F3 Knoxville

You Can’t Take That Away From Me

AO: asylum-daybreak
Q: Lilydipper
PAX: Lulu (Greg Huddy), F3 Pluto ( Hugh Nystrom), Crawdad (Robbi Dickens), Swimmies (Nathan Chesney), Pele (Jon Lindberg), Cart Girl (John Sadler) (Chatt, TN), Brick, Veggie (Rylen Huddy), Jumbo(Carter Dickens), Choir Boy, Pusher, Mr Jinxy, Snap Glove (Sean Selos), Beaker (Manny Selos)
FNGs: 2 Snap Glove (Sean Selos), Beaker (Manny Selos)
COUNT: 15
WARMUP: Run Around the Parking Lot, 20 Side-Straddle Hops, Curly Stomps, 10 Imperial Walkers, 10 Windmills, 10 Tempo Merkins, 10 Tempo Squats, 5 Baby Arm Circles Forward and Backward, 5 Pterodactyls Forward and Backward.

THE THANG: Mosey up Mini Cardiac and to the benches by the trail before going downhill. From this point we will do the following: Do 20 Bench Lifts, run to first curve, do 20 Hello Dollies and run back; Do 20 Bench Lifts, run to second curve, do 20 Hello Dollies and run back; Do 20 Bench Lifts, run to 3rd curve, do 20 Hello Dollies and run back. The Clydesdales will sweep rabbits to 3rd curve after they finish the 3rd set of Bench Lifts.
Next, we will continue south on trail and do Nickel, Dime, Quarters. We will do these past the dock area. Once past the dock area we will mosey on the trail until it curves west. We will then resume with the nickel dime quarters until we reach pavilion that is near muscle beach. Here are the exercises:
Merkins

Jump Squats

Freddie Mercuries

Mosey to Muscle Beach. Each man chooses two different exercise machines to do 25 reps with. After finishing, do Baby Crunches until all men have finished.
Mosey to parking lot by the soccer fields. We will go clockwise around the parking lot twice. The first time around we will sprint to one crosswalk, then walk to the next, continuing that pattern around the circle. The second time around we will Bernie Sanders to one crosswalk, then walk to the next, continuing the pattern around the circle.
Mosey to the Bidet. We will run clockwise around the inner circle, stopping at the benches to do 20 Decline Merkins. After arriving back down, those finishing first do Baby Crunches until the six arrives.
Mosey to the Caribean. We will go to the west end. From there we will sprint to the east end but stop at every island to do 2 Burpees.
Mosey toward AO parking lot but stop to get CMU weight rock by the entryway. We will do 25 Overhead Presses.
Mosey to AO.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Polar Bear Plunge on January 1, Smokies Convergence on January 4, Hot Toddy Triple Q at Asylum on January 11.

COT:
Prayers
Prayers for our brother, Sparkler, as he will be getting treatment for Prostate Cancer. Prayers for people traveling at Christmas like Crawdad and Jumbo who head toward Texas today. Prayers for those who are lamenting or suffering this Christmas. Prayers for us that we may be HIMs, keep an eye out for those who are suffering, and be an encouraging spirit for them.
Message

They Can’t Take That Away from Me
2024 was a year of loss and destruction for many people out in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina due to the almost unimaginable flooding and disaster caused by Hurricane Helene. It was horrific to see people losing their homes, their cars, their furnishings, and much of the belongings that they had saved for a lifetime.
As I approach retirement, I couldn’t help but think, “What if that was me?” Jan and I have saved part of our earnings each year through our working years, putting it in good ol IRAs. As we approach retirement we feel that we have enough savings to get by on. But what if that savings were to go away? What if our economy goes downhill and our stock market plummets? What if we lose our assets and home through some unforeseen disaster? Events like Hurricane Helene show us just how possible that can be.
There is a song that has come to my mind quite a few times related to all this. Some of you guys may know that song by Ira and George Gershwin called “They Can’t Take That Away From Me.”
Some of the lines go like this”
The way you wear your hat
The way you sip your tea
The memory of all that
No, no, they can’t take that away from me
The way your smile just beams
The way you sing off-key
The way you haunt my dreams
No, no, they can’t take that away from me.

Those are all things that money can’t buy. I guess that’s why the song has stuck in my mind. If I lost all my assets, what would I have? How about you guys? If you lost your possessions, what would you have? For me, I would still have the love of my wife and children. I would still be able go to my church and see my church family. As for tithing’s, 10% of nothing is nothing, so that would be fine! I would still get to see you brothers in F3. This incredible bond and experience we have is Free 99, baby! And, I would still have my Lord above. In fact, if they were to take everything I have and lay my head down in a guillotine, I might be shaking in my boots and crying my eyes out but I would still have my Lord above.

I encourage you to think about and ponder what “THEY”, that ubiquitous word for disaster in scenarios like we are talking about, can’t take away from you. As for me, I would hope I could survive disasters knowing that there are some things that money can’t buy, some things worth so much more than money or even earthly existence, some things they cannot take away from me.

Rise Above This Christmas

AO: juco
Q: Guardrail
PAX: Windex, Mailbox, Butterknife, Ike, Pelican, Booster, Dart Gun, Love Shaq
FNGs: None
COUNT: 9
WARMUP: High knees, Butt Kickers, Reach for the stars and let it hang, tempo merkins and bear crawl to center

THE THANG: Mosey to wall by Haslam for dips while partner did a burpee at the bottom of the stairs.
Then “Dora Scout” where one runs out to the next light pole while the partner did the excercies. Then both run to the scouted pole, while the other guy checks out and comes back, repeat.
Collectively 100 merkins, 200 Squats and 300 Big boys.
MARY: Spicy Dragon, Cross over Mountain climbers, Flutter kicks, pickle pointers and freddy.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Merry Christmas. Windex is open to meet Christmas morning and may do a virtual option for those of us traveling
COT:
I love the word Preeminent: meaning first, of greatest importance: Rise above. Stand out in importance.
We all agreed we want Jesus Christ to be preeminent in Christmas.
Challenge: Partner up (keep your partner from this morning) and set a plan of how you are going to do it. Then follow up after Christmas and how did it go.
Get a phone number and set a plan to connect.
Merry Christmas!

Draw & Roll

AO: shamrock
Q: Stitch
PAX: slappy, Anchorman, Mermaid, Tinker, Snaggletooth (Elijah Tafao), Crawlspace, Voodoo, MacGruber
FNGs: None
COUNT: 9
WARMUP:
SSH
Hillbilly Walkers
Cherry Pickers
Grady Corns
Shoulder Taps
Stretch on your own

THE THANG:
Mosey to the back lot

Every man draws an F3 workout card

Each player rolls the dice. Whatever number they roll, multiply by 2 for the reps and do the excercise on the card they hold.

If you roll snake eyes, we have to do the exercise with number of reps, but then we run a lap before the next exercise.

*Core Exercises are on a 4 count
*Sprints will be a landmark spot chosen by the player, down and back (no matter the roll)
*Planks are measured in 10 seconds (ex: roll of 8 = 80 secs)
*Jokers are player choice

Played 2 rounds of that.

MARY:
5 Burpees
Star Gazers
Scissor Kicks
Flutter Kicks
Merkins – Hand crawl down & back

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Waffle House after Beatdown on Monday 12/23
Leadership Retreat (Forg3) last weekend in January

COT:
A couple of weeks ago, I talked about the Advent plan I’m reading in my Bible app. I wanted to highlight some of the good stuff. Hope was the subject. Today, I think about peace. Peace is defined as a state of wholeness, calm, and renewal between us, God, and others.

Here are 5 truths and reminders of how we obtain peace. Peace:

1. comes when we keep our attention and focus on God. He is a rock, never changing.

2. battles our fears. “in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?” – Psalm 56:3-4

3. is a gift from God through the Holy Spirit. “The fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22)

4. isn’t limited to our worldly circumstances. John 16:33, Jesus says “…in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Again, this peace goes back to where we place our focus.

5. does not always make sense, but it always connects us to God. My favorite passage is Philippians 4:4-7, “…The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

My prayer today and at this Christmas time is for the men and families of F3 to be at peace. Like the angels said to the shepherds, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Chimney Work

AO: dogpound
Q: Lightweight
PAX: Charger, Mayberry, Madoff, Earmuffs (Dan Studt), Junk (Sam Yoakum), Snitch (Cory Beilharz )
FNGs: None
COUNT: 7
WARMUP:
They did (thanks for the assistance Madoff

THE THANG:
Ladder work out up then down, running to a corner after each round.
1 burpee
2 hr merkins
3 box Cutters
4 shoulder taps
5 star jumps
6 mountain climbers
7 Squats
8 lbcs
9 SsH
10 appolo onos
11 Merkins
12 hello dollys
MARY:
The Knoxville cherry pickers x 3

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Check newsletter

COT: remember the reason for the season

The Journey part 1

AO: shamruck
Q: Eliza
PAX: Fabio (Joe Hamilton), Glamper, Lizzy, Mermaid, Oscar Meyer, Ribbed (Joshua Sagraves), slappy, Baby Boomer, Eliza, Honeydew
FNGs: None
COUNT: 10
3.56 mile ruck

COT: Today I shared my diagnosis with a small brain tumor (hopefully and most likely benign) and asked for prayer for me and my family as we find out next steps.