Artist’s Statement

You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Psalm 32:7

Life can be hard at times. Very hard. At times, our own brokenness and sin, or the violence, pain, and suffering so present around us flares up in a whirlwind of needles and shards. It is in those times especially that we cry, “help!” and yearn for refuge.

I faced such a time between late 1999 and early 2000. It was a time when my mom lost her prolonged battle with a particularly horrid form of cancer, a pre-marital engagement of mine was ending, and my vocational future was in utter chaos. I was living in an attic that was so small I had to take my showers on my knees. The emotional and spiritual darkness was deep and seemingly impenetrable. I cried out for refuge. What I found was The Refuge, the sheltering love and tender care of Jesus Christ, The Hiding Place.

This sculpture was originally created in clay in the tiny dormer space of that attic back in the year 2000. It expresses the truth of Psalm 32:7 as I experienced it in my circumstances.

The hands are Christ’s hands, and as such, they had to be strong and masculine - veins bulge, fingers are thick, knuckles are somewhat worn, and the pads of the thumbs and palms are dense and fleshy. The overarching sense is, “I can find safety in these hands; they are strong indeed!” During and after I created this piece, I’d often envision myself curled up in the strong folds of these/Christ’s hands, completely safe from peril.

The sculpture also conveys tenderness in Christ’s hands. They are opened just big enough for Him to carefully check on the protected one inside. The way the hands are gently, yet protectively, cupped together speaks to Jesus' concern for the one He’s hiding. They remind of how a child gently cups a firefly to peek in at it with wonder and delight without crushing it. O, the joy of finding Christ, The Hiding Place, to be stronger than any foe (including my own foolishness and sin), while at the same time immensely tender and gentle with me in my brokenness and vulnerability!

The nail scars in the wrists of Jesus’ hands are reminders of His crucifixion, which is the ultimate expression of His powerful and protective love. By willingly enduring the cross, Christ vanquished my ultimate foes: death and the wrath of God I deserved for my sins. The logic, therefore, goes like this: If He was willing and powerful enough to defeat those ultimate foes, then it is certain that He is willing and powerful enough to defeat any lesser, temporal spiritual foes. Indeed, this is the declaration of Psalm 32:7. May it be your declaration, too, through faith in Jesus Christ, The Hiding Place. Amen.