Skylar's Blog & Podcast

Hebrews 10:24-25

I ask this a lot, but how many of you have a facebook? If you do, and I'm sure a good chunk of you do, how often do you check your facebook a day? One, two, three, twenty times? It is surprising how addicting facebook can be. What makes facebook so addicting for you? Is it all the apps (farmville, bumperstickers [which is one of my favorite], mafia, etc.)? Is it getting a chance to poke fun at your friends pictures and profiles? Whatever it is facebook has now become the second most visited site on the web. Can you guess number one? It is...Google! That means Facebook has passed up Yahoo, Myspace, ESPN, Ask Jeeves, and everyone else for the most visited website! That's insane seeing that Facebook isn't a site that holds information that people need. So, my next question is this: why is Facebook so popular? Why do we (because we are a part of this number) so attracted to what Facebook has to offer?...What do you think? In my opinion, Facebook offers something that every single one of us want, and that is: ideal human connection. What does that mean? Let's start with the first word. What does ideal mean? Ideal means satisfying one's conception of what is perfect. In other words, facebook offers friendships that match up with our idea of perfect. How does it do that? Facebook offers a lot of control of what people find out about us. We have a lot of control over what other people see about us. This means it is very easy to create the ideal (there's that word again) you. So, people see us as we want them to see us and we see them as they want us to see them.

On to the second part, it offers human connection. We all want this. We all deeply desire to have relationships with other people. Some of you might think you are better off being isolated, but the second you slip and step into any relationship your perceptions change almost instantly (Don't believe me? Watch the movie Up in the Air). When God created humans he saw it wasn't good for us to be alone, and that is still the case today. Facebook provides a consistent, everyday outlet for us to experience some kind of connection with other people. However, does facebook totally satisfy what we are looking for? What do you think?...

I'm going to say it doesn't. While facebook is a great place to make people feel special or make them laugh, it isn't a place where you can really talk to someone and form a friendship. To do that we have to get our hands dirty, we have to hang out with other people and let them experience who we really are. The verse I gave you at the beginning of this blog is the verse we base our Rock Groups on. Life can only be lived to its fullest if we have other people in it who know who we really are. Life is only enjoyable if you have a group of friends who know your shortcomings and have made it clear they love you. Living becomes much more exciting when there are people you can count on and trust. However, I realize this is hard. There are many of us who find facebook a better alternative because we've been hurt by people we've trusted with who we really are. There is a risk when we come into relationship with imperfect human beings. However, in my mind and in my experience, if you are wise who you allow into your life, it is definitely worth the risk. So, my advice, put that laptop down, turn off your computer, and ask a friend out for coffee, to throw a baseball around, to go shopping with you, to hike with, or whatever it is you do. Be yourself, and let those people in your life be themselves, too. And after all of that watch God bless you with what you've been created for: a real-life, ideal human connection.

Exodus 3:13-14

Quick english question: can you guess where the title of this blog came from?...If you said Romeo and Juliet you are correct! You have won...the satisfaction of winning! What is in a name though? Let's look at it this way: are there certain names that you when you hear them certain memories or faces pop immediately into you head? We have many experiences with different names. However, it isn't the name that effects us, it's the face or the experience behind the name. This isn't how it's always been. Names weren't always so insignificant. When you read the Old Testament you'll see a person's name is a HUGE deal. Look at the story of Jacob. Jacob is wandering around and while he is doing that he encounters God. He tells God to bless him, and God does. How? He ends up having his name changed by God to Israel, which happens to be the nation God would use to change the world. There are several stories of God changing the name of one of his servants to represent a new stage in their life. There are also tons of mothers in the Old Testament who name their children based on the circumstances they're born into (see the story of Jacob and his wives). Have you ever thought of your name as a representation of you? Maybe you haven't, but let's look back to the beginning of this conversation: there are certain names that have certain effects on us, which means your name has a certain effect on other people. Names, whether we realize it or not, are a representation of a person. The starting point for all friendships is learning the other person's name. They are also what help us categorize the people we know. However, let's say you meet someone and you don't get their name, well you can't say you too are that close because knowing their name is that first step.

Now, look at the verses I laid out for you at the beginning of this. What's happening here is Moses is talking to God, who is being represented in a burning bush. God tells Moses to go to Egypt and lead his children (Israel) out of slavery. Moses is scared and unsure, how can he trust this God, so he asks for God's name. This is what we call bartering. Moses is saying, "Ok, I'll go, but first I need your name so these people don't think I'm off my rocker (this is my interpretation)." You have to imagine he also wants the name of this God because he wants some sort of security that He will stay with Him when he goes off, he wants someone to call out to. So, what does God share with him? He says, "I am who I am." What does this mean? I'll tell you what it is not, it is not His name. It is a description of Him. Have you ever thought about God's name? Is God His name? Or is that a title? I tend to lean towards the latter. What does this mean? It means we don't know God's real name. Well then what relationship do we have with Him? How can we be friends if we don't even know His name? Simple, He knows our name and has actually done what we couldn't do: He brought us into relationship with Him (Romans 5). I say all of this to make this point: how can we get bored with a God whose name we don't even know? How do we figure out how to fit him in a box when we don't even know what to call Him? Jesus told the Pharisees and the religious leaders that their attempts to try and figure out his ministry was like putting new wine into old wineskins, or, for a more modern example, it's like putting a square block into a round hole. God is so much bigger, and so much more complex than we can even imagine. He says, in summary, as the heavens (the universe) are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). However, this is the same God who humbled Himself to the point of making Himself human. Who not only gave us a name but a face in Jesus. I want you to think about that today, and know that the God who is so much grander than us, who refused to share His name, who we can't corner or box in, is the God who came as a human to love, hurt, and die so His children could relate with Him. What a magnificently complex God!

As most of you know abortion is a right for all Americans. It is also one of the most hotly debated issues in America. I can't think of many things more divisive than the issue of abortion. What are your views on abortion? Is it right? Is it wrong? Why? One of the guys interviewed made an interesting point. He said, "They (Focus on the Family) could probably find better ways to spend their money." Do you think this was a wise investment by Focus on the Family? Just an FYI a 30 second commercial slot during the Super Bowl costs close to 2.5 million dollars. Was it effective? If you believe abortion is wrong, then how should we go about fighting it? Are there peaceful and loving ways we can help diminish abortion? What can you do specifically?

If you would like to watch the Tebow commercial, here it is:

Romans 5:2; 14:4

Where are my seniors at? Pretty soon you will be going through one of the most exciting times of your lives: graduation! It's a great time, believe you me. All the friends and family around you, all the presents being brought to you. School is finally going to pay off! I can remember my graduation like it was yesterday. I can remember all of my friends walking across that stage. Seeing them simply walk, standing tall, being honored for their hard work for 14 (I count preschool) or, for some, 18 years...just kidding, hopefully. Anyways, back to graduation, you could see the sense of accomplishment in all of my friends. Then came my turn to walk across that stage, a side note: before the ceremony I was joking with a close friend that she was going to trip and fall while walking across the stage...can you guess what happened?After they called my name something popped in my head and I became distracted for a split second and that was all it took for me to miss a step and fall flat on my face in front of all my family, friends, and their family.

There is something unusually humiliating about falling, even if it's not in front of a whole bunch of people. Imagine for a second, you're walking by yourself around a park and all of a sudden you trip and fall; remember, no one is watching, are you embarrassed? Maybe you wouldn't, but I would be. It is much more satisfying to be standing, walking straight and tall somewhere. All of that is to say this: we would rather be standing than falling.

The verses I gave you at the top are some of my favorite. Read Romans 5:2 first. There's a phrase that I have remembered since my days in college: "...this grace in which we stand." What does that mean? It means grace is the only stable ground we can stand on. Have you ever tried to stand on a trampoline while everyone else is jumping as high as they can? How about this; have you ever tried to stand on one of those exercise balls? If you haven't try it, and remember this when you do: anything else we try and stand on, your friends, your family, your success in school, your success in sports, how good you are, is just like that. You are in a constant state of adjusting, leaning one way and then the other, not knowing where you're going to have to go next. Standing on these things is unpredictable, unsafe, and unhealthy. Grace is our only firm foundation. It is standing on a rock: steady, firm, and never moving. This means we stand our friendships, our school, our family, and anything else on grace, God's grace!

That last verse I gave you is from Romans 14: 4. Reread that last part: "And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand." It seems obvious now that grace is what we should rest on, but in actuality it's very hard for us. We do not inherently desire to rest in God's grace. We would rather try and do it ourself. We would rather stand on the edge of a cliff on a patch of sod than on the firm rock God has offered. God knows this, and because of that He takes the initiative and He is the one who makes us stand. He puts it in our heart to trust Him and to desire His grace, and then, after all of that, He is the one who makes us stand. He is the one who picks us up, sits us where we always wanted to be, and holds us up. That is a good God. That is our God.