THE SCENE: Sunny, temps in low 70s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Plank raises, 20 Plank Jacks, 10 Rockettes, 10 Cherry Pickers, 8 Wide Arm Circles Forward and Backward
THA-THANG:
Mosey to stop sign on northeast corner of Admin Bldg. We will go back on the road that semi-circles around the Admin Bldg stopping at various cones to do exercises. The exercises at each cone are as follows:
- Cone 1: 10 Burpees. Then, Barry Sanders to Cone 2.
- Cone 2: 20 Big Boys. Then Bear Crawl to Cone 3.
- Cone 3. 20 Squat Jumps. Then Mosey past parking lot to Cone 4.
- Cone 4: 20 Imperial Walkers (both legs = 1). Then Sprint to Cone 5.
- Cone 5. 20 Squats. Then Hop to Cone 6.
- Cone 6. 20 Merkins. Then Mosey to Cone 7
- Cone 7: 20 Hello Dollies (4 count), 20 Iron Mikes, 20 American Hammers, 20 Dying Bugs, 20 Flutter Kicks
Mosey to Shaded Area near Park Entryway off of Northshore.
40 Baby Crunches
Mosey to Bottom of Mt. Everest. 40 Baby Crunches. Then run up to top of Mt. Everest.
Rinse and Repeat on the 7 cone run on the road that semicircles around the Admin Bldg.
Mosey to AO.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Ten men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Helping the Curmudgeons of the World
As HIMs we try to help others in our community. Some folks take our help graciously. Others do not. Some people are mighty difficult to help. I have been giving a number of messages about helping such “hard to help” people. Helping difficult people, the curmudgeons of the world, is hard. If we can trust that God is also working with them, it might make it easier for us. Our efforts may not reap rewards quickly. Rather, we might be planting a seed that will lead to blossoming that is very slow to come.
Furthermore, we must remember that we are sinners ourselves. The curmudgeon’s pride, disrespect, and lack of kindness may be sinful but that does not make us somehow superior to the curmudgeon. In fact, the curmudgeon might be able to offer us something that helps us to grow as humans.
A wonderful illustration of how Curmudgeons can involuntarily be helped by others and help others as well is the book A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. Ove is a true curmudgeon. He can be downright rude and cruel to others. He is 59 years old, has been forced to take retirement, and is pissed about it. He hates life and wants out of it. We find out, in the book, that the one person whom he did allow to get close to him was Sonja, his wonderful wife. She saw beneath his outward stiffness. But we also learn that Sonja has died of medical causes.
Ove contemplates and tries various ways to kill himself in the book. But they are foiled by heaven, fate, or crazy people in his life that he just can’t get away from. Two of those people are Patrick and Parvaneh, new neighbors who back up their U-Hual right over Ove’s mailbox. Others are an overweight neighbor named Jimmy, a diffident mailman named Adrian, a flamboyantly gay young man named Mirsad, and a crazy cat that keeps on coming around Ove’s house when Ove would like it to go the hell away. Ove begrudgingly helps each one of these characters (or animals in the book). He feeds the cat and finally allows it to come into his home. He helps Jimmy get a job. He teaches Parvaneh to drive and takes her to the hospital to deliver her baby. And, these people, also help Ove. Although he wants out of life, they give him a reason to live.
It isn’t that any of these characters made the choice to help this curmudgeon called Ove or that he sought them out. Rather, it is through their sloppy, confounding, odd, and downright hilarious interactions and relationships that each character grows – and takes Ove away from the incredible depression that was leading him to try suicide.
So, our interactions with others need not be smooth and on target to derive benefit. Your attempt to help curmudgeons will be downright difficult and sometimes seem impossible. But if you can be patient, who knows how God will work in your relationship with the curmudgeon. You may plant a seed that brings about change. And, God may work with your relationship in such a way that the doggone curmudgeon actually helps you!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Iceman gets married Saturday and Hooker’s wife, Carly, is due with baby in April! Prayers for the aforementioned.