F3 Knoxville

Author: Stitch

Up, Down, and Around

THE SCENE:

Few clouds, 39 Degrees and dry

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

WARM-O-RAMA:
1. Cherry Pickers (x5), 2. BACF (x10) 3. BACB (x10), 4. SSH (x20), 5. Mountain Climbers – (40 on your own), 6. Toe Merkins (30 OYO)

THA-THANG:

Mosey to the coupon pile with 3 stops for Mary (Boxcutters, Freddie Mercury’s, Flutter kicks).

At the coupon pile, grab a CMU (for some exercises). Will start with 10 burpees and then run a lap around the Physical Plant building. Will lap after each exercise group, so after first lap you will do 20 OHP, lap, etc.

(10) Burpees

(20) OHP

(30) Curls

(40) SSH

(50) Squats

(40) second plank

(30) Tricep Press

(20) Merkins

(10) Upright Rows

Mosey back to COT with 3 stops for (Bear Crawls, Scissor kicks, Imperial Walkers)

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

19 HIMS including RUSH

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Thankful to be back after a week + absence. I went to Nashville for a few days to visit my parents. Thought I had avoided the local school bug being gone but it turned out that I caught a case of the flu anyway. It was a very mild case but I did have fever on and off for two days. I worked from home and recovered over the weekend.

While away and as we move into a time of Thanksgiving, I thought about how fortunate I was to have a job that allowed me some flexibility while I was sick. I was thankful to have loving parents to visit, thankful for my kids, and my close friends here in Knoxville. I’m also thankful for the men continuing to lead and encourage here at F3.

1 Thessalonians 1:2-10

In 1st Thessalonians, Chapter 1, Paul is writing to the church there in Thessalonica and gives thanks to them for their work of faith, labor of love, and steadfastness of hope in times of great suffering and persecution. They became examples and encouragement for other Christians in the area and they did this with the “joy of the Holy Spirit”. Paul was thanking God for them. At the end of the chapter, Paul says “you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”

In many ways, you guys today are encouraging others with how YOU lead and serve. And I want to thank God for each one of you. You are being an example and positive influence to me and those around you. That makes a difference and it deserves recognition. So take some time to think about that. Think about and be thankful for how God has chosen you to be his sons and how he has called you out to shine light. Remember that as sons we have already been delivered from the wrath to come. Take that reality into the upcoming holiday season. Keep your eyes on Him and you will not only be more thankful for his blessings, but you will also continue in your blessing of others.

Ring Around the Mosey

THE SCENE:

Few clouds, 59 Degrees, 93% Humidity (not 100!!)

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

WARM-O-RAMA:
1. Cherry Pickers (x5), 2. BACF (x10) 3. BACB (x10), 4. Tempo Squats (x10), 5. SSH (x15), 6. Mountain Climbers (x10)

THA-THANG:

Mosey up the Hard Knox hill & grab the guardrail for 25 dips.

Pick up a rock for each hand and 25 Front Claps and 25 OH Claps

25 Merkins OYO.

From that corner we will Lunge Walk to the next short corner and do (5) Burpees. Mosey to the far end and then Bear Crawl to the next short corner. Will then do 5 Burpees, 25 Squats. Mosey to the far end and then Lunge Walk to the next corner. 5 Burpees, 25 Squats, 20 Shoulder Taps, etc. Mosey, repeat…

After each lunge/crawl we add a set:
(5) Burpees,
(25) Squats,
(20) Shoulder Taps,
(15) SSH,
(10) Leg Raises,
(5) more Burpees to end.

6 total exercise stops & 3 full laps around.

Mosey down and east along Hardin Valley Rd. back into the east parking lot. Did some Mary and some Flutter Kicks (x15). Mosey back through the lot to the COT

MARY:
At COT finished off with Hello Dolly (x15), Side crunches (x15) each side, Heels to Heaven (x10), LBC’s (x15)

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

17 HIMS including (1) 2.0, (9) RUSH

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

What is Fellowship? The dictionary defines it as A Community of interest, activity, feeling, or experience.

Sounds kind of shallow by definition but we do need fellowship. We need deeper fellowship. It’s a cornerstone of this group.

I believe it’s true that we also need friendship. We all know men that simply don’t have many friends. They are married, too busy, they just prefer to be alone. If married, your Wife shouldn’t have to carry that stress or burden of being our only friend and we know that isolation is not good for us. (Proverbs 18:1 – Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment).

We need each other!

In John chapter 15, Jesus tells his disciples “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

How can we love someone we don’t know? How can we lay down our life for a friend if we don’t have any friends?

There are lots of lonely men out there and they need friendship. Understand that in Christ you have been saved through faith by grace, and not by anything you did or can do. Nothing. When we realize that, we are free to share with other men who we really are.

I believe God calls men to take the lead, make sacrifices. Look at where we are right now!

There’s little good to be gained without some form of pain.

So take a chance to reach out and get to know someone, even of it means rejection. Maybe make it a goal to learn something new about someone here every morning. That’s where Fellowship leads to real friendship.

MOLESKIN:

Prayer for Butterknife and his family after the passing of his Uncle Kevin. Room Service’s father had some test results that were not positive. Prayers for his treatment going forward. Data and his boys.

It’s Football Time at JUCO, Tennessee!

THE SCENE: 

Clear, 68, humid

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

WARM-O-RAMA:
1. Tempo Cherry Pickers (x5), 2. Hairy Rockettes (x10) 3. Tempo Merkins (x10), 4. Tempo Squats (x10), 5. SSH (x20), 6. Toe Merkins (x30)

THA-THANG:
Count off and remember your number (*will need later). Partner up. Line up single file, in partnership and mosey around the outer loop to the coupon pile. With a football, 1 partner will throw a pass out front to 2nd partner. After completed catch, ball goes to the next two in line and partners fall to the back of the line. Continue on to the next 2. If you drop or incomplete a pass, both partners will drop and each do 2 burpees and fall to the back. Continue until we reach the coupon pile.

Each duo will grab one coupon. One partner to start the following exercises and total rep countdown while the second partner runs to top of the stairs and does 2 burpees. When partner returns, they switch roles and continue countdown to 100. When all 300 are complete, they are finished:

  • 100 Curls
  • 100 Tricep Press
  • 100 Overhead Press

Mosey to the far eastside parking lot with football passes. Again, if you decide to pass and drop, 2 burpees.

At the parking lot, everyone will start the following exercises while 3 (*Numbers 1-3, 4-6, etc.) will take turns running single pass routes as QB, WR, DB (just for fun).

  • 20 Single Count Lunges
  • 20 Squats
  • 20 SSH
  • 25 Freddie Mercury’s
  • REPEAT until everyone has had a turn at passing or time expires.

MARY:
Mosey back to COT with football passes. 1. Flutter Kicks – Two count (x20) 2. Hello Dolly (x25)

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

22 HIMs including 9 RUSH. 1 FNG: @Fab Five (Mark Tichon)

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

I was reading a devotional by Paul David Tripp. On one day he says “If God intended for all the days of your life to be easy, they would be. No, in grace, he intends for your days to be his tools of refinement.”

If it was up to me and MY agenda, everyday would bring peace, comfort, pleasure, predictability. I’d have all the money I needed. I’d never be sick. My relationships would be flawless. Suffering would not be part of that. Waking up at 4:50 to exercise would not be part of that. Losing a job, marriage, a friend or a family member would not be in that equation. We like to define God’s goodness, faithfulness, love by how he meets our agenda.

But…

‘Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. ‘
James 1:2-4

‘You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials so that the proven character of your faith — more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire — may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ‘
1 Peter 1:6-7

‘Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. ‘
Romans 5:1-5

There are many passages like this…God is not working to meet our personal definition of happiness. And when we are expecting that, we are going to be disappointed. We’re going to wonder where he is and if he really loves us. But if we understand that just maybe God is after something better, which is our becoming holy (sanctified). We don’t get stronger when we “fart-sack”, right? We don’t learn how to win until we’ve been beaten a few times and we see the better plan. So just remember that his love and his plan is much greater than ours. He offers true hope and redemption and I hope you’ll take that with you today. Trust in that and have courage.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

F3 family picnic on September 11 from 4 pm to 8 pm at Victor Ashe Park.

Registration is still OPEN for the 2022 Iron PAX Challenge.

Fitness, Fellowship, Faith…and Football?

THE SCENE: Clear, 58 degrees, 87% humidity
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
1. Cherry Pickers (x6), 2. SSH (x20), 3. Hairy Rockettes (x10), 4. Tempo Squats (x10), 5. Tempo Merkins (x10), 6. Toe Merkins (x30)
THA-THANG:
Mosey around the outer loop to the coupon pile in a line. With a football, 2nd in line will throw a pass out front to the 1st in line. Receiver makes the catch, ball goes to the next 2nd in line and he falls to the back. Repeat. If you drop or incomplete a pass, both passer/receiver will drop and do 2 burpees and fall to the back. Continue until we reach the coupon pile.

Grab a coupon and do the following sets before running up the stairs and back (x3):

  • 20 curls
  • 20 overhead press
  • 20 tricep press
  • 20 upright rows

Mosey over to the Courtyard and do the following sets before running a long lap (x3):

  • 10 wall jumps
  • 20 (10 per leg) lunges
  • 20 squats
  • 20 SSH

MARY:
Mosey back to COT with football passes. 1. Flutter Kicks (x30) 2. Freddie Mercuries (x20)

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

15 HIMs including 3 RUSH. 1 FNG @Hamburglar (Jason Wood)

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
I was driving to work yesterday trying to think of what I might say here today. And during that time a car sped up next to me and cut in front of me without a signal and then slammed on their brakes and cut into the next lane before turning right. He cut 2 people off!! I thought about that for the next hour. An hour! I nearly let that 10 second episode ruin my entire morning.

Now that was small, but imagine something more thought out and manipulative. What does that look like? What does that do to you?

Forgiveness can be defined as a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve it.

Well what does Jesus say about that? He said in Matthew Chapter 6:14 “For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. 15 But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses. That’s pretty significant.

Peter denied Jesus and he received forgiveness. Afterwards, he asked Jesus “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me?” He says, “Seven times?” Jesus looked at him and replied, “No, not seven times, but seventy-seven!” (Matthew 18:21–22). Or interpret that as 70 x 7 = 490.

Most of us have at least one or two people who seem unworthy of our forgiveness—people who caused us great pain, and hurt us in ways only tears and anger can express. We can forgive everyone but them. But these are the very people Jesus has in mind.

Before Jesus died we had a certificate of debt on file in heaven. All of our sins, listed. Why do you think Jesus had to suffer and die the way He did? Symbolically, His body became that list of our sins, the record of our debt. The debt was owed to God, and in one moment at the cross, He canceled it out forever. If God did that for us, we must do the same for the people we hold locked away in unforgiveness.

Forgiving people like this requires a supernatural love that is bigger than us. It’s beyond our own ability to keep forgiving. None of us can give or receive unlimited grace and forgiveness unless empowered by the Holy Spirit. It has to be a God thing. It doesn’t mean we have to forget or that we are wise to always trust again, but ask and give it over to Him.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Shamrock AOQ change on May 25, Rampart Skeletor VQ on May 23rd, Rampart launch May 30th.

Pickin’, Sprintin’, Squatin’ & Grinnin’

THE SCENE: 70 degrees, 95% humidity, Nice Breeze
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER 
WARM-O-RAMA:
6xCherry Pickers, 20xSSH, 10xBACF, 10xBACB, 10xTempo Merkins, 10xTempo Squats

THA-THANG:

Mosey to the center lot, 1st light post. Partner up. One partner begins an unnumbered set of the following while the other sprints to the far light post and back. Switch roles until each of the 5 are complete…

  1. Merkins
  2. Sumo Squats
  3. Burpees
  4. Lunges
  5. Tricep Dips

Mosey on back to the CMU pile. Mary on the route: Flutter kicks, Hello Dolly. Arrive at station. Same partners. Grab CMU and begin a set of each while partner runs stair to pull up bars and does 3 leg lifts. Switch roles until each of the 5 are complete…

  1. Curls
  2. Overhead Press
  3. Upright rows
  4. Bench style press (on your back)
  5. Bent over rows

MARY:
Mosey back to COT. 2 stops with 1. Planks, arm/leg raises 2. Box cutters

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
21 PAX. FNG–>CPR
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Over the past few weeks, there have been several reminders of what it means to be in community. Poolboy talked about being real and vulnerable with those close to us, how there’s freedom in that. Guardrail read in God’s word that it’s not good to be isolated and alone. And recently Spotter talked about putting God first among everything.

F3 offers the opportunity for us to gather and have that community, to be open and honest and to work together and support one another.

Now what does it mean for us to take that a step further, outside of here? As a Christ follower, it means that we are his representatives. We learn about Him and his teaching through the Bible and we model that in our lives. We learn from multiple accounts that Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment and what he had to say about that…

Matthew 22:37-39 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment and the second is Love your neighbor as yourself”. We are to love God above everything else and second love our neighbors. That’s not easy.

How are we honoring Christ in our relationships and in our actions? Second, how are we loving our neighbors (not just our closest friends)? Think about those people around us, distant family and friends, co-workers, and those in our actual neighborhoods. Maybe those you don’t know.

Our challenge: What is something we can do to connect with them this week? It could be sending a text to see how they are doing. It could be knocking on a door. It might be offering gift card for dinner. It could be meeting for coffee. It could be volunteering to serve or lead. If we are truly going to represent Christ in our lives, we have to look different than the world around us.

Keep in mind that whatever we step into, He is right there with us, on our behalf. Jesus said …in ME you may have peace, but in the WORLD you will have trouble. But take heart; I have overcome the world. There’s great hope in that. Let’s offer it to someone else.

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