5k Every Day in the Month of May 2017 (Day 26)
I woke up this morning and got in a nice, easy, solo 5k. I ran 3.1 miles in 24 minutes and 19 seconds, which was an average pace of 7:49 per mile. Not many more days until the end of this crazy challenge!
I needed to get my run in first thing in the morning because today was the last day of school for our kids. We homeschool and our three oldest kids are in elementary school. We also have a son in pre-school and a two-year-old daughter who just plain makes school interesting…
Since it was the last day of school, we wanted to do something special. We packed up the kids this morning into our Ford Transit and drove to the Cleveland Zoo.
According to Jodi’s Garmin wristwatch, we ended up walking about 8 miles today at the zoo. It was a full, fun day.
I was amazed during today’s Bible reading (John 8-10) at how plainly Jesus was speaking to the religious rulers, and how obvious his works were, and yet they simply refused to believe. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that they were blind to the truth. Either way, I feel like these three chapters, especially, make it so obvious that Jesus is the Son of God, one with the Father, and sent by the Father, and doing the will of the Father, and yet many of the religious leaders refuse to believe it.
In the case of the blind man who had been healed, they did everything they could to disprove the obvious truth – that this man had been healed by God through Jesus!! When they could no longer put up a semi-valid case against Jesus, they just became angry and threw the once-blind-now-seeing man out of the synagogue.
Amazing.
Sad.
Today at the zoo I was struck with similar thoughts. I was amazed by the pink flamingos standing on one foot. I was mesmerized by the incredibly unique giraffe. I watched the elephants for a long while as they used their trunk to reach out, grab, and then pull food into their huge mouths. I was a bit freaked out by the snakes and tarantulas. I was blown away by the size of some of the fish that we saw (both huge and tiny). I laughed at the monkeys, wanted to hold the cute koala, and marveled at the sloth. I searched in vain for some of the frogs and scratched my head over the chameleon.
All of these incredible animals, reptiles, and amphibians.
Meanwhile, we walked past hundreds of human beings. To the best of my knowledge, we humans were the only ones who were wearing clothes, who were reaching into our back pockets to pull out our wallets and pay an entrance fee to see caged creatures, and who used those same wallets to pay way too much for not-so-great-tasting lunch.
All of this brought about within me an overwhelming sense of awe for our Creator.
How in the world could someone possibly look at these same things and come to the conclusion that evolution brought it about? How is that possible?
How did evolution create all of these incredible, unique, completely different creatures?!
The only possible answer, in my opinion, to how someone can look out and declare, “Wow! All of this came from a single cell evolving over millions of years into what we see now” is utter spiritual blindness.
Like the religious leaders in the chapters that were read today, they see the same things that I see, but they refuse to accept the obvious fact: that this is from God! Anyone who tries to convince them of the truth will ultimately be “thrown out of the synagogue”.
Categories
I ran another full 5K today. Wasn’t a record run, but was good. The side cramps seem to be getting me again, defiantly need to eat healthier!
It’s been rich reading these gospels daily. Stuff that I knew, but forgotten about. How easily Jesus forgives and heals. How quick people are to judge others when they have bigger issues in their lives. If we actually throw stones at people today for their sins, how many people would stay quiet and not condemn others because of their own sins. “Those who have no sins, cast the first stone”. That made me really think on how I respond to people sometimes.
Glad you had a great day at the zoo!
Good job! I have enjoyed the reading and discussion, as well!
Sounds like a fun trip to the zoo, except for the lighter pocket part. Got my 5 k in early this morning since we’re traveling tonight to, of all places, Ohio. In the Bible reading over the last several days I have been struck by the number of times “truth” or “truly” have been used. How many times has Jesus said “very truly” or “truly truly I say…”? This book is filled with the Truth about who Jesus is. And I agree, it is said so plainly. How did they miss it? How many times do I miss Jesus throughout my day?
Haha.. Yeah, I didn’t really NEED a lighter pocket, but hopefully the memories will make it money well spent! Jesus saying “very truly”, or “truly truly I say” was a way of him validating his own words before he ever speaks them. It would be as if he were saying “Amen” before the prayer. It drove the religious people nuts!
26 days of running. I never figured I could have done that many runs in a row. I was feeling good today so I went 4 miles today with a 9:18 pace. Wished my pace would have been better but I’ll keep working on that.
It’s hard to narrow stuff down of what stuck out because there’s so much. While listening to the verses and about Jesus healing the blind man it made me wonder why Jesus healed in different ways. This guy he spit in the dirt to make mud and put it in his eyes and told him to go wash. Other times he said get up and take your mat. It’s interesting how he healed different ways. Also thought it was interesting how the blind guys parents would not say anything about Jesus because they feared the Jewish leaders.
Good job on the run. I personally think that Jesus healed differently each time so that we would not try to fit him into a box.
Wasn’t planning on walking at all but had to yesterday. I was spent. Took 39 students on a six mile walk around Ashland to show them some hidden treasures they may not have realized. Then came home and helped Jeremy and his dad put in four septic clean outs, set posts, and begin electric lines. Needless to say I was tired. Thought about taking a nap and getting up just before midnight to get it in, but didn’t think that was good either.
Sounds like a full day! Walking was probably a GREAT idea! Way to go!
17 speedy miles on the towpath today. The towpath is nice, but it lacks one thing I truly love…HILLS!
Haha… You rock! I’m sure you’ll find hills on the next run…
We ran our 3.1 and got our reading in! Sheldon’s time was 24 minutes flat. I finished about a minute after he did. It isn’t our best time, but it was definitely a good run compared to our other times this week!
Something that stuck out to me in the chapters is the conversation that was going on. I feel like a lot of times there is a question, answer, and maybe a backfire after that, but here it was question after question after question.
Good job! You guys have been doing great with this challenge!
I ran a hard 5 miles Wed, a 5k on the track on Thurs early, and then 4.5 hilly ones in the Mountains of Gatlinburg TN Friday. For some reason I was struck by the amount of dialogue he had with the religious leaders in this passage. I feel like here we get a real glimpse of why He was so critical of them…they refused to believe in Him and they arrogantly ridiculed the blind man for being uneducated and blind. I love the blind man’s testimony…he did not seem to share the same fear of the religious leaders his parents did. One thing he knew…he was blind and now he can see.
Great job on the running! I love the bind man’s testimony, too. How simple is that? “I was blind, now I can see… You guys figure it out! I’m just glad I can see!”
The thing that makes me sadly chuckle about evolution vs creation is that BOTH take faith since, uh, we weren’t around to see what happened! Ha! So even if evolutionists put stock in all the “scientific tools” they’ve developed to “prove” evolution, they still have to have faith in those tools (that THEY have developed lol!) Not sure evolutionists want to admit that lol! And quite frankly for me it takes a lot less faith to believe in an almighty creative creator God than that all this world and what is in it just happened. That’s so crazy to me!!
I’d love to know what Jesus wrote on the ground! I also noice that even though He is not condemning her, He says, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” This seems in direct contrast to what many people are being taught today. Instead it’s, “Jesus created you to be like that or desire that so He must have wanted you to be that way.” Ugh. To myself and my sins I’d rather say as Jesus did to go now and leave them. I also love the either unintentional or intentional humor of the former blind man. “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?” And then later, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” I don’t imagine that a person born blind 2000 plus years ago had much chance to go to school or be successful in life since he was a beggar, but he had faith figured out!
Randy and I ran together. We did 3.14 in 31:01, pace 9.53. He told me on Thursday that you have a God given gift of encouragement (I agree with that!) and that helped him on Thursday. I think he has that gift too and used it on me today! My legs were pretty tired at the end.
I’m glad that you and Randy ran together! That was a perfect recovery run for him (and it sounds like a fun time for you).
I have also wondered what in the world Jesus was writing on the ground. The best guess I have ever heard is that he was playing a quick game of Tic-Tac-Toe with the Father…