A Mystery in Mark

My daily reading took me to Mark 14 yesterday where something stood out to me. I don't remember ever reading this part of the account before, though I know I've read through Mark. Jesus has been betrayed. His disciples have all just fled. Here we find a brief mention of a young man. "And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked."(Mark 14:51-52 ESV) Mark 14 then continues, telling of Jesus being taken before the high priest, nothing more, before or after, about the young man. To me this was mysterious and gave me pause before I continued my reading. I returned to this and another puzzling passage in Exodus later in the evening and read them over, logging them in my journal. As I was wrapping up, I recalled Mark 10 where a man came to Jesus, asking how to inherit eternal life. "And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions."(Mark 10:21-22 ESV) The many times I've read the accounts of the 'rich young ruler' I have always assumed that since he went away disheartened and sorrowful, and Jesus told his disciples how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, that the young man didn't make it, that he didn't react correctly to Jesus' admonition. Last week when I read this account in Mark 10, what stood out to me was that "Jesus LOVED him, and said..." I believe Jesus loved him and gave him instructions that empowered the young man to obey. I believe that he went away grief stricken because he was torn between the great possessions he had in this world and the life that Jesus offered, but I believe that Jesus love for him prevailed. Jesus' commands to us contain within them the power to carry them out. I think this young man in Mark 14, covered only with a linen cloth, had sold all his possessions and given them to the poor, and had come to follow his master. To me this strengthens Jesus' word to his disciples in Mark 10, "Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”"(Mark 10:27 ESV)

Skiing Okemo

I Hit the treeline twice. The bindings on the skis were too loose; they kept flying off. The first time I hit the treeline my pole got caught in the snow bank and snatched my arm up over my head... The second time my ski shot way up into the woods and I had to hike through four feet of snow to get it. But I went all the way to the summit today and made it to the bottom, however painfully, without medical transport. IT was a good day, which I will still be feeling tomorrow, and the next day...