#5kMay2020 Blog (Day 10)
I would love to say that I woke up first thing in the morning and crushed a 5k. Nope. Instead, I woke up a little late and had a nice breakfast with my bride of 17 years on our anniversary. Then we attended church in our living room, and drove over to Jodi’s mom’s house to celebrate Mother’s Day over lunch.
For my run, I decided to bring a change of clothes along and just run home from there. It is a little over 8 miles. Seemed perfect for a week-ending run. I was able to wait until the world warmed up a bit, and still got my run in before the early evening downpour. I would say that was a successful day.
All in all, I was able to log 62.2 miles of running this week. That’s a nice little collection of weekly miles.
Daily Run: I ran home from Mt. Eaton to Apple Creek. The run was a total of 8.25 miles, and I finished in 1 hour and 1 minute, which is an average pace of 7:25 per mile. I did not have a goal in mind (beyond simply making it home), but I managed to accidentally string together a progression run.
| Mile | Pace |
|---|---|
| Mile 1: | 7:46 |
| Mile 2: | 7:40 |
| Mile 3: | 7:36 |
| Mile 4: | 7:31 |
| Mile 5: | 7:25 |
| Mile 6: | 7:19 |
| Mile 7: | 7:16 |
| Mile 8: | 6:56 |
| Final 0.25: | 6:35 |
Daily Bible Reading: We are finishing the gospel of Matthew and moving on to the gospel of Mark today. I love both, but the gospel of Mark is maybe a little extra fascinating to me partly because it is similar to Matthew, but it moves so quickly. It is generally understood that, while John Mark is the physical writer of the gospel of Mark, it was mostly Simon Peter’s input that he was capturing.
John Mark was a rather complex companion to both Peter and the Apostle Paul.
He first appears in the New Testament in Acts 12:12. Peter escapes to John Mark’s mother’s home, where the church is gathered in prayer for Peter, after he was miraculously freed from prison.
When he realized [he had been miraculously freed from prison, Peter] went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. Acts 12:12, ESV
From that point on, John Mark is mentioned in some rather obscure but significant ways.
He is the cousin of Barnabas, who traveled on many missionary journeys with Paul. Probably primarily because of his relationship with Barnabas, John Mark joins Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. Acts 13:5 says that “they had John to assist them.” For whatever unknown reason, John Mark departed from them and returned to Jerusalem (see Acts 13:13).
It seems that this premature departure did not sit well with Paul. When Barnabas was asked to join Paul for a later missionary journey, Barnabas insisted on his cousin, John Mark, going along with them. Paul refused to include John Mark, referring to the fact that he had left them on that first trip. Unable to come to an agreement, Paul and Barnabas had such a “sharp disagreement” that they decided to no longer travel together. Paul departed with Silas through Syria and Cilicia, and Barnabas sailed away with John Mark to Cyprus (see Acts 15:36-41).
Though their relationship was not on the best of terms, it does appear that Paul and John Mark were able to reconcile their differences. Later in his life, Paul tells the Colossians to “welcome John Mark” (see Colossians 4:10), and refers to him as a “fellow worker” in his letter to Philemon (see Philemon 1:24). Paul asks for John Mark by name in his second letter to his disciple, Timothy, saying, “Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:11).
Meanwhile, Peter seems to have treated John Mark as his own son (see 1 Peter 5:13). It is most commonly believed that John Mark wrote the gospel of Mark, basing it off of Peter’s first-hand, eye-witness experience. Though there is much debate around the timeline, many scholars believe that Mark’s gospel appeared first, and that both Matthew and Luke used Mark’s gospel as a foundation for their own.
As we jump into the gospel of Mark, I think it is helpful (or at least fascinating) to consider the idea that we are practically jumping into the mind of Peter, one of Jesus’ inner three disciples.
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Your pace gets faster the longer you run. I don’t understand how that works lol. It’s opposite for me.
I would like to share an Amazing God Experience we had over the weekend. It pertains to the Scripture reading for Saturday.
Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’”
Matthew 25:34-36 NKJV
Saturday I read this Scripture and it struck me that I had done all these things! All but one. I had never invited a stranger into my home. I wasn’t even sure I had the opportunity. This saddened my heart and I told the Lord I was sorry I never had invited a stranger into my home.
Let’s back up to Thursday morning. We received two random phone calls. One from 3 people needing a place to spend the night on Saturday night, the other, a couple wanting to come for a visit on Sunday morning. We said yes to both and I cleaned the house and bought some food for the weekend. 48 hours later both parties called to cancel their plans for the weekend. One because of COVID-19, the other because of a previous engagement he had forgotten about. Random calls. Random cancellations.
That evening as my friend and I were walking on the bike trail suddenly a man came towards us, his bike loaded with multiple saddle bags. It was obvious he was biking long distance. I said hello and asked him where he was headed. He stopped and said he was headed for Erie Pennsylvania but said right now I really need a place to stay. Would you know of a place I could pitch my tent for the night? Instantly the Scripture I had read only 5 hours earlier came to mind. I saw a stranger, someone in need, someone I could invite into our home. I knew immediately that I was being given an opportunity that I had not been given before. Without hesitation, without any qualms or fear but with a total KNOWING that this is what I was to do. I told the gentleman, whose name was John, we have a spare bedroom, would you like to stay in there instead of sleeping outside in your tent? He immediately replied that yes a warm soft bed and a hot shower would be better than sleeping out in his tent in 30° weather. (I had called my husband to ask him if he was ok with that which he was.) John arrived at our home an hour later and after a enjoyable visit I was able to share with him what I had read that morning and how the Lord had clearly ordained our paths to cross.
Reservations were made for the weekend and then reservations were cancelled so I would have an empty bed for John. So I would KNOW this was of God!! He heard my heart and gave me the opportunity I desired.
Wow! What a story! God is good!