F3 Knoxville

Author: Lillydipper

The Last Shall Be First and First Shall Be Last

THE SCENE: Sunny, clear, temps in 50’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-Straddle-Hops, 15 Mountain Climbers, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Windmills, Michael Phelps, Little of This and That
THA-THANG:
Mosey to parking lot by entry to northern ball fields.  Line up on curb of parking lot closest to street.  There will be two cones in middle of parking lot.  On some of the following exercises we will ignore the cones while on some we will use the cones. These are the exercises:

  • Side twister run to other curb and back, facing south as we run.
  • Bernie Sanders to curb and back
  • High Knees run to curb and back
  • Bear crawl to first cone, hop to second cone and lunge to curb.  Do same thing going back.
  • Sprint to curb and back.

Next we go to CMU pile.  Each man grabs a CMU.  We will do the following exercises:

  • 25 Overhead Presses
  • 25 Curls
  • 25 Rows
  • 25 Squats
  • 25 Bench Presses

Mosey to Serpentine Sidewalk (between northern ball fields and outdoor chapel).  We will do 14’s (run one light with listed exercise and sprint four lights, continuing pattern with that exercise until done) all the way to perimeter trail.  First men getting to perimeter trail sweep other men back. The following are the exercises for the 14’s:

  • Duck walk one light, sprint four
  • Hop one light, sprint four
  • Bernie one light, sprint four

Mosey to Playground at northern ball fields.

We will do elevens, starting with one Bench Dip and ten Bench Jumps.  We will repeat elevens with one Decline Merkin and Ten Legs Up Sit Ups.

Mosey to AO.

MARY:

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Eight men, no FNG’s.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Insert the WORD here.
MOLESKIN:
Insert any personal comments, notes, devotion content, etc.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
God uses all people, whether big or small, powerful or lowly, famous or unknown, rich or poor, for his purposes.  We are all important to God – His Kingdom is quite different than that of what we see in our world.  We may feel sometimes that we don’t count.  We believe there are others out there who have much more “say” than we do.  But each one of us, each one of you, count just as much to God as do presidents and rulers.  Who did Jesus go to for his disciples?  Was it the rulers of Isreal, the rabbis or scholars?  He chose “common” men.  And he said to them, that in God’s Kingdom “The last shall be first and the first shall be last.”

In his book, The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis, a group of tourists are visiting heaven.  They see a great parade held in honor of someone who had recently died on Earth.  They wonder who the parade is for.  Surely, it was for someone special on Earth, an inventor whose invention changed the course of the world, a dignitary, a ruler, a great athlete.  They find the parade is for Mary Smith, an unknown woman who loved God and lived out that love toward others.

If my mother-in-law, Ruby Grimes, were to have a resume, it wouldn’t stack up very well with most people.  She had one job in her life, as a bookkeeper for a local school in Kentucky.  But, as David Brooks would say, her Eulogy Virtues will far outweigh her Resume Virtues.  And, I believe, there will be a great parade in heaven for her when she arrives there.  She is the type of person that you just feel good being around.  I truly love visiting her.  One problem though, is that when you go her church with Ruby it seems you can never get away after the service is over.  Everyone wants to talk to her and you find yourself standing around, waiting to get to the car and get home.  When we visit my wife’s parents for Christmas, you can count on people coming and knocking on the door on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.  Who are these people?  Relatives?  No, the relatives are probably already in the house.  The people who come by are just folks who Ruby has somehow touched in their lives.  Often it is former neighbors who knew Ruby when they were kids.  They probably got cookies from her, came on in the house when they were little, knowing the home was a place where they were always welcome.  They still want to see her as adults, just to let her know they still love her.  Ruby’s refrigerator door is constantly littered with cards from folks who she has known.  They may now live in other cities or states but they still want to keep in touch with her.  She has touched others with a love that is difficult to put into words.  But God surely sees it.

Each one of us may not be the top dogs in our jobs, the best on the sports teams we play for, the best known in our communities.  But we are important to God.  And, we can serve God’s purposes in ways that the world may not see as incredible but in which God surely sees as incredible.  The last shall be first and the first shall be last.  Remember that as you go out and live for God’s purposes.

Honor Over Status

THE SCENE: Clear, temps in 30’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-straddle Hops, 10 Rockettes, Right and Left Leg Stretch, 10 Windmills, 7 Baby Arm Circles forward and backward, 7 Wide Arm Circles forward and backward
THA-THANG:
Mosey to sidewalk trail that leads off of northernmost parking lot.  We will do 14’s all the way to where the trail intersects with the entry road near the northern gate of the park.  For the 14’s we will bear crawl on light, run four lights, then lunge one light and run four lights the entire trail to the roadway.

We will next do 20 Hello Dollies as a group.

Go across street and we will start Nickel, Dime Quarters on the trail, going past Mt. Everest and until the trail hits the road going out the western gate of the park.  For the Nickel, Dime, Quarters we run one light and stop to do 5 of an exercise.  We next run two lights and stop to do ten of the exercise.  We then run five lights and stop to do 25 of the exercise.  We repeat the pattern with the other listed exercises.  The exercises are as follows:

  • Squat jumps
  • Merkins
  • Big Boy Sit-ups

Mosey up roadway from west entrance, heading east.  Stop by hill near stop sign.  We will do sevens from the bottom of the hill up.  We will start with one Shoulder Tap (each shoulder) on bottom of the hill and six Burpees on top of the hill.

Mosey to grassy area across road from outdoor chapel.  As group we will do 20 American Hammers.

Mosey to ball field closest to entryway of the Northern Ballpark.  We will break into two teams and relay around the ball field, each man running once around the bases.

Mosey to CMUs at northern ball park parking lot.  We will do following exercises with CMUs then Bernie Sanders to other curb of parking lot and sprint back between each listed exercise.

  • 20 Overhead presses
  • 20 Curls
  • 20 Rows
  • 20 Bench Presses
  • 20 Curls while sitting
  • 20 Triceps while lying on back

Next, we will lunge with CMU’s across parking lot stopping at every other parking space to do 5 incline merkins with hands on CMU.  We will then mosey back, stopping at every other parking space to do 5 dips with hands on CMU.

Mosey back to AO

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Seven men, no FNG’s.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Jesus is speaking in the following verses from Matthew 23: 5-12.  He starts out talking about the Pharisses:

They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, 6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi[b] by others. 8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.[c] 9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

I thought of these verses in light of the recent news about the college admission scandals.  You have probably heard the news.  Investigators have been investigating and are planning on prosecuting many people across the nation, mainly parents of students, who have used all kinds of means to fraudulently get their children into elite universities.  The fraud has come in all kinds of forms such as:  paying off proctors to change the answers on ACT or SAT tests students took so that they would have higher scores or paying off coaches to have students admitted as a certain kind of athlete (e.g., volley ball player) when the student was not actually a ball player.  In many of the cases, the students weren’t even aware their parents were paying others off to get them into the school.

The reasons for the fraud varied but often seem to relate to status.  These students were usually not dumb people.  They could have made it into a large number of colleges.  But their parents wanted them to be in ELITE colleges.

We live in a society where status has become an Idol for too many people.  In the process, people forget what true dignity is all about.  Men in our nation need to understand, to become ensconced in, to be fed on honor, valor, respect, and dignity.  They need to be surrounded by men who reflect those virtues.  That is one of the things I love about F3.  I am surrounded by brothers who are working hard to become models of those concepts.  The F3 philosophy, the F3 lingo reflects those virtues and although we admit to falling short of being perfect, our brothers strive to achieve those virtues.  Let us keep striving.  Let us be role models and leaders in a society that needs, that aches to have those virtues lived out by its leaders.

MOLESKIN:
Insert any personal comments, notes, devotion content, etc.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Insert information about upcoming events, 2nd or 3rd F opportunities, and any other announcements.

Relentlessly pursued

THE SCENE: Heavy rain that stopped when we started, temps in low 50’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Plank arm and leg raises, 20 plank jacks, 10 Burpees, 10 Rockettes, 10 Windmills, 10 temp squats.
THA-THANG:
Quick mosey to Dragon Fly.  We will do Route 66 up dragon fly with the following exercises:

  • Squat jumps
  • Dive bombers
  • Imperial Walkers

Quick mosey back to AO.  Break into teams.  Each team grabs a set of bricks.  We will do Doras.  One partner runs around parking lot in the following fashion:  Bernie Sanders Corner 1 to Corner 2.  Bear crawl Corner 2 to Corner 3.  Sprint Corner 3 to Corner 4.  Lunge Corner 4 to Corner 1.  Meanwhile, the other partner will be doing exercises with the bricks.  Then the partners switch off.  These are the exercises with the bricks:

  • 100 Overhead Presses
  • 100 Brick Punches
  • 100 Curls
  • 100 Wings Up
  • 100 Rows with hands at sides
  • 100 Wings Down
  • 100 Wings Out

Next we Bernie up Mini Cardiac and sprint back down.  Do 20 Merkins at bottom of Mini Cardiac.  Next time we Grapevine up Mini Cardiac, switching way we face halfway up.  We sprint down and do another 20 Merkins.

Quick mosey back to AO.

MARY:

Cash out with ATM’s.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Five men, no FNG’s.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
One of the wonderful books I have read on the subject of God is by Ken Gire.  It is entitled Relentless Pursuit.  In it, Gire talks about how God, in his love for us, relentlessly pursues us.  We may stray, we may ignore, we may hide, but God comes to find us, the Good Shepherd seeking his lost sheep.  The first chapter, “The Pursuit”, talks about a poet named Francis Thompson.

In 1987, Wilfred Meynell, the editor of a Catholic literary magazine called Merry England received a parcel of mail containing disheveled manuscripts.  An unsigned note said, “I must ask your pardon for the soiled state of the manuscript.  It is not due to slovenliness, but to the strange places and circumstances under which it has been written.”  Meynell was fascinated enough to go through the manuscript, finding some poems and prose.  One of the poems particularly moved him.  The parcel had no return address.  He published the poem in the next edition of the magazine in hopes the author would contact him.  After the publication, the author did contact the editor, leaving the return address of a chemist shop.  When Meynell went to the chemist shop, the chemist told Meynell that the author was a man who was living on the streets.  He owed the chemist a debt for opium he had purchased and was selling matches make money to live by and pay off his bills.  Meynell paid the bill and left an invitation for the author to visit his office.

One day, unannounced, a thirty-something year-old man showed up with stained and threadbare clothing.  His body was frail and many years of drug addiction had taken there toll on him. He was Francis Thompson, the author of the poems and prose in the manuscript.  He has been born into a respected Catholic family.  He had gone to med school on the wishes of his father but dropped out, not liking it.  An argument with his father came afterward and Thompson left to make it on his own.  Instead he found opium and became addicted to it.

Meynell’s family watched over him, placed him under a doctor’s care, and sent him to a monastery where he was temporarily freed from his addiction.  For the 1889 to 1907, Thompson wrote three volumes of poetry, numerous literary reviews, and an essay on Shelly that was highly acclaimed.  His most noted work was a long poem entitled “The Hound of Heaven.”  In 1907, after a major relapse into addiction, Thompson died at the age of 48.

His poem, “The Hound of Heaven”, is considered to be one of the greatest in English literature.  In the poem, he talks about being pursued by a chasing Hound Dog .

I fled Him, down the nights and the dayss;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the midst of tears

Thompson also describes the pursuer:

But with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbed pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
They beat – and a Voice beat
More instant than the Feet –
“All things betray thee, who betrayest Me.

The Hound thus claims that the one pursued is acting in a way that betrays him as well as the Hound.

The pursuit continues through the poem until the pursued finally turns to face the predator, the Hound.  He finds that the pursuer was not a Hound, but God, his father.  The father speaks:

All which I took from thee I did but take,
Not for thy harms,
But just that thou might’st seek it in My arms.

The father later exclaims:

Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am Whom thou seekest!
Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me.

God pursues us.  For Thompson, God took the form of a hunting hound.  For others, God takes a different form.  For example, the author Anne Lamont talks about God pursuing her in the form of a mewing cat, continually showing up at her door.  She reluctantly feeds it milk and the cat keeps showing up until finally it is purring on her chest, gently kneading her.

God pursues each of us.  How is God pursuing you?  Does God come to you as a question that keeps ringing in your head? In the form of dissatisfaction with your current job or position in life that your are afraid to change?  In the longing for new meaning or answers that you just can’t seem to find?  We are unique individuals whom God seeks in different ways.  How might God be pursuing you right now?  Are you ignoring Him, running from Him, afraid of Him, dissatisfied with Him, angry with Him?  Dare to listen, dare to turn your head to see Himm.  You just may find a loving father with outstretched arms, saying “I am what you are seeking!”

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Iceman’s mother, Mr. Jinxy’s father and Pinto.  Praise for the birth of Sparkler’s cousin.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Board meeting immediately after workout!

Where’s Land?

THE SCENE: Raining like crazy, temp about 50 degrees
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
At the Northern ball fields pavilion:  20 Side-straddle hops, 15 Plank Jacks, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Windmills, 7 Little Baby Arm Circles forward and backward, 5 Wide Arm Circles forward and backward
THA-THANG:
Totem pole with the following exercises:

  • Burpees
  • American Hammers
  • Decline Merkins (using bench of picnic tables)
  • Bench Dips
  • Mountain Climbers

Sprint to CMU pile to pick up CMU’s and bring back to pavilion.

20 Hello Dollies.

Next, we circle four corners of pavilion, bear crawling from Corner 1 to 2 and Corner 3 to 4 while lunging from Corner 2 to 3 and 4 to 1.  We will circle the four corners three times doing the following exercises at each corner:

Corner 1:  1. 20 merkins.  2. 20 shoulder taps.  3. 20 dive bombers

Corner 2:  1. 20 diamond merkins.  2. 20 bottle openers.  3. 20 Carolina dry docks

Corner 3: (with CMU’s)  1. 25 overhead presses.  2. 25 curls.  3. 25 rows.

Corner 4:  1. 15 mountain climbers.  2. 10 burpees.  3. 15 plank jacks.

Next, we take CMU’s back to CMU pile and sprint back to pavilion.

20 Box Cutters.

Next, we do a shortened totem pole with the following exercises:

  • Squat jumps
  • Big boy situps
  • Picnic table pull-ups
  • Bench jumps

MARY:
We finish at the pavilion with leg stretching exercise from plank position.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Words from Sermon by Michael Gerson who gave sermon at Washington’s Memorial Cemetery about God lifting us up at times of despair.
MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Cheatsheet and his family as Cheatsheet’s grandmother, Mary, has passed away and is now in heaven.  Prayers for Pinto who is recovering from heart attack.

Broken Leaders

THE SCENE:  Cloudy, temp in upper 30’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-straddle-hops, 15 second squat, 10 Plank Jacks, 30 Second Squat, 10 Cherry Pickers, 45 Second Squat, 10 Windmills, 60 Second Squat, Little of This and That
THA-THANG:
Mosey to South Ball Fields Parking Lot

Suicides to cones but with variations vs running.  Also, each time back we will do 25 Baby Crunches.  The following shows how we will go to each cone.  We will always sprint back from each cone.

  • Bear Crawl to Cone 1
  • Sprint to Cone 2
  • Lunge to Cone 3
  • Sprint to Cone 4
  • Hop to Cone 5
  • Sprint to Cone 6
  • Bernie Sanders to Cone 7
  • Rinse and repeat but do 20 Merkins each time back.

Mosey to perimeter trail just past ball park pavilion.  We will be doing nickel dime quarters east and then north on the perimeter trail all the way up cardiac hill and to where the trail hits roadway near the AO.  We run for one light and do 5 of exercise, run two lights and do 10 of exercise, then run five lights and do 25 of exercise.  The following will be the exercises:

  • Jump squats
  • Big Boy Sit-ups
  • Dive Bombers
  • Star Jumps
  • American Hammers (four count)
  • Imperial Walkers (four count)
  • Box Cutters
  • Smurf Jacks

Mosey to parking lot near entrance of northern ball park.  We will be split into four groups with each group starting at a corner.  We will circle the parking lot counter clockwise going to each corner of the lot.  There will be exercises listed at each corner.  We will circle the lot three times doing the first listed exercise first, next exercise the second time around, and last exercise the third time around.

  • Corner 1:  20 Hello Dollies (four count), 20 Flutter Kicks (four count), 20 Bicycle Kicks (four count)
  • Corner 2:  20 Diamond Merkins, 20 Bottle Openers from regular plank position, 20 Hands down merkins
  • Corner 3:  (using CMU’s)  25 Overhead Lifts, 25 Curls, 25 Rows
  • Corner 4:  15 Mountain Climbers (four count), 10 Burpees, 15 Plank Jacks (four count)

Mosey to AO

MARY:

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

From 2 Corinthians 4:

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

Cap’n Crunch has been having us read excellent excerpts from the F3 Leadership Manual, the Q Source, in the weekly newsletters we are receiving by email.  As men of F3 we are called to lead others.  Does that mean that we are supposed to be perfect?  NO WAY!  Does that mean we have to be better than those we lead?  NO SIR!

Consider the “heroes” of the bible.  The bible is littered with flawed leaders.  Jonah constantly complained about what God wanted him to do and ran from God before God used him to save the City of Ninevah.  Jacob purposefully tricked his blind father to try to inherit his brother’s birthright.  Moses fumbled around with his people in the desert for 40 years before they finally entered the promised land.  David slew Goliath but had to run from King Saul to stay in a cave, sometimes crying in anguish that God had forsaken him.  He later committed adultery with a woman and purposefully sent her husband off to war to be killed.  Peter was an emotional roller coaster disciple of Jesus who denied him at his death, yet later led thousands to believe in Him.

We are broken people who, like Pauls says in 2 Corinthians, are afflicted in every way but not destroyed.  God has a wonderful way of using broken people to be the vessels, the jars of clay, that carry out His purposes.  Quoting from the book I Am a Follower by Leonard Sweet, “We bless others naturally through our strengths.  But we bless others supernaturally through our weaknesses . . . and Scripture makes this clear:  God’s power is made perfect in weakness.

What kind of man do you want to turn to at your time of doubt?  Would you really want to turn to someone who has always been on top?  First of all, good luck at ever finding such a person. Second, those men who have not examined their failures, who have not learned from their challenges, struggles, and defeats, would not be ones that would understand your struggles very well.  It is through our struggle and brokenness that we become wiser.  It is through are failures that we can learn to empathize with others who fail and need our help.

The great pastor and religious writer, Charles Spurgeon said this about leaders:

Such mature men as some elderly preachers are, could scarcely have been produced if they had not been emptied from vessel to vessel, and made to see their own emptiness and the vanity of all things round about them.

Your brokenness is what you can use to help you be a great leader.  As a HIM, you are a vessel of God, leading others not for your glory but for God’s glory.  Lead on brothers and fear not – God will use your imperfection.