Waffle House – Page 20

I’m Diving In

October 10, 2020 Lillydipper

THE SCENE: Raining, temps in 60s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-Straddle-Hops, 10 Mountain Climbers, 10 Windmills, 10 Rockettes, 10 Lunges, 7 Wide Arm Circles Forward and Backward, Little of This and That

THA-THANG:
Mosey to Bottom of Cardiac. We will run up hill and do the following exercises at the following areas:

Curve 1: 25 Carolina Dry Docks
Curve 2: 25 Dive Bombers
Curve 3: 25 Decline Merkins
Benches: 25 Bench Dips

Mosey to Parking Lot by South Ball Fields. We will do suicides running to each of 6 cones, doing 10 Merkins, and running back to do 20 Baby Crunches. Those who finish first get a 30 second break, then rinse and repeat.

Mosey back to the main street. Do 20 Bench Dips off of curb.

Mosey to Parking Lot with Islands (Jinxy has named it “The Caribbean” and the name has been officially sanctioned by Crawdad) that is south of the Northern Ball Fields. We will Bernie clockwise around the parking lot the first time, stopping at every other island to do 10 Hello Dollies, 4 ct. We will skip around the parking lot the second time, stopping at every third island to do 10 Flutter Kicks, 4ct. We will Grapevine left around half the parking lot and Grapevine right around the other half, stopping at every fourth island to do 10 Squats.

We will High Knee to sidewalk that leads to the ball fields.

Mosey to the Pavilion at the Northern Ball Fields. We will do 20 Picnic Table Pull-ups then run to playground to do 10 step ups at benches (five starting with one foot and five starting with other. Then we run back to Pavilion. Rinse and repeat two more times.

Mosey to beginning of Mini Cardiac. Bernie to park sign then run the rest of the way to the AO.

MARY:
20 Flutter Kicks (4 ct), 50 Hello Dollies (4 ct)
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
17 men, no FNGs
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

My Christian beliefs have not come about by a sudden conversion as it has for some people. Rather, my road to belief in God has been one full of twists and dips. I have found it difficult to commit to God in the face of my doubts. Is God truly there? Did God create the universe? Is God a good and loving god? Why would a loving God allow pain and suffering in our world? I have read Christian books on apologetics to help me better understand the arguments for Christianity. But like other men with much greater minds than I, including Pascal, St. Augustine and C.S. Lewis, I have found that reason alone is not enough for me to believe in God. One can rationalize both belief and disbelief. I had a philosophy professor at Baylor University who once said that philosophy cannot prove that God exists – but also cannot prove that God does not exist. God is a great mystery. To believe, we must, as Van Morrison writes in one of his songs, “let go into the mystery.”

There is a scene I love in one of the first of the Star Wars movies, The Empire Strikes Back. Luke, after a battle with Darth Vadar, hangs to a latter. If he falls, it appears he will certainly die, as the crevice below seems to go on forever. He learns that Darth Vadar is his father. Darth Vadar offers him the chance to live, beckons Luke to take his hand and join him, proclaiming that together they can rule the Galaxy as father and son. What does Luke do? He lets go! And in doing so, he plunges to the depths below. He lets go into the mystery. He allows the “Force to Be With Him.” And, of course, we later learn that by letting go, he lives.

Pascal, St. Augustine and C.S. Lewis found out that joining with God takes faith – a trust that goes beyond reason, beyond rational understanding. At some point you just have to trust what you can’t see. So, I can make all kinds of arguments for the existence of God – but, those arguments cannot take away the uncertainty – ultimately, I have learned to say, ok God, I’m going to trust you, here I am.

There is a Christian song called “Dive” by Steven Curtis Chapman that captures the need to take the plunge if one is going to trust in God:

The long awaited rains
Have fallen hard upon the thirsty ground
And carved their way to where
The wild and rushing river can be found
And like the rain
I have been carried here to where the river flows, yeah
My heart is racing and my knees are weak
As I walk to the edge
I know there is no turning back
Once my feet have left the ledge
And in the rush I hear a voice
That’s telling me it’s time to take the leap of faith
So here I go

I’m diving in, I’m going deep, in over my head I want to be
Caught in the rush, tossed in the flow, in over my head I want to go
The river’s deep, the river’s wide, the river’s water is alive
So sink or swim, I’m diving in (I’m diving in…)

Brothers, I count to 3 and I dive in, whether it makes sense or not – I dive in hoping that Jesus will catch me like he did Peter who in his fear, started sinking in the water while Jesus stood upon it. And like Peter, I ask, “Lord, to whom else shall we go?” I’m diving in.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Lilydipper’s wife, Jan, who is now getting radiation for her breast cancer; prayer of praise for Choir Boy’s wife whose health is improving; prayers for young people during this pandemic, including a high school student at Hardin Valley that recently committed suicide, an adolescent that Lulu knows who is coping with anorexia, and Abscess’ son who recently got into a severe automobile accident – he is ok but definitely suffered injuries; prayers for family/friends of a friend of Pele who lost his life in a solo plane crash yesterday.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Convergence and 3rd F on Saturday, October 17, 7 am at the Bomb Shelter in Alcoa.

CMU Trail of Fears (Being Conquered)

September 2, 2020 Steam

[ The Scene ]

It’s hot with a capital h o t
PAX circle up in the bat cave where some shade is afforded

[ Warm-o-Rama ]

Windmill: 10 x 4 IC

- 1 burpee

Rockette: 10 x 4 IC

- 2 burpee

Baby Arm Circles
- F: 10 x 4 IC
- B: 10 x 4 IC

- 3 Burpee

Seal-Clap Squats: 5
- Down —> 1 4-count seal clap
- Up = 1

- 4 burpees

SSH: 10 x 4 IC

- 1 burpee

[ The Thang ]

—mosey to CMU pile by bat cave—

(1) CMU Warm-Up

5 CMU Getups
- Deadlift up CMU
- Squat w/CMU
- Up + chest-press CMU
- Deadlift down CMU on ground

10 Cross-Overs
- CMU on ground
- Burpee on 1 side
- “Jump” on the burpee is over the CMU
- Burpee on the other side

15 CMU Curl Presses
- Curl + press – back down

20 CMU Flutter Kick Presses
- Execute flutter kicks while doing 20 CMU presses above

25 CMU Drags
- Bear Crawl formation
- Take 1 hand – pull CMU through your legs to your other hand
- Bear crawl up until the CMU is in the same start position as before
- R & R
- Every CMU pull = 1

(10 count)

—walkdown the stairs from the bat cave—

—mosey with CMUs to the beginning of lighted path leading up to Saturday morning AO—

(2) CMU Trail of Reps

CMU Curls
CMU Presses
CMU Squats

Nickel – Dime – Quarter

Light 1 = 5 CMU Curls
Light 2 = 10 CMU Presses
Light 3 = 25 CMU squats

Rinse & Repeat until we get to the small parking lot right over there

However – switch the order of the Xs once you get done with the first 3 lights
- 4th light = 5 CMU Presses
- 5th light = 10 CMU squats
- 6th light = 25 CMU Curls

***Disclaimer: this sucked***

There was a teaching moment in this evolution of the beatdown however

Teaching Moment/Q Tip #1: Sweep/Pickup the 6/Wagon-Wheel/No Man Left Behind

The command of “Sweep/Wagon Wheel” was given 3x by the QIC

Pele was the singular HIM that responded and came back initially – the rest of the PAX followed suit after some prompting.

Why do we circle back/wagon wheel/pickup the 6/sweep if the QIC gives the command? (1) Not because the Q is in charge or commands it, but because any one of us could be the 6 on any given day. All of at some point in time have been the 6, you know what it’s like. (2) Circling back/wagon wheel/pickup the 6/sweep isn’t just a physical thing – it’s also mental as well. Sometimes all people need is a little encouragement and if you’re the 6 I’m gonna go out on a limb and say you probably needed some encouragement. Think about what circling back/wagon wheeling/picking up the 6/sweeping does for the 6 – not only does it reaffirm physically “No man left behind” but it also affirms mentally for the 6 and the PAX “No man left behind.”

We circle back. We Wagon Wheel. We pickup the 6. We sweep. No man left behind. That is a non-negotiable of F3. Period.

(Teaching Moment/Q Tip #1 was sunk in with 5 burpees by all PAX – we grow and move together – no man left behind)

Teaching Moment/Q Tip #2: It’s just a piece of rock

We have this thing at Asylum PM – if you break a CMU, 100 burpees or something crazy (stupid) like that. I’ll tell ya, people are generally pretty safe with their CMUs then, right?

However, it happens.

Dewey broke his CMU. Two pieces, on the ground. Disclaimer: Dewey is a tough hombre. Dewey is also the youngest PAX out there and he’s holding his own with the rest of us. Dude is straight crushing it in arguable one of the hardest CMU workouts to hit Asylum PM in a while.

Sometimes all people need a little encouragement. So you broke your CMU? Guess what? It’s a piece of rock – it’s okay. You’re crushing it man, keep your head up.

The bigger of the 2 broken CMU pieces is then shared by the PAX all the way back to the CMU pile. That’s what we do. CMUs are gonna get broken. It’s okay.

However, Teaching Moment/Q Tip #2 was sunk in with 5 burpees as well by all PAX – we share each other’s burdens)

Ah, I digress. Back to the hellish workout.

(Recover by parking lot)

(10 count)

Time to deliver these from whence they came – if you get down to the CMU pile first – come help someone else out with theirs that might be struggling (20/80 success on this).

(3) Pickett’s Charge to the Bat Cave

From the Asylum weekday morning AO car parking lot to the top of the overlook to the bat cave

Q lines up PAX in 2 lines – with Lilydipper and Pusher out front

The standard is as such —> run up Pickett’s Charge led by Lilydipper and Pusher —> no one passes them on the way up.

Teaching Moment/Q Tip #3: No one is above the standard, not even the Q.

Q stops PAX after first small hill on Picket’s Charge – reminds men of the standard set – PAX get in merkin plank position – 5 up/down merkins are executed.

Why? You are not above a standard – set by a Q or not. I am not above a standard – set by a Q or not. No one is above a standard – set by a Q or not. I don’t care how fast you are. No one cares how fast you are. There is a standard (set by the Q or not) for a reason. And a Q (and HIM) should expect and accept it to be followed. It’s not about you. It’s about the PAX. Challenge me on this. All feedback is encouraged and welcomed.

[ COT ]

# off

Name o Rama

FNGs

“Learn how to discern a win” – Jerry Flowers

- Sometimes all people need is encouragement

- When you can’t discern a win you’ll begin to mislabel victories

- Identify a win – examples:

- - - Lost something but gained something else
    - Lost something but gained a prayer life
    - Didn’t get the position or promotion but got character development and discipline along the way – that’s a win

- - - I wanted to give you 5 examples of what I’ve identified as a few wins/victories for me so far this year:

- - - - Told to work from home indefinitely and feeling trapped inside all day —> freedom to be more intentional with my prayer life and pour more into things I love like F3 and walking outside – that’s a victory and a win.

- - - - A couple “failed” relationships —> intentional experiences and I’m being protected – given insight. That’s a victory and a win.

- - - - Started leading a small group of men – who are all married and in their 40s and up – I don’t say that to boast, I say that because for me this is a win for me because I didn’t see that modeled well a lot when I was growing up and now the Lord’s placed me there so I can actually see it modeled well while I learn how to lead – irrespective of my age or life experience – that’s a blessing and a win.

- - - - A few different opportunities have come and knocked on my door professionally and personally and instead of just flinging open the door – I’m learning to exercise judgement and wisdom in my decisions – for me that’s a victory and win.

- - - - We all have that one friend – and if you don’t that’s okay too – that has always been a little crazy right?
        
        Well my dad has that one friend too. Great guy, snuck pre-21 years old Steam a 6 pack at my dad’s wedding a while ago. We all get together for a guys weekend this weekend and play golf, shoot, wet our whistles probably a little more than we should, especially this particular guy and a bi-product of that led to him just opening up and saying “I remember having nowhere to turn, and just crying out to God for help.” Getting to recognize the weight of what was actually happening when he was verbally processing this was a huge win and victory. God’s on the move.

So, what did we learn?

(1) No Man Left Behind. Period. Circling Back/Wagon Wheeling/Picking Up the 6/Sweeping is more than just a physical action.

(2) Stuff happens. Things break. There are consequences. But we share each other’s burdens. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Keep your head up.

(3) There’s a standard for a reason. No one is above the standard. Not even the Q.

(4) Learn how to discern a win so you don’t mislabel victories in your life.

(5) Sometimes all someone needs is just a little encouragement.

Iron. Sharpens. Iron.

-Steam

In His Mansion

August 29, 2020 Lillydipper

THE SCENE: Insert info about the weather, etc.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-Straddle-Hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Plank Jacks, 5 Burpees, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Imperial Walkers, 10 Windmills, Michael Phelps

THA-THANG:

Each man picks up a pair of bricks from my truck. We then run to parking lot by entrance to Northern Ball Fields. There will be exercises posted at each corner of the parking lot. Do the exercise listed, run around the parking lot, then do the next exercise listed. Always have bricks when running. Once exercises at one cone are complete, go to the next cone and do those. When a man is done he will have done 12 exercises (3 from each cone and run around the parking lot 12 times). Here are the exercises from each cone:

Cone 1: 1. 50 Overhead Presses with Bricks 2. 20 Big Boys 3. 50 Curls with Bricks
Cone 2: 1. 50 Rows with Bricks 2. 20 Big Boys 3. 50 Wings Up with Bricks
Cone 3: 1. 50 Wings Out with Bricks 2. 10 Mini Man-makers 3. 50 Wings Down with Bricks
Cone 4. 1. 50 Punches with Bricks. 2. 10 Mini Man-makers 3. 50 Triceps with Bricks

Mosey with bricks back to the truck and replace them there.

Mosey to stop sign at Northeastern corner of admin bldg. We will do 20 American Hammers.

Mosey down steps to small alleyway. Pick teammate. We will do Doras. Teammate runs up stairs, around to beginning of alleyway and back to teammate while teammate does exercises. Teammates the switch off. Here are the exercises:

150 Squats
150 Big Boy Situps
100 Merkins

Mosey to Parking Lot that semi-circles by soccer fields. We will Bernie for 20 fence stakes then lunge for 10 tent stakes and repeat that pattern to the end of the parking lot.

Mosey to beginning of mini-cardiac. Bernie to park sign, then sprint the rest of the way back to the AO.

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

Thomas Merton: “Creation isn’t something that just happened in the beginning and then God walked off and left us to our own devices.”

Imagine if that were true. God created this universe and everything in it and then said, “Good luck everybody, I’m going to sleep.” Would the creator do that? I don’t think so.

Thomas Merton: “Creation is going on all the time. That creation is absolute and perpetual.”

That creation is a gift and a miracle. It surrounds us and is within us. Yet, we so often fail to see it. Some of the great church hymns have God saying to us (or use to Him), “Abide in Me”, knowing that we so often fall short in doing so.

James Finley describes this failure to see God’s gift to us in this way:

What if all along you’ve been living in this incredible mansion all your life but through a tragic mental condition you think you’re living in a little tent behind the garage? And every week your psychotherapist comes over for your weekly session, and your therapist says, “Look, I wouldn’t, honestly, I wouldn’t lie to you on this one. You’re in a mansion. You’ve been living in it all along.” You say, No. No. I . . . as a matter of fact, I don’t even think I deserve to even try to get in there, actually.” In God, we live and move and have our being. We’re living our life in the vast interiority of God pouring Himself out and giving himself away as every breath and heartbeat, as every passing moment of our life. This is confusion. Jesus called it blindness. Buddha called it ignorance. We don’t see the God-given, Godly nature, the boundary-less generosity of every blessed moment in our life.”

To abide in God is to accept his gift, to recognize His beauty, to breath it in what John Eldredge calls “The Sacred Romance.” Other spiritual writers call it the “Sacred Dance.” To abide in God is to ask him to abide with us.

I will close with some lines from the song “Abide With Me”:

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies
Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers of praise for Lillydipper’s wife (done with double masectomy surgery) and Choir Boys’ wife (does not have lymphoma and is getting rehab for the pain she is experiencing); prayers for wife of Mr. Jinxy who will have surgery on September 17; prayers for Lulu and Doubtfire who both have lost their mothers this past month.

Chunked Topped Diced

August 27, 2020 Waffle House

THE SCENE: QVC emerged from a yearlong fartsack! Welcome back.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
I heard Preacher himself shouting all the way from the Arizonian desert that “burpees are not a warmup”

“Studies indicate” that none of us is likely to keel over dead in the next 10 years.

THA-THANG:
They took the caution tape off the Cloud, which I appreciate. Jack Webb never showed up today, which everybody appreciates! Box-Baby-Boxes x3. Some Merkins. Table row/squat 11s. Balls to the Wall.

A Merkin or two on the way to Cardiac, and Cardiac beat us like we owed it money.

MARY:
Normally I don’t like Mary, but Hands’ Evil Plank made an appearance. And Hands wasn’t even there to enjoy it!

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:
“A Good Man Is Hard To Find” by Flannery O’Connor. A favorite of mine.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
IronPax tomorrow. Much misery ahead.

Being Neighborly with a Jelly Legged Welsh Dragon

August 17, 2020 Charmin

THE SCENE: It’s August. In Knoxville. So, you know, warm.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH x 15 (4ct IC); 2 burpees; Imperial Walkers x 15 (4ct IC); 4 burpees; Cherry Pickers x 10ish (IC); 6 burpees; Tie Fighters, forward and back x 12ish; 8 burpees.
THA-THANG:
Jelly Legs. Line up on the baseline.

Round 1: 10 second squat hold; 10 squats, run to other side for 2 burpees, and then back;
Round 2: 20 second squat hold; 20 squats, run, 2 burpees.
Round 3, 30 second squat hold; 30 squats, run, 2 burpees (see the pattern?)
Rounds 4 and 5

Welsh Dragon

Bear crawl x 4; 1 4 ct shoulder tap (tapping each shoulder once); 1 merkin
Continue with 4 step bear crawl and add a 4 ct shoulder tap and additional merkin each time up to 10;
Turn around and work back to the beginning, going down in reps, starting from 10, back to 1.

Cardiac

Mosey from AO up Baby Everest, to Cardiac, down to Cardiac, wagon wheeling for the 6;
10 burpees at the bottom; Bernie to the first turn for 10 burpees; mosey to the next turn for 10 burpees, sprint to the top as hard as you can.
25 dips

Some flutters waiting on the 6. Mosey back to the AO

MARY:
High Heels led something (flutters? Hello Dollies?); then 25 tempo LBCs.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Here’s the full post of my friend, which I stole for the BOM: “In the gospel of Luke, a dude skilled in the day’s cultural/religious law approached Jesus to “test him” asking, basically, ‘What do I need to do to be considered right before God?” And Jesus turns it around and asks, ‘Well, what’s written in the law about this topic?’ Dude repeats the Golden Rule, which says, in part: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

Jesus says, ‘Looks like you got it. Do that and you’re cool’ But dude pushes for clarification: ‘Okay, but who exactly is my neighbor?’ Then, Jesus answers the very precise question by telling a story that most everyone on the planet now knows well – the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Story goes, in a nutshell: “Guy traveling was jumped by robbers who stripped and beat him and left him to die. Two dudes who were socially privileged (a priest and Levite) came along, noticed the guy, but peaced-out. Then, a Samaritan (not considered to fully belong to the dominant culture), noticed the guy lying there and decided to stop and interrupt what he was doing. The Samaritan then spent his time and his money making sure the guy was going to be alright.”

Then, this is the epiphany moment: Jesus didn’t ask, “Which of these three would you consider to be your neighbor?” Instead, he asked: “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the guy who nearly got waxed?” Dude responds: “The one who showed mercy.” (i.e., the Samaritan). Jesus: “Go and do likewise.”

In other words, Jesus was saying: “You’re asking the wrong question – ‘who is my neighbor?’ The question itself isses the point and implies a primary concern with exclusivity and tribalism. – instead, you should be asking, ‘What should I do to be a neighbor?’” So, instead of asking, “Whose life in particular should matter to me?”

Go and observe who is truly in need and show those persons mercy. A human in need.

A human who has been treated unjustly.

In order to be a neighbor, you should concern yourself with *that individual* or *those individuals* regardless of attributes such as color, beliefs, religion, political affiliation, occupation, or social standing.

Indeed, Jesus assigned no other attribute to the person other than that he was in need.

Look for needs and heal them – even and especially if you’re a Samaritan.

MOLESKIN:
Prayers for Doubtfire and his family with his mom’s passing.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: