Mark 11

That poor fig tree. Figs weren't in season. I think killing it as an example to the disciples was a great illustration of the power of Christ.
I also think about how Jesus went-off in the Temple. Our church is a sacred place. The things that we do in it should be held in a sacred manner. If it is praising God, or having a Men's fellowship group, it needs to be something that honors God.

Mark 10

Looking at verses 17 - 31, the part that talked about giving up all of your possessions to follow Christ, it looks hard. The only thing that I thought of that this would be possible would be in the field of missions. This would be where you would need to uproot yourselves and to relocate with the purpose of ministry. Is this the only way in which you could follow these scriptures to the letter of the law? I'm not going to sell my house, quit my job, and to constantly look for people to share Christ with, I don't think that is what God is asking me to do at this point. Not needing to get into the debate of how literal to take the bible, I was just curious how a guy living in the suburbs with his family could do this. I tithe, I go to church, I know I could do better ministering to those around me, but how can I put these verses to heart?

Mark 9

I think the part from verses 14 - 27. It has some suspense to it. Just imagining Jesus considering how to heal this boy and teaching his father about having faith to be able to be healed. There is the added element in verse 26. It says that Jesus saw a crowd running toward him. I imagine it being like in a television show today with someone in the show waiting for a file to load and running out of the room just in time. It is funny to see that happening in the Bible as well.

Mark 8

I don't quite understand when Jesus is talking about the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod. I know that Jesus ends it by saying, "Do you still not understand?"
Unfortunately, I don't quite get it.

Mark 7

The first part of this chapter that sticks out is when Jesus talks about clean and unclean foods. I know that there are plenty of religions now that don't eat certain foods and it is weird to me. I'm glad that Jesus said that all foods were good to eat. We would be missing out on a lot of good things.
The second thing that stood out to me was the part at the end after Jesus had healed the deaf and mute. He told them not to tell anyone. Why? Did I miss something earlier about this? It seems like good marketing to get the word out about what Jesus can do and for people to be able to build their faith believing that Jesus is the Christ that he has said that he is.

Mark 6

I like the part where Jesus says that only in the place where Jesus grew up and was that people really respected him for who and what he did. They were amazed, but giving him a hard time because it was expected that he wouldn't have as much knowledge of the spiritual sides that he had. After doing some reading I now understand why the people were so puzzled with Jesus' knowledge of the Bible and able to teach in the temple. It was the father's duty to teach his son a trade and it was expected that Jesus would have been a carpenter. Any child that did not follow in his father's footsteps was looked at as a failure of the father's responsibilites.
I think about what it is like to have someone famous grow up around you. Someone that you have known for awhile and have gotten used to them in a different sence. People in Jesus' home town had gotten used to Jesus and knew what he was like. Others were shocked at what they saw. I think that is neat.

Mark 5

I love this chapter because it focuses on having faith. The woman who was sick was healed by faith. The little girl who had died was resurrected by Jesus because of the faith of those that loved her. I think about the lady who just wanted to touch Jesus because with her faith, she knew that she would be healed. That is awesome. I want to be that way. I want to have that kind of faith. I have times where I feel my faith is pretty strong, but more often than not, I have times where I know that I am weak. I just want the chance to grow more and see more and do more to be able to grow my faith to know all that God does for me. I need to work on that and to just believe in how much He can really do.