F3 Knoxville

Tag: Squirtle

Supporting Our Bros

THE SCENE: Sunny and hot, temps in low 90’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-Straddle Hops, 10 Plank Position Sky Reaches, 10 Rockettes, 10 Baby to Wide Arm Circles Forward, 10 Baby to Wide Arm Circles Backward, 10 Cherry Pickers.

THA-THANG:

Mosey to Stop Sign at Southeast Corner of Admin Bldg.  Go to road and down hill on east side of road.  We will do elevens starting with 1 Big Boy Sit-up on bottom of hill and 10 Squat Jumps on top.

Mosey to grassy area across street from water plant bldg.  There will be four cones set up.  We will do the following exercises at each cone in sequence and move between cones as listed:

  • Cone 1:  1.  20 Smurf Jacks.  2.  20 Plank Jacks  3.  20 Sky Jacks (Bernie Sanders to Cone 2)
  • Cone 2:  1.  20 Hand Release Merkins.  2. 20 Carolina Dry Docks.  3. 20 Diamond Merkins.  (Bear Crawl to Cone 3)
  • Cone 3:  1.  20 American Hammers 4 count.  2.  20 Hello Dollies 4 Count.  3. 20 Flutter Kicks 4 Count.  (Sprint to Cone 4)
  • Cone 4:  1. 10 Shoulder Taps each shoulder.  2.  10 Mountain Climbers 4 count.  3. 10 Iron Mikes 4 count  (Bear Crawl to Cone 1)

Mosey to Area 51.  We will run up hill, stopping to do 5 Burpees at each of four landmarks, the last being the tree by the road that goes back to the Admin Bldg. Parking Lot.  We will then do 20 Bicycle Kicks at the top of the road.

Mosey to Bat House.  We will go down stairs and do 15 Baby Crunches at bottom of stairs.  We then run to piney area near top of Mt. Everest and do 15 more Baby Crunches.  We then run up to the Summit of Mt. Everest and do 15 more Baby Crunches.  Finally, we run back to Bat House and do 15 Baby Crunches.

Mosey to AO.

MARY:

20 Right side crunches and 20 Left side crunches

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Nine men, no FNG’s.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
A friend of mine who lives near Chattanooga sent me an awesome article from the Labor Day edition of the Times Free Press of Chattanooga.  The article talked about our F3 brothers in that community.  The link to the article is attached below.  The article meant a great deal to me for several reasons:

  • Us Knoxville guys helped start the first AO in Chattanooga.
  • Our brothers are doing great things in that community.  They now have eight workout groups there.
  • The article discusses how across the United States feelings of social isolation and loneliness are increasing according to the American Psychological Association.
  • The article discussed how one study, published in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science found social isolation to have the same risk factors for death as obesity.
  • The article talks about how F3 helps men to be more fit but also breaks up the patterns among men of isolation and loneliness.
  • The article talks about how the Faith component of F3 gets men to think about things greater than the individual and think of ways to improve the community.

Here it the link to the article:  https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2019/sep/02/inside-mens-groabout-more-just-exercise/502599/.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Jinxy who has been found to have some matter around his heart, for Simba’s wife who has heart surgery tomorrow, and for Mr. Roger’s and his family who lost their son, Garrett.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Funeral for Garrett this Sunday.

Faith through Doubt

  1. THE SCENE: Insert info about the weather, etc.
    F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
    WARM-O-RAMA:
    10 Windmills, 10 Cherry Pickers, Little of This and That, Michael Phelps.
    THA-THANG:
    Mosey to large parking lot with gardens in middle.  We will perform Iron PAX Week 0 challenge, doing the following exercises six times:
  • 24 merkins
  • 24 squats
  • 24 lunges where both legs = 1
  • 400 meter run

Those men finishing first will do the following exercises:

  • 40 Baby Crunches
  • 30 Big Boy Sit-Ups
  • 20 Side Straddle Hops (4 count)
  • 20 Hello Dollies (4 count)
  • 20 American Hammers (4 Count)
  • 20 Mountain Climbers (4 Count)
  • 20 Bicycle Kicks (4 Count)

Mosey to AO

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Twelve men, no FNG’s.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

The whole problem with the world is that the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.  –Bertrand Russell

As a Christian, I get pissed off by people who are so damned sure about the bible and about God.  I’m talking about the guy who arrogantly proclaims that it is sacrilegious for us to question God.  Do these people really think about God?  With all the pain, injustice, greed, and despair in this world, don’t we have a right to question?  Are we supposed to follow God like robots, like automatons, never wondering, never doubting?

As a Christian, I have found my knowledge of God and faith in God strengthened by my questioning and doubts.  For, it is through my questioning that I seek, read, talk to others with more knowledge than I, and ultimately ponder, wrestle with, and finally converse with God.

It is nice to know that I am in good company.  Look at Christ’s disciples when he was taken to be crucified.  Look at Peter.  Christ told him that he would doubt and deny him, saying that before the rooster crowed Peter would deny his three times.  And, having done so, when the rooster crowed and Peter remember what Christ said, he wept bitterly.  But, like Paul, Peter would become a great apostle who spoke for and spread the word about Christ.  And, like Paul, he was willing to be killed to do so.  And most of Christ’s other disciples, who doubted just as Peter did, also died proclaiming Christ.

I read a 2014 Oped in the New York Times by Julia Baird.  In it, she talked about the backlash he received when Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has admitted that he sometimes questioned God.  The International Business Times proclaimed his statement was the “doubt of the century.”  The Australian atheist columnist, Peter FitzSimons, tweeted, “Victory.”  The Archbishop is a man who has reasons to doubt God.  As a teenager, he cared for an alcoholic father.  He lost his first daughter to a car accident when she was seven months  old.  But, as a follower of God, his questioning has strengthened him.  He understands others because he has suffered.  He understands doubt because he has doubted.  And, he knows that Christ, whJen he died on the cross, spoke for our doubts when He cried, “My God, Why have you forsaken me?”

As Ms. Baird aptly stated in her Oped, “Just as courage is persisting in the face of fear, so faith is persisting in the face of doubt.

So brothers, when you question this world, when you question it’s creator, know that you are in good company.  Doubt, but persist in the face of your doubt.  Persist in seeking answers to your doubts.  And have faith that God understands your doubts, but seeks you.

MOLESKIN:
Insert any personal comments, notes, devotion content, etc.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Insert information about upcoming events, 2nd or 3rd F opportunities, and any other announcements.

Keeping it in the shade

THE SCENE: 93, hotter than the devil’s armpit
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH x 20, variable speeds

Cherry pickers

Imperial Walkers x 10

Merkins x 10

THA-THANG:
Mosey across street to Saturday morning AO and get a CMU for each Pax.  Place CMU’s in the shade along edge of parking lot.

Pax is to run to other end of parking lot, do one of the exercised listed below, then run to the CMU pile and do 30 curls, then repeat until all exercises are completed.

Round 1 – 30 CMU curls

4 Exercises

  • 20 merkins
  • 20 CDD
  • 20 BBS
  • 20 Squats

Round 2 – 30 CMU OH Press

4 corners

  • 20 merkins
  • 20 CDD
  • 20 – BBS
  • 20 Squats

10 Merkins

Mosey to the concessions stand and partner up for Dora.

100 Hand release merkins

200 Decline Merkins

300 Step Ups (single count)

Partner runs back to the parking lot and does 3 burpees

Mosey to CMU pile still in the corner and still in the shade.

25 CMU Curls

CMU OH Hold while we put the CMU’s away

MARY:
Ring of fire Merkins.  Started at 5, then went to 10.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Personal relationships are more important than knowledge.
MOLESKIN:
It was too hot to be in the sun so we modified and kept everything in the shade as much as possible.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
9/14 Trucking to the Pound CSAUP.  T-shirts will be available for order soon.  Must act quickly

November is Brolympics.  Beer ruck, picnic, competition.

Comfort of Judgement

THE SCENE: Sunny, hot but a breeze helped.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-straddle hops, 10 Plank Jacks, 10 Side Bend Stretches Left and 10 Right, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Tempo Merkins
THA-THANG:
Mosey to Stop Sign at southeast corner of Admin Bldg.  20 Hello Dollies.

Mosey to Outdoor Chapel.  Team up into pairs of two.  We will do Doras.  While one partner runs around building on the sidewalk the other partner does exercise.  These are the exercises:

  • 100 Decline Merkins off stage.
  • 100 Four Count Mountain Climbers
  • 100 Big Boys Sit Ups
  • 100 Bench Dips
  • 100 Four Count Hello Dollies

Mosey to Playground.  We will do elevens at benches starting with ten bench jumps and one decline merkin.

Mosey to Pavilion.  We will do sevens starting with six picnic table pull-ups and one bench dip.

Mosey to stop sign at northeastern corner of admin bldg.  20 American Hammers

Mosey to AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Nine men including one FNG:  Joe Salamanca whom we dubbed “Nature Boy.”
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Finding comfort in God’s Judgement

From Proverbs Chapter 1 (24-28) in ESV Bible:

Because I have called and you refused to listen,

have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,

25  because you have ignored all my counsel

and would have none of my reproof,

26  I also will laugh at your calamity;

I will mock when terror strikes you,

27  when terror strikes you like a storm

and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,

when distress and anguish come upon you.

28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;

they will seek me diligently but will not find me.

Those of us who read the Bible sometimes read about God’s wrath and judgment. It can be quite discomforting when we do so.  God seems quite upset, quite irate, when it comes to sin.  Sometimes I ask myself, “Do I want that kind of God?” when I read about his anger and vengeance toward sin.  God’s wrath is difficult to think about.  We tend to like the idea of a loving God but not of a judging God.

I particularly don’t like to think of his anger and judgment when thinking of my own sins.  I don’t want that burning fire coming after me!

While God’s wrath may seem “Ungodly” in our modern world of “tolerance for others”, do we really want a God who does not judge sin?  When we see the hatred and injustice that occur in this “tolerant” world, do we want a God who sits idly by, just watching it all happen while munching on brownies?  When we see children being abused, victims slaughtered by evil dictators, people losing their fortunes due to swindlers, do we want our Creator to do nothing in regard to it?

I want God’s judgment (just not against me!).

Think of yourself as a father or father to be.  You love you children.  You want great things for them.  But are you not going to be angry and passionate when you see someone hurt them?  No way!  Are you going to sit by and just let them get hurt?  I don’t think so.  You will tear doors down to get to the one who hurts them.  Also, are you indifferent when your children themselves do wrong?  Are you going to sit by idly if they purposefully pick a fight with a younger child?  Or, are you not going to feel embarrassment, anger, and shame if they steal from a store or friend?  You are going to take action!  You won’t like doing it but you will discipline them.  You will do that because you love them.  You want them to be morally straight, to be loving to others, to be of good character.

If we look at the issue more closely, we do want a God who gets angry about sin, who judges bad deeds.  We desire a just world where evil is punished.  And we do have a God who is just.

But what does our just God see when it comes to us humans?  We all sin, after all.  Well, our sin probably stirs his wrath.  Fortunately, we have a God who loves us.  He may hate our sins but He is slow to anger.  He is also willing to die on a cross in atonement for our sins.  He loves us so much that He sent His only son to die for us.  As the great song by Stuart Townend proclaims, “Tis the power of the cross, Christ became sin for us.”

God, thank you for judging my sins.  Also, thank you for sending your only son to die for my sins so that I might live for you.

MOLESKIN:

Prayers for Steam on his new adventure of traveling with his job.  Prayers for Thunderstruck’s mother.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Convergence and 3rd F this Saturday!

Faith of a Child

THE SCENE: Partly sunny, temp near 80 degrees.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-straddle hops, 10 Mountain Climbers, 10 Body Twists, 10 Windmills, Little of This and That
THA-THANG:
Mosey to Stop Sign at Northeast Corner of Admin Bldg.  20 American Hammers.

Mosey north toward perimeter trail and then mosey east to benches at top of Cardiac.  20 Heel Touchers.

Mosey to bottom of Cardiac.  We will go back up Cardiac stopping at the following turns to do the following exercises.  Then we will come back down to do the same two more times (three times total):

  • First Turn:  20 Hello Dollies (four count)
  • Second Turn:  20 Bicycle Kicks (four count)
  • Third Turn: 20 Decline Merkins
  • Fourth Turn:  20 Bench Dips

Mosey from bottom of Cardiac past northern fields batting cages to CMU pile. First, we will do 10 Burpees.  Then, each man picks up CMU.  We will, as a group, do the following, sprinting to the end of parking lot and back between each exercise:

  • 20 Overhead Presses
  • 20 Curls
  • 20 Rows
  • 20 Squats

Mosey to Mini Cardiac.  We will Bernie Sanders 2/3 of the way up and then sprint up the rest of the way.

Mosey to Stop Sign at Northeastern Corner of Admin Bldg.  20 American Hammers.

Mosey to AO.

MARY:
20 Buzz Saws, Boat Canoe.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Seven men, no FNG’s.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
The Trust of a Child

Let the Children Come to Me (Mark 10:  13-16)

13 And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” 16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

When I was a boy of about age 5 or 6, I came to the front door of our house, after playing outside, to enter.  The door was locked.  I rang the door bell but nobody came.  I could see my mother through the large front window of our house.  It was kind of difficult to see her but she was sitting on the couch.  I rang the doorbell again and also knocked loudly but no one answered.  I ran to the front window again.  My mother was just sitting on the couch. I thought she was ignoring me, shutting me out.  I was startled and hurt. How could she not come to the door?  Didn’t she love me anymore?  I ran in tears to the back yard.  I sat out there crying.  Maybe she didn’t love me.  Maybe she didn’t want me as her child anymore.  I was angry, I was dejected, I was dumbfounded.  I don’t know how long it took me to go to the front of the house again.  This time I banged as hard as I could on the window, screaming for my mother, demanding her to come to the door.  My mother had been sleeping heavily and was startled awake by the banging.  She quickly walked to the front door, probably in an angry mood because of her son banging on a window.  She opened the door and her anger quickly changed to concern.  She saw her boy in a state of agony, in despair, his face and shirt wet with tears, his voice blubbering.  She took him into her arms and held him close, asking “what’s wrong, what’s wrong.”  The boy explained that she had failed come to him and demanded why she didn’t do so?  She didn’t react in anger to his demands, understanding the shock of the boy of her not coming, the need to know she cared.  She explained she had been sleeping, explained that she would always love him, that she would never intentionally not come to him, that he could always count on her love.  We went that night to my favorite hamburger restaurant.  We ate together and she bought me an ice cream cone after that.  It was special to have that, but what was more special was the knowledge that my mother did love me, that she always did and always would.

God speaks of us coming to Him like children.  I believe he wants us to come with that same childlike need that I had then for my mother.  He wants us not just to have the faith of a child but the desperate urgency of a child who needs his parent.  After all, we do need Him.  We need Him desperately. If we have to wrestle with him to make him bless us like Isaac did, so be it.  If we have to bang on Heaven’s window, like I, at age 5, banged on the window of my house to make sure I was loved, so be it.  I don’t think God will mind too much if you, in utter honesty and desperation, call on Him and demand that he love you, demand your blessing from Him.  If your demand comes from your heart, He’s gonna be there.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Mr. Jinxy’s co-worker who has lost two friends to suicide this year.  Prayers for the family of those who committed the suicides.  Prayers to the families of the young person who died this past week in a car accident in Alcoa.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
3rd F on Saturday, August 10 with Convergence beforehand at the Big Ball.