F3 Knoxville

Tag: Guardrail

Outsourced faith

THE SCENE: Insert info about the weather, etc.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
15 SSH, 10 Imperial walker, 10 Mountain climbers, 10 tempo Merkins, 15 Moroccan night club, 10 tempo squats, 5 cherry picker
THA-THANG:
Assemble at the nearest corner. The four corners of the combined parking lots where the cars are and the shovel flag were used for our four workout stations. Spread out as needed between two corners and start the work: 10 4 x 4’s.

Mosey to JUCOmanjaro. We used the white marks as stopping points for exercises. The following exercises were performed at the stops, one per stop. Repeat list to the top.

  • 5 Prison cell merkins burpees (see exicon) (1st stop)
  • 20 Merkins (2nd stop)
  • 20 squats (3rd stop)
  • 20 flutter kicks (4th stop)
  • Repeat once and then mosey to the top

At the top, do another round of the exercises until the 6 gets in. Mosey back down stopping at various places on the way down. We did 10 burpees and 20 diamond merkins. On to the shovel flag.

MARY:
No time
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
17 crushed it this morning!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
I would venture to guess that most of the PAX attend worship services at a local church on at least a semi-regular basis. How many of that same group study the Bible daily on their own? How many serve others regularly? How many teach others the Word of God?

My M and I have had discussions in the past about the danger of outsourcing our faith. Do we rely on the leadership of the church to perform all the work? Do we rely on them to do all of the Bible studying? What about serving those in need? Unfortunately, YHC fully admits to this happening a lot in our house. I don’t spend time in the Word as I should and I don’t serve God the way I should around the community.

This is something that I am working on. If you have the same struggle, I encourage you to work on it and reach out for help. Help those around you to be accountable as well.
MOLESKIN:
Had to audible the workout. When we finished the 4×4’s, we were supposed to repeat the four corners with Prison Cell Merkin Burpees, but YHC quickly realized that we would not even close to have the time for them. My gift to all of the JUCO PAX today.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Boys and Girls club workout Wednesday. Two Rivers church service opportunity this weekend.

THE LONG HILL TO HIGH STANDARDS

THE SCENE: Low 40s but nice
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER👌
WARM-O-RAMA:
Cherry Pickers, Windmills, Crabettes, Tempo Merkins, Tempo Squats – All IC in reps of 7.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to guardrails:  5 Rounds of (10 Dips at the Rail, Bear Crawl across the road, Burpee, Mosey Back).  Every round increase Burpees by 1.

Mosey to bottom of long grassy hill at front of campus.  At the bottom we did an assortment of exercises.  Each Round involved 50 reps of the called exercise/s and then a run up the hill and back down to start. We did Merkins, Squats, Monkey Humpers, CDD, Lunges, SSHs, Diamond Merkins, Burpees, Mountain Climbers, Flutter Kicks, and a few more. Got some mileage out of the hill as well.  Strava indicates at least 2 miles total. Nice work.

MARY:
Pickle Pointers, Box Cutters, Flutter Kicks.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
16 Strong
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Q shared his gratitude for the men of JUCO and their unwavering commitment to high standards and moral excellence.
MOLESKIN:
Hound Dog was right on time as always.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
N/A

Cold and Difficult Things

THE SCENE: Clear, calm 21°
WARM-O-RAMA:
Kept it quick to get moving.  Maracan Night club, Side Straddle Hops Imperial Squat Walkers
THA-THANG:
8 HIMs +  5 Rushers + 1 surprise Rucker

1st Cold thing: the Guardrail (obligatory with the name and all) 30Dips, Plank with feet on Guardrail

  • Black snake the long way to the big parking lot
  • Hard thing 1: 20 Merkins/20 BBS then 15/10/5.  Just like we did on Monday.  Did you feel stronger?
  • Bernie to the new parking lot for Guantanamo Line (Feet up while one guy runs the line and tries to throw feet to the ground)
  • Hard thing 2: Little Drummer Boy Lead by Median (Side straddle hops, high knees & Burpee with each “rum pum pum pum”  22 if you are counting.
  • Hard thing 3: Mosey to CMU pile & partner up for 2 cycles of each team collectively performing
    • 20 Pull Ups
    • 40 Tri curl with CMU
    • 60 Overhead Press
    • 80 Squats
    • 100 Curls
  • Long way home via courtyard with a some bear crawls down some stairs b/c why not

MARY:
Dealers choice of Freddie Mercury, Box Cutters, Pickle Pounders, Imperial Walkers, Heels to Heaven, LBC
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Last week was Thanksgiving and maybe you went around the table and shared something you were thankful for but this morning I’m going to challenge you each to think of something hard in 2020 that you are thankful for. Maybe it was a hard workout or maybe it’s something bigger than that.

Thankfulness is not sticking our heads in the sand and pretending like 2020 has been great in every regard. Biblical thinking on suffering is not taking that approach of being thankful in all circumstances (1 Thes 5:18) by simply thinking of the eternal hope that we hold onto and ignoring the pain of loss.

It is not mutually exclusive to be thankful and affirm that COVID has caused a lot of pain this year. There is the loss of life and health. There is the loss of normalcy. There is the loss of hugs at a Thanksgiving gathering or travel to see loved ones. The economic loss is real too.

My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees.  Psalms 119:71 NLT

Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.
C.S. Lewis

If we really graduate from God’s school of Thankfulness, we are thankful not just in the trial, but for the trail. And not just because the pain brings us closer to God, though that would be worth it, but because God knows what He is doing and the pain, the loss, the trial are part of His will because he loves us.

Consider Christ who suffered and was not at all outside the will of God. It is in these sufferings we can be closest to God.

Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world. So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.
1 Peter 4:13‭, ‬19 NLT

“The dominant characteristic of an authentic spiritual life is the gratitude that flows from trust – not only for all the gifts that I receive from God, but gratitude for all the suffering. Because in that purifying experience, suffering has often been the shortest path to intimacy with God.”
– Brennan Manning

Powerful time of sharing challenges from the year that we are thankful for.

MOLESKIN:
Thank you guys for sharing your hearts.  It was great to look in your eyes this morning as you shared some really hard things that this year brought.  God has carried through us all a lot.  God has given us hope and to see how we have drawn closer to him.  It’s an honor to see God at work in each of you and speak truth into our hurts: God is bigger than that challenge, God wants you to draw near to him in the hurt.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Based upon the amount of steam rising off all your shoulders and heads you worked really hard this morning, but @spotter takes the prize for looking most like he was on fire.

Cover to Cover

THE SCENE: 40ish and rainy…GREAT!
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Cherry Pickers x10, Hairy Rockettes x10, SSH x30
THA-THANG:
Mosey to pull-through and perform 20 merkins/20 BBS x repeato reducing by 5 each round.

Mosey to library overhang.

Ascending suicides with burpees under the library overhang and heels to heaven under the cafeteria overhang.

Start with 5 of each and add 5 each round while sprinting between the two overhangs. 105 burpees/105 heels to heaven

Next, split PAX into two groups. Group 1 lunged to the cafeteria wall then sprinted to the library. Group 2 bear crawled around library overhang then sprinted to cafeteria overhang. If you pass another PAX while in the rain, both have to perform a burpee. Repeat for three rounds.

MARY:
Flutter Kicksx30, Hello Dollysx20, Freddy Mercuries x15

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
11 men drug themselves out of bed knowing it was low 40’s and raining to go outside and beat themselves up. Awesome!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

2 Thessalonians 3:13-15

13 As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. 14 If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. 15 Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

These three verses offer a lot of great advice for us to take to heart. Read them, apply them, and get better. Let’s look to our brothers and strive to bring them up, even if that requires causing shame. For through that shame, they will either decide to make themselves right or will continue in their lost state.

MOLESKIN:
Proud of the JUCO crew that made the hard choice this morning.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Join the service channel and look for opportunities.

Here Am I, Send Me!

THE SCENE: High 30’s with the wind chill.
WARM-O-RAMA:
Warm-up: Cherry pickers, baby arm circles, side straddle hop, merkins, etc., ~5 min.
THA-THANG:

  • We began with weighted shoulder exercises, front, side, seal & overhead claps (15 each).
  • Brief mosey on the scenic route around shops, 2nd entrance of Pellissippi where we did Gores and planks.
  • Mosey to guardrail derkins, calf raises, & dips.
  • Mosey to coupons (along the way, we did duck walk as well as 2 lines of alternating burpees, lunges, jump squats, etc.)
  • Coupons: 30 each: curls, back/lat, shoulder tap planks, tricep, thrusters, with various coupon-core exercises mixed in.
  • Run up hill to 3 pull-up / hold Gore alternate, followed by Rifle carry coupon.
  • Mosey back with various exercises along the way.

MARY:
Various core exercises (Imperial walkers, pickle pounder, etc)
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
12 HIMs, 1 FNG: Butterfly. Wanderer, Wheelchair, Survivor Survivor, Almost, Guardrail, mailbox, spotter, Pool Boy, Butter Knife, Footsie, Hound Dog, Butterfly
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

I teach at the Southeast Institute of Biblical Studies, a 2-year, tuition-free school. Men who graduate receive a Bachelor of Biblical Studies, having completed an intense program. This year I taught Hebrew grammar/vocab, Research & Development, and am currently teaching the 2nd year students Prophets I. Prophets I is Isaiah, Jeremiah, & Lamentations.

Our word this morning was from Isaiah 6, specifically, a favorite of mine, and one that reminds us of our calling as men. It is my prayer that each Christian would undergo what I call, “an Isaiah 6 moment.”

As Isaiah stands before the throne of God, he sees God’s holiness and his own wretchedness. Seraphim call out, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.” Isaiah is undone…ruined, a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips.

Yet, God prepares and uses him anyway. A burning coal is touched to his lips, not to harm him, but to purify him. In like manner of Christian baptism, we are buried into the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, not to harm us, but to cleanse us and begin a new life of service as those who have received the forgiveness of sins.

Isaiah then overhears a conversation among God and the heavenly host, “Who will go for Us?” Isaiah responds, “Here am I, send me.” Because of what God has done for him, there is no other response to be uttered. Perhaps, as we age, we lose the zeal of hands shooting up like they did in a grade school class, “pick me, I know the answer!” or a sports team, “put me in coach!”

God, in fact, gives Isaiah his commission, to go and preach a terrible and difficult message. Isaiah, understandably, asks, “Lord, how long?” God responds that his commission will continue until the cities are devastated and without inhabitant…until God has removed men from the land.

Isaiah received a tough ministry. Thankfully, we aren’t living in the days of the Assyrian conquest and the Babylonian destruction. Nevertheless, we live in strange times: COVID, election uncertainty, civil unrest, moral decay…and it’s only November!

We are called, though, to understand a spiritual message and receive Isaiah’s example. Whether it is in my faith, my family, my job, F3, or any area of my life, I should see that God is looking for “a few good men” to stand and deliver. We aren’t promised easy; yet, we are challenged to faithfully deliver His message.

Who will go? Do we understand what God has done for us? And how does that make me respond? You? As for me, “pick me; put me in coach; Here am I, Send me.”