F3 Knoxville

Tag: Drum Major

It Isn’t Wasted Time

THE SCENE: Partly cloudy, temps in high 50’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Plank Jacks, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Squat Jumps, 10 Rockettes, 10 Little Baby Arm Circles Forward and 10 Backward, Michael Phelps
THA-THANG:
Mosey to Northeast Corner of Admin Bldg.  Do 20 American Hammers.

We will next go along the road that semicircles around the admin bldg.  There will be cones along the way that will tell us what exercise to do and also tell us how to get to the next cone:

  • Cone 1:  Do 20 Iron Mikes (both feet equal 1).  Bernie Sanders to Cone 2.
  • Cone 2:  Do 20 Big Boy Sit-ups.  Bear Crawl to Cone 3.
  • Cone 3:  Do 20 Dive Bombers.  Sprint to Cone 4.
  • Cone 4:  Do 20 Star Jumps.  Then go down the stairs just past the bat cave.
  • Cone 5.  Do 20 Merkins.  Then run to pine cove area just below the top of Summit.
  • Cone 6.  Do 10 Burpees.  Run to roadway at top of Summit.
  • Cone 7.  Do 40 Baby Crunches.  Run to Cone 8.
  • Cone 8.  Do 20 Squats.  Hop to Cone 9.
  • Cone 9.  Do 20 Flutter Kicks (4 count).  Sprint to Cone 10 near the stop sign.
  • Cone 10. Do 20 Hello Dollies (4 ct).  20 Carolina Dry Docks.  20 Smurf Jacks.  10 Hand Release Merkins.  20 Bicycle Kicks (4 ct).  20 Squat Jumps.  20 Box Cutters.  20 Diamond Merkins.

Mosey to grassy decline on left side of road as one goes from stop sign to main park road.  We will do sevens starting with 1 Jump Squat at bottom of hill and 6 Burpees on top of hill.

Mosey to grassy area close to outdoor chapel.  We will do 20 tempo merkins.

Mosey to playground.  We will do elevens at benches starting with one bench dip and ten bench jumps.

Mosey to CMU pile.  Each man grabs a CMU.  We will do the following in cadence:  20 Overhead Presses, 20 Curls, 20 Rows.

Mosey to bottom of mini-cardiac.  We will Bernie to park sign then sprint the rest of the way to the AO.

MARY:
30 Merkins
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
17 Men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

F3 Message

Hebrews 11:8:  By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

Matthew 3:12:  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

So you can get on with your search baby
And I can get on with mine
And maybe someday we will find
That it wasn’t really wasted time

            — The Eagles

When I was in college I, just like undergraduate and graduate students today, was required to do research projects for quite a few of my classes.  We didn’t have the internet back then.  By my years in graduate school we at least had made it past card catalogues and could search for books and journal articles that might be relevant for a topic by typing in a keyword on the computers provided at the library.  In so doing, the computer would list articles or books that might have that keyword in it.  We would then have to go find the book or journal article somewhere in the library to see if what was written in it did really apply to the topic we were researching.  Often times the information found did not apply.  This was particularly true when first starting the research on the project.  It was quite frustrating to spend hours of work on a project finding information that was not applicable.  By graduate school, I had come to accept the fact that for any research project I was going to have to spend hours of “wasted timed”, time I would spend roaming the floors and aisles of the library to come up with information that was not useful.  But, to quote the Eagles song, “it wasn’t really wasted time.”  It was necessary time.  To find what I needed, I had to separate the wheat from the chaff as alluded to in Matthew 3:12.  I had to find what was good for me (the information that applied) and put aside what was not (irrelevant information).

When one thinks about it, much of life is like this.  To receive our inheritance we must journey forward in faith, like Abraham, not quite knowing where we are going, heading down wrong turns and circling back to get on the right course. Some of you younger single guys may have the desire to find the “right” mate.  I certainly had that desire in my 20’s.  I dated a large variety of women, sometimes growing tired of the “dating scene”, breaking hearts and having my own heart broken in the process.  I wasn’t exactly separating the wheat from the chaff but I did have to find the right person for me.  And, in my 30’s, I finally found that person, one who has meant so much to me and made me a better man in the process.

My vocational career has not exactly been a road straight up a ladder.  It has been full of mishaps and struggle, and finally a decision to change my vocational course all-together, going to graduate school in psychology after I had already attained a law degree and practiced in that field for a period of time.  That period of time was not easy – it was full of anxiety and angst and I often felt like a failure.

Whether it is finding the right mate, job, friendships, place to live, or way to spend our time, we run into challenges and sometimes hit dead ends.  As a man in my sixties, I can see that the so-called floundering wasn’t wasted time.  It may have been had I given up and chose to ignore and not learn from my mistakes.  I can see that the dead ends were necessary and even helped me to grow.  How sweet it is to think that God has been there with me through it all.  Some of those moments when I was at my most depressed were times that I was speaking to God the loudest, yearning for him, reaching out to him for help.

In your journey, keep pushing forward, learn from your mistakes, and realize that God is there even when you don’t know where you are going.  If the road is confusing and seems impossible, it may just be that you are a complex man whose needs are not met easily.  My prayer for you is that some day you will look back on your younger years . . . although perhaps not without scars from your falls and lines on your face giving evidence to a history of some difficulties . . . and, be able to say that it wasn’t really wasted time.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Hooker’s sister, Molly, who is getting married to day, for Mr. Jinxy’s wife, Susan, whose surgery went well and who is recovering, for Helga and his wife as she has brain surgery this week, for Convoy and his family after the death of his father, for Doubtfire and his family after the death of his mother, for peace and love in the face of racism, and for those other brothers like Thunderstuck who have family members with cancer or who are ill.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Hardship Hill on October 3.

In His Mansion

THE SCENE: Insert info about the weather, etc.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-Straddle-Hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Plank Jacks, 5 Burpees, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Imperial Walkers, 10 Windmills, Michael Phelps

THA-THANG:

Each man picks up a pair of bricks from my truck.  We then run to parking lot by entrance to Northern Ball Fields.  There will be exercises posted at each corner of the parking lot.  Do the exercise listed, run around the parking lot, then do the next exercise listed.  Always have bricks when running.  Once exercises at one cone are complete, go to the next cone and do those.  When a man is done he will have done 12 exercises (3 from each cone and run around the parking lot 12 times).  Here are the exercises from each cone:

  • Cone 1:  1. 50 Overhead Presses with Bricks  2. 20 Big Boys  3. 50 Curls with Bricks
  • Cone 2:  1. 50 Rows with Bricks  2. 20 Big Boys  3.  50 Wings Up with Bricks
  • Cone 3:  1. 50 Wings Out with Bricks  2. 10 Mini Man-makers 3. 50 Wings Down with Bricks
  • Cone 4.  1. 50 Punches with Bricks.  2. 10 Mini Man-makers  3. 50 Triceps with Bricks

Mosey with bricks back to the truck and replace them there.

Mosey to stop sign at Northeastern corner of admin bldg.  We will do 20 American Hammers.

Mosey down steps to small alleyway.  Pick teammate. We will do Doras.  Teammate runs up stairs, around to beginning of alleyway and back to teammate while teammate does exercises.  Teammates the switch off.  Here are the exercises:

  • 150 Squats
  • 150 Big Boy Situps
  • 100 Merkins

Mosey to Parking Lot that semi-circles by soccer fields.  We will Bernie for 20 fence stakes then lunge for 10 tent stakes and repeat that pattern to the end of the parking lot.

Mosey to beginning of mini-cardiac.  Bernie to park sign, then sprint the rest of the way back to the AO.

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

Thomas Merton:  “Creation isn’t something that just happened in the beginning and then God walked off and left us to our own devices.”

Imagine if that were true.  God created this universe and everything in it and then said, “Good luck everybody, I’m going to sleep.”  Would the creator do that?  I don’t think so.

Thomas Merton:  “Creation is going on all the time.  That creation is absolute and perpetual.”

That creation is a gift and a miracle.  It surrounds us and is within us.  Yet, we so often fail to see it.  Some of the great church hymns have God saying to us (or use to Him), “Abide in Me”, knowing that we so often fall short in doing so.

James Finley describes this failure to see God’s gift to us in this way:

What if all along you’ve been living in this incredible mansion all your life but through a tragic mental condition you think you’re living in a little tent behind the garage?  And every week your psychotherapist comes over for your weekly session, and your therapist says, “Look, I wouldn’t, honestly, I wouldn’t lie to you on this one.  You’re in a mansion.  You’ve been living in it all along.”  You say, No.  No.  I . . . as a matter of fact, I don’t even think I deserve to even try to get in there, actually.”  In God, we live and move and have our being.  We’re living our life in the vast interiority of God pouring Himself out and giving himself away as every breath and heartbeat, as every passing moment of our life.  This is confusion.  Jesus called it blindness.  Buddha called it ignorance.  We don’t see the God-given, Godly nature, the boundary-less generosity of every blessed moment in our life.”

To abide in God is to accept his gift, to recognize His beauty, to breath it in what John Eldredge calls “The Sacred Romance.”  Other spiritual writers call it the “Sacred Dance.”  To abide in God is to ask him to abide with us.

I will close with some lines from the song “Abide With Me”:

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies
Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers of praise for Lillydipper’s wife (done with double masectomy surgery) and Choir Boys’ wife (does not have lymphoma and is getting rehab for the pain she is experiencing); prayers for wife of Mr. Jinxy who will have surgery on September 17; prayers for Lulu and Doubtfire who both have lost their mothers this past month.

When Dan Met Amy: The Reunion

THE SCENE: It was almost not unbearably humid.  Almost.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSHx20, 4ct, IC; Imperial Squat Walkers x15, 4ct, IC; Tie Fighters, forward and back; 4ct, IC x 10 each; CP x 5, IC; Run two laps around the AO parking lot
THA-THANG:
Burpee Dan

  • Lunge 4 times then 4 burpees, then lunge, burpees, etc. across the parking lot, run back;
  • Repeat with 4 lunges, 3 burpees across; run back
  • 4 lunges, 2 burpees across
  • Finally, 4 lunges, 1 burpee across.
  • Mosey to bottom of Baby Everest

Fat Amy:  4 rounds, each ending with a run or Bernie up Baby Everest and back down.

  • Round 1; 10 burpees; 50 squats; 40 BBS; 10 burpees; run up Baby Everest;
  • Round 2:  10 burpees; 20 star jacks; 10 burpees; Bernie up BE;
  • Round 3: 10 burpees; 20 star jacks; 10 burpees; run up BE;
  • Round 4: 10 burpees; 50 squats; 40 BBS; 10 burpees; Bernie up BE
    Early finishers mosey to the Cloud for 11s (Derkins and Bulgarian Squats)
  • MARY:
    Hands of Time; Hello Dollies and ATMs.
    COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMACIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
    The Lord tells us “a friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” – Proverbs 17:17.  Are there times in your life that God maybe puts someone in our path that needs encouragement, a brother born for adversity and you’ve side stepped it?  I know I have.  My prayer is that I can find the strength to accept the challenge of stepping into the breach with my brother who is going through a rough time and help them through it, even if it is simply a word of encouragement.
    MOLESKIN:
    A couple of notes:  I stole this Q from one that Proton did a few years ago.  We miss Proton.  Also, Veggie and Jumbo posted as well, but don’t appear to have tags.
    ANNOUNCEMENTS:
    Swanson is heading up a work day at Moreland Heights Elementary School on Aug. 8.

Everything You Need To Know You Learned in Sunday School and Kindergarten

THE SCENE: Sunny, around 70, and humid
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH x 42 (21 on a 4 ct)

Arm circles forward x 21 (4 ct)

Arm circles backward x 21 (4 ct)

Overhead clap x 43 (single ct)

Little of this and that and that and this

Some standing Michael Phelps

THA-THANG:
Mosey to Rocky Mtn High (every light do a burpee) – 7s – incline merkins with a clap at the top, imperial walkers (4 ct) at the bottom

Mosey to Everest (every light do a burpee) – Do 42 merkins at the bottom, run to the top where the rock pile used to be and do 43 merkins

Mosey to Grinch Hill – 7s – squats at the bottom, captain thors at the top

Mosey to Tree of Life – Hokey Pokeys – 21 each leg, Rowkins (or merkin rows) – 43

Mosey to Small Pavilon (Crawdad dubbed it the Stirrups since Hands was the one who introduced the location to F3) – 7s – pull-ups and merkins

Mosey to Pavilon – 7s – pull-me-ups on the picnic tables and box jumps

Mosey back to the AO via Baby Everest

MARY:

Not much time left for Mary, but we did 43 LBCs and then merkins until the last 30 seconds or so ran out

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
19 total, including Veggie and Jumbo but their tags don’t show up
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Talked about the divisiveness that is prevalent in the world today.  We need to be part of the solution, not the problem.  Some things to consider:

“You should always go through life working on the assumption that the other guy might be right.”  Senator Howard Baker, Jr.

“I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.  For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.”  Romans 16:17-18.

Read the Sneetches by Dr. Suess and pay close attention to Sylvester McMonkey McBean.

Don’t be McBean.  Be the person who helps find equality and common ground, not the person who takes advantage of situations and profits off of others.

Remember what you learned in Sunday School and Kindergarten and the world will be a better place.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Title IX, Mrs. Lillydipper, Lulu’s mom/Veggie‘s grandmother, and Mrs. Choir Boy.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Perspective

THE SCENE: Foggy, temps in high 60’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Jump Squats, Around the World Each Hand, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Windmills, Michael Phelps

THA-THANG:
Mosey to Southern Ball Fields Parking Lot.  We will circle the parking lot twice, stopping at each cone to perform exercise and moving to the next cone by the method designated on the cone:

  • Cone 1:  20 Bobby Hurleys.  Butt Kick to Cone 2.
  • Cone 2:  20 Hello Dollies (4 ct). Sprint to Cone 3
  • Cone 3:  20 Iron Mikes (both legs = 1).  Bear Crawl to Cone 4.
  • Cone 4:  20 Merkins.  Bernie to Cone 5.
  • Cone 5:  20 Big Boy Sit-ups.  High Knees to Cone 6.
  • Cone 6:  20 Star Jumps.  Grapevine Left to Cone 7.
  • Cone 7:  20 Flutter Kicks (4 ct).  Hop to Cone 8.
  • Cone 8:  20 Carolina Dry Docks.  Grapevine Right to Cone 1.

Mosey toward the Northshore Entrance to park.  We will stop at shaded area by apt buildings.  20 American Hammers.  10 Tempo Merkins.

Mosey to stop sign at southeastern corner of Admin Bldg.  30 second gander at scenery.  Mosey to Bat House.  We will do High Mountain Roundabout which will be the following:

  • 10 Hand Release Merkins by Bat House.  Then run down initial steps of Roadshow Run to grassy field below.
  • 20 Diamond Merkins.  Then run to grove of trees just below summit of Mt. Everest.
  • 10 Burpees.  Then run uphill to summit of Mt. Everest.
  • 20 Boy Boy Sit-ups.
  • Rinse and Repeat above.

Next, we will run down Roadshow Run to Perimeter Trail. From there we will head on trail toward Lyons Bend.  At perimeter trail we will head east and across road that goes to entrance way at Lyons Bend.  We will cross the roadway and stop to do 20 American Hammers.

We will then head on trail east and south to lower area parking lot.  We will head that way by doing 14’s, lunging for one light and then sprinting for four until we reach parking lot.

Next, head back to AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
16 men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
2020 has certainly been a difficult year and citizens in our country are a bit on edge right now.  You see it in the arguments between citizens on how serious a threat the Coronavirus truly is and whether we should be opening businesses at this time.  You see it in the protests going on related to the recent killings of black men by police.  Whether you support or are against opening up during the Coronavirus, whether you tend to look favorably upon the protests or are more prone to see the destruction caused by rioters, it is easy to judge that “other side”.  In some of our BOMs, however, we have been asking ourselves whether this is what God wants us to do.  Should we angrily judge someone whose ideas are different than ours or should we try to love them and make the attempt to understand their perspective?

We can learn to love even our worst enemies if we can learn to truly put ourselves in their shoes, openly hear their stories, and do so in a non-judging way.  And I think that is what we are needing more of at this time when politicians and even newspapers and news stations make quick judgments and fail to view the perspective of the other side.

When I spoke in my last BOM, I did not have time to talk about a story that I had actually included in the written Back Blast. The story is about White Fang.  White Fang is the name of a novel written by Jack London.  Some of you may have read it.  In the novel, White Fang is a vicious dog, one that will strike you and tear you apart.  He is a dog to avoid because his look and actions spell D-A-N-G-E-R and H-A-R-M.  Why is he like this?  Part of the reason is his genetics.  He is part wolf and wolves can certainly be savage.  The bigger reason, however, it that he has been taken advantage of by humans his entire life.  He has been beaten by others for use as a work and sled dog and has been unfairly used by men in betting games where White Fang fights with other dogs.  A guy named Weedon Scott meets White Fang for the first time after one of these fights where White Fang is almost killed.  He takes pity on the dog and takes him away from it’s current owner who has used him in the dog fights.  He feeds the dog and nurtures him back to life.  The dog doesn’t trust him but Weedon certainly can understand why, given what the dog has gone through.  Weedon slowly, slowly gets closer to the dog, trying to develop a bond with him.  At one point he goes too quickly and is viciously bitten.  But, Weedon doesn’t give up on the dog.  He takes the dogs perspective, realizing that he had tried to quickly to pet the dog when the dog feared him and didn’t trust him.  He continues to feed the dog, continues to use cooing language and weeks later touches the dog again.  White Fang growls a low growl.  He both doesn’t like the touch but also likes it.  This touch thing is different and for some reason it feels good.  Over time the man and dog form a wonderful bond. Those of you who love dogs know what that bond can be like.  Weedon Scott is long longer seen as a threat – he is seen as a Love God by White Fang.  This once vicious dog is so strongly bonded to Weedon that he will do anything for him.  And, at the end of the book he saves both Weedon Scott and his family from their own harm and possible deaths.

As HIMs, we can learn to patient and loving.  We can learn to take the perspective of others, even when we don’t agree with their opinions.  We can learn to love our enemy as Jesus would want us to do.  In so doing, we may form bonds we never thought we could have and even change the lives of those former enemies for the better.

MOLESKIN:

Praise for Choir Boy’s wife that, although she is having lymph node issues, her Ultra Sound looked good.  Prayers for the wife of Rainbow’s wive’s grandmother who is at her last days of life.  Prayers for Rainbow’s friend whose wife died.  Prayers for Lillydipper’s wife, Jan, who is undergoing chemotherapy treatment at this time for breast cancer.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Q101 is occurring this morning at Bomb Shelter