18 PAX won that first battle and posted for “Sandbag Saturday” led by YHC. Shout out to TRex and Gump for adding to the collection of 9 GORUCK bags (varied weights) plus 10 good ol’ fashioned 40lb sandbags. The collection made everyone’s day. Here’s how it went down…
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH – 18 IC
Swartzjacks – 18 IC
Sealjacks – 54 IC (Since YHC is 54 years respect) *Too many quit! (See 3rdF shared: Slaughter in F3 Nation Newsletter)
Windmill – 10 IC
Mosey to the field beside the Presb. Church (where PAX found the beautiful stack of sandbags. PAX circled up for 3rdF. YHC played the audio from Slaughter’s message in the most recent F3 Nation Newsletter (Had planned a 3rdF “Habits Eat Willpower for Breakfast” but Slaughter’s message was too good NOT to share.) Then it was time for sandbag business…
THE THANG:
PAX were directed to split up with sandbags: 1/2 at cone #1 and 1/2 40 yards away at cone #2. THE PURPOSE: Keep moving! Run to next cone with sandbag, drop it, run back without. Carry bags at intervals but never pass a bag. Just keep carrying bags and KEEP MOVING. YHC also called out the following exercises throughout the durations:
OH Press – 25 OYO
Sandbag Squats – 25 (Get low! A2G!)
Sand Bears – Cone to cone
OH Shoulder Press – 25 OYO
Grand Finale:
PAX counted off by 2’s and separated into 2 teams for Sandbag Tic-Tac-Toe
Good ol’ fashioned sandbags painted with X’s & O’s (Tic-Tac-Toe painted on center of the field)
Teams 70′ apart. Each PAX (in-turn) must do 10 Chest-Bump Merkins on their sandbag before jumping up and carrying it to strategically place it in the Tic-Tac-Toe board. Must return to line before next PAX takes turn.
X’s went up 2-0 before the O’s made a come from behind run for the victory. Losers had to do 10 Sandbag Burpees as punishment.
Good fun and healthy competition won the day before we made our way back to the AO.
NUMBER-RAMA
NAME-O-RAMA
COT/BOM:
Announcements: Coffeeteria at Dunkin; Memorial Day Mini (CSAUP) coming up, invite everyone; Q Rotation coming out NLT than Sunday afternoon
Prayers: Fireplex’s dad – Battling cancer; Quattro’s feet?. YHC encouraged PAX to begin more regularly sharing requests in the COT (i.e. we tend to pray for those outside the circle–neighbors, friends, co-workers–those requests are important, but the idea is for us get real and personal by praying for each other as well).
As always YHC counts it a privilege and is thrilled by the opportunity to Q. Appreciate all the men who posted, to include the 2.0’s (they carried man-sized sandbags and never complained once – that’s fire!)
Bolt 45’s – 15 squats full up to half way down, 15 squats half way down to full down, & 15 squats full motion. All completed IC as a 4 count.
Windmills – 20 IC
The Thang
Mosey to Ruby Slippers home for a robust round of 20 monkey humpers followed by a round of merkin Jax. Merkin Jax are a 1:4 ratio of I merkin to 4 plank jacks followed by 2 merkins to 8 plank jacks continuing until reaching the 10:40 ratio. It types easier than it really is…😊..
F3 message before leaving the first pain station.
Mosey to the Georgetown Elementary School and completed a deconstructed toy soldier set that 50 LBC’s, 30 E2K’s each side, and 20 big boys. Nur to each sidewalk across the front completing the 50 lbc’s, then 30 E2K’s, then a second set of 30 E2K’s opposite side, and finally the 20 big boys. Rinse and repeat and return to the starting sidewalk.
Mosey to Georgetown Public Library where all PAX completed a round of Captain Thor – 1 Big Boy sit up to 4 American hammers in a ratio up to 10:40.
Mosey to the Armory steps and complete Aiken legs – 20 squats, 20 box jumps, 20 lunges (10 each Leg), 20 Iron Mike’s (10 each Leg). The twist is that each PAX will box jump up each step up of the armory and walk down each step before performing each individual exercise of Aiken Legs.
Mosey back to AEGIS for Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Prayers were offered for multiple needs within the attending PAX, but please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers. Please keep Blockbuster in your thoughts and prayers as he leaves for Army boot camp. Congrats to Ruxpin for completing 20 straight workouts and joining the RESPECT crowd on 2/28/22.
They’re some of the best of the best in America’s military. They’re known as the Navy Seals. And when there’s a mission that’s almost impossible, they send the Seals behind enemy lines, or maybe it’s a highly sensitive covert mission, against enormous odds. They’re trained in just about any military skill you can think of. In fact, their training was the subject of a cover story in a national magazine a while back; especially that brutal final week that decides who will and will not be a Navy Seal.
Cold, and wet, and fatigued, there’s pain, there’s a pace that are more than most human beings could bear. And some might call it cruel and extreme. But the Navy is trying to prepare these men for heroism. They say they’re trying to build men who learn one mindset that is often the difference between a hero and a zero. Turn off the pain and focus on the mission.
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Mission and the Pain.”
Here’s our word for today from the Word of God – 2 Timothy 2:1. God says, “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” See, God doesn’t need any more spiritual wimps. That’s why He’s calling for warriors here. And in verse 4 He says, “No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs. He wants to please his commanding officer.”
Well, what does that take? Verse 3: “Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” Endurance: staying with the mission even when you’re hurting. Those Navy Seals do it for their country. We do it for our Savior. Our mission is to be like Jesus so the people in our world can get a good look at what He’s like. And to be His personal representative to people who are lost and needy and have no hope for eternity without Him.
There’s one problem though. Instead of turning off the pain and focusing on the mission, our tendency is to focus on our pain and forget our mission, and put the work of the Lord at the mercy of how we’re feeling. When we’re hurting, let’s face it, we usually get pretty self-focused don’t we? We’re consumed with our survival, our needs, our hurt. And that’s natural. It’s understandable, but it’s unacceptable for a soldier of Jesus Christ.
No matter how great the pain was, He never abandoned His mission; not when His family turned against Him, not when the crowds turned against Him, not when His life was threatened, not when He was arrested or beaten or humiliated or nailed to a cross. Even when He was dying, Jesus was looking out for His mother. He was reaching out to a dying thief, He was forgiving His crucifiers.
We will never begin to face the pain that our leader did. But we do have our share of pain. Here’s the question: Do we retreat from what we’ve been doing for the Lord when it gets hard or when we’re hurting? Are we so full of our own agenda that we shut down to the needs of others? Do we quit when it’s dark?
If you forget your mission because of your pain, you can still belong to Jesus. His love for us is unconditional. This isn’t about His love for you. It’s about your love and service for Him. He wants to trust you with some heroic assignments for Him. He’s got so much to be done! He’s looking for heroes like the song says, “Jesus needs a few good men.” And I might say, “a few good women.”
In the rigors of your life right now the training and testing of Jesus are not to hurt you. They’re not to sink you. They’re His tools to make you a warrior. To strengthen you. to prepare you for a great work for Him. So be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
18 PAX found themselves exactly where they were meant to be FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS on Saturday, and found a beatdown as well.
QIC: Cowbell
Date: 9/18/21
Warm-O-Rama
SSH – 21 IC
Cherry Picker: 21 IC
Bat Wings: sets of 21 IC
Angle Grinder: 14 IC
The Thang
Mosey to the school, closest sidewalk to the AO for The Texas 3-Step!
Step 1 Jailbreak to sidewalk 1 for a 4×4 (4 Mountain Climbers, 4 Merkins, 4 Squat Jumps); Jailbreak to farthest sidewalk; recovery mosey back to beginning; plank for 6
Step 2 Jailbreak to sidewalk 1 for 7 sets of 4×4’s; Jailbreak to sidewalk 2 for a set of Bolt 42’s; Jailbreak to farthest sidewalk; recovery mosey back to beginning; plank for 6
Step 3 Jailbreak to sidewalk 1 for 7 sets of 4×4’s; Jailbreak to sidewalk 2 for a set of Bolt 42’s; Jailbreak to sidewalk 3 for a set of 21 American Hammers IC count; Jailbreak to farthest sidewalk; recovery mosey back to beginning; plank for 6
3rd F Esther is an Old Testament story of a young lady who becomes Queen. Early in her time as Queen, her adoptive father, Mordecai, uncovers a heinous plot by a man named Haman who wanted to wipe out all Jews…only no one knew Esther was Jewish. Mordecai sends a message to Esther, asking her to step in and speak to the King. But she responds with fear, stating that if she were to approach the King he might kill her. Mordecai responds back with this message –
“Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed. If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” Mordecai’s message gave Esther the courage to approach the King, bring the evil plot in to the light, and Haman was executed for his actions.
Gentlemen, don’t ever think for a second that you are in your position by mistake – your job, your family, your situations; as a man, as a husband, a father, a brother, a son, a HIM, a friend – you are strategically placed by God for a purpose. If you choose not to step up, God will raise another. But don’t ever let another take your job! You were put in your place for SUCH A TIME AS THIS. Stand firm, take courage, step up and do your job. Accomplish your purpose. You’re here for such a time as this.
Back to The Thang
3 full rounds of The Texas 3-Step, OYO Mosey back to AO
COT
Number-Rama
Name-O-Rama
FNG Naming – welcome to the newest HIM: False Start
Announcements: Movie night at Chauffer’s on Wednesday 9/22. Deets to follow on GroupMe.
Prayers: Chattahoochee running a 5K tomorrow in full gear – prayers for safety. Chauffer’s buddy stranded when rig broke down – prayers he uses the time down to rest & recoup, and gets his rig up and running soon to finish his route.
Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Windmills – 20 IC
Mosey to Ball Park @.5 miles. While enroute, PAX were held up by a Gazillion car freight train. All PAX completed burpees until the train passed by.
The Thang
The Super 21 Cycle. 1 Merkin to 1 Big Boy Sit up. 2 Merkins to 2 Big Boy Situps. 3 Merkins to 3 Big Boy Situps, etc., etc., etc. But wait there is a twist….after each completed set of #1 though #5 PAX will complete 21 Imperial Walkers. Bear Crawl to 1st base. After each completed set of #6 through #10 PAX will complete 21 Mountain Climbers. Bear Crawl to 2nd base. After each completed set of # 11 through #15, PAX will complete 21 Monkey Humpers. Bear crawl to 3rd base. After each completed set of #16 through #20 PAX will complete 21 Prisoner Squats. Bear Crawl to Homeplate and PAX will complete the final set of #21 Merkins to #21 Big Boys then finish strong with 21 Burpees.
NOTE: Because of the train and the reduction of time, the third base cycle had to be skipped and the evolution at home plate was modified to the 21 burpees only!!
Mosey back to Aegis @ .5 miles.
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.
Not long after we moved to this area, we had a chance to explore a beautiful cave that really has some breathtaking views. Most of the caves you tour in America were discovered some time in the 1800s. Not this one. It was just discovered in 1969. Actually it was discovered because of a giant sinkhole that opened up. Some adventurous young men decided to crawl down into that sinkhole and see where it led. The cave guide showed us the little hole in the rocks that they crawled through and then out into this huge room, decorated with spectacular rock formations. I don’t suppose the big lights and sidewalks and the railings were there when they first looked in, but they must have been amazed at what they saw, and what millions have been able to discover because they did. And it was all because of a sinkhole.
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Deep Holes, Beautiful Discoveries.”
I’ll bet a lot of folks weren’t very happy about that big hole in the ground opening up. It was probably a pain for some people; potentially dangerous for others. But the “problem” of that sinkhole turned out to be the access route to beauty like those folks had never seen before.
That’s happened to a lot of us when a big hole opened up in our life – when things collapsed. And it may be that God is wanting you to look beyond that big hole to see the undiscovered beauty that’s underneath it.
In our word for today from the Word of God, He talks about folks who had some major sinkholes open up in their lives. In Isaiah 61:1: “The Lord has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners…to comfort all who mourn, and provide for all those who grieve in Zion.” Then He goes on to show what beauty He hopes we will discover in our grief, “To bestow on them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” Beauty in the middle of ashes, gladness in the middle of mourning, and praise in the middle of despair.
When things collapse in our life, we are keenly aware of what we’ve lost. Unless we go deeper, unless we go looking, we will miss what He’s wanting us to gain from this loss; the things He wants us to see that we would never see without that collapse.
It’s in our hurting times that we can see in the person we married some beautiful strengths that maybe we forgot or never noticed. If you let the cave-in drive you closer to your children or your parents, you may see in them a beauty that you’ve missed before. If you look in the right direction, a time of loss can actually be a time of finally seeing the everyday blessings in your life that you’ve been taking for granted. The hole that’s opened up may provide an opportunity for people to really show you how much they love you, for you to appreciate your Christian friends in a new way, for you to tell people that you’ve prayed about, about your Jesus. And they’ll listen to you now because of what you’ve been through.
Most of all, when things collapse you can see the faithfulness and love and power of your Lord in ways that we can only see when we’re desperate and when we’re beyond what we can fix, what we can handle, what we can control. This season that you’re in maybe, when things are caving in, can be a season, also, of life-changing discovery. You can’t make the hole in your life go away, but you can go through it to discover beauty that you might never see any other way.
No, that title is not a shout out to Britney Spears; rather, it’s actually a shout out to Roger Sparks. His book, Warrior’s Creed is where YHC got the idea of running with water in your mouth. The PAX who won THAT FIRST BATTLE and posted at the Aegis in Georgetown, DE for a Chappie-led workout were treated once again to this practice–a total mental exercise! We did it before. Last time 4 of 12 PAX (33.3%) made the 0.5 distance. The other 8 were peeved with themselves and YHC could sense they wanted another shot at it, so, Oops! We did it again. This time we raised the percentage of finishers (71.4%). That is 15 of 21 PAX were able to Mosey 0.5 miles without spitting out or swallowing the water they swigged at the starting point. This is a difficult challenge. It forces runners to breath through their nose, and it actually has some incredible physiological benefits to the heart-rate (a worthwhile study to do on your own, but a good place to start is Warrior’s Creed); the Apaches used the practice to identify whether young men were ready to be trained as warriors—however, they would run an entire day, up to 50 or 60 miles. A half-mile has been quite the test, we’re going to have to up our game. Oops! We’re going to have to do it again. In the meantime, here’s how it fit into today’s workout:
WARM-O-RAMA
SSH – 17 IC
High Knees – 76 (single count IC)
Swartzjack – 17 IC
Calf Raises – 76 (single count OYO)
Smurfjack – 17 IC
Windmill – 17 IC
Wosey to the darkside of he shrubbery planter. Lo and behold…bottles of water! Instructions to the PAX: Take a swig of water and keep it in your mouth without swallowing or spitting it out for the duration of 0.5 mile run. Nice easy mosey down W. Market Street, right onto Robinson Street, then to the end at the corner of Robinson St. and Edward St. Job well-done to the 15 PAX who completed this [mental] challenge and were rewarded with 17 Burpees. Shout out to Sink-O and Fireplex: Word on the street is that Sink-O repeated the challenge on the return to the AO and Fireplex is said to have made his first successful attempt.
After the water challenge PAX were treated to a public reading of The Declaration of Independence. (Read it, or if your familiar with it, scroll down to the Thang below) :
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should DECLARE the causes which impel them to separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the CONSENT of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinced a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.—Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their Former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be attained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent upon his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out of their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders, which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these states:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For Imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offenses:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging war against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and Tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and DECLARE, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this DECLARATION, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. (ALL CAPS: Emphasis added. Names of signers listed as well.)
Oh, look! A rather conspicuously placed stack of sandbags! WITH a Workout Deck secretly lurking within. Here’s how it went from there…
THE THANG
17’s – Merkins & Gas Pumpers (Plus, draw 3 cards from the workout deck in middle of the field along the way.) AND never pass a sandbag (unless you just placed it in the middle or at the end). Started with 16 Merkins at one end and 1 Gas Pumper at the other…all the way down to 1 Merkin and 16 Gas Pumpers. lots of 17’s and 76’s on this fine July 3rd, but we ran out of time before being able to pair up for cumulative 76 Burpees.
Mosey back to the AO:
COT:
Name-O-Rama – special shout out welcome to Breakfast Club from downrange Lexington, SC!
Announcements: Cabana will post Spartan workout on Groupme for a Sunday morning up-for-grabs workout in Milton.
Prayers: Semi’s M, traveling; prayers for the Winske family who lost 59-yr-old father to pancreatic cancer; prayers for Streudel; prayers for Bean family and YHC’s son, Zeke; etc. (Whatever YHC has forgotten, God hasn’t. He’s got it!
Coffeeteria followed at Dunkin. Good crowd of PAX! YHC was on vacation over the last week and so it was not only good to be back in the Q saddle, but it was good to be back around the coffeeteria table. Ribbing and all, the fellowship is always glue!
16 HIM posted in the gloom to attend a Block Party! Warm-O-Rama: 20 SSH I/C, 20 Windmills I/C, 20 Smurfjacks I/C, 20 Cherry Picmers I/C, Toy Soldier Set (50/25/15)OYO. Mosey to the Firehouse. The Thang “Block Party”
All HIM grab a block. 10 Blockees OYO. Lt. Dan with an Overhead Press across the parking lot. 26 American Blockhammers I/C. Bear Crawl Block Drag across parking lot. 25 Big Boys with Block OYO. Mosey around the block carrying your block. 10 BTTW Merkins OYO. Lt. Dan length of building. 15 Offset Merkins each arm alternating between Merkins. Crab Crawl with block on stomach across parking lot. 20 Gas Pumpers I/C. Shared Third F. NUR across parking lot with block. 30 Jump Ups onto Block. Duck Walk carrying block. 15 Merkins OYO. Wosey to truck with block overhead. Replace blocks into truck.
Mosey back to circle. 5 Pretzel Merkins each arm OYO.