#5kMay2019 Day 5 (BLOG)

Sometimes you just don’t feel it.

I woke up today feeling like garbage. I don’t know if it was a stomach bug, or what, but I was struggling. I barely made it to church (and only had to leave the service once), and decided early this morning that I would try to get my run in AFTER the service.

After the service, I laid down to take a nap. I still felt terrible. I was hoping I would wake up feeling like a new man, but I didn’t. I woke up feeling only slightly better.

But I still needed to get my 5k in, so at around 4:30pm I laced up my shoes and hit the streets.

Originally, I had hoped that I would get a long run in today. With the way I was feeling, that wasn’t going to happen. So I settled for my classic 5k “Triangle Route”.

Strangely, when I began to run, I actually felt better. Not 100%, but much better. I considered stretching out the run for more miles, but then I thought, I better not press my luck. Plus, a 5k on Day 5 just seems fitting, right?!

I ended up running exactly 3.1 miles in 21 minutes and 54 seconds, which was an average pace of 7:04 per mile. It was a nice little run.

About 1.25 miles into my run, I had an unexpected situation… I was running on the sidewalk and a car came barreling out of a driveway to pull out onto the road. The driver was NOT looking, and we were on a definite collision course. I slammed on my brakes (he didn’t) and just narrowly missed being run over. I shook my head, changed directions, and ran behind the car, knocking on the trunk as I went. The driver slammed on his brakes, surprised to hear a knock on his trunk. I looked back as I continued to run and I saw the driver putting his window down. I’m not sure if he was planning to apologize, yell at me, or just get a better view, but I didn’t stick around to find out. I had a run to finish.

Running can be dangerous. Often, when a runner gets seriously injured, it wasn’t actually their fault. It is typically the fault of someone else, who was lost in their own little world and not looking out for the wellbeing of others.

We see this happening several times in the chapters that we read today.

The Pharisees are constantly offended by Jesus. He is not doing them any wrong. He is actually speaking the truth. If they would take a moment to look outside of their own, tiny perspective, perhaps they would have seen that God was doing something new and exciting. (To be fair, some of the religious leaders did see through Jesus that God was up to something new and exciting. Nicodemus would be a great example of this).

Herod was offended by John the Baptist simply because John the Baptist told him the truth about Herod’s sinful behavior. John did nothing wrong. The end result? He was beheaded by Herod.

The people of Nazareth were offended by Jesus. Their worldview was so tiny that they could not see how great and gracious He was.

… coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.”

(Matthew 13:54–57, ESV)

It is sad to think about all that we can miss when we have the wrong perspective.