From the Zebra Bag   Musings from a follower of Jesus, husband , father and pastor

One of the most unusual of my fifty-eight birthdays

· I never thought I would ever find talking too tiring

· Otter pops are my favorite thing in the world right now

· Incredibly grateful that I can talk to my family in the UK via the amazing facilities of Skype. It really makes them feel not so far away.

· The most predictable part of every day is how much I look forward to getting into bed after treatment.

· How grateful I am for the prayers of so many of my friends all over the world; people who I’ve known for years, and people I’ve met just recently

· Thank you to Kathy and Mary Lu for the peace of a Reike treatment.

· How amazing God is that even when I fear that I’m not going to be able to make it through a Sunday, He always comes through. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

· Maggie’s perspective; I admit, I worried Jonathan was biting off too much when he went to preach on this last Sunday, but I forgot that God has this. He is more than able to speak through Jonathan even when Jonathan is not at full steam. And speak He did!

· Last week as I sat next to Jonathan during his treatment, we were listening to the song “Befriended”. The chorus goes, This will be my story, this will be my song. You’ll always be my savior. You will always have my heart. As I thought about those words it occurred to me that ‘this’, what we’re going through right now, becomes part of my/our story. God is , even now, weaving these darker colored patches into a beautiful whole story that sings of our great God. And our story is part of God’s BIG story that He invites us to be part of. The song goes on to say, Determined, determined now to live this life for you… And that’s how I feel. I am determined to live so that ‘this’ part of my story does testify of His goodness.

· Finally, one thing that has been kinda difficult for me, unexpectedly so, is not being able to make Jonathan food he wants to eat. He either doesn’t have any appetite or things he normally likes taste bad to him. I realize that when I love someone and want to make them feel better, I prepare them yummy/ healthy things to eat. Not being able to do that, especially when Jonathan feels so awful, has been tough.