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.