THE SCENE: Look good – feel good – play good. The scene looked good, the weather felt good, and the HIM played good for 45 minutes.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
- Welcome to F3: Fitness – Fellowship – Faith
- My name is Steam and I’ll be your Q this morning!
- Couple of things before we begin:
- (1) I’m not a professional
- (2) You’re here on your own volition
- (3) I don’t know any injuries you may have – so if you need to modify anything we do today, do it, but push yourself and the men around you! You desere it and so do they.
WARM-O-RAMA:
- Baby Arm Circles: 10×4 forward
THA-THANG:
(More than 10 split up – keep in mind distance guidelines)
[ A Tale of 2 Parking Lots ]
(15 total PAX – split into 2 groups to start)
- 2 Points of Contact
- AO parking lot
- Parking lot to the right by the track
- 6 exercises total (3 in each lot)
- 15 reps each exercise
- Ping-Pong maneuvering
- Execute 1st exercise in 1 of the 2 lots –> run to the other lot and execute the 1st exercise in that lot
- Rinse & repeat until all 6 exercises are complete: 90 total reps
- Once all 6 exercises are complete – gather back in the AO lot
- PAX executed 10 8-count body builders/man-makers
(PAX mosey toward the front of the school)
[ The Big C ]
(split up into 3 groups of 5)
- The Big C = the roundabout/dropoff at the front of Catholic High school
- 4 points of contact in the big C
- Top
- Plank Jacks: 15 (1 count)
- Middle
- Bottom
- Decline Merkins: 15 (1 count)
- Opening
- Rinse & Repeat 2x
(When done – PAX gather in front of the school and FNG Cameron is called on to lead the men around to the left to the next point)
[ 15s ]
(Post 15s – FNG Bradley is called to lead the men around to the left to the next area)
[ The Fighting Irish ]
(New exercise Q made up – it’s a WIP: Work in Progress)
- Look at the mascot for the fighting irish – basically it
- 4-count exercise
- (1) Lunge with 1 leg and punch forward with the opposite hand
- (2) Back to standing position
- (3) Repeat #1 with opposite leg/arm
- Mermaid takes about half of the PAX 1 way down the side of the parking lot – Steam takes the others in the opposite direction
- Both teams execute 5 Fighting Irish and run back to the start
(PAX mosey around the school until they’re facing the AO parking lot)
[ Nickel – Dime – Quarter ]
(PAX separates into groups of 5 –> at 3 different points of contact about 25 yards away)
- Nickel: Burpees (5)
- Dime: Squats (10)
- Quarter: Merkins (25)
(PAX mosey back into AO and circle up)
MARY:
[ Cash Out – modified for the last 60 seconds ]
- 10×4 shoulder taps
- 10 slow merkins
- 10 quick merkins on your own
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
13 PAX + 2 FNGs = 15 total
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
“I know what I have to do but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it” – Kylo Ren
MOLESKIN:
This was an incredibly tough BOM to deliver and type out. But I’m excited to share this with you men. It’s a little long, but I don’t know how else to share this part of my life any other way. I hope you enjoy and get as much out of it as I did.
That quote above under “COT/BOM” is from Star Wars: The Last Jedi. GREAT movie if you haven’t seen it. The character in question is Kylo Ren – “the bad guy” that turns good in the movie. Spoiler alerts, sorry.
Before you read any further, this will make way more sense if you watch this scene from the movie that my BOM was centered around: https://youtu.be/F0rvLs–9UY
I didn’t know I would get so much out of this small movie clip than I did, but I think this was immensely intentional for me to watch – God knew what he was up to. Let’s walk through the scene in the movie clip above – the message below is one that was so powerfully given to me by the Lord that it hit home in a way I didn’t know home could get hit.
-The Scene-
- Kylo Ren turns around and looks into his father’s eyes (Han Solo)
“I miss you son” – Han
“Your son is dead” – Kylo Ren
“No, Kylo Ren is dead. My son is alive.”
- This was so powerful to me. The father’s compassion and heart for the son is calling what the son thought was dead back to life – sonship. Kylo Ren = the identity that Ben Solo has chased after and pursued hardcore for a long time. The father is trying to remind the son that he is more than this identity of Kylo Ren.
“You’re just a memory” – Kylo Ren
“Your memory. Come home.” – Han Solo
- This is an invitation from the father (Han) – inviting the son (Kylo) to come back home. With tenderness he speaks this.
“It’s too late. She’s gone.” – Kylo Ren (referring to Leah)
“Your mother’s gone. But what she stood for, what she fought for, that’s not gone.” – Han
(^^^Still processing what this part means^^^)
“Ben” – Han
- The father calls the son by his true name, Ben. This might have been the first time the son has heard his true name in a while.
“I know what I have to do but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it.” – Ben Solo
- With visible trembling and fear, Ben Solo utters these words, shaking, because he’s heard his true name from the father.
- The father reaches out places his hand on the son’s shaking face tenderly, and seeing the doubt and questioning, and heartbreak in his son’s eyes he says:
“You do.” – Han
- At this moment, Kylo Ren is no more. Ben Solo has been called by name by the father and is alive – reborn and returned to rightful sonship by the father.
- Ben Solo lifts up his light-saber – the very thing Kylo Ren’s identity was tied to, and the object that caused him to forget WHO he was and WHOSE he was – by the hand of the enemy.
“Dad…” – Ben Solo
- This is the first time this character in Star Wars utters this word. Ben Solo, now whimpering and trembling and shaking – calls his father “dad” for the first time.
- The father (Han Solo) sees his son’s agony and heartbreak, but also sees the light in his son. He smiles and says:
“I know.” – Han Solo
- With great understanding and compassion for his son, Han says this reassuringly. The father’s love for the son shows clearly. This is what the father always wanted – his son to return to sonship and recognize who he really was and whose he really was.
- At this moment – Ben Solo turns and hurls his light-saber off in the distance, watching it disappear in the clouds and storm. Ben Solo knows this is what he had to do – knew this is what the father was calling him to do, yet he doubted his strength to do it.
- As Ben Solo turns back around – Han Solo is gone. Ben Solo is alive and has re-purposed identity and mission critical compassion and grace from the father.
-End of Scene-
The first time I watched this movie – didn’t think a thing about it. Just thought it was a great film (it is). The Lord has done a lot, A LOT in my life since the first time I watched this movie. I was faced with the extremely tough realization last week that I am Kylo Ren and I am also Ben Solo. And the father figure (Han Solo) in the movie has always been God. Let me explain.
Since 2013 I’ve fleshed out, worked on, put countless hours in, dedicated time and blood/sweat/tears into pursuing a potential career in the military. I’ve trained my ass off. I’ve suffered. I’ve worked hard towards this goal. This is what I felt like the father was calling me to do. I prayed about it. I consulted wise council for it. I went through the process multiple times over the past 7 years. It became an identity for me – and a good one! This is such a worthy pursuit, a good endeavor. I felt like this is where the Lord was leading me over a period of years. And the things that God has showed me along the way has been life-changing/game-changing. Things such as F3, things such as leading men, things such as leading small groups and adventures for college men and so much more. I worked so hard and chased after and pursued “Rachel” – that I almost lost sight of the implication that God’s will might be in Leah (Genesis 29:15-25).
God’s been doing some hardcore wrestling with me…let me re-phrase that. I’ve been doing some hardcore wrestling with God (more specifically in the past year) about how all this plays out and where I feel like He’s calling me to be. So I know I didn’t stumble on this seemingly insignificant Star Wars clip on accident. It was an intentional heavenly interference so I could better understand and hear the Lord’s voice instead of fighting it. I’m so tired of fighting. It’s been a long/drawn out wrestle and fight.
So watching this scene from the movie – it hit me so hard, that I am Kylo and Ben. And I feel like God gave me the above notes from the scene to really speak to me in a compassionate and loving way. Like I said, I’ve been fighting for so long, because THIS is what I wanted, THIS is what I’ve worked so hard for and THIS is what I thought you wanted with my life God. And there came a point of realization when the father’s voice can no longer be fought with or wrestled with – to the point where I understood what I needed to do, but didn’t know if I had the strength to do it – to lay something I had worked so hard on down at the father’s feet and let it die. It feels like God is asking a lot of me, to lay this desire of my heart down for him. I’ve heard him calling me to lay this (pursuing a military career) down and I’ve dismissed it before.
But sometimes God calls us to let things die so He can allow other things to live. I’m still working through this – it’s hard. All of this, and you’re asking me to give up now? No. I hear him calling me to give it up and lay it down at his feet, not give up my sonship or identity in him. And with tears and pain and heartbreak I come to the Father and say “God I know what you’re asking me to do but don’t know if I have the strength to do it.” And God so lovingly and compassionately reminded me that “You do.”
So tomorrow morning I am expected to provide communications to a Sgt. that I’ve had the pleasure of working with throughout this process – and not with a heavy-heart, but with one of gratitude I will symbolically let go of my light-saber that I’ve slung so tightly to, as I know the Father has called me to do.
Thank you for the encouragement you men provide to me and have provided me for the past 4 years. Iron truly sharpens iron.
-Steam
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Insert information about upcoming events, 2nd or 3rd F opportunities, and any other announcements.
