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January 2nd

Today’s Reading January 2nd – Genesis 4:1-5:32, 1 Chronicles 1:1-4, Genesis 6:1-22

– It didn’t take man very long to fall into even deeper sin did it? Sin is sin I know…but gosh–you have Adam and Eve…and they have 2 kids—and before you know it one murdered the other. WOW. Over what? Jealousy. This is the very first murder in the Bible. And you expect God to just take ole Cain out. But He extends His grace and mercy. And the Lord even puts a mark on Cain where no one will ever kill him. Doesn’t this make you wonder what the mark was?

– verse 17 – “Cain lays with his wife” This verse has always made me wonder. You have Adam and Eve. Then you have Cain and Abel. So…if that’s all there is…who did Cain marry? We know that Adam and Eve had other children–Seth being one of them. So, most likely Cain married either a sister or a niece. Bible commentaries say though that at this point the human race was still “genetically pure” so there was no fear of side effects from marrying relatives. Nice…but still—in our culture…seems so strange. BUT…I guess it was the beginning…and you just didn’t have many options. Still interesting to think on.

– The Arc – WOW…can you imagine a boat the size of one and a half football fields and as high as a four story building? I think the really cool part though is that God is the one that gave Noah these instructions and that modern shipbuilders STILL, STILL, STILL use the same ratio God gave Noah! 6x longer than it was wide. VERY COOL. How smart is our God?! If you have never seen the replica built of Noah’s Arc in the Netherlands, click here I think you will enjoy these pictures and your kids will too.

So far…so good—2 days into our reading…and I’m loving it! And I have some lots of really fun Christmas pictures to share to get me through cold January;). Have a great day!

Andrea

13 responses to “January 2nd”

  1. Amy Avatar
    Amy

    Okay, seriously your family is too cute 🙂

    Also, I honestly think you will have a referral by the end of March but maybe I am just being to optimistic about things moving quickly. I am still hoping we have our referral by the end of February but am prepared for it to take longer. We shall see! I am so excited to start seeing referrals again!!!

  2. Amy @ Filled With Praise Avatar
    Amy @ Filled With Praise

    Love the pictures! I will get back yo you on the readings.
    Blessings,
    Amy

  3. Kim J Avatar
    Kim J

    Happy New Year Andrea. Love the pictures, love the reading. I prayed this morning I would find my Bible as I stuck it somewhere in the mad dash to “clean up” for our Home Study interview. Found it! So very excited about 2010!

  4. Ashley Scott Avatar
    Ashley Scott

    Hi Andrea, first of all, your pictures are amazing…and your kids are so cute!! On to commentary…I love to read lineage passages. Weird, maybe,but I have a good reason. I’m not the type of person who is really going to remember who was born to whom at what age, but I am always fascinated by the verses that are slightly different than the rest. In this case, vs. 21-24 – Enoch. Everyone else lived, had kids, and died. Enoch lived, walked with God, had kids, and then was taken to be with God. I hope my life stands out as one who “walked with God”.

  5. Megan Avatar
    Megan

    As I’m reading chapter 4, Cain is talking about when “they” see me they will kill me, and he gets married…where are all these people suddenly coming from, I wonder? Did God create more people but Genesis just focused on the FIRST people he created? Did Eve give birth many times over and Cain married his sister? I don’t think I ever really thought about this before, because it’s hard to imagine the world before it was populated. Or like I said yesterday, nothingness before the world was created! Then it says that Cain founded a city? Was it populated, what defines a city at that time?
    When God said He put a mark on Cain, it seems to me that its purpose was to protect him and not to shame him. Isn’t amazing how God protects us even before we seek to have a relationship with Him?
    I’m also noticing how long people lived in that time. Adam lived another 800 after his third son was born! Do you think it would be a good or a bad thing to live that long?!? I picture people at even 90 years old today and how frail they are…it’s just incredible to think of the lifespan. Wow!
    It seems random to me, but in chapter 5 it says that Enoch suddenly disappeared because God took him! He lived less than half the amount of time the previous men were listed…I wish I knew more of his story! The Bible says he had a close relationship with God…I just wonder why God took him, and why so “young” in comparison to the rest! It just seems funny to me that the Bible would mention that, but not explain…
    In chapter 6 I found it hard to swallow the words that God regretted ever making people because of their wickedness. I guess the only way that I can relate to that is if Skyler grew up to be an awful person – a murderer, a thief, an adulterer…I can’t even imagine how horrid that would feel. Would I regret ever birthing him??? God must have been furious! But, no wonder it broke His heart!
    Reading the dimensions of the Ark, it doesn’t even seem big enough to house two of every living creature on the earth and Noah’s entire family, does it??? I know it’s huge…I don’t know how huge…but that’s a lot of people/animals to fit in one boat!!! Or maybe that’s just me…but there are a LOT of animals on this planet. Do you think every animal that exists now existed then? Or do you think, for example, that birds bred with each other to make new wonderful birds…hmmmm. Not to mention, it never fails to amaze me the exact instructions God sent Noah! Does God still send exact instructions today? Are we just not listening carefully enough to hear them?

  6. admin Avatar
    admin

    These are GREAT thoughts!!! I had many of the same thoughts—I, too, thought it was interesting how Enoch died…said the Lord took him…I wonder what that looked like. If it was an Elijah thing or what. Very thought provoking questions too Megan…hmmm…a city. I totally didn’t even think of that one. I guess it just looked different than how we would think. Great thoughts. Munching on these thoughts for the rest of the day. This is going to be a great year digging in the word with you all!!!

  7. admin Avatar
    admin

    And on a side note—Amy (babydash) I would love to think of a referral coming by March…but they said to think May…so I like to “plan for the worst and hope for the best”…and for me…May is the best–that way, if it’s earlier I will be super excited instead of a wee bit disappointed:). But I could see it being earlier too when things really start moving again:)

  8. Heather Avatar
    Heather

    I was wondering the same as you this morning when I read the verses. Did Cain & the others marry their sisters or nieces? It does seem strange in our culture today, but I didn’t know what you said about the race still being “genetically pure.” That makes sense I guess! I also noticed (even though we haven’t gotten there yet) that people before the flood lived a lot longer than people after. Since God regretted making man, I wonder if that’s is a consequence…a shorter lifespan?

    I was also amazed that Enoch walked with God. He’s the only one that He really talks about having a relationship with Him, except Noah having favor in His eyes. God took Enoch to be with Him, he didn’t really die a death like we would think. Can you imagine?

    Well, it’s all good stuff & I’m so excited to be able to share with all of you & learn from you! Looking forward to lots more!

    Oh, & your family is precious!

  9. betsy Avatar
    betsy

    Where did you find the dolls? I have been doing some online searching for a nice one. (:

  10. admin Avatar
    admin

    Betsy—sadly, brown baby dolls are harder to find! I had the same problem finding a brown Santa. The doll Frank got and the one they are playing with in these pictures is a Molly P. Original. I bought mine on Overstock for $35. They are out now, but check back. I found the same one online for $70. I am not an American Girl fan–but I bought the Bitty Baby from a friend who bought one not knowing her mom had also bought one for her little girl. It is really cute and her eyes open and close. I think the bitty baby is probably a much better size for your little ones to play with. Just my 2 cents Betsy:) -Andrea

  11. kristi j Avatar
    kristi j

    love the pics…ok, so where did you get those car things…I’ve never seen them before…too fun..my kids would love them…Our mini vacation is so nice…it’s good to get away..oh, i forgot one more weird thing that happened this week…i can’t believe i haven’t told you this one yet..i’ll call ya on my way home tomorrow while in the car…happy new year, kj

  12. Megan Avatar
    Megan

    Oh, and I got my son a black cabbage patch doll off of amazon.com for $17 this last summer…I haven’t checked to see if they are still available though!

  13. Christie Avatar
    Christie

    Wow! I got so excited commenting on yesterday’s blog that I just realized that I didn’t even comment on the reading, per se. As mentioned in yesterday’s comments, I am just joining in. Today is the 9th and I just started reading last night. Thankfully I stopped on Jan 3rd reading because I didn’t want to breeze through it. I let it marinate for a while 🙂 Yes, Andrea, I also thought to myself, “wow, it didn’t take long for all this drama to occur!” The sin, jealousy, murder. Wow, and I’m just in the first few chapters. This reading is shaping up to redefine my definition of action, drama, comedy & mystery. I’m sooo excited! But back to the reading commentary 🙂 I immediately wondered what the mark was that God put on Cain. Was this a physical mark or a spiritual mark. Does that make sense? Then as you mentioned, where did Cain’s wife come from? Thanks for the “genetically pure” note, as I never even thought about that. Wow, this is WAY better than trying to understand it on my own. It really IS a Bible “study”. I felt worn out by the time I finished with the men and their sons and their sons, whew! I did remember that Enoch walked with God and lived 365 years until God took him. I wondered why but couldn’t help but notice that Enoch’s son was Methuselah. Might I mention that I smiled when I read that he lived 969 yrs?!?!? Now I know where the term “old as Methuselah” comes from 🙂 So I thought…maybe God took years from Enoch to give to Methuselah who in return gave him Noah. I know it wasn’t THAT many years, since Enoch only lived somewhere between 1/2 to 1/3 less than the others. Is this a stretch? I tried to just read and not try to over-think it but I just couldn’t help but wonder about Enoch. What made God TAKE him? I long to be “taken” by Him as opposed to just “dying”. Shouldn’t we all?

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