#5kMay2020 Blog (Day 24)

I was worried that I may be a little sore today after a 37 mile run yesterday. I have heard from many people who were concerned about the amount of sun that I got yesterday, as well. Yes, I got super sunburned, but I’ll be fine. I am one-eighth Cherokee, so I am expecting that whatever amount of Cherokee skin I have on my body will be to my advantage. It really doesn’t hurt that bad.

This morning I ran a little warm-up / shakeout 2 mile run to the Waynedale track. Then I ran a 5k on the track with my bride. Then I walked with my 5-year-old and ran a couple of laps with two of my daughters. All in all, I wound up with a little over 6.5 miles.

Daily Run: My run to the track was 2.1 miles at an 8:07 average pace, which was a total moving time of 17 minutes and 12 seconds. Not bad. Then Jodi and I ran 3.15 miles around the track at a 9:13 average pace, which was a total moving time of 29 minutes and 6 seconds. While I was waiting for my kids to finish their 5k’s on the track, I walked a mile with Eden and ran a final lap with Piper and then another final lap with Taylor. That little “run” ended up being a total of 1.57 miles at a 15:20 average pace, for a total moving time of 24 minutes and 10 seconds.

Daily Bible Reading: I think that somehow the church is doing it wrong. I am not blaming a specific church or a specific group. But somehow, as a whole, I think we are doing it wrong.

The most reasonable, logical response for someone who comes to know who Jesus truly is should be exactly like the response that we see from the woman at the well.

… the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”

John 4:28–29, ESV

The normal, natural response for this woman was to go and tell everyone about the man whom she had recently come to know on a deeply personal level—Jesus.

Coming to an understanding of who He is, she no longer cared about temporal things. She left her water jar.

Coming to an understanding of who He is, she wanted everyone else to know it, too. She went away into town, to the people she was likely avoiding by being all alone at the well during the hottest part of the day.

Coming to an understanding of who He is, she no longer hid from her past. She went away to the town and invited them to see a man who told her all that she ever did. They likely knew exactly what she had done. She no longer cared. She had met a man who knew everything, and loved and accepted her, anyway.

Coming to an understanding of who He is, she began to ask deeper, honest questions—no longer pretending to have all of the answers. When we begin to grasp the vastness of who God is, His infinite love and knowledge and goodness, it creates a humility within us that is willing to admit we don’t have all of the answers, but we know the One who does. Can this be the Christ? Deep down she knew the answer, but I believe she continued to ponder the full reality of what it meant for the Messiah to be walking among them.

Unfortunately, we too often fail to experience this same reality in the church. Too many people who come to faith within the church walls remain consumed by temporal things, unwilling or too afraid to share the gospel with others, unwilling or too afraid to be honest about their past and what Jesus saved them from, and unwilling or too afraid to go deeper in their understanding about who Jesus is and what it means that the Messiah dwelt among us.

We are far too earthly minded, far too quiet about who God is and what He has done in our lives, and still somehow come across as know-it-alls. But it shouldn’t be this way.

The normal, natural response to coming to faith in Christ should be to leave temporal things behind as we go and tell everyone about the man who saved our eternal souls, and who loves us beyond imagination.