F3 Knoxville

Tag: Wanderer

12 Days of Jesus’ Birth

THE SCENE: Something about a midnight clear.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER – Administered.
WARM-O-RAMA:
Tempo Squat x 10 IC
Tennessee Rocking Chair x 10 IC
Tempo Hand Release Merkin x 5 IC
Overhead Clap x 10 IC
Baby Arm Circles Forward x 10 IC
Baby Arm Circles Backward x 10 IC
Imperial Squat Walker x 10 IC
Lunges – Forward 5 ea
Lunges – Backward 5 ea
Lunges – Side to side 5 ea

THA-THANG:
Falling Indian Run (Burpees til the 6 passes you) to the middle of the large parking lot.

11’s in the parking lot – a new favorite of mine. Across 2 parking spots (approx 20 feet):
Squats -> Lunges to the other side of the 2 parking spots
Merkins -> Bear Crawl to the other side of the 2 parking spots

Do 20 BBS or until the 6 is done. Rest 20 seconds.

Falling Indian run to the CMU pile. Every PAX grabs a CMU and then the Q goes over the workout:

12 days. That’s how long it took the wise men to find Jesus. Well, not really but there are 12 days of Christmas so we’re going to celebrate them today. At least with 12 exercises:

1. Burpee
2. Merkins
3. Squats
4. V-ups
5. Curls
6. Goblet Squats
7. Skull Crushers
8. Thrusters
9. Superman (may change)
10. Tempo Squats (w or w/o block)
11. Bench Press
12. Pull-ups (go up hill to start with explanation at bottom with Weinke there)

After every round of exercises, run up the stairs, do a pull-up or touch the far wall, and run back down. Repeat until 6:10 and just enough time to get back to the Shovel Flag.

MARY:
12 Mary Exercises. Or that’s the number I wrote the night before the workout. Actual “Mary” – 1 Burpee
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
7 JUCOninans

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
What to say here? 2021 has been the year of waiting. The year of patience. The year of getting told no. No to reconciliation. No to leadership. No to moving.

Yesterday I was encouraged to think over the song “God Moves” by Sovereign Grace Music / Bob Kauflin. The words are profound (I read verse two for the BOM – italicized below):

VERSE 1
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm
Deep in His dark and hidden mines
With never-failing skill
He fashions all His bright designs
And works His sovereign will

CHORUS 1
So God we trust in You
O God we trust in You

VERSE 2
O fearful saints new courage take
The clouds that you now dread
Are big with mercy and will break
In blessings on your head
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense
But trust Him for His grace
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face

CHORUS 2
So God we trust in You
O God we trust in You
When tears are great
And comforts few
We hope in mercies ever new
We trust in You

VERSE 3
God’s purposes will ripen fast
Unfolding every hour
The bud may have a bitter taste
But sweet will be the flower
Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain
God is His own interpreter
And He will make it plain

I’m not sure exactly where this is going, but that’s probably about the same that God’s people felt 2000 years ago. They were under Roman control. No Word from God had come in hundreds of years. God felt distant and silent. But Luke tells us a different story was unfolding that God’s people didn’t even know until it had happened.

Luke 2:1-14

The Birth of Jesus Christ

2 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed,[b] who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.[c]

The Shepherds and the Angels

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”[d]

Just when the people of Israel did not expect it, that is the exact moment God worked.

CS Lewis from the Screwtape Letters (written hypothetically in the pen of a senior demon writing to a junior one and thus the Enemy is God):

“He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles. Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger, than when a human, no longer desiring, but intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”

God is indeed pleased with us when we trust in Him as we go through trials. He may just have a smiling face behind a frowning providence this year, this Christmas season.

MOLESKIN:
I had no idea how the workout would turn out. It was fun but hard and modifiable so I think the PAX enjoyed it, but after leading 40+I may even start recycling some workouts until someone either tells me they’ve read this or calls me on it in a workout.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
No current announcements. Merry Christmas!

Don’t Die Hard! Die Right With The Lord!

THE SCENE: 33 degrees and it felt great!
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Cherry Pickers (IC) 4 CT X 10
  • Overhead Claps X 10 (IC)
  • Baby Arm Circles Forward & Backwards X 10
  • Randys – up 6-12 and down 6-12 inches X 20
  • Tempo Squats (IC) 4 CT
  • Tempo Merkins (IC) X 10
  • Mosey to CMU Pile

THA-THANG:

Nakatomi Plaza Tower from Die Hard had 35 floors, so we did 35 squats to kick off the workout.

John McClanes versus Hans Grubers

We re-enacted Hans Gruber falling out of Nakatomi Tower by seeing who could hang on the pulll-up bars; 2 groups of 6 men; Lil Spice won Heat A & Wheelchair won Heat B; we all did wall squats while we waited.

This is fun battle between McClane and Gruber which featured 15 reps of the following exercises in cadence:

  • CMU squats
  • CMU press
  • CMU curls
  • CMU swings
  • CMU triceps

At the end of these exercises, 1 McClane team member and 1 Gruber team member were timed for 1 minute to see who can do the most reps of one of the exercises in the round.

  • Round 1:         Hand Release Merkins
  • Round 2:         Squats
  • Round 3:         Big Boy Sit-Ups
  • Round 4:         American Hammers
  • Round 5:         Merkins
  • Round 6:         Calf Raises

Hans Gruber’s team won…but not in the movie…which WAS A CHRISTMAS MOVIE!

MARY:

Planks to Little Drummer Boy by Bing Crosby – we did merkins during (rump bump bump bump)

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

16 men combined between Rush and Bootcamp

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Drew & Laura Stockton are from Sweetwater but sold everything and are full-time missionaries in Nicaragua.  I met Drew back in 2018, helped him develop a fundraising plan to ask family, friends, neighbors, church members and churches to help them fulfill God’s calling to sell everything and move to the 2nd poorest country in the Americas to serve the poor and unchurched.

Since 2018, my wife and I support them monthly.  On Sunday, they came to speak to my church Life Group (they are in the US visiting family over Christmas).

They shared triumphs and tribulations along with some valuable life lessons.

They miss a community of friends to hang out with, encourage, and support each others (especially her) – Lesson – be a community to those in your sphere of influence; even if serving as a missionary is your calling, we all need a community!

If God keeps telling you something, listen and do it (ie. become full-time missionaries or teaching English for free to help people get out of poverty)

If God asks you to do something and you don’t know how, he will find the way to make it happen

Things happen on God’s time, not ours.  When it’s meant to be, it will!

Luke 11:28 “He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

1 John 5:14 “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”

Matthew 7:24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  • Pool Boy on Q Friday at JUCO
  • 2.0 Workout at the Project on Friday

JUCOmanjaro through the woods…

THE SCENE: Pretty chilly at 31 degrees, but otherwise clear.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: executed
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH
Merkins
Tempo Squat
Hairy Rockett
Burbees
Freddy Mercuries

THA-THANG:

Mosey to Guardrail
25 Dips
25 Dirkens
Mosey to JUCOmanjario
– Ladder Run Up the Mt, stopping at each marker doing the following
10 Burpees
20 Squats
30 Merkins
40 Freddie Mercuries (2-count)
50 Flutter Kicks (2-count) — Rabbits back to the 6
40 Freddie Mercuries (2-count)
30 Merkins
20 Squats
10 Burpees (Rabbits back to the 6)
– Through the Woods to the Water Tower
Mosey Back to the AO
– Every 4 minutes, alternate between 10 Burpees & 30 Squats, along with some Monkey Humpers on Hardin Valley Road

MARY:No time

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

The Wonder of Christmas
Luke 2:7And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Do we really take time to think about how incredible this is?  How incredible – the God of the Universe coming down in the form of a baby to reconcile humanity with Himself
This same God-child causes us to fight for our marriages
This same God-child causes us to raise our children differently from the world’s standards
This same God-man walked in our shoes so he can intercede with the Father with first-hand knowledge
This same God-man causes us to fight fleshly desires because we know our bodies are a temple of the Godhead
This does not happen (consistently) because we desire to be good, because in our own power we fail…this is because God came to us in the form of a Baby

Givin’ Out Free Shiners

THE SCENE: Mid 30’s, kinda damp.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

25 SSH, 5 Cherry pickers, 10 Tempo Merkins, 10 Tempo Squats, Ring of Fire

THA-THANG:
Mosey to the coupon pile with three stops to do: 20 x 4 count Hillbillies, 20 x 4 count Imperial Walkers, 20 Pistol Crunches

Heavy Dora with a bear crawl from the asphalt near the stairs to the concrete by the trash can.

  • 100 Skull Crushers
  • 200 Curls
  • 300 Bench Presses

11’s on the hill

  • start with 10 Twinkle Toes on the bottom and 1 squat at the top
  • Mosey back to the Flag.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

Rivers do not drink their own water; trees do not eat their own fruit; the sun does not shine on itself and flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves. Living for others is a rule of nature. We are all born to help each other. – Author Unknown

For those of you who don’t know, I taught here in Knoxville for 5 years. My former students are now all in their mid to early 20’s and that air of invincibility is wearing off. I don’t have all the answers to their questions but more than anything, it means the world to those guys that I care enough to reach out and listen, offer what advice I can or even just grab a meal with them. More often than not though, I do know what they are going through and I do know what to suggest to them because it is the same stuff I went through and I give them the same answers that Dillard Harwell, John Austin Smith and Sandy Crow gave to me when I was their age. Those were my mentors and all three of them are now dead.

Most of us are overdue on bringing someone alongside. Don’t overthink it. Two of my three mentors started everything off with food. One to the Sizzler and the other to his house for a meal. It can be as easy as bringing someone along with you to something you already do. Sketchy goes to church with me and lives just down the street. I get 10 minutes with him on the way here and 10 minutes on the way home with him. If my fat self comes here three times a week, that’s an hour I have to chat with this young man on a drive that I was going to make anyways. And do you know what the best part of it all is…guess who is being a good example to my three sons and bringing them along with him on things he was going to do…Sketchy. 

Good ideas are like food, they have expiration dates. They spoil if you don’t use them. Just as you thanked a mentor on Monday, do some mentoring today. If counsel, give counsel. If time, give time. You’ve got to eat today; don’t do it alone. We become all things to all men so that we might save some. (1 Cor 9:22)

 

Last Steps on the Moon

THE SCENE:  29 and clear.  Perfect for a beatdown
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: Administered
WARM-O-RAMA: 

  • Abe Vigoda
  • Cherry pickers
  • Seal squats
  • Tempo merkins
  • Scorpion dry docks IC
  • Mountain climbers
  • Down/up dog

THA THANG:

Mosey – stop for 20 dips, 20 jump-overs, 20 derkins.  Bear crawl, crawl bear.  While we wait for slowpoke Archie to catch up to us, do 10 more dips, 10 more jump-overs, 10 more derkins

Don’t get squished by a passing car as you broad jump across Hardin Valley.

Mosey to Award Winning Way. Plank at the streetlight, 3-2-1 go! Sprint to the next streetlight – repeat x 4

Mosey over to the Stairs to Nowhere…  Divide into two teams.  There is a box of balls in the middle…  Perform exercise.  Sprint, grab a ball, and bring it back to your side.  Repeat with next exercises.  When there are no more balls in the middle, run all the way across, steal a ball from the other team’s stash, and bring it back.  First one to finish all exercises call out – team with most balls wins.  Exercises were;

  1. 20 Burpees
  2. 30 Monkey humpers (2-count)
  3. 40 Flutter kicks (2-count)
  4. 20 Scorpion Dry Docks
  5. 30 Iron Mikes (15 each leg)
  6. 40 Mountain climbers (2-count)
  7. 20 Merkins
  8. 30 Fairy Jacks
  9. 40 LBCs

How the heck did Team 1 end up with so many balls?!?  Whatev…

Run back down AWW Hill.  At each tree, rotate 90 degrees clockwise and do 5 merkins.  Repeat that pattern to the bottom.

Galway hookers – 4 lunge steps, 1 squat, 4 lunge steps, 2 squats, 4 lunge steps, 3 squats, etc….

Bear crawl to the road… Broad jump back across… Al Gore… Jail break!

MARY:

  • Mountain Rockettes
  • Supermen
  • LBCs

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

Only a dozen men in history have planted their feet on the surface of the moon.  Neal Armstrong was the first in July 1969.  The last was Eugene Cernan, on December 13, 1972 – 49 years ago.

Captain Eugene Cernan was commander of the Apollo 17 mission, the final moon landing mission of the Apollo program and the last time that humans have even gone beyond low Earth orbit.  Apollo 17 landed in the moon’s Taurus-Littrow valley in part because it was thought to be possibly volcanic, and they wanted a closer look.  Cernan had twice before been a pilot for space missions – Apollo 10 had taken him into moon orbit, but not to its surface.  He must have been elated at the chance to return and perform this legendary feat (he’ll have the best story at every dinner party for the rest of his life, for sure!).  As he stepped to the edge of the lunar module and prepared to take his first – of what would be mankind’s last – steps on the moon, that leader of this historic moment paused and said these words that I wanted us to reflect on this morning.

“Houston, as I step off at the surface at Taurus-Littrow, I’d like to dedicate the first step of Apollo 17 to all those who made it possible…”

That’s the kind of leader that I want to be.  Even in my life’s pinnacle moments, I want to humbly know that my accomplishments and blessings are owed to the many who have paved my way.  I want to live and lead with humility and expressing gratitude to those who have invested in my life.

Galatians 6:6, “Let the one who is taught the Word share all good things with the teacher”.

How can I express my gratitude to those who have taught me, mentored me, taken a chance on me, opened a door for me?  What good things do I have to share back with them?  I believe most of them would simply say, “your heartfelt thanks is more than enough”.  Heck, I can do that!

So, here’s is your challenge.  Reflect on the actions of a mentor, a parent, a youth leader, a teacher – someone who has made an investment in your faith, your health, your career, your relationships – and some part of you is better because of the time and energy they gave you.  By the end of the day, reach out to that person and let them know you appreciate them.  A call, a text, an email.  Buy them lunch.  Give them a specific example of what they did for you and let them know of the impact it has made in your life.

“We must find time to stop and thank those people who make a difference in our lives” – JFK

Live and lead with humility and gratitude.  Express your gratitude to those who have invested in your life.  

MOLESKIN:

T-Claps to Dart Gun for providing the moon when we couldn’t find the real one!  :-O

Good to see Lil’ Spice and Spring Break back out with us!

Finish this challenge before your head hits the pillow TODAY and make a green checkmark on the group photo after you’ve completed.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

This was only Part 1 of a 3-part Word planned for this week.  Parts 2 and 3 of the Word will be better.  Don’t miss them – Wed and Fri!