THE SCENE: Windy, temps in 40s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Plank Jack, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Mountain Climbers, 10 Rockettes, Plank Reaches, 7 Wide Arm Circles Forward and Backward.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to parking lot by southern ball fields. We will suicides, running from curb on south end of parking lot to successive lights in the parking lot. Each time we return to curb we will do 20 Baby Crunches before running to next light.
Mosey to Pavilion by Outdoor Chapel. We will do Elevens starting with 1 Bench Dip off and 10 Squat Jumps. After Squat Jumps, each man runs around the Pavilion and back to the bench he started with to do 2 Bench Dips and 9 Squat Jumps. This pattern continues until each man has done 10 Bench Dips and 1 Squat Jump.
Mosey to Serpentine Sidewalk. We will run length of sidewalk until it reaches the perimeter trail but will stop to do ten Big Boy Sit-ups every other light. Those finishing first we sweep all men back.
Mosey to CMU pile. Divide into teams of three. Each team grabs three CMUs. One man carries two CMUs across parking lot to next partner who carries them back to next partner. On one side of the parking lot men do side-straddle hops while waiting for a partner to return. On the other side of the parking lot men do curls while waiting for partner to return. Once all partners have carried the CMU to another side, partners will rinse and repeat but do overhead presses as the exercise with the stationary CMU. When all partners have finished again, we will rinse and repeat one more time but do Rows with the stationary CMU.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Fifteen men and one FNG, Chip Omer, whom we dubbed “Salsa.”
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Where do rivers flow? To the sea. My good friend, High-Heels, taught me that our own Tennessee River flows toward Chattanooga, dips into Alabama, heads northwest to the border of Alabama and Mississippi, then, of all things, heads north through Tennessee again to reach the Ohio River at Paducah, Kentucky. From there, the waters head west to the Mississippi River and south before emptying into the Gulf. A crazy route but the waters flow to the sea.
As humans, where do our lives naturally flow? To God. And, no matter what crazy routes we take, our direction, if we live for what we were created for, should be toward God. What a beautiful metaphor it is to think of our lives being the rivers that flow to God, who is the Sea. God created us for this and expects us to journey toward Him, our creator, our Home.
There is a song written by Pete Townsend (yes, the guitar crashing band member and primary song writer for the rock group, the Who) that beautifully depicts this idea of our lives flowing toward God. It was a song written on one of his solo albums. The song is entitled “The Sea Refuses No River.”
Just as Jesus accepted all humans, whether tax collectors, outlaws, or prostitutes, the Sea, Townsend proclaims, refuses no river.
The sea refuses no river Whether stinking and rank Or red from the tank Whether pure as a spring There's no damned thing stops this poem. The sea refuses no river And this river is homeward flowing.
And it is that idea of God accepting him that helps him, helps the individual human, to live:
There was a fool in a dressing robe Riding out the twilight hour Lonely and cold in an empty home Trying to access his power But now he's like a stream in flood Swollen by the storm He doesn't care if he sheds his blood Let him be reborn.
The wonderful thing to know is that there is no privilege to the religiously elite here. The front row of seats is not sealed off to those who live by some code that Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or any type of religious snob claims we must live by, Jesus informed us of this when he said, “The last shall be first and the first shall be last.: (Matthew 20:16)
Townsend, recognizing this in his song, is able to celebrate the reborn course of his life toward God:
The sea refuses no river No pecking code respected for the damned The sea refuses no river Whether starving and ill Or strung on some pill Just 'cause you own the land There's no unique hand plugs the dam The sea refuses no river And the river is where I am The river is where I am.
You are on the river. Take comfort in the direction it flows. The sea is the end to your journey. And, the sea will not refuse you.
MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Iceman’s father, for Pinto, and for Thunderstruck’s mother.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Troubadour Q training at Asylum this Saturday morning, 7 am.