F3 Knoxville

Tag: Abacus

No Hard Feelings

THE SCENE: Cloudy, temp in 50s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Imperial Squat Walkers, 10 Gas Pumps, 10 Tempo Merkins, 10 Plank Jacks, 10 Windmills, 10 Twisties.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to Bat Cave.  We will do the following going counterclockwise:

  • Run down stairs and do 20 Carolina Dry Docks.
  • Run to grove of trees at climb of Mt. Everest and do 10 Burpees.
  • Run to summit of Mt. Everest and do 20 Hello Dollies.
  • Run to Bat Cave and do 20 Star Jumps.
  • Rinse and repeat two more times.

Mosey to stop sign at southeastern corner of Administration Bldg.  Do 20 American Hammers.

Mosey to Area 51.  We will split into teams of two for Doras.  While one partner runs to the curb by the hill at Area 51, does 5 decline merkins, then runs back, the other partner works on the exercises listed below.  Teammates then switch.  Here are the exercises:

  • 200 Rocky Balboas, both feet = 1.
  • 200 Flutter Kicks, both feet = 1.
  • 200 Bicycle Kicks, both feet = 1
  • 200 Baby Crunches

Mosey to park entrance on Northshore, then take perimeter trail past the utility bldg.  We will stop to do 20 lunges, both legs = 1.

Mosey to bottom of Mt. Everest.  We will stop to do 50 Baby Crunches.  We will then run up Everest.  Those reaching the roadway first do more Baby Crunches until the six is there.

Run to top of the Space Needle and then mosey to the AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Ten men, no FNGs.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

NO HARD FEELIMGS

I gave a message about this topic and this song by the Avett Brothers a few years ago.  I think the topic is important enough and the song is amazing enough to cover again.  The topic is Forgiveness and the song by the Avett brothers is “No Hard Feelings.”

The Lord commands us to forgive.  In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  In Matthew 6:14 Jesus says, “If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”  And, in discussing the idea of forgiveness, Jesus said to forgive one who has sinned against you not seven times but seventy times seven times.

These commandments are made not only for the benefit of those who have sinned against us but for us who must do the forgiving.  If we hang on to the anger, the bitterness, the hurt of being wronged, these “hard feelings” can eat us up inside.  In their song, “No Hard Feelings”, the Avett brothers recognize the destructiveness that unforgiving hard feelings can have despite the goodness that life offers us:

Lord knows they haven’t done
Much good for anyone
Kept me afraid and cold
With so much to have and hold.

Yet in their song, the Avett brothers recognize the difficulty that we, as humans, have in forgiving.  It is difficult enough those people in that other political party or the neighbors who keep their front yard messy.  But how do we forgive someone who has truly hurt us or one of our family members?  The quality of “true forgiveness” is a Christ-like virtue that we must continually strive to attain.  The narrator hopes for that state by saying,

When the sun hangs low in the west
And the light in my chest
Won’t be kept held at bay any longer
When the jealousy fades away
And it’s ash and dust for cash and lust
And it’s just hallelujah
And love in thoughts and love in the words
Love in the songs they sing in the church
And no hard feelings.

The fact is that we humans, as sinners, find it so very hard to forgive.  Christ asks us to turn the other cheek.  That takes a bravery that is quite difficult for us to muster.  In the Avett Brothers song, the narrator looks at his own life and wonders if by his death he can accomplish the task.  The song uses a beautiful image of walking straight to the life after death and running into the savior.   The narrator of the song yearns for the final result of godlike forgiveness within himself by chanting the final line of the song four straight times:

Will I join with the ocean blue
Or run into the savior true
And shake hands laughing
And walk through the night
Straight to the light
Holding the love I’ve known in my life
And no hard feelings

Lord knows they haven’t done
Much good for anyone
Kept me afraid and cold
With so much to have and hold
Under the curving sky
I’m finally learning why
It matters to me and you
To say it and mean it too
For life and its loveliness
And all of its ugliness
Good as it’s been to me
I have no enemies
I have no enemies
I have no enemies
I have no enemies.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Down Under’s son, Hunter, age 17, who had hoped to go into military after high school where he is in ROTC.  He learned that due to a medical condition, he will not be qualified to go into the military.  Prayers of thanks for the mother of Steam’s future bride.  Steam’s future mother-in-law found out that her breast cancer is now in remission after chemotherapy and radiation.  Prayers for our brother, Sparkler, as he continues to recover from his rotator cuff surgery.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Board Meeting!

Drum Major 51

THE SCENE: A beautiful sunny evening at about 70 degrees.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

51 single count side straddle hops

10 windmills

5 merkins/1 burpee

10 baby arm circles each way

Little of this and that

10 rockettes

5 big boys/1 burpee

THA-THANG:

Mosey to hill by wall just up mini-cardiac

5/1’s

5 box jumps/step ups up top

1 big boy at bottom

Until get to 1 at top and 5 at bottom

 

Mosey to rock pile along path on park’s east side

15 curls

15 overhead press

21 rows

(2nd 51)

15 triceps

15 front lifts

21 squats

 

(rinse and repeat everything)

 

Mosey to the Bermuda Triangle

Battle buddy up

1 buddy runs to hill and back while other stays and knocks out

51 squats

51 imperial walkers

51 merkins

51 LBCs

 

Mosey to base of Everest

15 flutter kicks

5 burpees/1 big boys

5 burpees/1 merkin

Then released everyone to run the summit of Everest and then all the way to the AO. Have to do 51 hand release merkins split up as each sees fit by the time or at the AO meetup.

MARY:
15 box cutters and some post workout stretches to finish us off
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Use the TAGS on right-side to record PAX (BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOURSELF) in attendance. Be sure to select the AO in CATEGORY above TAGS and then delete these notes!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Discussed how leadership involves letting go and trusting those you lead to be be good leaders, people and citizens in your absence. I then read the following quotes on the subject:

No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it. —Andrew Carnegie

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves. —Lao Tzu

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it. —Theodore Roosevelt

A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit. —John Maxwell

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

Why Worry

THE SCENE: Clear skies, temp in 50s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
20 Side-Straddle Hops, 10 Plank Jacks, 10 Windmills, 10 Tempo Merkins, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Little Baby Arm Circles Forward and Backward.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the Southern Parking Lot close to the soccer fields.  We will go counterclockwise around the parking lot, stopping at each corner.  The following shows the exercises we do at each corner and how we get to the next corner:

  • Corner 1:  20 Merkins.  Bernie Sanders to Corner 2.
  • Corner 2:  20 Hello Dollies, 4 count.  Run to Corner 3
  • Corner 3:  20 Big Boy Sit-ups.  Bernie Sanders to Corner 4
  • Corner 4:  20 Flutter Kicks, 4 count.  Run to Corner 1.
  • Rinse and Repeat but Skip instead of Bernie.

We will Mosey to the perimeter trail where it goes by the pavilion close to the Southern Parking Lot.  We will run for 10 lights.  Those rabbits getting there first will come back and meet the six.  Then we will do the first of the exercises listed below.  Next we will run another 10 lights.  Those rabbits getting there first will come back and meet the six again.  Then we will do the second of the listed exercises.  We will do this until we hit the serpentine sidewalk.  The exercises are:

  • 20 Dive Bombers
  • 20 Squat Jumps
  • 20 Bicycle Kicks (4 ct)
  • 20 Iron Mikes (2 ct)

At the Serpentine Sidewalk we will hop forward for one light, then run for four lights.  We will repeat the pattern until we hit the end of the Serpentine Sidewalk.  Then we will return back on the Serpentine Sidewalk by lunging forward for one light and running for four lights until we hit the perimeter trail.

Mosey to the base of Cardiac.  We will Bernie for two lights and run for two lights, repeating this pattern until we reach the roadway.

Mosey to the AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
14 men, no FNGs
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

What If?

What if the stock market crashes before I turn 70 and all the savings I have been relying on to retire plummets?

What if I get sued for malpractice and my reputation as a therapist takes a nose dive?

What if there is so much fighting within our country that it reaches a point where it is no longer the pillar of strength and beacon of hope for so many people?

What if my legs start to give out so much that I can no longer work out with my brothers in F3?

What if that lady in charge of the Lakeshore Park Conservancy, who has told us to stop writing on sidewalks and keep out of the ballpark area when teams are playing, somehow forces F3 out of the Asylum?

What if my house falls apart due to some kind of reason that my home insurance policy doesn’t cover?

Here’s two sentences from Philippians 4: 6-7:


Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Let me give you a few more “what if” questions.  Think about these questions, dwell on them a bit.

What if there truly is a God who watches over us and loves us?

What if God takes delight in us, not for the riches we make but for the good we do for others?

What if God will take care of us through the greatest of losses, even our possessions?

What if Jesus really did die for our sins and arose three days later?

What if God truly does hear us when we pray?

What if there is a heaven and God will be with us, even when we die?

I’ll end this message with some verses from the song, We Will Feast in the House of Zion by Sandra McCracken

We will not be burned by the fire
He is the Lord, our God
We are not consumed by the flood
Upheld, protected, gathered up

We will feast in the house of Zion
We will sing with our hearts restored
He has done great things, we will say together
We will feast and weep no more

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Thunderstruck’s mother, who has cancer and for Operation and his wife as they try for pregnancy.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
CSAUP at the Asylum on February 26, 6:30 am to 9 am.  Chance for F3 men to serve for RAMUSA.org.  This is a clinic that provides medical and dental services for free to people in the community.  The clinic will be in Knoxville on June 24 to 26.  Our brother, Cat Gut, needs to know by March 1 if you can help.  Let him know if you can.

Keep Moving, Stay Warm

THE SCENE: Cold, cloudy, and windy.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH, Slow windmills (get that stretch in!), baby arm circles, burpees, & Imperial squats.

THA-THANG:

At the coliseum, 4 stations around the outside. Each station has 3 exercise options. Choose one to complete and then run to the 3rd station and pick an exercise. Rinse & repeat. Exercises were as follows:

  • Station 1 (Core)
    • HELLO DOLLYS (20, 4 CT)
    • PICKLE POUNDERS (20)
    • BIG BOYS (20)
  • Station 2 (Legs)
    • SQUATS (20, 4 CT)
    • MONKEY HUMPERS (20)
    • BOBBY HURLEYS (20)
  • Station 3 (Core)
    • BOX CUTTERS (20)
    • LBCS (20, 4 CT)
    • SCISSOR KICKS (20, 4 CT)
  • Station 4 (Arms)
    • MERKINS (20)
    • DIPS (20)
    • CAROLINA DRY DOCKS (20)

MARY:
Big Boys & American hammers.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Excerpt read from a Fresh Air interview of Laura Coates.

On what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. means to her

When I think of Dr. King, the first thing that comes to mind is going to his museum down in Atlanta and looking at the number of times he was arrested. Now that might seem an oddity to people. Mostly, we think about his speeches and the impactful words, and he was an eloquent orator, and he was obviously deserving of all the accolades as it relates to his speechwriting and his sermons. But for me, I think about the number of times he was a civil rights first responder, … the number of times he went into the battlefield, the number of times he pulled an entire race out of the wreckage, the number of times that he subjected himself to physical violence. It’s the notion that myself, as a mother, looking at my young children, when all I want to do is grow old and watch them grow even older, that he had to accept the inevitability that he would not do the very things every parent wants to do. And why? Because he was thinking not only of his own children, but my children and my children’s children. …

Every time I think about his death, I think to myself, God, was that how young he was? And every year that I live beyond that, I thank him, because the life I have is because of the choices he made, because of the discomfort he experienced. And I just love this man for making those choices and for aligning his moral compass with what he was willing to do.

And It Was Good

THE SCENE: Insert info about the weather, etc.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Lap around the parking lot, 20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Twistees, 10 Windmills, 10 Baby Arm Circles Forward and 10 Backward, 5 Wide Arm Circles Forward and Backward.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the Caribbean.  We will run Candy Cane with the following exercises at every other island, then sweep back.

  • 20 Merkins
  • 15 Iron Mikes (both legs = 1)
  • 20 Big Boy Sit-ups.

Mosey to street side end of the Serpentine Sidewalk.  We will Bear Crawl one light and sprint four lights all the way down the Serpentine Sidewalk until it hits the perimeter trail.  There, we will do 20 Bicycle Kicks, 4 ct.

Mosey to Cardiac.  We will go up Cardiac, stopping to do the following exercises along the way:

  • At start:  20 American Hammers (4 ct)
  • First turn:  20 Flutter Kicks (4 ct)
  • Second turn:  20 Hello Dollies (4 ct)
  • Third turn:  20 Decline Merkins
  • Benches:  20 Bench Dips

Mosey to bottom of mini-cardiac.  We will Bernie up to the park sign, then run to the top.  Run back down to AO.

MARY:
Stretching
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
15 men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

And It Was Good

Some verses from Genesis, Chapter 1:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. 

9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth,[d] and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13

And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 

20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds[g] fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 

25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make man[h] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.

31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

One sentence that echoes through the creation story of the Bible is, “God saw that it was good.”  And, indeed, His creation is good.  That is easy to see here in East Tennessee where, as Crawdad would say, we are blessed to view “best sunrise in America.”

Amidst the strife and toil of our world, amidst Covid 19, the conflict among our people, the wars between nations, we may fail to recognize the blessings of God’s creation.  We, as human, may sometimes mess things up.  But God is good and his creation is good.

Let us recognize the blessings of the earth and firmament.  Let us rejoice in it, be stewards of it, and protect it.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Steam’s girlfriend who has Covid, and for his girlfriend’s mother who has cancer.  His girlfriend lives with her mother and, although quarantining, is worried about giving her mother, whose immune system is compromised, cancer.  Prayer’s for Steam’s good friend, Nathan, whose mother recently died.  Prayers for a coworker of Pusher.  The coworker had to leave work early today to go the the hospital where his stepfather is in critical condition.  Prayers for Operation as he and his wife have been working at getting pregnant for three years now in hope of having a baby.