Skylar's Blog & Podcast

Isaiah 6:1

There are select GIANT things in this world that inspire us when we see them: the Eiffel Tower (A HUGE steel structure), the Statue of Liberty (a HUMONGOUS statue), the Notre Dame (a GINORMOUS church), the Grand Canyon (A GIANT...well a giant canyon), and...my head. Yes, I will admit I have an abnormally large head. This has been my burden since I was younger. To be honest it's a lot better now than when I was in middle school. As a 7th grader I was trapped in a smaller body, but the same head size you see today (I'm sure some of you are laughing right about now). Disproportionate? Definitely! However, I always explained to people that it's only bigger because I have such a huge brain (now most of you are definitely laughing). I've been called many fun little nicknames like: peach on a toothpick, bobble-head, big head, etc (all of these are so creative aren't they). Do you want to know the circumference of my head? You'll have to ask me in person! Bahaha! Anyways, there are much more grandiose things to gawk at in our world today. I listed a few, but have any of you really thought about how big God is? Probably not. Read the above verse again. Let's break it down real quickly: as for this train of a robe talk, the train of someone's robe is the part that drags on the ground. The temple Isaiah is talking about is a HUGE place! The room Isaiah is probably referring to is 90 x 60 feet! This means that the very end God's robe fills up this entire room. Now, does this mean God is only so tall? Could we measure God? Definitely not! What Isaiah is giving us is a concrete picture of the fact that God is big.

However, how does this affect us in any way in our daily lives? Easy, because we serve a big God, a God who holds the earth we live on in His hand. The God who placed the stars which are millions upon billions of lightyears away into this solar system. He is the God who sustains the very gravity that holds our planet in place. And He is the God that is in control of everything that happens on earth for forever. This is the God who says He loves us (Isaiah 43:4), gave up everything to save us (Romans 5:6-8), and will eventually create a new heaven and earth so we can be with Him for forever (Revelation 22:12-13). He is big, and He is loving, and because He is so big there is no need to worry or stress because He's always there with you (Joshua 1:9.

John 1:1-3

I used to watch the Food Network all the time. Yes, I just wrote the Food Network. When you only have five channels, the Food Network actually can become quite entertaining. Anyways, there is a show on the Food Network called, "Unwrapped." This show takes you behind the scenes and shows you how different foods are made. One of the shows introduces America to how Cheetos are made. They show you what goes into them (it's actually not that gross, I still eat Cheetos), and they show you how they get the powdered cheese onto each individual Cheeto. However, they skip something in between. They skip showing us how they form the Crunchy Cheetos into those unique and tasty little crunchy snacks. After they finish explaining the formative process of the Crunchy Cheeto they explain. The host informs America that how FritoLay actually fries/bakes the Crunchy Cheeto is a secret recipe that no one outside the factory knows. Doesn't that just kill you?!?! Well, maybe it doesn't, but we are so used to having any knowledge about anything accessible at any time. For example: look at wikipedia. A website dedicated to giving you any random knowledge you can come up with at any time. We are not used to not knowing things. Let me give you another example: if you hear something about a close friend that you didn't know, for instance that they have a girl or boyfriend and you had no idea, you will do anything and everything to find out the truth. We don't like not knowing something.

When Jesus came to earth He claimed something that, if it is true, goes beyond our comprehension. Jesus claimed when He came to earth He was fully human and fully God. Read through any Gospel, and you will hear Jesus say things like: "I and the Father are one" or "My Father who is in heaven" or "Your sins are forgiven (only God can do this)." Read the verses I gave you. Can you guess who the Word is? It's Jesus. How can someone be fully human and fully God? Are there limits to what He knows because He's human? Or does He know everything because He is God? Does He choose to feel pain or does it happen just like it would with a human? We will never know. Why? Because no one has or ever will be fully God and fully human like Jesus. Some of you might disagree with me. You might believe Jesus was God, He just had a human body, but He couldn't be both. Or maybe you believe Jesus was a liar. How could a human being be God? Jesus left us with three options because of what He said and did. We can either consider Him a liar, crazy, or who He said He was. It is up to you to decide, but make sure of one thing: don't discount Jesus because you can't figure out how He could be both. There are things we are not meant to know. That's what makes Christianity so exciting! The mystery set before us because of our infinite God and Savior. If you do believe Jesus is who He said He is: do you see Jesus as mysterious. Do you see Him as infinite and impossible to figure out? Have you ever considered how God is both just and gracious? Our God is mysterious. He is seemingly contradictory, and He is definitely provocative. Take a minute, and praise God for this.

John 8:31-32

To me, shoelaces are a lot like an appendix. I'm sure you're thinking that's completely random, but let me explain: you never really consider or think about your appendix until it isn't functioning correctly, the same goes with shoelaces. I realize some of you girls use shoelaces to accessorize or to add to different outfits; however, I would dare to say very few of us really give our shoelaces any consideration until they break or someone steals them out of our shoes. Then they become a HUGE deal, because we all know you can't wear a pair of shoes comfortably without shoelaces (unless of course you're weird and you enjoy no shoelaces). Since we never really appreciate shoelaces let's take a second and give them some respect. What is the purpose of the shoelace? More or less the shoelace exists to keep your shoes tied tightly together. Because of this you are free to run, jump, skip, crawl...whatever it is you do in your shoes without worrying about your shoes falling off or getting stuck in something. I'm actually going somewhere with this, I promise.

I would argue there is a very important principle at work here. You might be confused (then my work here is done...just kidding), so let me explain. It's because of the shoelaces ability to tighten your shoes together that you are free to do whatever and be free of worry. What I'm trying to get at is this: it is when we live under structure and in submission to something else that we are truly free. How is this? Let's take living in a country, how about living in America? What if America were to just drop any and all laws that have existed for over two and a half centuries? How would living in America go for everyone? It probably wouldn't go well at all. People would do whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. Murder, theft, rape, etc. would all increase unchecked because all the rules are gone! People would be restricted to safe houses and basements because of he fear to go outside. This is why it is within structure that we are truly free. Now, the culture we are living in says that truth is relative. That whatever you find as true does not necessarily mean that I will find it true as well. This sounds good and well. This might even sound freeing. It might sound like you are now free of answering to anything at any time!!! How incredible! However, Jesus makes a comment that goes right against this. He says: "...you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Jesus says it is the truth that sets us free, and not just any truth, but the truth that He is Lord and we may only be saved through Him (this truth means we must live a life according to how He asks us to live...we're under His authority). Wait a minute...that doesn't sound freeing...that sounds kind of restrictive. Look back to what we were talking about: structure and boundaries = freedom. Jesus is God and is our Savior, and it is only when we believe that we truly experience freedom. Paul makes it clear in Romans 6:16 we will be enslaved by one of two things: sin or righteousness. The former (sin) leads to death, and the latter (righteousness) leads to life. It is only when we surrender to God, and offer Him our life that we find freedom. It is only when we are a slave that we are free. Weird huh? It's just like with shoelaces!