Dirty Dozen Dropping Sweat

September 22, 2018 Lillydipper

THE SCENE: Sunny and humid, temps in 70’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Windmills, 5 Burpees, 10 Cherry Pickers, Michael Phelps, Little of This and Little of That
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the driveway that heads to the northern wall of the admin bldg. There will be bricks by a large tree near he drive way. We will pair up in teams of two and do Doras. While one partner works on the following exercises, the other partner will run with a set of bricks to the curb, do ten mini man makers, then run back and exchange the bricks with his partner who will do the same. Here are the exercises each team will do:

100 Big Boy Sit-ups
100 Merkins
200 Baby Crunches

Mosey to gate at the Lyons Bend entrance. Take perimeter trail east. Stop once at first light. We will do 20 American Hammers in cadence.

Mosey east on perimeter trail to cone that will be located close to a large Mimosa tree. We will do a Route 66 going eleven lights, stopping at each one. We will do each of the following exercises starting with the first and doing it once at first light, twice at second, etc. until we do 11 of that exercise at 11th light. Those who get there first will sweep others back to start and we will begin the next exercise. Here are the exercises:

Squat jumps
Dive bombers
Imperial Walkers (four count)
Shoulder taps (tapping each shoulder counts as one)

Mosey to Playground

We will do bench jumps. We will do ten, then rest for 20 seconds. We will do five sets of ten with the 20 second break.

Mosey to Pavilion. We will do 25 Picnic Table Pull-ups. We will then do squat by wall for one minute.

Mosey to AO.

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

The following message is not fully from me. Rather, it stems from a conversation with a friend of mine named Tony Kuykendall. Tony observed that in our age of social media, whether on Facebook, Group Me, Twitter, or whatever, we wonder how many people are following our messages. We follow other’s messages by giving them the Like signal, coloring in a heart, showing a happy face, a thumbs up, or some other sign saying we listened and took notice. We may follow peoples’ messages on social media each day. My friend Tony observed that the Bible is certainly a form of social media. It has been written and distributed socially so that people may read it and follow God. Tony wondered how many times we actually follow God’s word each day. Certainly, God wants us to “follow’ Him.

John 8:12 “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”

God wants us to follow Him because he knows that we need Him to live within the light. When we follow Him, good things happen. We move along in our lives and often miss out on the light. We seek the light through our own means and often fail to listen to that higher power calling us. Where is God calling you to follow? What path does he want for you? Where does God want to take you. We can sense that there is something missing in our lives if we do it alone, something greater we need to fulfill us. We get glimpses of something greater by showing up in the gloom each day to work out with our brothers in F3. We didn’t want to listen to our crazy friends that rooked us into coming out here. Yet, by coming we have found something special, something invigorating, something good for us. In our busy lives we often don’t want to take the time to listen to God. But if we do so, we find something special, something invigorating, something good for us. It is that which we need. So, listen, take time to focus on Him and what he is calling you to do. Follow Him.

MOLESKIN:
Hotspur and his family needs a prayer as his mother-in-law died recently.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
F3 Knoxville Anniversary and Olympics on November 3. Launching of F3 in Cleveland, TN on November 10.

Our Shield, Our Protector

September 18, 2018 Lillydipper

THE SCENE: Sunny and warm, mid-eighties.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Mountain Mans, Plank Stretches, 10 Cherry Pickers, 20 Quick Wing Claps
THA-THANG:
Mosey to shade of tree by stop sign at Northeast corner of Admin Bldg. 20 Box Cutters.

Mosey to shaded grassy area near driveway that goes to northern side of Admin Bldg.

Go to four cones that form large square in grassy area by long driveway.

Corner 1: 20 Big Boy Sit ups. Then Bernie Sanders to Corner 2.
Corner 2: 20 Squat Jumps. Then Bear Crawl to Corner 3.
Corner 3: 20 Dive Bombers. Then Sprint to Corner 4.
Corner 4: 20 Star Jumps. Then Lunge to Corner 1
Rinse and Repeat

Mosey back to the long driveway leading to northern side of Admin Bldg.

We will do suicides. We will always Bear Crawl to first cone while doing the suicides and sprint to remaining three cones. Each time we return back to the starting point, we will do 25 Little Baby Crunches.

Rinse and Repeat.

Next, do suicides without bear crawls and baby crunches, sprinting to first cone and back, second cone and back, third cone and back, fourth cone and back then continuing to third cone and back, second cone and back and first cone and back.

Mosey to roadway that is on east side of admin bldg. Go down steps on east side of roadway opposite the sidewalk that goes to the admin bldg.

We will do thirties, starting with 5 bench dips at the bottom of the steps. We will run up the steps and then up the sidewalk to the steps of the admin bldg. There we will do 25 decline merkins. We then sprint back to the benches where we did the dips. We do 10 bench dips, then sprint back to the admin bldg to do 20 decline merkins. We continue this pattern until we have done 25 bench dips and 5 merkins.

Mosey to grassy area on east side of admin bldg. Do 20 American Hammers

Mosey to AO.

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

When you were young, did you have a father that you admired, that protected you, that you knew found favor in you and you knew would be there for you if in stress? Did you see that father as big, powerful, strong and mighty when you were a little boy? Did you like those special times when you got to sleep by him in his bed, just because he was awesome and big and you felt safer being close to him? Some of us had that in our dads. Some of us are fathers to children who look up to us and trust in us for protection.

As grown adults, we still have that need for the strength of a father who is big and powerful. I would say we have that childlike need but the need is not childlike as all adults have that need. We, as strong men, know that we cannot always go it alone. We need someone more powerful than us, who will “kick ass” to get to us when we are in trouble, defying all odds to do so. We have that in our God, our creator, our FATHER. I love the following verses from Psalms 18 (verses 2 – 19) because they portray not only a wonderful image of just how strong our Father is but how strong his passion is for just one of his children.

²The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
    my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
    my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
³I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
    and I am saved from my enemies.

⁴The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of destruction assailed me;^[a]
⁵the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.

⁶In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.

⁷Then the earth reeled and rocked;
    the foundations also of the mountains trembled
    and quaked, because he was angry.
⁸Smoke went up from his nostrils,^[b]
    and devouring fire from his mouth;
    glowing coals flamed forth from him.
⁹He bowed the heavens and came down;
    thick darkness was under his feet.
¹⁰He rode on a cherub and flew;
    he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.
¹¹He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,
    thick clouds dark with water.
¹²Out of the brightness before him
    hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.

¹³The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
    and the Most High uttered his voice,
    hailstones and coals of fire.
¹⁴And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;
    he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.
¹⁵Then the channels of the sea were seen,
    and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O Lord,
    at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

¹⁶He sent from on high, he took me;
    he drew me out of many waters.
¹⁷He rescued me from my strong enemy
    and from those who hated me,
    for they were too mighty for me.
¹⁸They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
    but the Lord was my support.
¹⁹He brought me out into a broad place;
    he rescued me, because he delighted in me.

A Hard Rain Is Gonna Fall

September 4, 2018 Lillydipper

THE SCENE: Thunderstorms, plenty of rain and lightening.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
We had to make a mad dash to the northern ball fields pavilion as we were getting started, due to rain and lightening. It was full of people so we made another dash to the outdoor chapel and worked out there. We did plank stretches and then got to “Tha-thang”.
THA-THANG:
Totem poles doing each exercise for 30 seconds before going to the next one. In round one we do the first exercise only. In round 2 we do the first and second. In round 3 we do the first, second and third. We keep going until all five exercises are done. Then we drop off the first exercise and do only exercises two through five. Next we drop the second exercise and do only three through five. We do this until only the fifth exercise is done. The following are the exercises:

Burpees
American Hammers
Decline Merkins
Bench lifts
Squat Jacks

Next, we did four corners, performing 20 Little Baby Crunches at each corner. We hopped from corner one to two, Bernie Sanders Sprinted from two to three, bear crawled from three to four, and sprinted from four to one. Next we repeated the above routine except did 15 Big Boy Sit-Ups at each corner

Next we did another totem pole but this time with only four exercises. They were:

Squat Jacks
Flutter Kicks
Hello Dollies
Mountain Climbers

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
We had ten men present including a Flying EH whom we named Nick. We gave him the F3 name of Stormy.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

1 Corinthians 15:55-57 King James Version (KJV)

⁵⁵O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

⁵⁶The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

⁵⁷But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

King James Version (KJV)

We tend to avoid thoughts of death. We rather not think about it. In many ways, we fear death. And whether we fear death or not, we certainly don’t want to die and rarely think of our own deaths. Yet, there can be advantages to thinking of our own mortality.

We see how precious our time here on Earth is and it can motivate us to act more like HIM’s with the time we have here. And we appreciate our mortality more. As Bob Geldof says in one of his songs, Mortality is a cheap price we pay for existence.”
We are forced to think of life beyond this existence. We are forced to wonder about God, about His creation and whether God has plans for us beyond our lives here.
We have a better understanding of our dependency on God. We must trust in God, that God indeed does have plans for us. As Henri Nouwen states, we come into this world as a dependent creature and leave life as a dependent creature. And, if we can trust that God exists and that He has plans for us beyond our lives here, then . . .
We fear death less. We realize that, although Mortality is a cheap price we pay for existence” our existence is more than our lives here. If we can trust in God, we need not fear death but welcome it. Just as, when we were in the womb, we did not know what our lives outside of it would be like, we do not know what our lives beyond what we have on Earth will be. But, with God, “Death, where is your sting?” With God, as John Donne says, “Death, thou shalt die.”

The Gate

August 30, 2018 Lillydipper

THE SCENE: Cloudy and hot
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Windmills, 25 Squats, 10 Cherry Pickers
THA-THANG:
Mosey to big tree by stop sign at northeast corner of admin bldg. We will do 20 American Hammers.

Mosey to park perimeter trail where it intersects with roadway that heads to admin bldg. We will do 25 Squats.

Run on perimeter trail as it heads west and north and curves toward the bottom of Mt. Everest. We will stop at every fifth light to do 10 merkins, then continue. At bottom of Mt. Everest we will do 25 Squats then run around big tree in middle of Mt. Everest, then come back to perimeter trail. We will then do 20 Bicycle Kicks (four count).

Run to every fifth light and stop to do 10 Big Boy Situps. Continue this until we get to roadway that comes in from Northshore gate. Stop to do 20 Hello Dollies.

Run across roadway, staying on perimeter trail. Run to every fifth light and stop to do 10 Shoulder taps (ten taps each shoulder). We will run until we reach soccer fields. Stop to do 20 Box Cutters.

We will next go across soccer field. We will lunge to first line, run to next line, lunge to next, run to next in alternate fashion until we reach the end of the soccer field. We will stop to do 25 Squats.

Mosey to stop sign at southeastern corner of Admin Bldg. Stop to do 20 pickle pounders (four count).

Run to Boulder Pile. Pick up appropriate size boulder. We will do 25 overhead presses, 25 Curls, 25 Rows and 25 Triceps.

MARY:
Plank Stretches.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Seven men present, one FNG, Josh, a good friend and coworker of Hooker. We named Josh “Hotspur.”
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
This is a poem written by Marie Howe. It is about her brother who died. He was sick and knew he would die when the moments this poem describes takes place. In this poem he points out to the poet the importance of life’s everyday moments – like eating a cheese and mustard sandwich. Maybe it is these moments that we are really waiting for, not the big successes, the big job, the big whatever. For what do the big successes gain us? Only the opportunities to have special moments with others.

THE GATE BY MARIE HOWE

I had no idea that the gate I would step through

to finally enter this world

would be the space my brother’s body made. He was

a little taller than me: a young man

but grown, himself by then,

done at twenty-eight, having folded every sheet,

rinsed every glass he would ever rinse under the cold

and running water.

This is what you have been waiting for, he used to say to me.

And I’d say, What?

And he’d say, This—holding up my cheese and mustard sandwich.

And I’d say, What?

And he’d say, This, sort of looking around.

We spend much of our loves working towards something, trying to achieve whatever version of success we or others have implanted in our minds. We often fail to take notice of the simple events of daily life, the simple things around us, such as the folding of sheets after laundry, the walls and pictures in the residences we live in, the simple conversations with loved ones and friends, the beauty around us, whether it be the mountains in the distance or a simple weed growing on the ground in front of us. Marie Howe’s brother points out that these are the moments and things we are waiting for.

Let us savior these days, these things, these moments that God has given us. Van Morrison speaks of this in his song, These Are The Days. He says in the poem that we must savor these days as if there is no past, no future, only now. He goes on to say:

These are the days by the sparkling river
And His timely grace and the treasured find
This is the love of the one great magician
Turned the water into wine

These are the days now that we must savor
And we must enjoy as we can
These are the days that will last forever
You’ve got to hold them in your heart.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Beer run to Union Jacks directly after this workout.

God is at Center

August 26, 2018 Lillydipper

THE SCENE: Temps in 60’s, partly cloudy and humid
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
25 Squats, 20 Side-Straddle Hops, Plank stretches, 10 Cherry Pickers, 6 Baby Arm Circles Forward and 6 Backward, 5 Wide Arm Circles Forward and 5 Backward.

THA-THANG:
Mosey to Parking Lot by South Ball Fields. There will be four cones in the parking lot that form a large rectangle. Men should number off in fours so that there is a group at at each cone. We will run in clockwise fashion and do the exercise at each cone.

Cone 1: 20 Star Jumps Lunge to Cone 2
Cone 2: 20 Hello Dollies (four count) Bernie Sanders to Cone 3
Cone 3: 25 Squats Hop to Cone 4
Cone 4: 25 Big Boy Sit-ups Run to Cone 1

Rinse and repeat.

Mosey back to roadway then go north back toward northern ball fields. Stop in grassy area. 20 American Hammers. Next we will do 25 Squats.

Mosey to Parking Lot fairly close to ball fields that has nice restrooms. Go to southern end of parking lot where there will be sets of bricks. Each man finds partner. While one man does exercises with bricks the other journeys to various cones that are places along the parking lot. The running partner will bear crawl to Cone 1, then run to Cone 2. At Cone 2 he will do 10 Merkins. He then switches with partner. Six trips to Cone 1 and 2 will occur for each partner. Six different exercises will be performed with bricks. They are:

1. Wings up
2. Wings down
3. Wings forward
4. Side rows
5. Overhead presses
6. Curls

Mosey to Playground. We will do “All My Benches”, jumping up 10 times with 20 second rests in between. We will do this Five times.

Mosey to Pavilion. We will do “25’s” starting with 20 picnic table pull-ups and 5 bench lifts, going down by fives to 5 picnic table pull-ups and going up to 20 bench lifts. Next, 60 second squat with back to wall.

Mosey to AO.

MARY:

20 Box Cutters. 20 Bicycle Kicks. 15 Dive Bombers.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
13 men, no FNG’s.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Jim Branch in his “Daily Bible Readings Book” aka as “The Blue Book” has a week of bible verses dedicated to the concept of “Balance.” He comments that most of us, when we think of balance, think of balancing various aspects of our life, so that our work, family, health, friendships, and leisure all get certain and maybe comparable amounts of attention. He remarks that in the spiritual life, however, the word balance is defined differently. Balance, he states, means being centered. And, in the spiritual life, God is the center around which everything revolves. God is the hub of the wheel, the focal point. Thus, in being balanced, the question becomes, “Is God in the center of my life? Is God what my life revolves around?”

To be a HIM, I believe we need to be asking ourselves this question. And we can ask this question daily. If we are balanced spiritually, we awake in the morning and talk to God, asking Him what he wants for us in this day. We go to sleep reviewing our day with God, knowing He wants to hear us and that it is He whom we should direct our thoughts toward. We ask Him for direction when we are making important decisions or dealing with confusing questions in our life. We look to him for guidance when we are helping others who are difficult to help. We thank Him when we see blessings occurring in our lives. And, we even talk to Him when we are angry about life’s unfairness and blaming Him for awful things that have occurred. We look to Him for strength to not only get through harrowing, difficult times, but for strength and encouragement to be the type of men, the type of HIM’s that we want to be, that we know He wants us to be. We look to him when we are having difficulties with our marriages, with parenting, with our own parents, with are coworkers or friends. And we see him as our Creator, the Creator, the Infinite, the great Healer, the Giver of life, the one who can redeem us from our sins and mistakes, the one whom we can worship and be glad for.

So, the next time we feel “unbalanced” we can ask ourselves,”Am I placing God at the center of my life right now?” If we are feeling unbalanced, we will usually find that we are not placing God at the center. And, the way to achieve more balance will be to place God at the center, asking Him for guidance in obtaining that balance we need. For God is for us, not against us, knowing us and our individual gifts, there to help us be who He created us to be.
MOLESKIN:

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Coffeeteria at Panera. TTTP guys are running right now!