Saturday Morning...

I had the job of getting Mrs. Fish's car to the garage for repairs this morning. I also had Bible Study group at 7.00 am. My plan was a pretty simple one, and I executed it well. I put my bicycle in the back of the car and drove it to the church. I stashed it in some bushes in the front of the building. I was thinking there is NO WAY a thief would steal a bike from in front of a church at 6.00 in the morning on a Saturday with the temperature hovering at 12 degrees. I drove the car to the garage and dropped the key in the box.

Then I started my run back to the church. It was a weird run. I think it was in part due to the cold, teh hour, the day, and the unfamiliar terrain. Mix all those things together and it just seemed almost eerie, especially when you throw in teh ever-present bunniez. It was a feeling I couldn't shake, and it seemed worse as I contemplated how many times I have driven this exact route...hundreds, to be sure. I am glad I ran with Mango, as I could see when the reflective properties of the jacket signal the driver and they make that swerve out to toward the other lane. It's ever so reassuring.

So I ran to Bible Study, got my cup of coffee and some solid fellowship with my brothers. We tore into Colossians 3:1-17 today, and I think we could have spent another week or two discussing it.

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

After that, I re-bundled up so I could ride my bike home. One of the things I failed to realize is that my bag didn't have an over-the-shoulder strap. I took a pair of sweat pants out of the bag and fashioned one, MacGyver-style. I thought it was rather ingenious.

I rode home, and though it was COLD at first, the pedaling quickly warmed me, except for my fingers and my nose. I was wearing a balaclava (not to be confused with a baklava) and pulling it up caused my glasses to fog over. Pulling it down made my nose a little chilly. I decided that seeing was a little more important.

So I rode home in the weather and even chose to stretch it out a little, making a right where I could have gone straight to shorten the ride. All told, it was a four-mile run which is long for me, and a six-mile ride which is waaaay short for me. Ironically, my run felt really strong, while my bike, having been neglected for several months, really taxed me. I consoled myself with the belief that everyone else was reading the paper, sleeping, or eating donuts in front of the television...