When the Worship Room was being built in 1999 and before the carpet was laid there was an intentional decision by our leadership to cover the floors with Scripture. So the entire faith family was invited to come with their Sharpies and Bibles in hand to cover the floor. I remember standing at the back corner of the Worship Room and watching hundreds of people covering the entire room. Some were writing from memory, walking around the room and stopping to bend down and jot down their favorite verses. Others were sitting on the floor copying longer passages of Scripture from their Bibles. There were those of us who came as friends or gathered as a small group. Families gathered together to write, children trying to use their best handwriting and grandmothers joyfully writing down the verses that had sustained them the most over the many years. I remember vividly the picture of so many generations being represented and an overall feeling of unity as we covered the floor with the Word of God.

And I remember being a little sad at first when I saw that the carpet had been laid. We could no longer see the verses written. I missed that picture.

I’ve thought a lot about those hand-written verses over the years as I’ve sat in our Worship Room. As each of our members have been commissioned out to serve the world they’ve stood on those foundational verses spread out across the room. God has brought back the memory of those verses as I’ve sat here through some of the most painful funerals of my life. And I remember a young mother standing near the front steps singing of the shelter and faithfulness of God after her family was devastated by infidelity.

One of my favorite memories is walking over those verses as I walked down the center aisle at my wedding. I had written Psalm 127:1 on the floor where I thought I’d be standing when I got married. That verse, engraved on our wedding bands, marked the ground we stood on many years later as we covenanted with God and each other in marriage.

And I can recall easily how much it meant to me just a few years ago to stand at my seat and listen to my faith family sing of God’s character when I was hurting so bad I couldn’t find the strength to sing myself.

Over the years God has deepened my memory of the verses under the carpet. Now the verses have so much more meaning to me because of the memories that have stood upon them. I don’t need to see them. It’s enough to know that they are there. It’s enough to know that fellow church members took the time to write those verses down so that all of us could be reminded that we stand on joyful commissionings and worshipful expressions of our hearts…we have stood and will stand together on God’s Word.

And so now, I’m glad the verses are covered by carpet. Because these written scriptures that we stand on are not about individual handwriting or chosen verses. They’re not about specific names that were written next to them. For me they represent an intentional mark that the people of Brook Hills made to claim their foundation. It was powerful then. It is powerful now. Take a minute to look down at the carpeted areas of the room and know that we worship the Lord today standing on the Truth of His Word. And the goodness of the verses you walk on today is a reminder that God’s Word is our foundation and unifying factor even when we can’t see it.

Becca Davis served on staff at The Church at Brook Hills from 1995-2006 as the minister to students and minister to college. She and her husband, Roger, along with their four children continue to serve and be a vital part of our faith family today.