F3 Knoxville

Tag: Drum Major

Help with Faith

THE SCENE: Insert info about the weather, etc.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Plank Jacks, 15 Iron Mikes, 10 Windmills, 10 Tempo Merkins, 7 Wide Arm Circles Forward and Backward
THA-THANG:
Mosey past stop sign on the southeastern side of the admin bldg.  Run down to the lower parking lot east of the admin bldg.  Divide into teams of two for Doras.  While one Teammate 1 runs up roadway and around corner to do ten merkins , Teammate 2 will start the exercises.  After doing ten merkins, Teammate 1 runs back to replace Teammate 2 on the exercises and Teammate 2 runs up the hill do to the merkins.  Here are the exercises for the Doras:

  • 100 Merkins
  • 100 Big Boy Sit-ups
  • 100 Flutter Kicks (4 ct)
  • 100 Side-Straddle Hops
  • 50 Hand Release Merkins
  • 100 Hello Dollies (4 ct)
  • 200 Baby Crunches

Mosey to semi-circle lane that goes by soccer fields.  We will high-knee for 25 pole lengths then do 3 burpees and continue until done with the semi-circle.

Mosey to parking lot at southern ball fields.  There will be five cones places from one end of the parking lot to the other.  We will run to the first cone, do a listed exercise, run to the next cone, do the same exercise, and continue to the end of the parking lot.  We will run back doing the next listed exercise.  Here are the exercise:

  • 10 Dive Bombers
  • 10 Diamond Merkins

Mosey past outdoor chapel and to grassy area across the street.  We will do 20 American Hammers.

Mosey uphill to the area where we did Doras.  Stop at two inclines along the way to do 10 Wide Merkins.

Mosey to A0.

MARY:
Finish up with 10 Carolina Dry Docks.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
16 men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
My wife, Jan, and I have been watching the TV mini-series The Crown on Netflix.  The shows are based on true stories involving the reign of Great Britain’s current Queen Elizabeth.  One of the recent episodes focused on Queen Elizabeth’s husband, Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh.  He is a man who loves adventure.  He was an officer in the Royal Navy during World War II, loves sports, and particularly loves to fly planes as a pilot.  The episode I am referring to depicted him during the time that the American Apollo Astronauts first landed on the moon.  In the episode Phillip, as a pilot, is fascinated with the mission and highly regards the astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.

As a man who must take second fiddle to the Queen, Phillip questions his own life.  He certainly loves the Queen and certainly has privileges as her husband but there is a part of him that has wanted to set his own course vs. follow the traditions and duties of the Royal House.  At about this time, a minister named Robin Woods becomes the new Dean of Windsor. He heads the chapel that serves the Queen.  He asks Phillip for use of some unused Royal Buildings that he desires to be a retreat for ministers.  Prince Phillip is a man who is bored with the Royal church services but he agrees to the Dean’s request as the buildings aren’t being used anyway.

During the buzz of the future moon landing, Dean Woods catches up with Phillip and invites him to the retreat center to listen in on a group discussion of visiting ministers.  The ministers sit talking about problems, something Phillip isn’t that keen on, and discuss the decline in faith and worship service attendance among the people of England.  Phillip sees all this “talk” as nonsense, particularly when there are astronauts out there doing something great, incredible, landing on the moon of all things.  When asked by the ministers to participate in the talk, he tells them to stop bemoaning the decline in worship among the people of England and get off their butts.  What is needed is action, action such as seen by the Apollo Astronauts.

The astronauts, of course, land on the moon and are heroes. They go on a world tour and come to England, even for a short trip to Buckingham Palace.  Prince Phillip asks for and is granted a short personal meeting with the men.  He is overcome in the anticipation of meeting these men who are like Gods to him.  When he does meet the men, they are sneezing and sniffling, fighting off colds they have acquired in the exhausting schedule they have had since their return to Earth.  Phillip wants to know what they “found” on their journey, not the physical moon dust but that special “meaning” they discovered out in space.  These young astronauts have no answer for him.  They didn’t really have time to think about the meaning of the universe on their journey – the were too busy following procedures, doing the things that they had been trained to do.  These astronauts had certainly done something special and to be admired but they were also just three young guys, fighting off colds.  And frankly, what they were more interested in was hearing from Phillip what it was like to live in a place like the Buckingham Palace.

Phillip’s desire to find meaning in science, in adventure, in space, goes awry ands leave him unsatisfied.  And, in his bewilderment and dejection, he returns to the retreat center to meet once again with the Dean and visiting ministers.  He apologizes for his previous behavior.  He is now willing to participate in the “talk” that he previously thought to be nonsensical.  And, in talking to them, he asks for something.  He recognizes that what he has been lacking all along is faith.  Faith in something that goes beyond actions, science, and the privileges of Royalty that he has long known is not enough for him.  And what does he ask the ministers for?  He asks for Help. Help with his lack of faith.

I don’t know what kind of faith Prince Phillip has found in his life.  But, at the end of the episode some words were posted for the viewer.  The notes proclaimed that Prince Phillip and Dean Woods became close friends and have been personal confidants for the last 51 years.

What are you searching for?  Where do you put your energy, your interests?  If your search for meaning leads you to something other than God, it is very likely that you will not be satisfied.  As Faulkner said, it is all sound and fury leading to nothing.  Have faith in something more.  Search for God.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for many.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
5th F3 Knoxville Anniversary on Nov 7.

I’m Diving In

THE SCENE: Raining, temps in 60s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-Straddle-Hops, 10 Mountain Climbers, 10 Windmills, 10 Rockettes, 10 Lunges, 7 Wide Arm Circles Forward and Backward, Little of This and That

THA-THANG:
Mosey to Bottom of Cardiac.  We will run up hill and do the following exercises at the following areas:

  • Curve 1:  25 Carolina Dry Docks
  • Curve 2:  25 Dive Bombers
  • Curve 3:  25 Decline Merkins
  • Benches:  25 Bench Dips

Mosey to Parking Lot by South Ball Fields.  We will do suicides running to each of 6 cones, doing 10 Merkins, and running back to do 20 Baby Crunches.  Those who finish first get a 30 second break, then rinse and repeat.

Mosey back to the main street.  Do 20 Bench Dips off of curb.

Mosey to Parking Lot with Islands (Jinxy has named it “The Caribbean” and the name has been officially sanctioned by Crawdad) that is south of the Northern Ball Fields.  We will Bernie clockwise around the parking lot the first time, stopping at every other island to do 10 Hello Dollies, 4 ct.  We will skip around the parking lot the second time, stopping at every third island to do 10 Flutter Kicks, 4ct.  We will Grapevine left around half the parking lot and Grapevine right around the other half, stopping at every fourth island to do 10 Squats.

We will High Knee to sidewalk that leads to the ball fields.

Mosey to the Pavilion at the Northern Ball Fields.  We will do 20 Picnic Table Pull-ups then run to playground to do 10 step ups at benches (five starting with one foot and five starting with other.  Then we run back to Pavilion.  Rinse and repeat two more times.

Mosey to beginning of Mini Cardiac.  Bernie to park sign then run the rest of the way to the AO.

MARY:
20 Flutter Kicks (4 ct), 50 Hello Dollies (4 ct)
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
17 men, no FNGs
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

My Christian beliefs have not come about by a sudden conversion as it has for some people.  Rather, my road to belief in God has been one full of twists and dips.  I have found it difficult to commit to God in the face of my doubts.  Is God truly there?  Did God create the universe?  Is God a good and loving god?  Why would a loving God allow pain and suffering in our world?  I have read Christian books on apologetics to help me better understand the arguments for Christianity.  But like other men with much greater minds than I, including Pascal, St. Augustine and C.S. Lewis, I have found that reason alone is not enough for me to believe in God.  One can rationalize both belief and disbelief.  I had a philosophy professor at Baylor University who once said that philosophy cannot prove that God exists – but also cannot prove that God does not exist.  God is a great mystery.  To believe, we must, as Van Morrison writes in one of his songs, “let go into the mystery.”

There is a scene I love in one of the first of the Star Wars movies, The Empire Strikes Back.  Luke, after a battle with Darth Vadar, hangs to a latter.  If he falls, it appears he will certainly die, as the crevice below seems to go on forever.  He learns that Darth Vadar is his father.  Darth Vadar offers him the chance to live, beckons Luke to take his hand and join him, proclaiming that together they can rule the Galaxy as father and son.  What does Luke do?  He lets go!  And in doing so, he plunges to the depths below.  He lets go into the mystery.  He allows the “Force to Be With Him.”  And, of course, we later learn that by letting go, he lives.

Pascal, St. Augustine and C.S. Lewis found out that joining with God takes faith – a trust that goes beyond reason, beyond rational understanding.  At some point you just have to trust what you can’t see.  So, I can make all kinds of arguments for the existence of God – but, those arguments cannot take away the uncertainty – ultimately, I have learned to say, ok God, I’m going to trust you, here I am.

There is a Christian song called “Dive” by Steven Curtis Chapman that captures the need to take the plunge if one is going to trust in God:

The long awaited rains
Have fallen hard upon the thirsty ground
And carved their way to where
The wild and rushing river can be found
And like the rain
I have been carried here to where the river flows, yeah
My heart is racing and my knees are weak
As I walk to the edge
I know there is no turning back
Once my feet have left the ledge
And in the rush I hear a voice
That’s telling me it’s time to take the leap of faith
So here I go

I’m diving in, I’m going deep, in over my head I want to be
Caught in the rush, tossed in the flow, in over my head I want to go
The river’s deep, the river’s wide, the river’s water is alive
So sink or swim, I’m diving in (I’m diving in…)

Brothers, I count to 3 and I dive in, whether it makes sense or not – I dive in hoping that Jesus will catch me like he did Peter who in his fear, started sinking in the water while Jesus stood upon it.  And like Peter, I ask, “Lord, to whom else shall we go?”  I’m diving in.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Lilydipper’s wife, Jan, who is now getting radiation for her breast cancer; prayer of praise for Choir Boy’s wife whose health is improving; prayers for young people during this pandemic, including a high school student at Hardin Valley that recently committed suicide, an adolescent that Lulu knows who is coping with anorexia, and Abscess’ son who recently got into a severe automobile accident – he is ok but definitely suffered injuries; prayers for family/friends of a friend of Pele who lost his life in a solo plane crash yesterday.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Convergence and 3rd F on Saturday, October 17, 7 am at the Bomb Shelter in Alcoa.

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.