Lent, pt. 13

As I mentioned yesterday, I want to share some thoughts on Mark 5.

Here are the verses:

“A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”” NIV Mark 5:24b-34

This is a somewhat familiar story. It might not rank with the feeding of the 5000 or David and Goliath, but it still has great meaning and potential for you and me.

This passage is multi-faceted so it will take a few days to get through it.

To start with, there is an overall aspect that is most important.

For the woman in the story, her goal was to get to Jesus.

Let that sink in.

Jesus was the goal.

For us, during this Lent season, Jesus should be our goal.

Whatever the pain, people, or problems that we encounter, Jesus is our aim.

As you sleep tonight, dream of that goal. That glorious goal of someday being with Jesus.

Ah, what a glorious day indeed.

See you tomorrow!

 

Pressing on, pt. 1

Sports purist. That is the title I have given to myself. Because I live in Green Bay, most would assume that I am a Packers fan. But then I tell them I moved from Minnesota. Their face kinda squirms and they ask, “So does that mean you are a Vikings fan?!?!” 

Their tone implies I have done something horribly wrong. How could I cheer for another team. Then, I begin to explain that I am a sports purist.

It does not matter the sport, the team, the player, the gender, or the age. If I see a person going flat out to make the play or win the game, that makes me happy. This is the reason that I would rather just watch the Top 10 Plays of the Week on ESPN. They have the best plays of all the sports! Pete Rose, pictured here, shows what I am talking about.

Pete Rose and Roy Staiger

Pete Rose

Although his career was tainted because of his gambling issues, he still remains a great example of giving it all.


Paul writes in Philippians 3:13, “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,”

There was a sense of purpose. Paul said that he did not have it yet. He was reaching, striving, straining for it. He was going flat out. Fill tilt.

I love that about Paul. He is the kind of person that I would watch. I am sports purist and Paul would certainly, without a doubt, make any top 10 list.

Are you going all out? Full tilt, not looking back but reaching for the goal that God has put before you? God can and will give you the power to get there. Just keep pressing on!