Hey y'all, you're listening to the Join the podcast with your host, Emma Daughter. To learn more about

today's reading or to read along with us, check out jointhejourney.com. Thanks for joining. Today, we're reading

Mark 15. And as I read verse 44, I was struck by this question. Why was Pilate surprised that Jesus had already died? When I was in high

school, one of my friends planned a surprise party for me. And this was around the time that Taylor Swift's

red album came out, but more specifically, the song 22, which if you haven't heard, it's a song about a 22-year-old's

birthday party. And one of the lines says,

it feels like the perfect night for breakfast at midnight. So because I liked Taylor Swift so much,

my friend planned a surprise birthday party for me at midnight with all of my friends,

and we met it IHOP for breakfast. But it was a surprise party. I didn't know that's what we were

doing. So long

story short, the plan was, or at least what I thought was happening, was that my friend was sleeping

over, but she'd forgotten her contact, so we had to drive down the road to get them. But we got to

the stoplight, and instead of turning left into her neighborhood, she handed me a blindfold and made

me put it on. And my parents knew about

this plan. Everyone was in on it. But at one point, it just started to feel like I'd been in the car

for a really long time. I was a little suspicious because I didn't know everyone knew. I didn't

know where we were going. So I decided to take off my blindfold and just do a little peek. And much to my surprise, my friend,

well, she was texting and driving. So all my trust went out the window and I refused to wear the

blindfold while we were in the car because I was convinced I could have died that night or that this

night might be my last night to live.

And I was surprised to see her texting and driving, but I was even more surprised when we arrived

at IHOPP to celebrate my birthday and all my friends were there.

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