Ok, so a little over a month has gone by and where have I been?  I guess you could say trying to battle some personal demons by myself – it doesn’t work that way, does it.  However, gratefully because of God’s help, these demons seem to have raced out of the room this week  -- adios and don’t let the door hit you on the way out !!

Has anyone been reading Facebook a little too much (or have you even seen it at all yet)?  It’s a little like email, a little like a blog, a little like a chat...My fascination has been in how many people from my high school class are on there now.  It’s our 30th Class Reunion this year, the admin is on there, and little by little the “friends” list is growing for Needham HS Class of ‘79.  I’m not sure what else draws me...perhaps reading what co-workers are doing on the weekend?  One very smiling friend from work always has an upbeat message – if it’s not sunny outside, her status messages will make the sun shine regardless!  I can follow along with someone’s daughter as she celebrates her first birthday...see that a theater friend may be moving to Tampa, keep in touch with a friend as he moves to northern Canada...even find a long-lost friend that I have occasionally shed tears over.  Perhaps it satisfies some odd voyeuristic need in me...to be connected, but not TOO connected...I’ll look at the pics of your child’s graduation, but I don’t want to listen about it.  Anyone else been sucked into this?

I went for a walk today, was trying to make it a “nickel walk” but didn’t have much success.  What’s a nickel walk?  It’s when I take a plastic bag and collect all the returnable bottles and cans.  My lack of success was due to lack of a sidewalk where there WERE nickels, and no nickels where there were sidewalks.  However, I as I was driving today, I found a place where there are many nickels, and I may take that walk this weekend if the rain stays away.  I have this overwhelming urge as I drive to stop and pick up the cans.  One family in my acquaintance saved enough to take a weekend away.

I am this way with coupons – I love going on line to find coupons for the items I actually BUY.  It’s amazing how many websites have coupons for the clipping.  For example, there is never a need to pay full price for Stoneyfield Farms yogurt.  Also – do you love a particular product?  Tell the manufacturer!  Make sure you include your name and mailing address – voila!  Coupons!

Ok, so on to a different subject.  Lately I have been pondering something I don’t think I have ever thought about before.  The Holiness of God and what does it REALLY MEAN?  Pastor says in church all the time how Holy God is.  How set apart He is.  But what IS that?  I was feeling detached from any and all meaning that has.  How do I make that real for me so I can understand?  So I can share?

Bring out the book Downpour by James MacDonald.  Chapter Two is entitled “God on the Throne, a Picture of Holiness” and this chapter attempts to explain the Holiness of God.  It’s a very powerful chapter!  One issue explained what “holy” means – it is separated, it is apart – when we think of God we must think “separation” – God is so totally different and apart from us, we cannot truly comprehend Him.  God is infinitely exalted.

If you check out Isaiah 6, there is this pretty succinct picture of God on His Throne...there is no physical description except that of His robe:  “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.” (nkjv)  When brides want their trains to be so long they reach back to the church door, when Queen Elizabeth wears her long red robe – what splendor!  Now imagine God’s robe – it fills that whole temple!  And imagine how BIG that temple is !  I suspect Isaiah couldn’t even see the ends of the temple.  There were six-winged cherubim flying around – 1 pair of wings covering their faces and 1 pair of wings covering their feet (the other pair of wings was flying them around).  Why did they have wings over their faces?  The GLORY of GOD is too much to gaze upon (and far too bright for sunglasses to be effective).

Now go to Ezekiel 1:

Eze 1:26 And above the firmament over their heads [was] the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne [was] a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it.

Eze 1:27
Also from the appearance of His waist and upward I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around.

Eze 1:28
Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so [was] the appearance of the brightness all around it. This [was] the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. So when I saw [it], I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking.

You’ll notice Ezekiel can’t quite get the right words out....”It was like...but sort of, but maybe not, but it had an appearance of...like...like...” Why?  Because there ARE NO WORDS to describe what he saw.  Then all he could do was fall on his face!  God is holy – God demands separation – and it didn’t take Ezekiel long to get that clue right!  God was so Holy and Ezekiel was just so not ... well, you get the picture,

Now in Revelation 20: 11

Rev 20:11
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.

God is so holy, even the earth and heaven flee.

Flip back to Isaiah 6:3:

And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy [is] the LORD of hosts; The whole earth [is] full of His glory!"

Did you know that in Hebrew, when emphasis is placed on a word, it is repeated?  To understand this, Pastor James uses a storm as an example.  If there was a thunderstorm last night, we might say, “That was quite a storm we had last night.”  If we were to then say, “Wow, did you catch the news?  They are having one heck of storm-storm in the Panhandle!”  This repetition shows force.  Of course, when describing Hurricane Katrina, well, that was a storm-storm-storm !!  In the Bible, there is only one word that is used as a “three-peat” and that is the attribute of God:  HOLY.   Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts!

Another peek at God’s throne room is found again in Revelation:

Rev 4:1
After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this."

Rev 4:2
Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and [One] sat on the throne.

Rev 4:3
And He who sat there was [fn] like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and [there was] a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.

Rev 4:4
Around the throne [were] twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns [fn] of gold on their heads.

Rev 4:5
And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. [fn] Seven lamps of fire [were] burning before the throne, which are the [fn] seven Spirits of God.

Rev 4:6
Before the throne [there] [was] [fn] a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, [were] four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back.

Rev 4:7
The first living creature [was] like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature [was] like a flying eagle.

Rev 4:8
[The] four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: "Holy, holy, holy, [fn] Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!"

Can you imagine being John in the presence of so much splendor, wonder, noise, beauty, awe, and hearing the angelic chorus crying out “Holy Holy Holy!”  Just blows me away!  Yet how many refer to God as “The Man Upstairs” – sorry, I don’t think of this image of God as just a guy upstairs.  Remember, He just ISN’T us.  He is wholly apart and separate from us, He is wholly Holy !

Pastor James sums it up nicely, “If you do know and love the Lord, never let God’s holiness get far from your focus.  Remember who He really is and what it means to account to this God of infinite, indescribable holiness.”