F3 Knoxville

When We Are Weak, He Is Strong

THE SCENE: Mid 60s with some sprinkles
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

Cherry Pickers x 7, Harry Rockettes x 10, Lil’ Baby Arm Circles x 10 forward and backward, tempo squats x 5 then hold an Al Gore, tempo merkins x 5 then hold plank.

THA-THANG:
Mosey to the Courtyard for 21s

  • Start at the wall and do 20 box jumps onto the wall
  • Run to second overhang, stop and do 5 BBS at middle overhang
  • Do 1 hand release merkin at second overhang.
  • Eventually moved to 11s and got down to 6 box jumps and 5 hand release merkins

Mosey to the Coupon Pile

  • Get a coupon
  • Do 10 curls, 10 triceps, 10 swings, rifle carry up the first two staircases then back down
  • Take off 2 off each workout each time and go all the way to zero.

Mosey to the Parking Lot

  • Start at the first line doing 3 squats, duck walk to the line, lunge back to the start.
  • Then do 2 squats, duck walk, lunge
  • 1 squat, duck walk, lunge

Mosey back to the flag

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Read 2 Corinthians 12:8-10: “Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.’ Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

This is so opposite of our culture and really the opposite of what men think. It is difficult to admit our weaknesses and even boast in them, but this is what Paul says and we see throughout Scripture that we are to be dependent on God and rely on Him and not ourselves. We see throughout the Psalms that David cries out to the Lord to help Him. He knows that He is weak and often in danger, so he constantly cries out to God for help. And this is how we should look to God. It is like a child doing something and he is struggling and his father is right there waiting for the child to ask for help. The child (us) is stubborn, but the father (God) is right there waiting for us to ask Him for help and it is His desire and pleasure to help us and give us strength because He gets the glory in that, not us.

USAF PT Test

THE SCENE:   60 and clear
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER:  All veterans – skipped.
WARM-O-RAMA:
 

  • Grady corns
  • Moroccan nightclub
  • Michael Phelps
  • Projectivator
  • Tempo squats
  • In/out jump squats
  • Tempo Merkins
  • Mountain climbers
  • Australian snow angels
  • Pickle pounders
  • Mosey to the track

THA THANG:

  • 2 laps of Bojangles’s Biscuits (run the straights, jog the curves)

 

  • US Air Force Fitness Program
  1. Max merkins in 1 minute
  2. Max sit-ups in 1 minute
  3. 5 miles for time

 

To the field – 4 cones spaced every 10 yards

  • Bear crawl 1 cones – 30 merkins – sprint to last cone – mosey back
  • Bear crawl 2 cones – 20 merkins – sprint to last cone – mosey back
  • Bear crawl 3 cones – 10 merkins – mosey back

MARY:

  • LB Flutter Crunch
  • H2H

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

Me and 5 of the best men I know

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Romans 12:12, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Isaiah 26:3, You will keep the mind that is dependent on you in perfect peace, for it is trusting in you.

Psalm 27:14, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”

Jeremiah 17:7-8:  “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

MOLESKIN:

Praying for Wax this week

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Hardship Hill set-up on October 1, race on October 2

Monster Mash Bash – October 28th

The Project IPC Week 4

THE SCENE: around 60 degrees, clear, not humid… perfect conditions at the Project AO.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

15 SSH, 15 Moroccan night club, 10 tempo merkins, 10 tempo squats
THA-THANG:
Gave instructions on the workout and we got to it. This was a timed workout (52:30) for total cumulative reps. The following list of exercises are performed in sets of 25 reps. After completing each set of 25 reps, run 25 yards, do 3 burpees, and return for the next set. Here are the exercises:

  • 200 curls
  • 175 squats
  • 150 O.H. presses
  • 125 K.B. swings
  • 100 merkins
  • 75 Thrusters
  • 50 Bonnie Blares (each leg)
  • 25 blockees

The idea was to continue to work in reverse  through the list once completed if there was time remaining, but we didn’t get past the thrusters. Killer workout!

MARY:
Listen to announcements while YHC got ready for the word.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
8 completed IPC week 4! Done!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
“Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”-James 5:13‭-‬16 NASB1995

These are excellent words regarding the power of prayer. The portion of this passage YHC is focusing on is the last verse. “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another”. This a very difficult and uncomfortable thing to do, especially if you don’t have someone that you trust with your struggles. Thankfully, F3 is full of them! Now for the second part of the verse. “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much”. The previous verses prove how effective the prayer of a righteous man can be. I encourage all to use this tool to which we have access and lift each other up in prayer.

MOLESKIN:
What a full body beat down! YHC was quickly aware of how my lack of upper body exercise has affected by strength.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Friday HH obstacle build and blood drive at Asylum. Saturday Hardship Hill!

Hardship Hill Training Session

THE SCENE:   52 and clear
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: All veterans – skipped.
WARM-O-RAMA:
 

Grady corns
Tempo squats
Merkins
Mountain climbers

Mosey to the recruiting center

THA THANG:

We did a little Hardship Hill preparation training…

4 stations (obstacles) in the parking lot – 4 more across the street.  1-minute EMOM timer

Visit an obstacle and do the exercise until timer goes off.  Then run to the wall, scramble up and over, and run across the street to the next station.  Obstacles were;

  • Tire hit
  • Ball Slams
  • I Merkins
  • Alternating waves
  • Heavy lunges
  • Stack squat
  • Jump rope
  • 10 thrusters + 15 curls (repeat)

First lap is finished – whew!  Recover to your canopy and plop yourself down in a chair.  Someone throws you a beer and someone else thrusts a bowl of chili into your hand – great!  While you’re there just relaxing, grab a CMU and do;

  • 30 triceps
  • 30 curls
  • 10 Chaco burpees

Now, get your muddy shoes back on your feet, because here come your teammates over the last obstacle and it’s your turn to run another lap.  This time, obstacles were;

  • Slam ball throw
  • Tire flip
  • Battle rope slams
  • “H” Merkins
  • Goblet squats
  • Good mornings
  • Jump rope
  • 10 thrusters + 15 triceps (repeat)

Second lap is finished – good golly!  Recover to your canopy and collapse onto a blanket in the grass.  Ah, your wife is there, and she brought you your house slippers and a warm mug of hot cocoa – thanks, wife!  Everyone on your team is smoked, so a couple of JUCO studs offer to run your team’s next lap – sweet.  While you’re relaxing, grab a CMU and do;

  • Single arm OHP – 10 each side
  • 20 CMU swings
  • 30 triceps

What the?!?!  Here come those JUCO guys over the last obstacle – how the heck did they get around the course so quickly?  Oh no – your teammate who is supposed to run next is in the port-a-john.  You’re already beat, but you have to do another lap.  Too tired to run, this time we’ll crawl.  EMOM bear crawl to the wall, touch, then sprint to the next station. Obstacles reverted back to;

  • Tire hit
  • Ball Slams
  • I Merkins
  • Alternating waves
  • Heavy lunges
  • Stack squat
  • Jump rope
  • 10 thrusters + 15 curls (repeat)

Finished!  You won’t be taking home any wooden trophies this year – but you finished the race without any significant injuries.  We’ll count that as a win.

MARY:

No time

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

Me and 5 of the best men I know

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

I told a short story about an acquaintance, Sarah.  My wife and I have known her and her husband, Ty, for nearly as long as we’ve lived in TN.  They used to live near us but moved several years ago and we’ve fallen out of touch.  Last week, my wife forwarded a blog post to me – it was then that I found out Sarah has been battling a rare and aggressive cancer.  In her post, she writes about how there are only three clinics in the nation which specialize in treating this cancer – and that her family feels strongly that she should seek treatment at MD Anderson in Houston.  So, they are planning for her to move to Houston for 3-4 months.  Looks like months of prep, surgery in December, twice-a-day radiation treatments…

She talks about sitting in the hotel lobby after the initial consult and calling a friend to unburden herself.  “Knowing that I will be hardly able to walk, where do I live and how do I get myself to the treatments?  How do we plan for our young daughters to visit if I don’t know how I’ll be feeling?  How do I keep running our small business remotely?  How the heck are we going to pay for all of this?  I don’t want to be needy and ask people for help…”  Her friend responded, “If you don’t let people come alongside you and help, then you are robbing them of the joy of participation.”

I love that phrase – “the Joy of Participation”.  Generosity is participation.  When you are generous with your time, your money, your resources – you are participating in other people’s challenges and dreams.  That can be a source of a tremendous amount of joy.

In his book, “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, Steven Covey talks about the difference between living with a scarcity mindset and living with an abundance mindset.  When you have a scarcity mindset, you protect and hoard all that you have.  When you live with an abundance mindset, you give joyfully knowing that you have more than enough to meet your own needs.  He didn’t make up that concept – it’s in Scripture.

Proverbs 11:24 NLT, “Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything.”

 

Yesterday afternoon, my oldest son and I drove to Chattanooga to pick up a bike.  I’ve been looking for a mountain bike for him for more than a year – checking Facebook marketplace nearly every day – visiting the local shops over and over.  For bike manufacturers and retailers, the last 18 months have been crazy busy – and for consumers, it’s been crazy difficult to find bikes.  It seems like for every bike that comes in, there are 10 people on a waitlist for it.  But with some careful planning, we were finally able to get him one and he is thrilled.  Seeing him ride it last night was great – and I know that all the joyful times we will have riding will be worth all the time and planning that went into getting that bike.

That got me thinking…  What would it be like if I sought the Joy of Participation (i.e., the joy of giving generously) with the same deliberateness and dedication that I sought the joy of biking with my son?  What if I planned for and pursued generosity in the same way that I plan for a vacation?    

Isaiah 32:8 NLT, “Generous people PLAN to do what is generous…”

MOLESKIN:

Sarah’s story; https://www.thehappyenvelope.com/cancer-journey/the-joy-of-participation

Remember to be praying for Erector and his extended family this week

Biohack had a great suggestion related to planning your generosity – set-up a separate bank account and have funds auto-drafted into it monthly.  That way you’ll have those resources ready when you get an opportunity to participate in someone’s dream or struggle.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Hardship Hill set-up on October 1, race on October 2

Monster Mash Bash – October 28th

Baptism – Not Rinse & Repeat!

THE SCENE: It’s a Pool Boy Q so it was supposed to rain… and then it did just enough at the end. Good times.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER – Administered
WARM-O-RAMA:

Jog from curb at top of parking lot where the #ShovelFlag is to the next parking spot down and then increase speed back – percentages listed below but we didn’t push it too much with the wet ground:
-40-50-60-70-80-90 (3x down and back total)
-Tennessee Rocking Chair x 7 IC
-Hand release Merkin x 5 OYO
-Overhead clap x 10 IC
-Imperial Squat Walker x 10 IC
-Imperial Rockette x 10 IC
-Pickle Pounder x 10 IC
-Pickle Pointer x 10 IC

THA-THANG:
Mosey to the guardrail overlooking the #ShovelFlag

At the Guard Rail x 2, reach for the sky and let it hang when done
20 x Dips, Overhead clap ±rocks in hand, Squats

Mosey to the Sherwin Williams building corner closest to JUCOmanjaro
4 Corners #1
20 x Flutter Kicks (4-ct), Burpees, Imperial Squat Walkers, 30 sec Plank then back for the 6 and do the rest of 4-corners with the 6.
Reach for the sky, let it hang 1-2x and then repeat 4 Corners #1
Commission did a 15-count.

Mosey over to the other businesses.

4 Corners #2
Heels to Heaven, Merkins, Imperial Rockettes, 30 sec of Lunges then back for the 6 and do the rest of 4-corners with the 6.
Reach for the sky, let it hang 1-2x and then repeat 4 Corners #2

Mosey back to the guardrail overlooking the #ShovelFlag
Repeat reach for the sky and let it hang when done
20 x Dips, Overhead clap ±rocks in hand, Squats
x2 of course.

Mosey back to the #ShovelFlag

MARY:
10 x BBS, Gas Pump, LBC, Dolly, Box Cutter
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
11 PAX (7 beatdown + 4 rushers)
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

So no matter how far down the road we’ve gone God is faithful to discipline – and I do mean discipline and not punish His children. We can fight and kick and scream but He will bring us back. As many of you know that’s what happened to me over 2 years ago and this Sunday I will be baptized – and for a second time.

This can be controversial to talk about even among Christians, but I think it’s good we can have Christ-honoring and respectful conversations about it.

Baptism signifies we are following in obedience to Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 28:19-20. Baptism is for the symbolic washing of regeneration of sins. There may be some here who disagree but I think the Bible makes it clear. That is not the main point of today though I do believe it is critical to make because of the salvific implications of those who believe in baptismal regeneration (which I believe the Bible does not teach). That is another conversation and I’d be glad to talk to you about it – but here are 3 things about baptism for you to consider today:

1. If you have been baptized, revel in what God did to bring you to the point of salvation. See how Jesus pursued you, disciplined you, and brought you who were far off to be near. Look at the sin you have committed against a holy God and how He was so gracious and merciful to pursue you, His bride to be, to the ends of the earth:

Ephesians 2:13 – But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

2. If you have not yet been baptized, why not? Most likely there is sin of which you need to repent of. It was for me. I am still in need of repenting daily. Do what so many have done. And if you’re questioning this, just remember it is the person says he is without sin who likely has the most (plank/speck).

Acts 2:38 – And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

3. If you are planning on being baptized (like me this Sunday), do not delay without a godly cause (and talking it over with your pastors).

My story (this is an ongoing story from previous posts):
For me, it was a strange time after I believe I was actually saved to not be baptized a second time for the past 2 years. I had led a life of decades-long unrepentant sin. I was a dead tree. God made me alive but I was not quick to seek to be baptized (especially without having reconciliation from many around me who had very justifiable reasons for great skepticism about my repentance). Then a worldwide pandemic hit about the time I was going to take a class and I took the first baptism class (part of the process at my church).

Romans 6:1-4
6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

So today join me by repenting and being baptized. Every one of you for the forgiveness of sins.

MOLESKIN:
Prayed for Data’s friend about his job change, Dart Gun’s adoption of the little girl his family has been caring for, and Commission’s family as his grandfather Todd passed away recently.

Also today was my First Q in 3 months.Insert any personal comments, notes, devotion content, etc.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Hardship Hill coming up October 2nd! See Wanderer’s post in #juco on Slack for more info or reach out to Tank with any questions.