It can all be lost in a generation

In 2nd Chronicles 10-12, Rehoboam is king over Judah and has a very different reign than Solomon. Jeroboam is king over Israel and the David / Solomon's kingdom is divided into Israel and Judah. Rehoboam institutes harsh laws regarding forced labor causing the Israelites to rebel against him. He nearly went to war against Israel, but God had told him not to. So he settled in the regions of Judah and Benjamin. Rehoboam still maintained the Levitical religious practices and so the Levites came to Jerusalem and continued practicing there. They walked in the ways of David and Solomon (Ch 11:16-17).  Unfortunately, the king of Egypt attacks Jerusalem and takes all the gold and treasure that Solomon had built up through his reign. 

When I read that the gold and treasure had been taken in that one raid only a generation after Solomon's reign, I was struck at how in one generation, nearly everything can be lost. Of course, this could be speaking financially because the economy of Judah probably took a hit (oh no! RECESSION!!), but spiritually, the country was not what it was. The people  of Judah probably had a harsh view of the king due to his laws on forced labor, and they probably thought he was weak in terms of foreign policy as Egypt invaded their land. This is so different from how they viewed David and Solomon where they praised God because of their reigns. In one generation, nearly everything spiritually was lost. Rehaboam may have outwardly kept the Levitical practices, but he did not truly follow God because in Chapter 12 verse 5, a prophet tells Rehaboam, “This is what the Lord says, ‘You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shishak [King of Egypt].’”

Me being me, when I think about generations, I think about kids. A parents' strong faith is not necessarily passed down to the children. A closer look at Solomon reveals that he was slipping a bit. Rehaboam's mother was an Ammorite, and in 1 Kings 11:12, God states: “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Solomon had epic amounts of wives, which is weird. Anyway, David walked with God and he messed up, but he passed down enough to Solomon that Solomon didn't completely mess up. Children's faith is positively correlated with their parents' faith usually. We talked about it at Hope Crossing this last Sunday as a matter of fact. They haven't got the message up yet, but they talked about it. 

It goes back to childhood socialization principles. Kids see how their parents live out their worldview and they copy it first in behavior and then internalize the philosphy of the parents once they are capable of abstract thought. 

Something I think about is that if I have kids, I must guard my faith while praying and encouraging Prince Charming to guard his so he can lead the household in the ways of God. We would not ultimately save our kids - that is Jesus' job, but we will play a vital role in showing what faith looks like to the future generation. We must always pray that God in His mercy passes down the faith to the next generation. 

Matthew 6:33 in the Old Testament!

Matthew 6:33 is coming true in the OLD TESTAMENT!! Solomon asks for wisdom which is going after God’s heart and then BAM the economy goes CRAZY! Now, some people (and I have also) thought, “Wow. The man asked for wisdom and then he found a way to blow up the stock market!” We-ell… I’m sure wisdom obviously helped because he knew what to do with his resources and how to advise his people, but I think the deeper issue here is that he asks for wisdom and shows that he is after God’s heart, so God provides the country with epic amounts of resources. The main goal during the first few years of peacetime is building of the Temple, so most of the resources will go to there. That’s interesting :) So when we ask God to bless us in the US (God, help us get OUT OF THE RECESSION), what if the deeper question we should be asking is, "God, what do You want for us as a nation? What do you want us to be seeking to know You better?" 

For me personally, I say a lot, "God, I'd like a paralegal job after I graduate!" I should also be asking, "God, what do You want me to learn about You as I do this career change?" Will that automatically make my finances go through the roof? Who knows, but really, with the mentality of seeking God first, then that becomes secondary :) We'll just have to see, but it's interesting. 

Solomon looses this focus on God eventually, and I will read about it more later. But yeah, it's interesting to read about his epic start! 

Foundation of Beauty

I am so grateful for my Summitview women who have taught me what beauty means. I think I am in few weeks or so of struggling with it. This is because Mom is struggling with her body image and it's projected on comments about my appearance. 

She told me she ate a lot on her vacay and how she has to walk it off. 

I'm Asian, but I'm not a stereotypical super-skinny Asian. 

Asian Model - Google Images

I have more of a Polynesian  Pacific Island woman's figure and I actually got overweight in junior high. Cross Country helped tone me out :) But anyway, I don't think I'll ever be like stick-thin like a lot of other Asians.

Polynesian Dancers - Google Images

In grad school, God really helped me accept how He created me - both physically and developmentally. I am really glad for that :) Even though I didn't gush about the emotional issues of body image like most women (I would just say, yeah, I know it's correlated to self-esteem and such and I've felt those effects - I'd talk about it in a more academic manner), the emotions are no less real.

When I hear, "Are you getting fat?" I'd immediately feel like I am doing something wrong and feel ugly. Then I remind myself that I am walking nearly every day, and I bought healthy cereal. I have a sweet spot for candy ;) but I generally don't eat a huge mega bag of candy every day. When I exercise, I have to remember that I am exercising this intricately engineered body my Creator designed to get the most effective use of it, and not to prop myself up to say, "Holy crap, I look awesome now!"

The deeper issue is this: When I hear "Are you getting fat?" or "Are you watching what you eat?" I worry, "did Mom love me  / accept me less when I was overweight?" She praises how I look now, but she reminds me a lot not to gain weight. The deeper issue is that I want someone to love the me that I see in the mirror. That sounds so like something in a women's Christian book about body image that has Papyrus font on the front and a flower or something. The more raw way to say this is: When I hear stuff like that, I wish I was happily married to a Prince Charming who would thoroughly enjoy my body and think I'm hot. A sobering thought is I'd probably be one of those girls that the HDFS journals talk about as having risk-taking sexual behavior just because I know I'd be one of those girls that craves love.

That is a sobering thought: Without Christ, I would do maladaptive things to convince myself that I was beautiful. But that is not my reality :) GOD THINKS I'M BEAUTIFUL!!!! :) :)

Bride in Hawaii -

Google Images

My Creator who sequenced my DNA and has all my physical specifications down to a science is happy with how He made me, and because of Christ, I have His love. I can crave it, not because I desperately need but do not have access to it, but I can  crave it as a bride would crave the love of her current husband. It is accessible and she can get more.

That grounds me and so I can look at myself and say, "Don't worry about Mom, God is calling you beautiful." :)

New Peeps!

I might have just found some NEW PEEPS! 

PEEPS! (Google Images)

Church Peeps, that is :) 

This summer I spent time at the Denver Firehouse which is a really cool church that was planted off of Summitview a few years ago. They're really neat people and I was glad to spend a summer with them :) I caught up with some girls who were at Summitview a while ago, and now are there. I also got to hang out with a new girl that came around from Monument and that was way fun. 

The only problem is that church is SUPER-FAR away from my house, especially by bus, and I couldn't really do evening stuff with them because it would get real dark there, and Mom didn't want me around that area (it wasn't super-sketch like 5 points, but it wasn't like walking around Highlands Ranch at night either). So, that posed a bit of a problem. 

TODAY I checked out a new church called Hope Crossing. It's right by a post-office near Mom and my house (Wadsworth and Yale for those Denverites that read this blog). I checked out their doctrinal statement ant they actually go really in depth more than a lot do. So the theological-nerd side of me enjoyed that. 

The people were way nice who greeted me. They had a modern worship service, which I think is becoming the new norm in American Christianity. What was SUPER-TIGHT is that they played TWO songs that I really really really really really really like: Everlasting God and Our God is Greater and I eeked in my head :) It was like God saying, "Welcome, Katie, I'm going to help you be comfortable in this new environment!" Yeah - EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! 

And THEN turns out I sat by this lady named Betsy. She is the counseling administrator at the church and has her LPC. We totally nerded out a bit about counseling and stuff and I told her that I had a background in child development. 

THEN the pastor prayed for the schools in the area including my old high school. I was like, "Oh dang, I guess I wasn't joking when I would try a church in my neighborhood." Yeah, it felt weird but cool to be praying for my high school that I went to a billion years ago. 

THEN he gave the message. They're starting on a series entitled Functional which is about God and the Family. So that is so cool that I could check out this church and really see where they were with important stuff like their view on Christ, their view on the Word, and their view on the family and stuff like that. Honestly, it felt like one of Mitch's sermons given by a guy with no hair!! :) hahahahahaha :) But yeah! They have the exact same view as Summitview: Men are the spiritual leaders, God should be at the center of a marriage, marriage is to show the world the image of God and not for our own self-actualization, and these principles can all be seen in the Bible. YAY! :) 

After church we had a BBQ. I actually brought some oranges from home that would've gotten bad, so that was nice. I met this girl named Erin who goes to Red Rocks Community College. She's studying nursing and incidentally went to my high school so I got to reminisc with her. I failed to mention that I went there 10 years ago, but oh well :D We both are not able to drive due to our disabilities, so it was fun yaking about RTD and our bus passes. 

Yeah, this might be my church. We'll see :) I am grateful for the Firehouse though. It was a really neat transitional church to go to because it had people from Summitview I knew and they helped me adjust to living in Denver. Now I have found a place that is closer to home where I can hopefully become more involved. To think this church may be where God could use me to influence the community where I grew up is.... REALLY COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

A Crisis Observed: Yay!

OH CRAP! I can't believe I didn't write about this beforehand!!!!!!!!!!! 

So on Friday I visited my aunt in the hospital. She was doing much better and her face lit up when I saw her. She showed me her hospital issue socks and those leg wraps that keep the blood circulating when the patient is stuck in bed all day. The socks were yello and the leg wraps were green. So of course I joked that she was either wearing CSU colors or Packers colors. I also brought her an ESPN magazine about football since she's a HUGE Broncos fan :) She liked that. 

It was a huge relief to see her on the mend and happy. She obviously wanted to be home, but she knew she had to rest up in the hospital. Her mom brought her a stuffed monkey named Ricky. We joked about how she had to keep monkey Ricky away from her mom's dog also named Ricky because the dog would chew the thing to pieces. She was a bit tired, but otherwise she was her normal self. :) Yay! :) 

She has today and possibly tomorrow in the hospital and then she goes home :) We're all thankful that this little bump in the road in her life was small :) 

The God of Peacetime versus the God of War

1 chronicles 22 -  Interesting how David wanted to build the Temple but God had told him no. Here God gives a reason: Because he had done so much killing - I’m guessing during his military campaigns and also because of his sins. Solomon would build it in a time of peace.

Logistically this makes sense. A region has to be secured first before infrastructure can begin. It doesn’t make sense to build a road if it’s just going to get bombed the next day. Also, during peacetime, the government’s income can go to infrastructure rather than military spending (yeah, ya think I’ve been listening to ads about government spending much??)

I also wondered if there was a spiritual component to God’s law. God being God, there probably is. I did a search in Bible Gateway for the words “kill and murder” through the Levitical law books (yeah, paralegal nerd side coming out just a little), and I didn’t find anything that said, “If you kill or murder, you can’t do stuff like build a city / temple / stuff.” Well technically, you can’t because if you murder you’re usually dead after a trial where you have multiple witnesses (BASIS FOR TRIAL BY JURY YEAH!!!!!!!!!! Or at least a hearing or something where more than one witness is called). Anyway… um… I didn’t find that.

But I thought about how God wants His fame spread throughout the region. If David built the Temple, the other nations could say, “David killed a crap ton of people and now he has this amazing worship facility… Dang is his God like bloodthirsty or something?!” God DEFINITELY does NOT want that reputation. So, I think He has Solomon do it because of the logistical reasons above and also so the other nations see the side of God that is grace and blessing. They saw the God of Wrath, but I think He wants to show the grace side too. 

Just like with the Cross. We see the God of Wrath when we see Jesus on the Cross. We see His wrath when He goes all epic warrior on the whole entire world. But we see the God of Grace when He reveals the new Jerusalem where His reedeemed live and it’s AWESOME and peaceful. Not to mention, all the animals up there are fluffy and cute and don’t bite :D But that’

A Census according to God's statutes

I PARALEGAL NERDED out today for my quiet time :)  It was actually really interesting! 

The fact situation: 1 Chronicles 21:1-6: David orders a census against Joab's advice. Joab is part of David's "cabinet." He is basically the Secretary of Defense. David ordered the census to be taken of "all of Israel" and for Joab to create a report detailing the numbers. Joab obeyed reluctantly and counted everyone except the Levites and the tribe of Benjamin because he was upset that he had to do this. 

The legal question: Was David's request for a census lawful according to the law given to Moses that all the Israelites were required to follow? 

Relevant statutes: Exodus 30:11-16 A census is lawful only if the people counted pay half a shekel to give an atonement for their lives as an offering to God. Taxes appear to be used as offerings to God. The intent of the census appears to be in remembrance of what God has done for the country. 

So... THAT is why David got dinged for doing a census. He did it just to see how much of an army he had rather than for the country's spiritual good, and as a service to God. Joab knew the relevant statute, so that's why he protested so much. That is also why God was justified in bringing a plague on them. He didn't authorize the census and it wasn't used for His intended purposes, so God, as the creator, interpreter, and enforcer of His laws and statutes punished David and the nation of Israel by wiping out 70,000 people with a plague. 70,000 people is about half the population of Fort Collins! :O So, yes, what David did was really serious. 

David offered a peace offering according to Leviticus 3. God accepted it because it was burnt completely. I think he learned his lesson, and I think Joab probably told him, "I told you so."