Salty Zebra

   Have you ever thought of Jesus as The Savior Who Comes Near? The study I've been walking through, and writing to you about for the last month focuses on just this.   The first day of this study, we looked at Isaiah 9:6 in which we have several names of God: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. In this season of my life I think the name, "Mighty God" stands out to me the most. I am so glad that He is bigger, stronger, smarter, and basically mightier than anything that faces me or comes against me. I can lean into Him and trust Him completely. We looked at Mary and how while she may have felt unseen or unqualified going into her calling as the earthly mother of Jesus, God saw her and He qualified her for what was ahead. Sometimes God's plans aren't clear, or they are bigger than we can fathom. Like Mary, we can trust that God will be with us and equip us for whatever He calls us to. Joseph's quiet obedience  inspires...

  For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.   Titus 2:11-14  Change is hard, and we typically resist it. Many people who hear about Jesus see that life with Him will be different, and that change is intimidating. Being “godly” may not look like very much fun from the outside. Having to shift behaviors and patterns, to break addictions and make different choices is overwhelming. But here’s the good news, you don’t have to do any of that in order to come to Jesus, and He doesn’t expect any of that to be done in your own power!   Jesus created us. He knows us ...

  For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.  1 Thessalonians 4:16-18  This Advent we’ve been studying the Savior who Comes Near. In today’s passage we have a beautiful picture of a promised future day when Jesus will very literally Come Near. A couple of days ago we looked at Matthew 24 and saw that at Jesus’ return all the nations of the world will mourn. While this will certainly be true as the reality of their choices become clear to unbelievers, for those who are found in Christ, the situation will be vastly different.  I’m a very visual person and things I see often stick in my head. This can be bad when I’ve allowed images I shouldn’t ...

  “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”   Revelation 22:12-13  Time is not a constant. While seconds and minutes and hours may be measurable, they feel different at different times and in different circumstances. Disney has made an artform of having time pass quickly as you’ll have experienced if you ever waited in one of their ride queues. It’s a totally different experience from standing in line at the grocery store or sitting in gridlocked traffic. When I’m waiting in bed in the morning, half awake, for my alarm to go off, time seems to fly. When I was nine and a half months pregnant and the baby hadn’t come yet, time seemed to stand still.   The season of Advent is, in itself, a season of waiting. We are waiting in anticipation of the celebration of Jesus’ birth as well as waiting for His impending return...

Sunrise in Indio, CA from our patio  "Free three day trip - all you have to do is attend a presentation."  Have you ever been given an opportunity like this? If not, do you live in the US? Because we are inundated with this all the time.  I remember the first timeshare presentation my husband and I attended. I'm a sucker for stuff like this, so I was ready to sign my life away, but thankfully my husband has a much more level head. We walked away without a timeshare, and I don't even remember for sure if we got whatever we were promised for attending. Over the years I had friends and relatives that bought into one of these programs, and they were generous to share their benefits with us. We were able to fulfill our then 4 year old's lifelong dream to visit Big Bear Lake thanks to my Aunt kindly allowing us to book through their timeshare. Combined with airline miles that my husband had received for work travel, our family of 6 got a week-long vacation in California...

  “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.   Matthew 24:30-31  What are you putting off? What seems like you’ve got time and you can take care of that later? Sometimes it’s very true, in fact the longer we wait the less we think we actually need to do that thing. Sometimes putting things off puts them into perspective, but sometimes procrastination burns us. I remember one Christmas one of my then adult children put off buying their Christmas gifts too long and then when we came together to celebrate, they were empty handed. No one held it against them, at least I don’t think they did, but I know that child didn’t enjoy Christmas very much that year.   A sentiment I h...

  “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”   John 14:1-3    You’re chatting with someone after church and you casually invite them over to join you for dinner. You don’t consider the ramifications, the state of your house, or what they might walk into. Really, you may not expect them to accept your invitation at all, but they do. And so you smile, wave, and say, “See you in a few!” Then you get behind the wheel of your car and drive like a bat out of hell to beat them there, so you have a few precious minutes for scurryfunging. What’s that you might ask? Scurryfunge is an old English word that means to rush around frantically cleaning or tidying a house when you realize guests are about t...