F3 Knoxville

Broken Leaders

Asylum AM

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:

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 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.