Skylar's Blog & Podcast

Ok, so question: who here has gone the longest without eating? It could be for anything...I can remember I went two whole days without eating...and I thought at the time it was seriously going to kill me... However, we all know that it didn't, but I did think at times that my stomach was eating itself (wouldn't that be awesome). Another question: what is the best thing to eat when you are super hungry? What's my answer, well I'm glad you asked. My favorite thing to eat when I'm really hungry is pizza. I don't care what's on it as long as there are no ONIONS!!! However, after I hadn't eaten for two days I could care less what I was eating I just wanted food. It's amazing how much better any food tastes when we are desperate for it. It's also amazing how fast we eat it, and then it's amazing how quickly we want more food. Have you ever thought of the cycle we all live with. We get hungry, we eat, we wait for a little bit, we get hungry again, we eat again...and the cycle repeats over and over again. What if we could stop the cycle? What if we never had to eat again?!?! Well, I'm about to rock your world!!! This week only you can buy the Eatnomore!!! It's a revolutionary patch that will take away any desire for you to eat or drink for that matter!!!...Actually that's a lie, but what if there was something like the Eatnomore which took away all your cravings? Well, if there was and you used it you would die because you wouldn't be taking in nutrients and your body would shut down. We will never be able to beat our need to eat or our need to drink. So do you think Jesus was being literal when He said in John 6:35, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." Do you think He was actually saying that if you will believe in me you will never have to eat or drink anything ever again?!?! The Jews He was talking too thought He was saying that. However, I don't think that is what Jesus was getting at. What Jesus was trying to get across was actually something even more exciting! We all have longings/desires. We have these big abstract things we want like happiness, peace, self-control, etc. but it seems like they're made up because we can never quite grab a hold of them and because of that our lives are never quite fulfilled. But wait! Jesus is saying He is the answer to these longings. It might seem like He is being ridiculous in John 6:35, but He is speaking of spiritual things in earthly terms. What Jesus is saying here in this verse is one of the most important things you can apply to your life now. He is saying: "The only place you will find complete fulfillment is in relationship with me. It's not in getting good grades, a beautiful girlfriend, a good looking boyfriend, lots of awards, or lots of friends. What you have always been looking for is found right here in me. I am the bread of life, and if you will look to me you will never hunger or thirst for happiness, contentment, joy, peace, etc. ever again." Let's trust Jesus and turn to Him today!

The last good zombie movie I saw was Dawn of the Dead. The gist of this movie was like most other zombie movies. Some virus takes over a group of people and they start biting other people to infect them, too. Eventually the whole city is infected and only five people remain untouched by the virus or the zombies. I'm pretty sure you're all thoroughly confused what zombies have to do with Easter, but it's actually kind of simple. At the center of every zombie is this unusual process people go through to become zombies. It goes like this: someone is bitten or scratched by a zombie initially killing them. However, they don't die, do they? Instead, they come back to life as this completely different...thing.  Now is the time to pull all of this together. All of these movies with people coming back from the dead have really taken away from Easter. Why? Because they have turned the idea of someone coming back from the dead as a wild tale, a fantasy, or a stupid twist in a movie. So, when we hear the story about Jesus coming back from the dead we don't realize it, but we sometimes put His story on the same shelf as zombie movies or The Matrix (sorry if I ruined that movie for anybody). Maybe you're not like me, but there are times I hear about the resurrection of Jesus and it just isn't real to me. It's almost like those tall tales you hear when you're little about Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox etc. The reason I think some of us do this is because of how we live. If we really believed Jesus came back from the dead...if we really believed Jesus beat death then there would be more excitement present in everything we do. Why? Because death, universally, is the number one fear of almost all people, and we don't have to be afraid because Jesus beat it. It's not permanent! In fact, death is a gateway into something better! Something perfect! This Easter, sit down and read Luke 23:50 through Luke 24:49 and really try and grasp what it's saying. Think about how Jesus did come back from the dead. Think about how He is not a stupid zombie movie, an ancient Egyptian dark wizard, or any made up character for that matter. Think about how He is the Son of God who was born in Bethlehem, lived 33 years, died a humiliating and horrible death, and after being dead for three days came back to life not as a ghost or spirit but as a resurrected being. Think about His disciples feeling the holes in his hand (Luke 24:38-39) and Him eating food with them (Luke 24:40-43). Think about something radical: think about Jesus overcoming death...beating death...and making it so we would never have to be afraid of it (death) ever again!