F3 Knoxville

Tag: Median

Hills and Valleys

THE SCENE:  So nice.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:  Administered
WARM-O-RAMA:

Cherry pickers
Al Gore
Squats
Michael Phelps
Down/up dog
Mountain climber
Projectivator

Mosey to the big lot.  Run across.  At each line, turn 90 degrees (i.e., sprint, side shuffle, bernie, side shuffle, etc.)

Dolly
Flutter kicks

THA THANG:

Mosey to the coupons.  Grab a block.  Walking 20 curls, 20 overhead presses, 20 tricep extensions

Line up at the cones in a low plank.  At “3-2-1, Go!”, get up and sprint to the top of the hill.  First person to touch leaves on a tree wins and gets to watch while everyone else does burpees at the top.

Back down the hill.  Winner starts 50’ further back.  Do one block exercise then hill sprint again.
Repeat the sequence – each time adding one more block exercise.

  • 5 plyo merkins
  • 10 block pullovers
  • 15 heavy LBCs
  • 20 lunges (10 each side)
  • 20 single arm thrusters (10 each side)
  • 10 CMU swings
  • 6 uneven merkin T planks (3 each side)

Murder bunny thrusters up the hill.

Walking 20 curls, 20 overhead presses, 20 tricep extensions

Twenty-ones on the steps.  CMU exercise (your choice) + pull ups.

Rack ‘em.

MARY:

Indian run in two lines.  PAX call out 3-2-1-Go!, last man in each line races up the middle of the lines.  Repeat until we are close to the flag.

Mountain climbers

Jailbreak!

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

15 for bootcamp, 3 for rush

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

It was common in ancient pagan nations to perceive each god or goddess as having a particular domain or sphere of power on earth.  A goddess of fertility…  A god of the forests, or the river… Monotheism was unique and the idea that any god was supreme in all areas was unheard of.

In 1 Kings Chapter 20, we read about the Israelite city of Samaria under attack by the Syrians, a rival nation.  The Syrian king gathered 32 other kings – and brought a massive army to besiege the city.  Against all odds, and with their God’s intervention, the Israelites repel the attack.  The Syrians retreat and regroup to strategize.  Since the city of Samaria is in the hill country of Israel, they mistakenly think that the God of the Israelites must be a god of the hills.  So, they make a new plan, assemble another massive army, and attack Israel again – this time in the plains (where, presumably, the Israelite God does not dwell and has no authority).  Speaking on behalf of God, a prophet tells the Israelite king, “Because the Syrians have said, “The Lord is a god of the hills, but he is not a god of the valleys,” therefore I will give all this great multitude into your hand…” – and He does.  The Israelites rout their enemy in the valley, just as they did in the hills.  The one true God is sovereign over all – He is a God of both the hills and the valleys. 

For me, May 20 is a date unlike any other.

Five years ago, May 20th, my son Caleb was born.  He is a beautiful kid – he is everything that you would want in a son; wicked smart, good natured, daring, funny, creative, kind, loving – he is a great kid.  The day he was born into this world was joyful and exciting and amazing – it was heaven!  May 20th is the anniversary of one of the best days of my life!

But…

One year ago, May 20th, I was heartbroken.  My wife was pregnant again, but this time the pregnancy was not going well.  Several days before, we had been told that the baby had no heartbeat, and we would very likely have a miscarriage in the coming weeks.  We prayed that God would reveal his strength in a miraculous way and the baby would live…But short of that, if we had to walk that terrible road in the next few weeks, we prayed that the miscarriage would not happen on Caleb’s fourth birthday.  But it did.  The day we lost that baby was devastating and painful and raw – it was hell. May 20th is the anniversary of one of the worst days of my life. 

Life’s hills and valleys – the one true God is sovereign over them all.  Life is full of both wonder and wounds.  How does our faith stand up to them?  The “hills” of life can draw us closer to Him in joy and with grateful hearts – or they can arouse in us an arrogance which causes us to forget His presence.  The “valleys” of life can drive us into His arms and onto our knees – or can drive us to curse and blame our Creator with misplaced resentment.

We need to keep working toward having a faith that thrives in both the hills and valleys of life.

Closed with a pair of Pslams.

For when you go through a valley –

Psalm 4: God, you are my righteousness, my Champion Defender. Answer me when I cry for help! Whenever I was in distress, you enlarged me. I’m being squeezed again—I need your kindness right away! Grant me your grace, hear my prayer, and set me free!

For when you are on a hilltop –

Psalm 100: Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

MOLESKIN:

This workout and word was inspired by Monday’s great workout and word – offered up by the true HIM, Mailbox.

PRAYERS / ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Prayers for our good friend, Spotter, and for his family

Prayers for Stitch’s family relationships

Prayers for Jordon

Choose Your Partner for War Wisely

THE SCENE: The rain held off for a 65° windy perfect morning
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: Delivered
WARM-O-RAMA:
Tempo Squats, High Knees, Let it Hang, Reach for the Sky, Cherry pickers, inch worm merkins and 2 SSH.
THA-THANG:
Indian run to the big parking lot dropping for 5 merkins.

  • Slalom each median in the big parking lot with a burpee every time your cross the “road”
  • 11’s in the pit by the far entrance with squats at the bottom and merkins on the road.
  • Mosey to the outer loop behind lake
    • 10 floor tricep dips, and 10 inch worms
    • run the loop
    • 20 flutter kicks and 20 pickle powders
    • run the loop
    • 30 lunges and 30 squats
    • run the loop.
    • on each loop is 5 burpees, 10 4 count hello dollies, and 15 bobby hurley’s
  • found a rope laying on the ground, so we played tug o war, of course

MARY:
Flutter kicks, Pickle pointers, Mountain Climbers, Freddie Mercury 

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Psalm 27 verse 4, it says “Though an army May encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident.” 

David saying he has lot things against him, an Army, and a War, but David says “my heart shall not fear and, in this I will be confident”  in response.

How does he do that?  FAITH. David has outstanding faith. When David was fighting Goliath, King Saul giving David his armor; but David did not want it because he had faith that God would protect him. How do we get that faith that David has? 

James chapter 1 verse 2 Says “Count it all to Joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds for you know the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”

David no doubt has had trials that tested his faith, like fighting Goliath, ruling nation, running from king Saul when Saul was trying kill him. The trials grow your faith. I bet none of us are going to fight a giant, rule a nation, or run from king trying to kill you, but I bet most of us will or has had trials like temptations, relationships, or even COVID.

Thinking about going into battle, if you get to choose 1 guy you guys wouldn’t choose me; not yet at least.  I’m going choose you big guys.  You’re all a lot bigger than me and I look up to you and I know you’d protect me. God is infinitely bigger, infinitely stronger.  One way we show this in our prayer life is to get our knees, like we do here, and say with our posture that we are small. 

I challenge you pray to Jesus privately on your knees and ask Him to grow your faith so you could be confident in trials, and even pray for trials so you could test your faith. David knows that his God can do the impossible. God wants us to believe that he can do impossible. All the big problems in our life are tiny to him. Our God is bigger than our understanding. 

Don’t Wait Another Day!

THE SCENE: 55 and awesome!
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Cherry Pickers (IC) 4 CT X 7
  • Windmills (IC) 4CT X 7
  • Overhead Claps X 10 (IC)
  • Tempo Squats (IC) X10
  • Tempo Merkins (IC) X 10
  • Tennessee Rocking Horse X 10
  • Indian Run To Coupon Pile (lead runner drops & does 5 merkins)

THA-THANG:

4 Corners in Parking Lot Near Coupon Pile

  • CMU Bentover Rows Per Corner X 20
  • CMU Overhead Press, Curls & Squats Per Corner X 20
  • Merkins, Big Boys, Lunges, Per Corner X 20
  • Wall Squats
  • Mosey To Shovel Flag

MARY:

Imperial Walkers X 20

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

15 men

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Don’t let wait until it’s too late to tell someone you love them or mend fences with friends and family.  We never know when our time on this Earth is up so be intentional with great, good and terrible relationships.

  • Jesus said, “If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God.” — Matthew 5:23-24(MSG)
  • A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense. — Proverbs 19:11(NIV)
  • Jesus said, “First get rid of the log from your own eye; then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.” — Matthew 7:5(NLT)
  • Do everything possible on your part to live in peace with everybody. — Romans 12:18(TEV)
  • Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” — Matthew 5:9(NIV)

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  • Sign up for May JUCO Challenge

Did not count

THE SCENE: 65 and prefect
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Explained that YHC can’t do 3 things at once.  Exercise & Count & Pray for ya’ll and the day.  So today we just worked out based on time it took others to do stuff.  No counting required.

High Knees -while: Explained the above
Side Straddle Hop-while: Each HIM did 1 Burpee in sequence
Plank (High, Right, Left, 6 inches)-while: Each HIM ran the outside of the circle 1 at a time
Moroccan night club, Overhead clap, Arm circles -while: Each HIM ran the outside of the circle 1 at a time
Flutter Kicks -while: YHC Bear Crawled the inside of the circle
THA-THANG:

Mosey to the close guardrail where one HIM did prison-cell-merkin-burpee’s while everyone else did guardrail dips. Then Clap Merkins on the guardrail while each him did one burpee.

Mosey, with a little Bernie, to the coupon pile (which was nicely cleaned up) where we played “Simon Hey Ho He”  Each guy added one CMU exercise to a sequence and if we got it wrong we had to do a burpee (which in the end seemed far easier than the sequence, and made counting seem super simple.)

Dora

Mountain Climbers While partner:
Pull Ups AMRAP
Advanced CPR Leg Lifts
BBS Wall Touch
Merkins Tree Touch
Wall Hang on brick wall with holes Sprint for Sign

MARY:
Let others try out the inner circle bear crawl while they called out a Mary Exercise.  Hello Dolly, Flutter kicks, Freddie Mercury, Low plank

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

22 quality HIMs: 7 were rushers

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Today we didn’t count exercises but I want to talk about making today count.

My good friend from college, Julien, does an awesome job of making every day count.  He is perhaps the smartest guy I know and when he isn’t turning a company around or becoming the CEO of a bio tech company he is rehabbing a 300 year old barn by hand.  The guy works amazingly hard.

A few years back he was down in Mexico at a conference and took some clients out deep sea fishing.  They didn’t catch anything.  When they returned to the harbor they see a local fisherman and his son in a tiny dinghy with 3 huge fish.  Julien, impressed at the catch asked him: “Sir, How did you do that?  How long did it take you?”

“Señor, it’s what I’ve done for years.  My son and I caught these in a little less than an hour.”

Julien responded, “That’s amazing!  Are you going out to catch more?”

“No Señor.  This is more than enough for my family and I’ll sell one at market.  Tomorrow is soon enough.”

Julien, a bit confused but intrigued by this mindset asked, “Can I ask, what do you do with your time?”

The Mexican fisherman replied, “I get up early and spend some time with God, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, stroll into the village each evening where I sip a glass of wine and play guitar with my amigos: I have a full and busy life, señor.”

Julien offered to help the fisherman make a business of this man’s fishing talent.  “My name is Julien and went to the best business school in the US.  I’m a CEO and love making business succeed.  I want to invest in you.  Can I help you build a business of this?  You could take clients fishing, get a bigger boat, heck a fleet of boats, then make a business of it.  We’d sell the extra catch direct to the distributer, cutting out the middle man, you could make millions!”

“What would this take señor?  How long would it take?”

“You’d move to Mexico city and run the business, in 15, no maybe only 10 years, you bring the company public, huge IPO!  You’d have enough money to do whatever you want.  What would you do with that kind of freedom?”

The Mexican fisherman looked off to sea and smiled as he thought of the possibilities.  Then locked eyes with Julien. “Julien, I know just what I’d do.  I’d move to a small coastal village, much like this one.  I get up early and spend some time with God, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, stroll into the village each evening where I sip a glass of wine and play guitar with my amigos.”

And from that day on, Julien lived his life differently.

Okay, I’ll admit, most of that isn’t a true story.   Julien is a real friend, talented hard working CEO. I don’t know if Julien has ever been to Mexico. The parable, you may have heard before, I heard years ago.  But it speaks to the scripture I want to share for today:

Psalm 90:12 “So, Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”

The “so” points back to the first 11 verses that give us God’s perspective on time.  He was before the mountains were formed and our lives are but a breath.  But then it goes on to ask for God’s favor, wisdom – for Him to satisfy us and make us glad and see Him for who He is.

God’s perspective on time is very important to ponder. Take some time today to realize God’s eternal nature and his perspective.  What are you striving after? Your past doesn’t matter; you plans don’t matter.  What matters: Where is your heart with Jesus right now and are you willing to do more with Him?
Maybe that means to spend extra time with your wife or kids. Maybe it’s difficult, but life altering conversations.  Maybe it’s just helping a neighbor in need.

Read Psalm 90 and consider these things.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Get those Save Haven donations in before the month is up and check out Spotter’s May challenge- I encourage you to join.

Pelli Pond Circuit

THE SCENE: A bit cool for this time of year, but all good

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH
Windmill
Merkins
Mt Climbers
Catalina Wine Mixer
Tempo Squat
Captain Thor
Burpos

THA-THANG:

Indian Run/Last Man Up
– Circuit Training at the Pond
— Station 1 = 10 Burpos
— Station 2 =10 Catalina Wine Mixer
— Station 3 = 10:40 Captain Thor
— Station 4 = 20 Merkins
4 laps

MARY: No Time

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Prov 6:16-19
16There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
19 a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers.

MOLESKIN:
Anger should be controlled except in the area of sin; we should hate sin as much as God does.  Direct your anger towards sin (not the sinner) and realize how important that is in part of the sanctification process – abhor sin in the way our Father does and we’ll be less likely to repeat it.