Salty Zebra

  For the one who wants to love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from uttering deceit. And he must turn away from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. But the Lord's face is against those who do evil.   1 Peter 3: 10-12 What does it mean to come face to face with God? Mouth (tongue and lips) - we must keep our tongue from evil and our lips from uttering deceit. We must turn away from evil and do good. What kinds of evil could one commit with their tongue? Think slander, blasphemy, boastfulness, gossip, lies. These are things that are so difficult to avoid we have made them common. We tell white lies and think of it as a kindness. People gossip as a matter of course in their friendship. But ultimately, these things are inherently evil and they do not honor God. Instead of these evil things, we need to use our tongues and our lips to bl...

How I look has changed a lot over the last year. Just under a year ago my head was shaved for brain surgery and over the last year my hair has been growing out. I’ve had to do a lot more resting and less exercise and activity so I’ve put on weight. I had arm surgery a couple of months ago which left me with a splint for most of that time and now an arm with 13 scars on it. I look so different. A big part of me has worried so much about how my husband sees me. Does he still find me attractive? You see, he’s not one to voice things like that. Words of affirmation were not used in his home growing up and they are not a part of his standard vocabulary. It’s funny though, as I read today’s verses I realized that he has, in fact, been telling me I’m pretty, just in a different way. Let your beauty not be external - the braiding of hair and wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes - but the inner person of the heart, the lasting beauty of a gentle and tranquil spirit, which is precious in Go...

  He committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth. When he was maligned, he did not answer back; when he suffered, he threatened no retaliation, but committed himself to God who judges justly.   1 Peter 2: 22-23 Over and over again as His time of suffering approached, Jesus warned those around Him. He told them what was coming, but no one seemed to understand. I wonder if Jesus spoke of deep things so often that the disciples were used to not understanding Him sometimes, because there is no mention of anyone even questioning Him about it. Jesus knew without a doubt what was ahead of Him. He knew how awful it would be and we can’t say He wasn’t disturbed by it because in the Garden of Gethsemane He sweat drops of blood over it and asked that it be taken away if it was God’s will. At so many other times in His life and ministry Jesus either had just the right words for people that were trying to trap Him with their questions or He managed to disappear into the c...

  Years ago we had the most amazing parakeet named Bella. She was so smart and so friendly. We would open her cage and let her fly about the house with us. She loved to hang out with us at the table, sampling the food on the edges of our plates and sipping from our coffee. Her favorite treat though was paper. Oh how she loved to chew the edges of a piece of paper! Many times my kids had to turn in their homework with a smirk and admit that their bird had eaten it. She also loved digital devices, and she quickly learned that the warmth of her nose would trigger things on the screen. I had her send more than a few strange texts and emails!   But her time out of the cage was limited. We couldn’t, for her safety, leave her out all the time. Every once in a while, the strangest thing would happen. We’d open her cage door for her to come out and, instead, she’d hang out on the bottom of the cage, with her poop. Just bopping around, hanging out, missing out on all the fun outside. ...

  We can stand on the street corner and preach the evils of the flesh or the value of heaven, but it will not win souls to Christ. People need to see changed lives and the fruit of the Spirit at work in us. The world is watching, what do they see in us? Thankfully, it is not up to us alone to be holy and fruitful, but it does take our cooperation. In John 15:5 Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” So we are responsible for remaining in Jesus, for abiding in Him. If we do this, then we will bear fruit like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self control (Gal 5:22-23). When non-Christians see these fruits in our lives, they are drawn to desire their giver, Jesus. We have the opportunity to point people to God and give Him glory. Sadly, as I said, this does take our cooperation. We can choose instead to live a worldly life and gratify the fles...

You might think that white is the absence of color and black is all the colors mashed together. Not so my friend! In fact, it’s the opposite. White is actually a combination of all the colors. If you take white light and refract it through a prism, out pops red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. All the colors of the rainbow! So it is with Christ’s marvelous light. When it shows up in us, we see bits and pieces of Christ’s beautiful character. In one person we might see abundant love. In another, joy could be flowing like a river! A third might evidence peace that passes understanding. Each of us has traits that point back to the light within us. But bring us all together in unity and we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of His own. When all those colors, all those bits of light come together you can see the incredible spectrum that is His marvelous light. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, s...

  Most of us have a favorite shirt. Let’s say you’re wearing that favorite shirt as you’re packing for vacation. You’ve got your bags all packed and you throw a load of laundry in the morning before you leave, including your favorite shirt so you can wear it when you get back, but you forget to switch it to the dryer in your haste to get out the door to the airport. You have a fabulous time on vacation and you actually get to do quite a bit of shopping and purchase what could be future favorite shirts! But when you get home you are horrified to find that your favorite shirt is sitting in the washer, covered in mildew. Nothing you do can get it all out, but you get it much better and you think, “Surely it’ll be fine. It’s just a few spots that you can hardly see.” But that’s not how mildew works. You carefully fold your favorite shirt, along with all your new ones, into your drawers and go about your life. That mildew is insidious though. While you’re not looking, it is infectin...