Holy, Holy, Holy

Tonight in my Systematic Theology class the prof lectured and led discussion on the attributes of God. We are currently in the midst of studying Theology Proper, God himself and it has been incredible thus far. I was reminded tonight in a new way of the majesty and holiness of our Creator God. The last 30 min. of class we watched a video of R.C. Sproul preaching a sermon years ago on the holiness of God.

The passage he preached from is a familiar one, Isaiah 6, where Isaiah has a vision and just prior to his commissioning. This entry may get a little long but the content is worth reflecting and remembering.

Isaiah 6:1-3

"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on the throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: 'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.'"

Holy, holy, holy, this is the only time in Scripture that an attribute of God is repeated 3x in succession. No where in the Bible does it say mercy, mercy, mercy is the Lord, or love, love, love is the Lord. He IS those things and to a degree that no one and no thing else in the world is; however, HOLINESS is what Scripture emphasizes most as an attribute of God.

Sproul made a comparison of Queen Elizabeth entering the Abby at her inauguration as Queen Mother and how several attendants helped carry the train of her royal robe down the isle. When Isaiah looks upon the Lord HIS robe fills the entire temple! The visuals given in this passage are powerful to consider. Also the seraphs covered their eyes with two of their wings. Even as angelic beings they could not look directly at the glory or holiness of the LORD God. This was not new to me but it set the stage for another comparison.

Sproul went on to talk about the experience Moses had in Exodus 33:18-23 when he asks God to see his glory. No one can see God's glory and live (v. 20) but God allows Moses to see his backside briefly as his glory passes by (v. 23). Later in Exodus 34:29 as Moses comes down from the top of the mountain to meet with the Israelites and they cannot look at him because his face is so radiant. Moses' face is blinding to the people and that is from a mere brief glimpse of the backside of God!

Part of our class discussion prior to watching Sproul's sermon was on the presence and power of God. He has the whole world, the whole universe in His hands and at the same time, for those who profess faith in Christ, He resides in our hearts! God is infinitely greater than and more intimate than anything I can comprehend. There is no comparison to God.

In our post-sermon class discussion a comment was made how often times we as Christians become apathetic and indifferent to God's majesty. I didn't hear much of the conversation after that comment because I was pierced at how often I become apathetic and indifferent in my reverence, awe, and recognition of God. He alone is worthy of all my praise, worship, adoration, love and trust. I honestly don't remember the last time I prayed in awe of who God is, remembering that He is holy, holy, holy.

After class I went and sat in our chapel (an auditorium that seats 2,000) alone in silence pondering this truth again with a fresh perspective. God alone is holy, holy, holy and worthy of our admiration, our love, and our reverence. His glory is beyond what we can fathom and experience. That is powerful!

headin' coast to coast...

Joanna and I had our first coast to coast brainstorm this morning over breakfast at IHOP. Joanna is a close friend here at CIU that will be making the road trip of the year with me in December from that South Carolina to California. Our semester wraps up December 11th and we're planning on heading out the evening of the 12th. The rough draft plan you ask?? Read the following and feel free to comment on any tips or quick stops on the way (close to the interstate) that we might want to check out or eat at.

Friday 12th: Drive from Charleston, SC (starting officially at the Atlantic Ocean) to Atlanta, GA

Saturday 13th: Drive from Atlanta, GA to Dallas, TX

Sunday 14th: Drive from Dallas, TX to Albuquerque, NM

Monday 15th: Drive from Albuquerque, NM to the Grand Canyon??? (possible reprieve, breaks the last two days into 6-8 hour days instead of the normal 12-13 hrs we'll be pulling)

Tuesday 16th: Drive from Grand Canyon to Los Angeles, CA (Final destination Pacific Ocean, Joanna gets to see her brother and I get to see BEN!!)

Wednesday 17th: Ben and I fly from LA to Anchorage, AK

Thursday 18th: My dad's 59th birthday and SLEEP!!

Seriously if anyone reading this has any tips on travel, time, especially the Grand Canyon side trip (short scenic side trip) let us know! We have friends to stay with at all the other places. The rough layout of the road system so far in our plan is basically: I-20, HWY- 78, I-40.

Greenville, SC

Our stop at Furman University...a beautiful campus!


Noah













This weekend my roommate Kristin and I went to Greenville, SC to see where she grew up and go to the "Fall for Greenville" festival. We also met up with a good friend of ours, a former CIU seminarian, Noah. We had fun doing a little shopping, driving up to the "mountains" in the fall colors and seeing the sights of a great deep south city. We went to an old general store that had "moon pies." Made me think of you dad and all the moon pies you ate growing up in small town Illinois. :)

job hunting in CA...

For those that are praying for me I have a request to pass on. As ya'll know from my CA post a month ago I am moving to So Cal in January to live near Ben. While I am there my hope is to work as a speech path full time or close to it so I can save money (or realistically have money to live on), have TIME with BEN, and finish one last class distance ed for my certificate here at CIU. A little tangent on that, I am finishing my time here at CIU in December but there is one required class that is not offered until next semester that I need to complete for the certificate. So I will be taking that one class, Systematic Theology II, distance ed. in January.

I've been corresponding with Becca Martin (Chuck and Becca M. our friends previously from Wasilla) who works in one of the school districts in northern LA where I hope to live. I sifted through a bunch of information yesterday after work and found a possible job that could be a perfect fit. This particular district is looking for a .6 or .8 speech path for a maternity leave from mid January to mid June! The time factor would be perfect b/c it would allow some extra time to complete my class during the week and have evenings and weekends off to spend time with Ben. I am filling in right now for a 12 week maternity leave in SC and it is a perfect fit with my classes.

Please pray with me in regard to finding a good job in CA from January to May/June. Pray that this particular job will open up if it is a good fit and that all my paperwork will go through. The woman I spoke with today said I should be able to fill in for a maternity leave no problem but if I stay longer I will need to take classes and go through CA certification process which, from what I have heard is pretty extensive. I will be sure to keep you posted as I find more out! Thank you for praying with me!

Columbia Vista...

Heather and my roommate Kristin...sweet potato fries!


Me and Heather sampling a plate of gritts and sausage with pimento cheese, very southern thing I guess, it was surprisingly good...go figure, I love food!


Christy and Katie

There was a vista in downtown Columbia today so some of us walked over to check it out. Basically a couple of city blocks are blocked off and there are a bunch of food venders, drinks etc. all over. Everything from shrimp and gritts to sweet potato fries were being sampled. It was another beautiful 80 degree day! For all my AK connections if you need a little sun right now it's a GREAT time of year to be here...the humidity settles (a tiny bit) and the temps are perfect!