5k Every Day in the Month of May (May 1)

It’s May! And that can only mean one thing… well, actually it could mean a lot of things, but if you have read the title of this blog post then you know that in this instance I am thinking it means “5k Every Day in the Month of May”!

Oh yes. It’s going down.

In preparation for the 3rd annual JPM 5k & Musik Festival (+ Family Fun Walk) I am running a 5k every day in the month of May. I will be planning out my runs for the week and will be blogging each day. Feel free to come along for the ride (either figuratively by reading the blog, or by physically joining me for a run or nine).

Today I started off the month with a simple 5k from my home. It was delightful. The weather was great and I just took a nice, easy stroll around town. I ran exactly 3.1 miles in 24:21.6. That is an average pace of 7:52 per mile. That is pretty normal for me. Just a nice, happy pace.

As we move through the month, I intend to run a few fast 5k’s and a couple of long runs, but every day will be at least a 5k.

My schedule for the week is:

• Monday, May 2 -run from home
• Tuesday, May 3 -JPM 5k course (Fredericksburg, OH) 8am
• Wednesday, May 4 -Fairlawn loop (Apple Creek, OH) 3pm
• Thursday, May 5 -run from home
• Friday, May 6 -OARDC (Wooster, OH) 5pm
• Saturday, May 7 -run from home
• Sunday, May 8 -run from home

In the coming weeks I will be having more opportunities to join me on a run. Let me know if you are interested and if you have any suggestions of where to start from.

Looking ahead, I will be running in the Aruna 5k in Dalton, OH on Saturday, May 14. Sign up and join me for that!

Part of the fun in blogging this month will be reporting what I was thinking. Sure, it is highly probable that no one else really cares what I was thinking while running, but it will at least be fun for me to have a record of it.

Today I was thinking about 1 John 3. This morning I preached from 1 John 3:1-10, so it makes sense that the passage was still running through my mind in the afternoon.

I was thinking about how thankful I am to be a child of God. That’s what I am! I belong to Jesus. I have been adopted into his family. In light of this truth, I want to live in such a way that the world can see the love of the Father through me.

I was also thinking about commitment, and specifically the lack of commitment (to things that really matter) that I see from so many Christ followers these days.

For example, our Youth Group meets twice per week. That is not a lot, but it is how often we formally meet together to pray and study the Bible. It seems to me that the baseline commitment for members of our group would be to show up regularly on the two days that we meet. I’m talking minimum, here.

The strange reality is that many of the members of our Youth Group who would call themselves “very committed” do not actually show up regularly. So how does that work?

Theoretically, running a 5k every day in the month of May should make me a better runner, but I am going to have to be committed to it. If I do not actually get out and run, I’m likely not going to grow as a runner.

In the same way, if the members of our Youth Group don’t even show up, they are likely not going to grow in their faith.

I laughed as I imagined a scenario where a high school baseball player told the varsity coach that he wanted to commit to the team, but that he would only show up when it worked out… and that would amount to 2 or 3 of the 5 practices held after school each week -or less (the equivalent to showing up for church only 1 out of the two times-or less).

Perhaps the student would say, “I don’t need to show up for team practices.  I can practice on my own at home.”

Uh huh.

No coach in their right mind would accept these circumstances.

So what does Jesus have to say about this? Perhaps his words found at the end of Luke 9 give us the best insight:

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:57-62, ESV)

To be fair, we are seeing commitment levels far above the baseline commitment previously mentioned from many of our students -not all, but many. It is a blessing to be walking with this group of committed followers. I see them growing in Christ and it brings me pure joy. I see the love of the Father in them.

As for the others… well, I don’t really see them at all, so…