F3 Knoxville

Tag: Stitch

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

Remembering Scripture and Remembering Dung Beetle’s

THE SCENE: A nice, crisp 50 a clear.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Cherry Pickers x 7, Little Baby Arm Circles x 10, Little Baby Arm Circles Backwards x 10, Apollo Ohno’s x 10, Tempo Merkins x 10, 10 BBS.

THA-THANG:
Mosey to the Big Parking Lot, do a moving workout to each line and do 20 calf raises at each line.

  • Walking Merkins (Alligator Merkins)
  • Lunges
  • Bear Crawl
  • Frog Jump
  • Frog Jump
  • Bear Crawl
  • Lunges
  • Walking Merkins

Mosey to the coupon pile, take the coupons to the parking lot and partner up

  • One partner does a coupon push to the opposite parking lot line and then dung beetle’s back.
  • The other partner runs up the hill, does 1 burpee and then runs back.
  • When they meet, they do 10 curls.

Put the coupons back and keep the same partners

  • One partner runs and does 3 pull ups.
  • The other partner holds a wall sit or plank.

Mosey back to the flag

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
James 1:22-25 says, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”

Unfortunately, as fallen humans, we forget things. We are told one thing and then minutes later we forget the thing we had been told. Not necessarily intentionally, we just tend to forget things. So, we do different things to help ourselves remember. We write things down, we put it on a calendar, we put it on a sticky note, we repeat it back to people. And I think we can do similar things with Scripture. Because so often, like James says, we hear the Word or read it and then instantly forget it and think about other things, therefore we cannot do what it says. So, I wrote down a few things that help me remember what I read. It’s not extensive, but I got 4 things that help me remember Scripture.

  1. Write it down and meditate on it throughout the day. Put it on a notecard and put it on your desk. Meditate on it, mumble it to yourself to remind yourself of what you read and how you can use it in your life.
  2. Memorize it. This is similar to number one, but the more we read a verse, then we can memorize it and hide it in our hearts.
  3. Sing it. This one is a little different and can be awkward, but it helps because remembering a tune is a lot easier than just remembering a sentence. So, my wife now has a song for Psalm 23 and sings it every now and then.
  4. Have a partner to talk to about Scripture and to encourage you in working to remember what you’ve read.

JUCO Parking Lot Pain

THE SCENE: Pleasant 63 degrees – very nice.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH
1 Burpee
Tempo Squat
2 Burpees
Tempo Merkin
3 Burpees
Freddy Mecuries
4 Burpees
Imperial Walkers
5 Burpees

THA-THANG:

Mosey to the large parking lot
10 Thrust Merkins
9 Iron Mikes
8 Elbow Planks
7 Body Builders
6 Squat Jumps
5 Should Taps
4 Round the Clock Merkins
3 Monkey Humpers
2 Big Boy Situps
1 Diamond Merkin
Run to the other side of the Large Parking Lot
Knock off the last exercise
Repeat forever…or until about 6:10

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Job 38: 1-11

1Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
2“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.
4“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
5Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,
7when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8“Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb,
9when I made clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
10and prescribed limits for it
and set bars and doors,
11and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

MOLESKIN:

F3 = Unit Cohesion – Appreciate the fitness, but cherish the fellowship, encourage others to take up the mantle of leadership with the Q community

Trust in our sovereign Lord – He is in control of everything even we don’t see/feel it

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Booster mentioned going to the Quacken on Wed evenings to support the AO.

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.

Repeatedly Building A Pyramid

THE SCENE: Mid-40’s & dry (for only like the 2nd time this year for a Pool Boy Q)
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER – Administered
WARM-O-RAMA:
Moroccan Night Club x 15 IC
Tennessee Rocking Chair x 10 IC
Forward Lunge x 5 each leg OYO
Side Lunge x 5 each leg OYO
Tempo Merkin x 10 IC
Pickle Pointer x 10 IC
Rainbow Drop x 10 OYO (5 each side)

THA-THANG:
Stop at the Rocks Behind Sherwin Williams (going the long way around to avoid the sprinklers) – grab a rock in each hand. Do the following followed by a lap around the Sherwin Williams Paint Store:
1. 10 OHP
2. 10 Dips
3. 10 BBS
4. 10 Incline Merkins

Mosey to JUCOmanjaro
Today we’re building a Pyramid! That means that we’re going to be doing the following:
Run to Cone 1. Do Exercise at Cone 1. Run to Start.
Run to Cone 1. Do Exercise at Cone 1. Run to Cone 2. Do exercise at Cone 2. Run to Cone 1. Do exercise at Cone 1. Run back to start.
Go up and go then go back down.

Summary of full Pyramid:
1, 121, 12321, 1234321, 12321, 121, 1

Bottom Cone # Exercise
10 Lunges Start –
1 10 Tempo Squats
2 10 Pickle Pointers
3 10 BBS
4
10 Tempo Incline Merkins

Mosey back to the Rocks – grab a rock in each hand. Do the following followed by a lap around the Sherwin Williams Paint Store:

1. 10 OHP
2. 10 Dips
3. 10 BBS
4. 10 Incline Merkins

Fast mosey the long way back around to the Shovel Flag for a Warm Down.

MARY:
Warm Down:
Rainbow Drop x 10 OYO (5 each side)
Pickle Pointer x 10 IC
Tempo Merkin x 10 IC
Side Lunge x 5 each leg OYO
Forward Lunge x 5 each leg OYO
Tennessee Rocking Chair x 10 IC
Moroccan Night Club x 15 IC

Bonus / extra 3 minutes at the end – dealer’s choice (we avoided me having to modify since one PAX said we should do Voldemorts (the exercise that shall not be named!).

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
14 PAX. No FNGs (keep inviting Sad Clowns out!)

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Some days it feels like we do the same thing twice. Today we did!
Pyramid schemes. Bernie Madoff. The news cycle. The grind. Daily trials. Family issues.

We have to do things over and over. But the repetition can be good. Per usual, we have 3 things to consider about repetition:
1. When you do something repetitive, know it’s God who has put you in the spot for your good

James 4:13-15 – 13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

2. When you something repetitive, see God’s goodness in giving good works to do.
Ephesians 2:10 – 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

3. When you do something repetitive, your goal should be one step better with the end goal being mastery
Proverbs 22:29 – Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.

Today we repeat. Let’s see God’s goodness to us in that.

MOLESKIN:
Prayed for Dart Gun’s coworker who up and out of the blue left his family (and prayed his coworker’s family).

Also enjoyed this one and seeing many PAX modify as needed. This means we’re growing together and still showing up through our injuries and even communicating when one of us fartsacks.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Let’s finish strong with our Safe Haven donations this month.