F3 Knoxville

Tag: Operation

God Our Father

THE SCENE: Thunderstorms, temps in high 70s and muggy.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
We started out under the Pavilion because it was raining like crazy with lightening and thunder.

25 Side-Straddle Hops, 10 Mountain Climbers, 10m Cherry Pickers, 10 Twisties, 10 Little Baby Arm Circles Forward and Backward, Little of This and That

THE THANG:

Run around the Pavilion 5 times.

Next, we did a Ladder with 30 seconds each of the following exercises, going up ladder than down while cutting first exercise out etc. so that by the end we did each exercise for five periods of 30 seconds.

  • Burpees
  • Bench Dips
  • Decline Merkins off Benches
  • Iron Mikes
  • American Hammers

Lunge around Pavilion one time.  Next, we did 30 second Al Gore with backs to wall.

Run around pavilion 4 times.

Elevens starting with 10 Picnic Table Pull-ups and 1 Bench Step-up.

With the rain subsiding we moseyed to the parking lot just north of the Pavilion.  We ran to the four corners doing the following exercises.  After the exercises we ran all the way around the parking lot one time.

  • Corner 1, 10 Smurf Jacks
  • Corner 2, 10 Star Jumps
  • Corner 3, 10 Bobby Hurleys
  • Corner 4, 10 Squat Jumps

Mosey back to Pavilion to do 20 Bench Step-ups.

Mosey back to the same parking lot.  We circles the parking lot again, stopping at each corner to do the following exercises, then running all the way around the parking lot when finished:

  • Corner 1, 20 Hello Dollies
  • Corner 2, 20 Big Boy Sit-ups
  • Corner 3, 20 Flutter Kicks
  • Corner 4, 20 Bicycle Kicks

Next we went to the curb on the eastern side of the parking lot.  We did the following types of runs the eastern curb to the western curb:

  • Half speed sprint to western curb.
  • Bernie Sanders to the eastern curb.
  • Karaoke Right to the western curb.
  • Karaoke Left to the eastern curb.
  • Butt kick run to the western curb.
  • High knees run to the eastern curb.
  • Sprint to the western curb.
  • Sprint to the eastern curb.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Eight men, no FNGs.  Mr. Jinxy joined us for the BOM and went to Coffeeteria with us.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
God Is Our Parent

Romans 8: 38-39 says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

1 John 4:16: “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

In the Bible we are told to call God “our father.”  We are also taught that there is no greater love than that of God for us.  We are His children.  When I take time to dwell upon that, it gives me great comfort.  Because those of us who are fathers know how incredible our love is for our children.

I found that out after my oldest child, Faith, was born.  I remember going to work the few weeks after she was born and sometimes hearing babies cry in the clinic I worked at.  I had heard similar cries before Faith was born.  But those same types of cries now stirred up something in me, as if I was hearing her cry and needed to comfort her by instinct.

As parents we ache for our children.  My son, Bennett, played on the freshman basketball team at West High School.  He was a good player but found himself sitting on the bench in most games.  I remember the tears on the rides home from the games, his frustration and anger at not being able to play for even a few minutes in a game.  I ached for him, I hurt for him, I felt tears myself on those long rides home.  I remember Faith going through a time of depression in high school, worrying about her, hoping that each day she would just be ok.  She was such a hard working and efficient student yet would get so down on herself.

And I recall such happy times as well, moments when I felt so overjoyed and proud of my children.  I remember Faith having the primary role in a musical at Bearden Middle School and the ovation she got from the audience.  I took a walk that night by myself, dreams of Faith performing on Broadway in my head.  I remember Bennett winning the Geography Bee at Bearden Elementary School.  My son Bennett, shockingly winning over these other smart kids who seemed to always get the accolades.  I recall Jan and I going to Starbuck later that morning, just to share a cup of coffee and giggle with pride.

Those little moments as parents when we ache, when we hurt, when we laugh, when we bask in the happiness of the actions of our children may seem so small to someone else.  But it is so huge for us as parents.  If Jan and I can have that kind of love for our children, how great must God’s love be for us.  Think of God watching your own hurts, your own victories.  Think of Him hurting for you.  Think of him shouting for joy with your own victories.  Is that really possible?  If God is all powerful, if God is our creator, if God is Love, then the answer is yes.  Think of that when you go through the rest of your day.  Think of that when you go to sleep to night.  God, your loving father, is with you.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Mr. Jinxy and his wife as they come to an important real estate decision regarding his wife’s business operation.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Service opportunity at the Cerebral Palsy Center on Saturday, August 6.

Why Worry

THE SCENE: Clear skies, temp in 50s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
20 Side-Straddle Hops, 10 Plank Jacks, 10 Windmills, 10 Tempo Merkins, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Little Baby Arm Circles Forward and Backward.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the Southern Parking Lot close to the soccer fields.  We will go counterclockwise around the parking lot, stopping at each corner.  The following shows the exercises we do at each corner and how we get to the next corner:

  • Corner 1:  20 Merkins.  Bernie Sanders to Corner 2.
  • Corner 2:  20 Hello Dollies, 4 count.  Run to Corner 3
  • Corner 3:  20 Big Boy Sit-ups.  Bernie Sanders to Corner 4
  • Corner 4:  20 Flutter Kicks, 4 count.  Run to Corner 1.
  • Rinse and Repeat but Skip instead of Bernie.

We will Mosey to the perimeter trail where it goes by the pavilion close to the Southern Parking Lot.  We will run for 10 lights.  Those rabbits getting there first will come back and meet the six.  Then we will do the first of the exercises listed below.  Next we will run another 10 lights.  Those rabbits getting there first will come back and meet the six again.  Then we will do the second of the listed exercises.  We will do this until we hit the serpentine sidewalk.  The exercises are:

  • 20 Dive Bombers
  • 20 Squat Jumps
  • 20 Bicycle Kicks (4 ct)
  • 20 Iron Mikes (2 ct)

At the Serpentine Sidewalk we will hop forward for one light, then run for four lights.  We will repeat the pattern until we hit the end of the Serpentine Sidewalk.  Then we will return back on the Serpentine Sidewalk by lunging forward for one light and running for four lights until we hit the perimeter trail.

Mosey to the base of Cardiac.  We will Bernie for two lights and run for two lights, repeating this pattern until we reach the roadway.

Mosey to the AO.

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

What If?

What if the stock market crashes before I turn 70 and all the savings I have been relying on to retire plummets?

What if I get sued for malpractice and my reputation as a therapist takes a nose dive?

What if there is so much fighting within our country that it reaches a point where it is no longer the pillar of strength and beacon of hope for so many people?

What if my legs start to give out so much that I can no longer work out with my brothers in F3?

What if that lady in charge of the Lakeshore Park Conservancy, who has told us to stop writing on sidewalks and keep out of the ballpark area when teams are playing, somehow forces F3 out of the Asylum?

What if my house falls apart due to some kind of reason that my home insurance policy doesn’t cover?

Here’s two sentences from Philippians 4: 6-7:


Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Let me give you a few more “what if” questions.  Think about these questions, dwell on them a bit.

What if there truly is a God who watches over us and loves us?

What if God takes delight in us, not for the riches we make but for the good we do for others?

What if God will take care of us through the greatest of losses, even our possessions?

What if Jesus really did die for our sins and arose three days later?

What if God truly does hear us when we pray?

What if there is a heaven and God will be with us, even when we die?

I’ll end this message with some verses from the song, We Will Feast in the House of Zion by Sandra McCracken

We will not be burned by the fire
He is the Lord, our God
We are not consumed by the flood
Upheld, protected, gathered up

We will feast in the house of Zion
We will sing with our hearts restored
He has done great things, we will say together
We will feast and weep no more

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Thunderstruck’s mother, who has cancer and for Operation and his wife as they try for pregnancy.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
CSAUP at the Asylum on February 26, 6:30 am to 9 am.  Chance for F3 men to serve for RAMUSA.org.  This is a clinic that provides medical and dental services for free to people in the community.  The clinic will be in Knoxville on June 24 to 26.  Our brother, Cat Gut, needs to know by March 1 if you can help.  Let him know if you can.

Live in God

THE SCENE:  Partly cloudy and cold, temp about 20 degrees.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-Straddle-Hops, 10 Mountain Climbers, 10 Imperial Walkers, 10 Mountain Climbers, 10 Twisties, 10 Tempo Merkins, 10 Windmills, Michael Phelps, Little of This and That
THA-THANG:
Mosey to stop sign by intersection of main roadway and road that goes to the Admin Bldg.  We will do 20 American Hammers.

Mosey on perimeter trail until it intersects with trail coming from Lyons Bend Gate.  We will do 20 Hello Dollies.

Next, we will head west and then east on the perimeter trail.  We will do nickel, dime, quarters with the following exercises:

  • Jump Squats
  • Iron Mikes (both legs = 1)
  • Dive Bombers

We will stop when we get to the Northshore Gate.

Mosey to Area 51 and go to the curb.  Find a partner for teams of two.  One one partner runs to the entrance of Area 51, does 5 merkins, and runs back, the other partner works on the listed exercises below.  Then partners trade places.  Each team will do:

  • 200 Baby Crunches (4 ct)
  • 150 Flutter Kicks (4 ct)
  • 150 Bicycle Kicks (4 ct)

Next, we will run up hill above area 51.  At the top, we will alternate between 10 Merkins and 10 Big-Boy Sit-ups until the six is there.

Mosey to the stop sign by the roadway that goes to the soccer fields.  We will stop to do 20 Box Cutters.  Mosey to the soccer fields.  We will do suicides, with Bernie Sanders to each cone, a mosey to the left of cone parallel with that cone, and then sprint back.  We will do 20 Baby Crunches each time we get back until we finish the suicides.

Mosey to the open outdoor structure that is close to the outdoor chapel.  We will do 20 four count bench dips and 20 decline merkins.

Mosey to parking lot by the playground.  We will do 20 Georgia Cheerleaders (inverted Pickle Pounders).

Mosey to the bottom of mini-cardiac.  We will Bernie Sanders to park sign, then sprint to top.  We will then run back down to AO.

MARY:
We will cash out with ATMs.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
19 men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

LIVE IN GOD

Psalm 19: 7-10:

7 The law of the Lord is perfect,[c]
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules[d] of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.

I need to remember that the law and ways of the Lord are perfect.  They are more to be desired than gold.  As Van Morrison asks in his song by the same name, “When will I ever learn to live in God.”  He goes on to say, “He gives me everything I need, and more – when will I ever learn?”  I don’t know about you, but I find myself getting caught up in the ways of the world time and time again.  Am I successful enough in my job?  How does my house look compared to my neighbors?  In an effort to “get ahead”, to be liked, to be popular, to be “a winner”, I focus on things that may be out of sorts with how I truly should be.  I may go along with a business idea that is not truly honorable.  I may cut corners to get something I want, not considering how that will impact others around me.  I might participate in conversation or laugh at jokes that, if I look closely, are belittling to certain segments of our population.  Our brother, Rooney, gave a message at a recent BOM that I need to consider more carefully for myself.  He said that when we consider what we are willing to do in our life, it should align with our moral compass.

When I consider what I am to do this day, does it align with God’s laws and way?  They are perfect and I need to remember that.  I don’t have to worry so much about getting ahead, pleasing other people, or being successful.  If I act as God asks me to do, that is success.  That is what I should live for, not what Gentleman’s Quarterly, Money Magazine, Newsweek, or the latest get rich book tells me to do.  God’s ways are finer than gold and sweeter than the drippings of a honeycomb.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for the disenfranchised, for those who have lost loved ones, for Operation and his wife who are hoping she gets pregnant, and that F3 brothers will find activities that continue to help our community.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
CSAUP!!!

Keep Moving, Stay Warm

THE SCENE: Cold, cloudy, and windy.

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH, Slow windmills (get that stretch in!), baby arm circles, burpees, & Imperial squats.

THA-THANG:

At the coliseum, 4 stations around the outside. Each station has 3 exercise options. Choose one to complete and then run to the 3rd station and pick an exercise. Rinse & repeat. Exercises were as follows:

  • Station 1 (Core)
    • HELLO DOLLYS (20, 4 CT)
    • PICKLE POUNDERS (20)
    • BIG BOYS (20)
  • Station 2 (Legs)
    • SQUATS (20, 4 CT)
    • MONKEY HUMPERS (20)
    • BOBBY HURLEYS (20)
  • Station 3 (Core)
    • BOX CUTTERS (20)
    • LBCS (20, 4 CT)
    • SCISSOR KICKS (20, 4 CT)
  • Station 4 (Arms)
    • MERKINS (20)
    • DIPS (20)
    • CAROLINA DRY DOCKS (20)

MARY:
Big Boys & American hammers.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Excerpt read from a Fresh Air interview of Laura Coates.

On what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. means to her

When I think of Dr. King, the first thing that comes to mind is going to his museum down in Atlanta and looking at the number of times he was arrested. Now that might seem an oddity to people. Mostly, we think about his speeches and the impactful words, and he was an eloquent orator, and he was obviously deserving of all the accolades as it relates to his speechwriting and his sermons. But for me, I think about the number of times he was a civil rights first responder, … the number of times he went into the battlefield, the number of times he pulled an entire race out of the wreckage, the number of times that he subjected himself to physical violence. It’s the notion that myself, as a mother, looking at my young children, when all I want to do is grow old and watch them grow even older, that he had to accept the inevitability that he would not do the very things every parent wants to do. And why? Because he was thinking not only of his own children, but my children and my children’s children. …

Every time I think about his death, I think to myself, God, was that how young he was? And every year that I live beyond that, I thank him, because the life I have is because of the choices he made, because of the discomfort he experienced. And I just love this man for making those choices and for aligning his moral compass with what he was willing to do.

And It Was Good

THE SCENE: Insert info about the weather, etc.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Lap around the parking lot, 20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Twistees, 10 Windmills, 10 Baby Arm Circles Forward and 10 Backward, 5 Wide Arm Circles Forward and Backward.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the Caribbean.  We will run Candy Cane with the following exercises at every other island, then sweep back.

  • 20 Merkins
  • 15 Iron Mikes (both legs = 1)
  • 20 Big Boy Sit-ups.

Mosey to street side end of the Serpentine Sidewalk.  We will Bear Crawl one light and sprint four lights all the way down the Serpentine Sidewalk until it hits the perimeter trail.  There, we will do 20 Bicycle Kicks, 4 ct.

Mosey to Cardiac.  We will go up Cardiac, stopping to do the following exercises along the way:

  • At start:  20 American Hammers (4 ct)
  • First turn:  20 Flutter Kicks (4 ct)
  • Second turn:  20 Hello Dollies (4 ct)
  • Third turn:  20 Decline Merkins
  • Benches:  20 Bench Dips

Mosey to bottom of mini-cardiac.  We will Bernie up to the park sign, then run to the top.  Run back down to AO.

MARY:
Stretching
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
15 men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

And It Was Good

Some verses from Genesis, Chapter 1:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. 

9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth,[d] and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13

And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 

20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds[g] fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 

25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make man[h] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.

31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

One sentence that echoes through the creation story of the Bible is, “God saw that it was good.”  And, indeed, His creation is good.  That is easy to see here in East Tennessee where, as Crawdad would say, we are blessed to view “best sunrise in America.”

Amidst the strife and toil of our world, amidst Covid 19, the conflict among our people, the wars between nations, we may fail to recognize the blessings of God’s creation.  We, as human, may sometimes mess things up.  But God is good and his creation is good.

Let us recognize the blessings of the earth and firmament.  Let us rejoice in it, be stewards of it, and protect it.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Steam’s girlfriend who has Covid, and for his girlfriend’s mother who has cancer.  His girlfriend lives with her mother and, although quarantining, is worried about giving her mother, whose immune system is compromised, cancer.  Prayer’s for Steam’s good friend, Nathan, whose mother recently died.  Prayers for a coworker of Pusher.  The coworker had to leave work early today to go the the hospital where his stepfather is in critical condition.  Prayers for Operation as he and his wife have been working at getting pregnant for three years now in hope of having a baby.