F3 Knoxville

Tag: Thunderstruck

Hidden Figures and a Farewell to 90!

THE SCENE: Hot as heck… again… temps in the mid-90s and a blazing sun overhead.  This is OCTOBER??!
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

Check.

WARM-O-RAMA:

  • 10 SSH (4-ct, IC)
  • 10 Baby Arm Circles Forward/ Backward (4-ct, IC)
  • 10 Moroccan Nightclub (4-ct, IC)
  • 10 Tempo Squats (4-ct, IC)
  • 10 Cherry Pickers (4-ct, IC)
  • 10 sec high knees/ 10 sec butt kickers
  • 10 merkins (OYO)

THA-THANG:

  • Mosey to shady grass field by closest parking lot to Lyons View entrance.   Partner 1 Hops to first cone, Bear Crawl to second Cone, then Duck Walks to third cone and sprints back, and trades off with partner 2, who is working on the following exercises (cumulative reps):
    • 90 BBS
    • 90 LBCs
    • 90 American Hammers (2-ct)
  • Mosey to CMU pile
    • 30 Curls/30 Overhead Presses/30 Rows.  Try to complete in 90 seconds.  Rinse and Repeat x3.
  • Mosey to Cardiac:
    • MODIFIED DORAS:
      • Partner 1 run to first corner do 30 reps, Partner 2 do 30 reps, then run to catch up with Partner. Then do the last 30 together (15 each) “Patty-cake” style. Exercises:
        • 90 Merkins
        • 90 Shoulder Taps (each shoulder = 1)
        • 90 Bottle openers (?) (each arm = 1)

MOSEY TO grassy area at the road intersection: 30 BBS

MOSEY TO shady northeast corner of perimeter drive around admin building: 30 LBCs

MOSEY TO AO: 30 American Hammers (2-ct)

MARY:
90 squats

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
9 strong! 0 FNGs!

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM

I recently watched the movie Hidden Figures, which is about three young women who worked “behind the scenes” at NASA in the early 1960s and did the calculations that enabled John Glenn to launch into space.  It’s pretty obvious that we did a lot of exercises totaling 90 reps. This was to celebrate the last afternoon workout in the 90s. But did you realize:

    • We did 9 exercises and 10 reps per exercise in the Warmup?
    • We did 9 different exercises during Tha Thang?
    • I’ve spoken 90 words so far?

So we had some Hidden Figures in our Workout, and we also have Hidden Figures in our lives. These might be co-workers who do tasks that “keep everything moving”, which for me would be the data analysts that crunch the numbers so I can perform my modeling and write my reports. Maybe it’s a secretary, or dispatcher, or just someone who brings a positive and enthusiastic attitude to work every day. Maybe it’s someone at church who does a lot of unnoticed things that make events special… At my church up in Chicago there’s a woman, Fern, who washes and irons the tablecloths for special events and organizes cabinets, and there’s Anne, who stitches hats out of leftover yarn to pass out to homeless shelters.  Maybe it’s a Friend that you don’t see very often, but is always there when you need them, to offer words of encouragement, a shoulder to cry on, or a hand to help you up. And then there’s our relationship with God, who is Hidden from our earthly eyes, but is always with us in our time of need.

Seek out those Hidden Figures in your lives and thank them.

MOLESKIN:
Thankful that Jinxy’s heart procedure and diagnosis were favorable! Thanks to Sparkler for taking the lead on the Asylum PM obstacle construction for HH.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Helping those who resist help

THE SCENE: Almost 90, rain and then humid

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER

THA-THANG:
F3 Iron Pax Challenge, Week 4

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
8 men, no FNGs
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Romans 14:13  Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.

Colassians 4:6  Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

 

As HIMs we desire to greet the day with energy, do good for our community, and help or brothers and sisters.  What happens, however, when the people we try to help are not receptive to the assistance we are trying to provide.  What do we do when we put in a great deal of effort to help another and we find them taking no real steps to help themselves.  When they turn down our advice with “yes buts”?  When they answer your attempts at optimism with pessimism”  When their basis stance toward your attempt at community with them is “People ain’t no damn good”?

We as HIMs must learn to have patience with individuals who are so difficult to help – and, frankly, sometimes difficult to like.  Jesus said this:  “Do not resist the one who is evil.  But if anyone slaps you on the right side of the cheek, turn to him the other also”  (Matthew 5:  39).  I don’t think that what Jesus was talking about here was to allow those who assault us to merely do so.  I believe that in this statement Jesus was talking about the approach we must take to people who resist our attempts to love them.  Sometimes we feel we are being slapped when we try to assist others.  Their resistance, their poor attitudes, their chide remarks can make us angry.  Our automatic response, which is certainly understandable, may be “To hell with you!”

But we must stand strong in the storm that hurting people throw at us.  It is the work of the devil in them that leads them to such behavior.  We must learn to keep loving.  That takes the fruits of the spirit:  Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control.  We must allow the onslaught and try to understand what, in the individual’s past, leads to their negative stance.  And, we can certainly go to our kinder brothers and sisters for advice and encouragement on how to hang in there with such people.

MOLESKIN:
Prayer for Mr. Jinxy who goes tomorrow for heart catheter.

PM Asylum – 56 is not too Bad

THE SCENE:

about 86, mostly sunny, a bit warm
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH 15 IC
Cherry Pickers 15 IC
Windmills 15 IC
Candy Corns 30 IC
Merkins 5 IC

THA-THANG:

Mosey to Stairs by Bat House
7’s – BBS at bottom of 2nd stairs down hill and Squats at top of hill
Mosy back to AO to Partner up into 2’s and pick up a pair of brick per team
Mosey down road to stop sign in the shade.
Dora’s:
 100 Reps per team – Press with each brick, while partner Burnies up to cone – 5 Bobby Hurleys (each arm)
100 Reps per team – Curls with each brick, partner side run crossing legs to cone – 5 Iron Mikes (each Leg)
50 Reps per team – wing lifts with each brick, partner runs to cone, 5 squats
Mosey down hill to Highway 66
Every 5th light post -6 Squats and 6 Iron Mikes until we get to road
Two Rounds of 1 minute planks in Shade
Mosey to base of Everest – Pickets charge up hill to top right by small wall by road
Partner up – 7, then 6, then 5, then 4 etc of dips while partner does LBCs

MARY:
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Use the TAGS on right-side to record PAX (BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOURSELF) in attendance. Be sure to select the AO in CATEGORY above TAGS and then delete these notes!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Word of the day is get out of your comfort zone. It’s easy and comfortable to follow the same routine day in and day out- same circle of friends, same activities. But that is not how we grow. We need reach out – grow your circle of friends, add some diversity. Reach out to a different age group and strike up a conversation. Take a chance and you will be enriched. This will enhance our ability as F3 leaders and to live as God wants us.
Joshua 1:9 ESV
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

MOLESKIN:
Pray for Mr Jinxy who is dealing with a heart issue and Dieter Marstadt family- Dieter recently died of a brain tumor
ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Necessary Falling

THE SCENE: Cloudy, low 80s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
This a Week 3 of the Iron Pax Challenge so we will stretch for one minute then get straight to the work out
THA-THANG:
We will do the following exercises for Week 3 of the Iron Pax Challenge for 43 minutes.  After 43 minutes, each man will see how many reps he did of the exercises.  Each man will rinse and repeat after he goes through the round of exercises until the 43 minutes are over.  Here are the exercises:

  • 10 Pull-Ups
  • 15 Cross-Over Burpees
  • 20 Coupon Curls
  • 25 Coupon Squat Thrusters
  • 30 Gas Pumps (reverse crunches)

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Five men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Have you ever watched infants trying to walk?  They pull themselves up via a nearby item or a parental hand.  They take a step and . . . fall. They try it again, wobble and . . . fall.  The falling doesn’t deter them.  They keep after it, fall after fall.  Infants learn to walk by learning to fall.  

My son, Puddle (Bennett Neece) loves to ski as do I.  I observed him the first day he learned to ski.  I didn’t give the lesson . . . he was involved with other Boy Scouts in a group lesson.  I skied for a while and came back to observe him later.  He was covered in snow but going for it down the mountain, speeding along, trying to make a turn and falling like a madman, ski poles flying, skis going in opposite directions.  He laughed, tromped through the snow, got the gear back, put his skis on and went right back at it down the mountain.  I knew after that day that he was going to be a good skier.  Why?  He was willing to fall.  Others in his group were much more tentative.  Bennett didn’t mind falling.  And because he didn’t mind falling, he learned rapidly.  Good skiers learn to ski by learning to fall.

You have figured out where this message is going.  In any important endeavor we take on in life, we learn to succeed by learning to fall.  Screwing up at the task is not a failure.  It is simply a necessary fall that we must be willing to learn from.  We don’t learn well by winning all the time.

Movement, growth and success involve falling.  This is true in everything.  And, it involves the willingness to risk falling.  If you want to move up the ladder vocationally, it involves the risk of messing up on more difficult tasks. If you want to date that beautiful girl, it involves the risk of being rejected.  If you want an audience to hear your message, it involves the risk of embarrassment when you speak.  If you want to sell a product it involves the risk of being hung up or having the door slammed in your face.

God knows that we must fall.  Ironically, we become stronger spiritually through falling.  The falling brings us closer to Him for we yearn for his help when we fall.  We also learn more about ourselves when we fall.  And, we relate more to people, understanding them better when they fall.  Blessed our those who mourn.  And blessed our those who get back up, shake themselves off, and try it all over again.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Thunderstruck’s mother, father and grandfather.  Prayers for the mother of Squirtle’s coworker.

Serenity Now!

THE SCENE: Low 90s… again…

F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER  Check!  Still not a professional.  Shame spiral…

WARM-O-RAMA:

– 25 SSH (4ct, IC), 20 Moroccan Nightclubs (4 ct, IC), 15 Windmills (4 ct, IC), 10 Imperial Squats (4 ct, IC), 5 PCMBs (12ct, OYO)

THA-THANG:

  • Mosey down Roadshow Run to close to the base of Everest, in a shady spot. EVEREST PYRAMID :
    • Do the exercise, then run 1/3 way up Everest 5 times. Exercises will be the following (all single count)
      • 20 Iron Mikes
      • 20 Iron Mikes, 20 Mountain Climbers
      • 20 Iron Mikes, 20 Mountain Climbers, 20 Merkins
      • 20 Mountain Climbers, 20 Merkins
      • 20 Merkins
  • MOSEY to Intersection of Trail and perimeter road (all 4-ct, IC).
    • 20 American Hammers
    • 20 Flutter Kicks
    • 20 Bicycle Kicks
  • MOSEY to stop sign at northeast corner of Admin building drive.
    • 20 American Hammers
    • 20 Flutter Kicks
    • 20 Bicycle Kicks
  • DORAS: Partner 1 Bernie Sanders to end of Guard Rail, then runs to tree, 3 Burpees for extra credit, then runs back. Partner does the following:
    • 100 Big Boy sit-ups
    • 100 Bobby Hurleys
    • 100 Merkins

MARY:
No time.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
8 Strong.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Ronald Niebuhr: Niebuhr was one of America’s leading public intellectuals for several decades of the 20th century and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964. Graduated from Elmhurst College, which was in the town I grew up in in Illinois and where my dad taught for 35 years.  He was a public theologian; he wrote and spoke frequently about the intersection of religion, politics, and public policy.  He was also one of the founders of the theory of Christian realism, which had three biblical presumptions: 1) the sinfulness of humanity, 2) the freedom of humanity, and 3) the validity and seriousness of the Great Commandment, which was a combination of two Bible verses that expressed the requirements to Love Thy Lord With All Thy Heart, AND, Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself. These form the core of the Christian lifestyle.  He also believed in the importance of balance of power and political responsibility.

Niebuhr believed that the perfection of the Kingdom of God cannot be realized on earth because of a corrupt society and the innate sins of man. Human perfectibility is an illusion. How can there be heaven on earth when there is so much corruption, poverty, etc.?  This was not a man who wore rose tinted glasses.  He saw the flaws and sins of humans both politically and in society, and he realized that although we should always do our best to contribute to solutions, that the imperfections of humanity would never allow paradise during our mortal lives. He is credited with writing the Serenity Prayer, which has always connected with me.

SERENITY PRAYER

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for several PAX and their family members who are going through challenging times.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
None.