from church had a house out by the Ocean and offered it to us as a place to stay for a week during the summer. I cannot tell you what a blessing this was! I LOVE being by the water. It brings me peace and joy. And being able to take my husband and son out to the beach, dig in the sand, ride in a boat, play a little putt putt golf was such a blessing. Just to relax as a family.  A dream was b...