Salty Zebra

  Classic picture of a Southern Baptist potluck, the epitome of fellowship! They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.   Acts 2:42  What does it mean to be a part of a church? Now, I’m not talking The Church, God’s global body of believers that are joined together in Him. I’m talking about a local church where you meet together regularly in person. Why did God give us this design for how we are supposed to live together and grow in Him? We already have the Holy Spirit and our call is to the lost ( Matthew 28:19-20 ) who are typically not found in churches. So, why did God establish local churches in the New Testament?   In a local church, we have the opportunity to receive regular teaching. I know that these days we have so very many teaching platforms available to us from books to podcasts, YouTube videos to Facebook groups. But sitting in church on a Sunday morning (or Sunday evening, or Saturday...

   I am well and truly blessed in this life. I have an amazing husband, wonderful children who love me, and a supportive family. I have a comfortable home, with two of the cutest dogs alive. We have nice cars that get us where we need to go, and we don't have to worry about them breaking down. We are adequately provided for, with extras that allow me to travel and see the world. I have so much more than so many in this world, and it makes me feel uncomfortable with expressing that I also have suffering in my life. But that is the absolute truth, and I think it's important to share it for many reasons.  Back in 2017 when I first began receiving my diagnoses, one of the first things I did was to learn about them. I signed up for webinars. I read books. And I joined Facebook groups. While I learned a lot from the webinars and books, I think what I really needed in this process was the Facebook groups. You see, I needed to get outside of the technical information and see what...

“They were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”   Acts 2:42 “And let us take thought of how to spur one another on to love and good works, not abandoning our own meetings, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and even more so because you see the day drawing near.”  Hebrews 10:24-25  Fellowship is a pivotal and beautiful thing that has changed how it looks over the centuries since these verses were written. How lovely to live in a small community where we could walk to each other’s homes and the temple courts. If I were even physically capable of it, which I’m not, according to Google Maps, it would take 5 hours to walk one way to my church.  Since Covid, my relationships and engagements have changed as well. Really, it probably started when I finished homeschooling my kids. Back during my homeschooling days, we got together with other homeschooling families at le...

  If we say we have fellowship with him and yet keep on walking in the darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth.   1 John 1:6 Relationships are funny things. You can go through some pretty big stuff together and be ok, but then it’s the little things building up between you that can tear you apart. I’ve struggled over my life with friendships. I haven’t had many, just a few really deep ones. Oftentimes I will have a friend during a really rough season or a tragic occurrence in one or both of our lives and we will be so pivotal for each other in dealing with it. It seems to strengthen our bond and our friendship. But then, for some reason, things change. Little things here and there. It builds up I guess, and before I know it, the relationship changes. With one exception, I can’t tell you when each of my close friendships ended, and with that one, I couldn’t say I understood it in the moment or even saw it coming.   I can tell you for certain that I have car...

  “The wisdom of the shrewd person is to discern his way, but the folly of fools is deception.” Proverbs 14:8  As we go through life, we face decision points. They are like forks in the road that will determine our future path. It might be a change in career path, you might be inviting someone to come live with you, you might be considering a substantial investment. I’m not talking about the classic, “What’s for dinner?” questions, although to be honest if I had good counsel available for that I’d certainly seek it! What I’m considering are the larger, life-altering decisions we face at different points in our paths. How do you face decisions like this?   What does the Bible have to say about decisions like this? A lot! You’d be surprised how many verses I found! It turns out that God cares about this stuff and He really wants to provide us with all that we need to do the right thing. Go figure! It sounds like one of the most important aspects of approaching a deci...

  Be sober and alert. Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, is on the prowl looking for someone to devour. Resist him, strong in your faith, because you know that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are enduring the same kinds of suffering.   1 Peter 5: 8-9 Allow me to present you with a challenging truth. God created Satan (Eph 3:9, Col 1:16, Rev 4:11, John 1:1-3). Did He make a mistake? No. God doesn’t make mistakes. In fact, before God created Satan, He knew all that Satan would do. He knew about the coup that he would lead in heaven. He knew about all the trouble Satan would cause in creation and in the whole of human history. And God made him anyways. Why do you think He would do that? For our good, because God loves us so much. It's a bit confusing isn’t it? But, you see, we need an enemy. We need someone to poke and prod us or we will fall into complacency. We need someone to fight against, to watch out for, or we will fall asleep. In our modern...

I have a brain tumor measuring 0.8 x 1.1 x 1.2 cm. That’s pretty small. You know what’s smaller? The space it’s in between my brain stem and my cerebellum. That means it’s pressing on several things, including the nausea center of my brain. That is a very small thing indeed that has VERY big effect. You see, it is not the size of a thing that matters in a body. You do not have to be a hand or a foot to be of importance. The nausea center, or the tumor pressing on it, even though drastically smaller, can have just as great a power. For just as in one body we have many members, and not all the members serve the same function, so we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually we are members who belong to one another.   Romans 12: 4-5 All the parts of our body matter and work together. In the same way, all the parts of the body of Christ matter and need to work together. God designed us to be a community, to need fellowship, to be a team. While there might be lonely se...

  “Listen to advice and receive discipline, that you may become wise by the end of your life.” Proverbs 19:20  Esther showed a pattern of listening to the wisdom of her guardian, Mordecai. He cautioned her not to reveal her heritage when she was brought into the harem (Esther 2:10). He continued to care for her even after she had left his home by walking back and forth near the courtyard of the harem to find out how Esther was and what was happening to her (Esther 2:11). This went on for at least a year, likely years as I mentioned last time. I can only imagine that Mordecai and/or Esther came up with some way to communicate to him. Maybe a slave was sent with news or she hung a certain color scarf out of a window or something. I can’t imagine Mordecai waking back and forth for years with no connection to her. I also am guessing that she was the beneficiary of his wisdom, counsel and concern even when she was in the harem. Now, that’s not in the Bible so I’m not taking it ...

  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.  Galatians 5:22-23 The fruit of the Spirit’s not a coconut The fruit of the Spirit’s not a coconut If you wanna be a coconut you might as well hear it – You can’t be a fruit of the Spirit!  My kids grew up in AWANA and I can’t study the fruit of the Spirit without getting this song stuck in my head! From the beginning of my walk with Jesus, I’ve heard about the fruit of the Spirit. For a long time, I felt stress and pressure when I heard about it because I knew I didn’t measure up, no matter how hard I tried. Thankfully, God granted me freedom from that, and I’d love to share it with you today too! LMK in the comments if you get this one 😂  You see, while it is good to be more loving, kind and patient, these are not things that we can “will” ourselves to do. It’s not just a matter of putting you...

  “Therefore repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped out,”   Acts 3:19 “The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”  2 Peter 3:9  I set out this morning on a challenge. The verses I was given deal with repentance, which I acknowledge is crucial both in our salvation and in walking out our life with Christ. But why? The more I looked at these verses, the more I felt like they applied to unbelievers and their coming to Christ. So what is the role of repentance in a believer? What does the Bible have to say about that?   But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgi...