F3 Knoxville

THE SCENE: Sunny, temp in low 40’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-Straddle-Hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Windmills, 20 second knee stretches each side, 5 Burpees, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Baby Arm Circles Forward and Backward.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to New Parking Lot that Is Across Street from North Ball Fields.  20 Hello Dollies (four count).

Mosey to south end of parking lot by Southern Ball Fields.  We will be running doing modified suicides.  Instead of running to each cone and back, we will do the following exercises to each cone and then sprint back.  We will add one cone each time we come back.  Also, each time back we do 10 Big Boy Sit-ups.  Those finishing first alternate do imitation jump ropes until everyone is back.  Then we will repeat step 5 where we go to all cones.

• Bear Crawl to First Cone
• Hop to Second Cone
• Lunge to Third Cone
• Bernie Sanders to Fourth Cone
• Sprint to Fifth Cone

Mosey to Perimeter Trail that is just south of the south ball field pavilion.  We will be going east then north on the perimeter trail.  We will do nickel, dime, quarters along the trail.  Each light pole along the trail equals 5 cents or 5 reps of an exercise.  We will run the distance of one light (nickel) and do 5 reps of the exercise.  We will then run two lights (dime) and do 10 reps of the exercise.  Finally, we will run give lights and (quarter) and do 25 reps of the exercise.  One done with the 25 reps, do baby crunches until all other brothers arrive.  We will do these until we reach cardiac hill.  These are the exercises:

• Merkins
• Squat Jumps
• Flutter Kicks (each leg = 1)
• Dive Bombers
• High Knees (each leg = 1)
• Carolina Dry Docks

At cardiac hill we will run uphill, doing the following exercises at each turn:

• First turn.  20 Diamond Merkins
• Second turn.  20 Hello Dollies
• Third turn.  20 Decline Merkins
• Fourth turn.  20 Bench Dips

Mosey to Flag Pole at North Ball Park Entrance.  We will circle around the pavilion in a counter-clockwise rotation doing the following exercises at the following stops:

• 20 Star Jumps at Flag Pole
• 20 Bench Jumps at Playground
• 20 Seconds of Pull-ups at Ball Field Dugouts
• 20 Picnic Table Pull-ups under Pavilion
• Rinse and Repeat

Mosey back to AO. 

MARY:
20 Flutter Kicks (four count).  ATM’s.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
We had fifteen men show including Spicoli from F3 Hilton Head and an FNG, Thomas Keaton, whom we named “Trippin.”
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Exodus 20:3 – You shall have no other gods before me.

Isaiah 44:9 – All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit.

The bible speaks often of the dangers of worshiping false idols.  When we read about worshiping false idols or gods, we often think of human made images (such as Aaron’s Golden Calf) of biblical times or the multiple gods worshiped by pagans in those days.  But the bible actually refers to all kinds of things that we deify or make our ultimate goals as being idols:  for example, money, sex, power and fame.  The idols of biblical times remain our idols today.

When I first read of God, saying in the Ten Commandments, that we shall have no gods other than Him, I thought He was saying this out of jealousy.  Indeed, God is jealous for us but in further study of the commandment, I feel he actually says this out of love and concern for us.  Because, when we worship idols, when we make anything other that Him the ultimate thing we live for, we get into trouble – the false idol, indeed, may destroy us.

The things that people make the mistake of placing ahead of God need not be bad things.  Money, sex, fame, power – these are not bad things.  Money helps feed us and provides us shelter and comfort; sex is beautiful and leads to our continuing humanity; fame often occurs in the face of great things achieved by the one who becomes famous; and power can lead to great changes for our human race.  Yet, these things are not what lead to our ultimate joy.  What happened in the stock market crash of 1929 and the more recent economic and stock crisis of 2008?  We saw many of those who placed their hopes in wealth come to emotional devastation – a good number of people committed suicide.  We often are jealous of wealthy people, of movie stars, of famous individuals, of those with great power.  But if you google famous people who committed suicide (examples include Marilyn Monroe, Robin Williams, Ernest Hemingway, Kurt Cobain, Freddie Prince, Cleopatra) the lists are long and full of people that others admired and wanted to be like.  God knows that when we place all of our hopes onto that which is not him, we will be hurt and even destroyed.

Anything can be grouped into the false deity category.  Even our wives or children.  When we deify our spouse we make them responsible for our redemption.  That is unfair to the spouse and will lead to us being upset with, angry at, or turned off by our spouse because our spouse cannot be God.

Even parenting children can be turned into idolatry.  There are parents who expect too much for their children or place too much importance on their schooling, friendships, or success.  I have recently got into trouble regarding this “idol.”  I indeed love my children as I should as their father.  I have been quite proud of my daughter who graduated from Asbury University in May and was one of the top students in her graduating class.  I have quietly patted myself on the back, perhaps unconsciously bragging about my parenting skills.  My daughter is currently going through a vocational life crisis.  She was accepted into a masters program at an excellent university but then decided not to go.  She then took an one year internship with Americorp, hated it, and quit.  She is now working for a little more than minimum wage and struggling with what to do with her life.  I have wanted to step in and lead the way, provide all the answers, kick her own butt by exclaiming “how could you do this” or command others to give her the exact job she needs.  I cannot do this for her.  She must face her own struggles.  If I turn parenting into idolatry, I do not let her be herself.  I do not allow her to face pain and overcome it.  I do not allow her to reach out to God, as we all must, to find our path, find our way in life.  And so, I must turn to God, pray for my daughter, and have faith that she is precious, that God is loving, and that through God she will find her own way.

What idols are you struggling with at this time?  Are you making something more important than your relationship with God?  God loves you and that is why He wants you to place him first.  He knows that your placing anything above Him will only hurt you in the long run.

MOLESKIN:
We need to pray for G-6’s son who is in the hospital.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Coffeeteria!