F3 Knoxville

1. THE SCENE: Insert info about the weather, etc.
   F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
   WARM-O-RAMA:
   10 Windmills, 10 Cherry Pickers, Little of This and That, Michael Phelps.
   THA-THANG:
   Mosey to large parking lot with gardens in middle.  We will perform Iron PAX Week 0 challenge, doing the following exercises six times:

• 24 merkins
• 24 squats
• 24 lunges where both legs = 1
• 400 meter run

Those men finishing first will do the following exercises:

• 40 Baby Crunches
• 30 Big Boy Sit-Ups
• 20 Side Straddle Hops (4 count)
• 20 Hello Dollies (4 count)
• 20 American Hammers (4 Count)
• 20 Mountain Climbers (4 Count)
• 20 Bicycle Kicks (4 Count)

Mosey to AO

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

The whole problem with the world is that the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.  –Bertrand Russell

As a Christian, I get pissed off by people who are so damned sure about the bible and about God.  I’m talking about the guy who arrogantly proclaims that it is sacrilegious for us to question God.  Do these people really think about God?  With all the pain, injustice, greed, and despair in this world, don’t we have a right to question?  Are we supposed to follow God like robots, like automatons, never wondering, never doubting?

As a Christian, I have found my knowledge of God and faith in God strengthened by my questioning and doubts.  For, it is through my questioning that I seek, read, talk to others with more knowledge than I, and ultimately ponder, wrestle with, and finally converse with God.

It is nice to know that I am in good company.  Look at Christ’s disciples when he was taken to be crucified.  Look at Peter.  Christ told him that he would doubt and deny him, saying that before the rooster crowed Peter would deny his three times.  And, having done so, when the rooster crowed and Peter remember what Christ said, he wept bitterly.  But, like Paul, Peter would become a great apostle who spoke for and spread the word about Christ.  And, like Paul, he was willing to be killed to do so.  And most of Christ’s other disciples, who doubted just as Peter did, also died proclaiming Christ.

I read a 2014 Oped in the New York Times by Julia Baird.  In it, she talked about the backlash he received when Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has admitted that he sometimes questioned God.  The International Business Times proclaimed his statement was the “doubt of the century.”  The Australian atheist columnist, Peter FitzSimons, tweeted, “Victory.”  The Archbishop is a man who has reasons to doubt God.  As a teenager, he cared for an alcoholic father.  He lost his first daughter to a car accident when she was seven months  old.  But, as a follower of God, his questioning has strengthened him.  He understands others because he has suffered.  He understands doubt because he has doubted.  And, he knows that Christ, whJen he died on the cross, spoke for our doubts when He cried, “My God, Why have you forsaken me?”

As Ms. Baird aptly stated in her Oped, “Just as courage is persisting in the face of fear, so faith is persisting in the face of doubt.

So brothers, when you question this world, when you question it’s creator, know that you are in good company.  Doubt, but persist in the face of your doubt.  Persist in seeking answers to your doubts.  And have faith that God understands your doubts, but seeks you.

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