What Do I Know of Holy?

One of the biggest things that I've been learning this year as I've been reading through the Bible and studying it together with some friends on the Bible In a Year and Beyond blog is that I really have had no clue about the holiness of God and what that means.

I think this is a danger common to those who were blessed to grow up in Christian homes. It is easy to become a little Pharisee - comparing yourself (who only commits "little" sins like tattling on your sister or lying to your mom) to real sinners (who commit "big" sins like adultery, theft and murder) and thanking God that you're not like them. Perhaps only sub-consciously. But it's there.

I know it was there in me.

It's also difficult to talk about the fear of God, the wrath of God, the holiness of God, especially in our society where it's all about tolerance. Unless you're being intolerant of the judgemental Christians who think Jesus is the only Way to heaven.

No, it's much easier to talk about God's love and His mercy and His forgiveness.

Don't get me wrong - God's love, grace, mercy, forgiveness and compassion are incredible, undeserved gifts He longs to bestow on us all!

But the truth is, it is only when we grasp the reality of God's holiness, it is only when we understand the depth of God's absolute intolerance for sin of any kind, it is only when we allow ourselves to dwell on the fear of God and His wrath, it is only when we acknowledge how truly undeserving we are, it is only then that we will truly be able to grasp the extravagance of His love, the depth of His forgiveness, that His grace truly is amazing and that His mercy is undeservedly limitless.

For our God is holy.

And the one song that has reduced me to tears countless times is the one I have chosen to sing in church tomorrow morning....

What Do I Know of Holy? (recorded by Addison Road)
I made You promises a thousand times
I tried to hear from Heaven
But I talked the whole time
I think I made You too small
I never feared You at all No
If You touched my face would I know You?
Looked into my eyes could I behold You?

What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

I guess I thought that I had figured You out
I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How You were mighty to save
Those were only empty words on a page
Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be
The slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees

What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of wounds that will heal my shame?
And a God who gave life "its" name?
What do I know of Holy?
Of the One who the angels praise?
All creation knows Your name
On earth and heaven above
What do I know of this love?

What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of Holy?

Mural Project

I took over the superintendant position of our Sunday School this past year. After a meeting with our pastor about wanting to revitalize the look of our kids ministry, we renamed it Adventureland (we want to teach our kids that living for Jesus is an adventure - hard work but the best plan for your life!) and dreamed up a great mural concept for one of our main kids rooms. We wanted to paint a huge mural of a Bible town - we figured it was a theme that wouldn't go out of date and therefore would not need to be redone anytime soon! There is a gentleman in our church who does this type of work and he agreed to do it.

However, because he is extremely talented, he is also extremely busy. Fast forward one year and it just hadn't happpened.

So, the 3-5yr old kids church leader, Charlene, and I decided that if we wanted to get it done, we'd have to do it ourselves! (Her kidz church takes place in this same room so that was her motivation). Charlene did some digging and found a mural she thought would work - from there I found their website, Creative for Kids, devoted to children's ministry with a huge array of options and we picked two different mural kits (Bible Town and Bible Story Vol 1) and combined them to create the look we wanted.

It was very simple to do - basically a gigantic paint by number scenario - but it was definitely time consuming.

First we had to prep the room - and that always takes longer than you think! We stripped the wallpaper border (thankfully it came off quite easily), washed down all the walls, got a painter to come patch the walls for us that first night, primed the dark wall, removed outlets, drawer handles and cabinet doors and then we were finally ready to get started! The murals are printed on transparencies so we enlarged them to the size that suited the room and penciled them in and then started painting as instructed. It was so exciting to see it start to develop! Once we were completely down painting we had to outline every single detail with a gigantic black Sharpie marked (Sharpie is the only name brand to get, let me tell you!). It's amazing how much that made the whole thing pop!

Though we were not able to get too many volunteers to help paint (bad time of year for that as most programs are just ending and everyone needs a breather), we did manage to find babysitters who volunteered their time almost every day that we painted. Unfortunately there was one day we just couldn't get anyone and we definitely didn't get as much done that day - we set the kids up in a large room off our room with baby gates to keep them out but so we could still see them. But Jacob is a momma's boy and if he can see me but not touch me, that's not a good combo. We managed to still get a decent amount done that day, overall it went better than I had anticipated.

A huge thank you to Lori, Kerilynn, Rachel, Alison who each babysat one or two days for us - it was so appreciated! Another huge thank you to those who did manage to sacrifice even a couple hours to come paint - Annette, Karoline, Mark & Victoria - as well as Robyn who came for 3 days at the end to help us finish it off! The church secretary, Faye, helped paint a couple hours and was a huge help in picking up miscellaneous supplies that we had forgotten to pick up, and our music pastor Dwight helped us put back up the cabinet doors (apparently we had taken them down by taking out a lot more screws than was necessary!!). Charlene and I were there for approximately 16 days and several evenings - it was a lot of work, but it was worth it.

And now, finally - before and after pictures for your viewing pleasure!

One of the entrances to the room has now been turned into the Sea of Galilee (not necessarily historically accurate!)

Going counter-clockwise around the room, the far right door in the top picture is the other entrance to the room, and the other two doors are classrooms. Now replaced by houses!

Again moving counter-clockwise, this shot has my office door right in the middle, and then the first or two doors on the left which open up into one large classroom - this was turned into the marketplace - notice the Tapestry Shop, Pottery, Carpentry and Fish Shop. You can see the start of the Inn on the left as well.

Continuing along the same wall we have the two doors that open up into that one large class - this is where the inn is and the beginning of our countryside scene - love the monkeys!

And the final, fourth wall was turned into the countryside.

Here are some of the hard workers!

Here are a few of the fun details!

We're going to get a painter to come in and clear coat the room to give it some protection. Once that's done we need to superglue some googly eyes on the crab - too cute!

We still want to order several Bible time people wall stickers for the final finishing touch - a mom and her baby between the inn and the marketplace, a boy with a fish running in the marketplace, a girl skipping on the path on the countryside, a little boy and his dog by one of the houses, maybe a girl running somewhere if we can squeeze her in.

I'm so happy with how it turned out - and it's even more impressive in person!!