THE SCENE: Light rain, temp in low 60s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-Straddle Hops, 20 Plank Jacks, 10 Windmills, 10 Rockettes, 10 Baby Arm Circles Forward and Backward, 7 Wide Arm Circles Forward and Backward.
THA-THANG:
Our AO for the day was the pavilion at the Northern Ball Fields.
Mosey to semi-circle roadway that goes by soccer fields. We ran high knee for 10 stakes, did 10 squats, then butt-kicked for 10 stakes and did 10 squats. We continued that pattern until the end of the semi-circle roadway. We then returned to the start with the same pattern but this time doing squat jumps instead of squats. We, finally, went back on the semi-circle, this time doing Bernie Sander for 20 states and 5 Imperial Walkers, repeating that pattern to the end of the semi-circle roadway.
Mosey to parking lot by southern ball fields. We did suicides up parking lot, running to each of the large light posts along the parking lot. When we got back from each cone we did 20 Squats. We rinsed and repeated.
Mosey back to the street but stop at curb before stop sign. We did 10 tempo merkins by curb.
Mosey to parking lot with the islands that is located south of the Northern Ball Fields. We divided into three groups. Two groups positioned themselves on islands on the opposite end of the parking lot. While the third group ran from one end of the parking lot to the other, the groups on either island alternated between doing 10 incline merkins on curb and 10 bench dips on curb. Once the running group got to the island then they started the exercises while the group that was there ran to the other end. This pattern continued until all groups had run from one end to the other two times.
Mosey to Pavilion. At pavilion, we ran to benches, did 10 bench jumps and ran back to pavilion. Rinse and repeat.
Finish at Pavilion.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
17 men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Galatians 6:17
From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus.
I’m going to talk a little bit about the importance of scars, the importance of wounds. As men, we sometimes take a bit of pleasure in showing our scars to one another. Sounds weird, but I think there are good reasons for it. By sharing we show one another that we have been wounded and have that in common. We also show we were tough enough to take it.
Our brother, Pusher, has told me of a tradition in the Philippines where boys are circumcised at the age of ten. Think about how painful that is for a ten-year-old. For two weeks after the circumcision that boy, in fact, wears a dress because the touch of pants to the circumcised area would be too painful. Filipinos realize that they could change the age of the circumcision – to circumcise at that age is certainly not a medical necessity. But in the Philippines it is a rite of passage. The boy fears the moment, fears the pain, but in enduring it makes a major step toward manhood. He can walk proudly, knowing he has endured it.
The Aborigines have an interesting rite of passage that I read about. At the time of puberty the male or female meets overnight with the same sex members of their community who tell them stories of manhood or womanhood. Afterwards, the male or female meets in a ceremony with their father and mother. Both the father and the mother each take a sharp claw from an animal and cut the skin on the chest of the child. The cuts form permanent wounds that will remain on the daughter or son’s breast for the rest of their life. It is a symbol of recognition: “I have been wounded by my parents and I must accept that fact. In accepting it, I can become a woman or a man.” I love that – my parents love me but they have also wounded me and I need to man up to that.
I can remember my cousin and I talking, at about college age, about the types of women we would like to marry. Of course we talked about physical beauty. But we also talked about the character of the woman we wanted to marry. We both agreed that we would rather marry a woman who had been wounded by some hardships than marry a woman who never had faced hardships and was completely innocent. Our scars give us character. They also help us to empathize with the pain and hardships experienced by others.
I accept that I have been scarred by life. I cannot deny it or escape it. I am not the Innocent Man that Billy Joel sang about. But, as a Christian, the ultimate example of empathy for me is our Lord Christ. I expose my scars to Him. For, He was willing to take on the scars of the Cross to save humankind from our sinfulness. In recognizing this, in baptizing myself to this, I am given the ultimate rite of passage. And, as Paul states in Galatians 6:17, “from now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus.”
MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Helga and his wife who is having surgery, for Steam’s father who just had total knee replacement surgery, and for Steam as he considers a new job.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hardship Hill on Saturday, October 3.