On Treadmills, John Mark, and Tex Cobb

Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work
Acts 15:37-38

My mother once told me that 95% of all treadmills end up as clotheslines after two months. I have a weight machine I spent 250 bucks on in the garage. It holds my extension cords.

One of the fears I have as I begin this blog is this "treadmill syndrome". I guess that's why I'm not telling anybody about it (except my brother, who called me tonight to tell me that he and his wife are expecting twins). I figure if this fizzles out after a few weeks, nobody knows, no harm done. I hope it doesn't, cause I do think this could be a good thing, but I don't trust myself.

John Mark was probably pumped to go on a missions trip with the great Paul of Tarsus. A young man on the adventure of a lifetime, learning from the best of the best. It quite possibly could have been his first trip away from home. But even that lost its luster. I wonder if John Mark got sick of doing all the dirty work, or tired of Paul's bossiness. Perhaps he just missed his mother. Bottom line is the treadmill became a clothesline. He took his ball and went home. I guess everything becomes routine after a while.

This decision wreeked havoc beyond what John Mark could have imagined. It ultimately broke up one of the most successful tag teams in professional Christianity. The bible tells us that Paul and Barnabas parted ways when John Mark resurfaced. I would have liked to hear that, umm, conversation.

Sometimes, a lot of times, the battle is just to hang in there. I would probably have big muscles now if I hung in there with the weight set. Many overweight people in this world would be substantially thinner if they hung in there with their treadmills. I'd feel really good if I could hang in there with this here blog.

I'm sure John Mark wished he just hung in there.

One of my kinda-heroes is a guy named Randall "Tex" Cobb. Remember him? He was a guy who then boxing champion Larry Holmes beat to an absolute pulp for 12 rounds. I don't think Cobb landed a punch in the entire fight. It was like an old WWWF squash match. His face was like three sizes bigger by the end of the fight. But Holmes couldn't knock Cobb out. He just kept hanging in there.

After the fight Cobb said something that I'll never forget. At least I think he said it. It was something along the lines of:

"Larry Holmes didn't win the fight. He won the first 12 rounds."

Translation: If they allowed the fight to go another 12 rounds, I would have won.

Cobb had no talent, but he had a super-size portion of grit. He had sticktoitism. Sometimes that's all we need. I hope to have some with this blog because I believe God can use this.

What do you need sticktoitism for in your life? Is there something in your life you started, but struggling to follow through? Thinking of giving up?

Sometimes they involve things much more significant than treadmills.