F3 Knoxville

Tag: Brick

Tears of Joy

THE SCENE: Insert info about the weather, etc.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Motivators, starting with seven.  10 Tempo Merkins.  10 Cherry Pickers. 10 Windmills.  Ten Twisties.  Ten Baby Arm Circles forward and backward.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the stop sign by the main park road and the road that goes to Admin Bldg.  We will do 10 Imperial Walkers and 10 Lunges with each foot.

Mosey to the bottom of Mt. Everest.  We will do Ten Speed Skaters, then run up Mt. Everest.  Those reaching the top can do invisible skip ropes until everyone arrives.

Mosey to the steps at the front of the admin bldg.  We will go around the loop that goes from the Admin Bldg to the Coliseum.  We will stop at the following spots to do the following exercises:

  • On porch of Admin bldg:  20 Merkins
  • At south curve of loop:  20 Squat Jumps
  • At benches of Coliseum:  20 Bench Dips
  • At north curve of loop:  20 Squats
  • Rinse and repeat above two times.

Next, we will have a snowball fight in the grassy area in the middle of the loop.  Last man hit by a snowball gets a free breakfast from your Q.

Mosey to Pavilion that is close to AO.  We will do 20 Bench Dips then run to AO parking lot to do 20 Iron Mikes (one leg = 1).  Rinse and repeat but with 20 Decline Merkins at the Pavilion.  Rinse and repeat one more time but with 20 Picnic Table Pull-ups at the Pavilion.  (Note:  we will do 20 Iron Mikes in the parking lot with each rinse and repeat).

Mosey to the baseball field directly behind AO parking lot.  We will go to grassy area.  We will have a game of Ultimate Frisbee Football.

Mosey to AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Eleven men, no FNGs.  Great to have La-Z Boy visit our AO this Saturday morning.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Feeling The Tears of God Brings Joy

I heard in interesting story on NPR this past Monday.  It was about a man named Brandon Jackson who was recently released from prison after being convicted of armed robbery 25 years ago.  The conviction was based on a 10-2 split jury decision in the State of Louisiana.  Louisiana courts began to allow 10-2 decisions on such felony cases during the Jim Crow era.  The purpose was to be able to dismiss the votes of the occasional black juror that might make up a jury and vote someone innocent.  No one actually witnessed Brandon Jackson commit the alleged robbery.  His conviction was based on the testimony of a witness who had changed his story a number of times and got off on a lighter sentence based on his testimony.  The Louisiana Supreme Court in 2020 declared a split-jury conviction on such a felony case to be unconstitutional.  However, the ruling was not considered to be retroactive.

Brandon Jackson spent his time in Angola prison, a notoriously violent prison.  After an altercation with correctional officers, five of his years was spent in solitary confinement.  He got out on parole one month ago.  He has always maintained that he is innocent.  I don’t know whether he was innocent or guilty of the crime but I liked his interview.  Imagine your own reactions to our world today if you had spent 25 years behind bars.  He told the interviewer about how he waited at the counter of a grocery store for a long time waiting for someone to check him out.  Finally, an employee showed him how to scan his own items.  He was baffled and amazed.

I also liked some of the things that Brandon Jackson had to say about happiness and joy.  He said happiness is fleeting but that joy is something different.  He said that he doesn’t hold any grudges or regrets about what happened to him in the past.  Now that he is out of prison, he wants to help those in his community who may also have been in trouble.  He commented that, perhaps God had allowed his imprisonment to happen to prepare him for some purpose he needs to fulfill. As for joy, he finds it in small things.  He finds joy in sipping coffee with his mother each morning and reading the bible with her.  He finds joy in simply going outside.  This man, who had spent so much time behind bars, remarked, “We had a little rain one day, so I just went outside and stood in the middle of the backyard.  I wanted to feel God’s tears pour on me, so I just stayed there.”

The great Christian theologian, C.S. Lewis, also talked about the difference between happiness and joy.  He also said happiness is fleeting.  Joy is different.  It is a walk, a journey, a state of being.  C.S. Lewis indicated that people long for joy but do not find it in riches, fame, or power.  He said that when we finally discover joy, we find that joy itself is not what we are really seeking.  It is the Source of Joy that we seek.  That source, Lewis says, is God and Jesus Christ.

Brothers, may each of us find the source of Joy in our life journey.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Crawdad’s friends in the Ukraine.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Brolympics on November 5 this year!

Life is an Adventure

THE SCENE: Perfect.  Low 60s and plenty o’ sun!
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Check
WARM-O-RAMA:

– 20 SSH (4ct, IC)

– 20 Moroccan Nightclubs (4 ct, IC)

– 10 Windmills (4 ct, IC)

– 10 Tempo squats

– 10 Grady Corns (4 ct, IC)

-Leg Stretches

THA-THANG:
We repeated some of the exercise stations from CSAUP so that the guys who missed could experience it a bit, and to recreate the nightmare for those that did attend. 🙂

MOSEY to Area 51

PRISON YARD (AREA 51)

OBJECTIVE: Your adventures have gotten off to an inauspicious beginning.  You have been charged with a crime! You must serve your punishment by doing hard labor.

  • Do 10 PRISONER GET UPS in the parking lot

 

  • BEAR CRAWL to Wall of building, do 10 PRISONER CELL MERKIN BURPEES (PCMBs).

 

  • EL CAPITAN back to parking lot. RINSE AND REPEAT.

 

MOSEY to Gravel Parking Lot

ENDURANCE TRAINING

OBJECTIVE: After that short little mosey, I can hear you panting like a She-Dragon in Labor! You are already out of breath, and you call yourself a HIM?? To achieve ultimate HIM-dom, you must train to IMPROVE YOUR ENDURANCE!

Do a SEABISCUIT! Run one lap around the parking lot (staying outside of the cones) and then do:

  • 10 Merkins
  • 20 Big Boy Situps
  • 30 Squats

Run TWO laps, Repeat the exercises

Run THREE laps, Repeat the exercises

Mosey to AO, stopping twice to do some American Hammers and LBCs.

PRINCESS’S TOWER (SPACE NEEDLE)

OBJECTIVE: You must rescue the princess trapped in the Tower, but first you must slay the dragon that guards her!

EXERCISES:

  • Do a WELSH DRAGON*

SAVE the Princess! RUN to top of tower (Space Needle), do 20 SQUATS at each turn of the stairs. Touch the picture of the princess and return to bottom.

MARY:
No time for good ol’ Mary.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
13 plus two dogs plus one 2.0, plus one ex Nan’taan
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Life is not a problem to be solved, but an adventure to be lived!

  • John Eldredge, Wild at Heart.

When I was young I read every Choose Your Own Adventure book I could get my hands on.  For a kid who had a very active imagination, but was also constrained by little things like school, chores, going to Grandma’s house every Sunday, “rules”, avoiding getting beat up by a big brother, and on and on…. I usually didn’t get to live out those wild dreams that were always in my head.  And being a scrawny little runt who was always the smallest kid in class and in our neighborhood gang, I was far from looking the part of the noble hero or the brave adventurer.  The books were a wonderful diversion.  You could pretend you were a swashbuckling pirate on the high seas, an astronaut on a far-away planet, a wizard infiltrating the castle of frost giants, or a treasure hunter looking for a lost artifact in a distant land. And the books made you feel like you had a little bit of control, but in the end, you usually died anyway. Kind of like what happened in CSAUP. 😉  But then as you grow up, you gradually start to lose a bit of that magic.  Life gets in the way.  Bills, jobs, responsibilities.  Like little Jackie Paper, painted wings and giants rings make way for other toys.  And one day it happens… and you stop frolicking with a magic dragon in a land called Honnalee.

But every once in awhile, it’s great to revisit those places of imagination and dreams.  And that’s why I loved helping to create the CSAUP story line.  Yeah, I got to torture all of you guys who participated… but it was fun to bring just a little bit of magic and adventure to a morning that was completely stupid and utterly pointless.  I hope you all enjoyed it too.  And if you missed it… Take a visit back to Honnalee.  pick up one of your old Choose Your Own Adventure books and go through it again.  But every time you slay the dragon of save the princess, or find the treasure… you owe me 20 burpees!

MOLESKIN:

Prayers for Ukraine, CRISPR’s work environment, Pusher’s daughter’s band trip to Florida

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
None

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!

Parents These Days

THE SCENE: Gloom in the Fake Gloom.  A nasty, rainy, awesome evening.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER  Did it
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH, motivator, cherry pickers, twisties, rockettes
THA-THANG:
Insert information about the workout.

  • Triple battle buddies in the Caribbean
    • Jump squats and big boys
    • Merkins and big boys
    • Mountain Climbers and flutter kicks
  • Feel the burn
    • Wall sit
    • Ring of Fire push up
    • Ring of Fire squats
  • Alternating 10x flutter kicks and hello dolly
  • Star gazer in the rain

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
11 soaking wet PAX

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
In recently reading a book called “10 Rules for Resilience” by Joe DeSena (founder of Spartan Race), he said something obvious, but in a way that punched me in the gut.  He said he was tired of hearing people say “kids these days”.  Kids are born today the same way they’ve been born forever.  He argues we should really be saying “parents these days” because we – as the parents – are the difference in how kids are growing up now compared to in the past.  In large part, kids today are how kids are today because parents today raise kids the way we raise them today.  I know it’s not that simple in every situation, but the point is we as fathers have a lot of responsibility for who our kids are, their values, etc. We have to take ownership of that and we cannot hide behind “kids these days” as an excuse.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
CSAUP Feb 26

Tuesday Evening Big Circle

THE SCENE: Beautiful afternoon over 60 degrees at the start. Clear and a lot of people in the Asylum enjoying a pretty day.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Side straddle hops
  • Rockettes
  • Baby arm circles
  • Little of this and that
  • Imperial Squat walkers
  • 5 Burpees

THA-THANG:

Mosey to base of Pickett’s Charge

 

Picketts charge suicide

1st –  5 prisoner getups

2nd – 10 imperial walkers

 

10 merkins at bottom before and after each time down

 

LBCs up top until 6 comes in

 

Big circle stations

 

Start at coliseum and go all the way up to top of Everest/office parking lot and back around to coliseum start

 

Stop at each cone do exercise listed and follow instruction of where to go next and how

 

Coliseum start

  • 15 dips
  • Lunges to next cone

 

Cone 1 – halfway down walk

  • 15 big boys
  • Bear crawl to next

 

Cone 2 – little ways down

  • 20 squats
  • Karaoke to next cone

 

Cone 3 – halfway to stop sign

  • 10 no touch merkins
  • Sprint to next cone

 

Cone 4 – stop sign

  • 15 2 count flutter kicks
  • Bernie to next cone

 

Cone 5 – end of guardrail

  • 15 bobby hurleys
  • Run to next cone

 

Cone 6 – top of hill by parking lot

  • 15 merkins
  • Skip to next cone

 

Cone 7 – little ways down back of the hill

  • 15 2 count rocky balboas
  • Go all the way backwards to the 6 and repeat all cones you go back past
  • After coming back the 2nd time and doing Rocky Balboas again karaoke to the next cone

 

Cone 8 – stop sign area

  • 15 2 count hello dollys
  • Run to next cone

 

Cone 9 – up by pathway to Coliseum

  • 5 burpees
  • Lunges to next cone

 

Cone 10 – little ways down path

  • 10 star jumps
  • Bernie to starting spot of Coliseum and do LBCs until the 6 comes in

5 Motivators before running back to the AO for the word.

MARY:
n/a
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 the following:

Kurt Vonnegot story about Joseph Heller:

I said, “Joe, how does it make you feel
to know that our host only yesterday
may have made more money
than your novel ‘Catch-22’
has earned in its entire history?”
And Joe said, “I’ve got something he can never have.”
And I said, “What on earth could that be, Joe?”
And Joe said, “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.”

“Don’t make stuff because you want to make money — it will never make you enough money. And don’t make stuff because you want to get famous — because you will never feel famous enough,” John Green

MOLESKIN:
Q was followed by a well attended and lively Board Meeting at the Asylum to cap off a great evening.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
CSAUP end of February