Being a Bible college student naturally I am required to study the books of the Bible. Currently I am reading a book having to do with the Old Testament and one of the questions I am asked to write on has me looking into my own life for correlation. We are still quite early in Genesis and the author is comparing the story of Adam with the story of Israel. Both were granted a divine location where they were in close contact with God Himself. 
They were given a law to follow in order to remain there and both fell short of said law and thus were expelled from the divine location. That's tough love, baby. When I first was required to read the Old Testament at length I was upset about the idea of following a God that could ravage His people so brutally. Whole people-types would be wiped out for not maintaining what they were told to do. I was furious!! One day I was telling a friend about my disappointments and she reminded me that they were warned; God had told His people if you do this (evil and bad thing) I will do this (brutal and nasty punishment). Talk about action and consequence!! AND YET the people did do the evil thing they were warned not to and so God sent fire and wrath from above and the entire people were no more. It wasn't until one year at camp did I understand the love behind God's extreme response. We had been having a problem with staff being out after lights out. Finally the program director had sat the entire staff team down and told them if any of the group
were caught out after the lights out bell rang they would be sent home for the remainder of the week. One night I was walking the camp as it was my night on rounds and I found two of our staff members helping out at the petting zoo. Their intentions were noble, but the fact was they were out without permission after the lights out bell had gone. The next day they were sat down and told they were going home. The program director explained to them that it was in love that he made the call. You see we assured the staff that we love them and are walking with them. We also told them our promise to send them home if they broke the lights out rule. If we break the promise we made about the consequences of their actions how could they be sure we also wouldn't break the promise that we love them? They were sent home with the invitation to return the next week (which both did). I have realized that another story of camp reflects the Adam/Israel tale. She had been a camper and a CLTD at camp over the years - she was granted a divine place to be close to God. She was granted rules to live by as such. However, she managed to break a few of the rules and was told that she had one more chance to live by the laws provided or the consequence was banishment. Alas one more transgression took place and she was required to leave for the remainder of the summer. The really amazing thing is though, that God still loved Adam and He still loved Israel. I'm not trying to suggest that the powers that be here at camp are God, but we still
love all three of the people that we expelled from our garden. There is grace and forgivess and without that we'd all be hooped! How often does this story play out?
They were given a law to follow in order to remain there and both fell short of said law and thus were expelled from the divine location. That's tough love, baby. When I first was required to read the Old Testament at length I was upset about the idea of following a God that could ravage His people so brutally. Whole people-types would be wiped out for not maintaining what they were told to do. I was furious!! One day I was telling a friend about my disappointments and she reminded me that they were warned; God had told His people if you do this (evil and bad thing) I will do this (brutal and nasty punishment). Talk about action and consequence!! AND YET the people did do the evil thing they were warned not to and so God sent fire and wrath from above and the entire people were no more. It wasn't until one year at camp did I understand the love behind God's extreme response. We had been having a problem with staff being out after lights out. Finally the program director had sat the entire staff team down and told them if any of the group
were caught out after the lights out bell rang they would be sent home for the remainder of the week. One night I was walking the camp as it was my night on rounds and I found two of our staff members helping out at the petting zoo. Their intentions were noble, but the fact was they were out without permission after the lights out bell had gone. The next day they were sat down and told they were going home. The program director explained to them that it was in love that he made the call. You see we assured the staff that we love them and are walking with them. We also told them our promise to send them home if they broke the lights out rule. If we break the promise we made about the consequences of their actions how could they be sure we also wouldn't break the promise that we love them? They were sent home with the invitation to return the next week (which both did). I have realized that another story of camp reflects the Adam/Israel tale. She had been a camper and a CLTD at camp over the years - she was granted a divine place to be close to God. She was granted rules to live by as such. However, she managed to break a few of the rules and was told that she had one more chance to live by the laws provided or the consequence was banishment. Alas one more transgression took place and she was required to leave for the remainder of the summer. The really amazing thing is though, that God still loved Adam and He still loved Israel. I'm not trying to suggest that the powers that be here at camp are God, but we still
love all three of the people that we expelled from our garden. There is grace and forgivess and without that we'd all be hooped! How often does this story play out? 
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