We are just a group of men who lead others, there are no professionals here, you have to pay for them, this is free. If your sue happy spill your Dunkin coffee but don’t confuse them with me cause I and we don’t have anything and your being told you can’t sue any of us. If you can’t do something we are doing tailor it for yourself, but do something and get stronger
23 cherry pickers
23 fairy jacks
23 Moroccan night club
The thang
Snowflake plank 1 minute
23 mountain climbers
Snowman shuffle to the stairs, up the stairs, and down the stairs, and back around
23 merkins
23 LBB
Stairs Tour
23 squats
23 American hammers
Stairs Tour
Bear crawl (side lot) light poles and back
23 big boys
23 calf raises
3rd F
Proverbs 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another”
We all come here daily, weekly, monthly or once upon a time, Specially this location has been once a week, as the iron has sharpened a mighty strong blade here it has allowed us to slice open the seems. This piece of iron has upheld the mission of F3, plant, serve, and grow. When this location was planted it only served a small group which has now grown and out grown our iron.
As it says in Proverbs 20:4, “Sluggards do not plow in season; so at harvest time they look but find nothing”
Clearly this group of HIM is not sluggards as harvest time has come here and there’s plentiful crop to carry into the next chapter…
Thank you to those who came, gritted it out, and have grown a bountiful crop of HIM
23 Freddy mercury
23 reverse crunches
Stairs Tour
23 dips
23 merkins
Stairs Tour
Ruxpin Homage Addition
Chappie Homage Addition
Sherlock Book reading Addition (Wall Sit 1:23 Seconds)
HIM performed 23 reps, as a remembrance of the year we left the library for our new site.
Announcements
We are growing, check groupme for updates, but not TRex’s post
Prayers- Rosco’s Friend as he recovers from a medical issue.
YHC jumped in to fill the gap as requested by Bunt who was out of town. 23 PAX won #thatfirstbattle and posted for yet another multi-station workout, which YHC confesses may have had too many moving parts. Nonetheless, those who did the work got “gassed”–says Quattro. Several PAX dressed in red to honor Cardinal from F3Knoxville, who actually collapsed and died during his VQ just yesterday, 1/11. (Forgive Streudel’s laughter in Name-O-Rama, he wasn’t aware why the PAX next to him announced “Cardinal!“) Cardinal leaves behind his M, Andrea, and 2 young children, Clay and Evie. Our hearts go out to the family and F3 PAX who were with him when he died. There are no guarantees that we’ll have our next breath…let’s live like it! And let’s be prepared for eternity!
As mentioned, there may have been too many moving parts. Still, here’s how it all went down…
WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH – 51 IC
Imperial Squat Walker – 15 IC
Tempo Merkins – 10 IC
Italian Night Club – 51 IC
Cherry Pickers – 15 IC
>>>>>>Mosey to H.O.B.
THE THANGITY THANG: (WORKOUT RULES below)
PAIR UP for Stations: Run counter-clockwise aroun stations, stopping to do the workour (if bags are available)
CONE #1 • 40lb sandbags – 40 OH Presses, then go to next station; if there’s no sandbag, keep running all the way around…
CONE #2 • 40lb sandbags – 40 Sandbag Curls, go to next…
CONE #3 • Long Sit/Cross Legs – 30 reps, Single Count (Grab a card, do exercise, before moving on. KEEP YOUR CARDS!)
CONE #4 • 40lb GORUCK BAGS – 10 Sandbag Burpees (clean & toss), go to next…
CONE #5 • 20lb Medicine Balls – 10 OH Squat Thrust & Catch or Slams, go to next.
CONE #6 • X’s & O’s – 25 Single count (Grab a card, do exercise, before moving on. KEEP YOUR CARDS!)
CLOSING GAME OF WAR: 2 lines/2 teams: I. De. Clare. War! Winners: No exercise Losers: Exercise on winning card.
OVERALL WORKOUT RULES:
Move in Pairs
Spread out among 6 stations/directions are in chalk at each CONE.
GOAL: Keep moving! Rule: If you see a PAX walking you may Grab a card from the deck, charge them with it (they do exercise) AND you get to exchange it with and keep the highest card from their hand (no exercise charged to you!)
If there’s no bags at a station, rock on! (Keep running till you’re able come around and complete all stations.)
After each time at the ab stations (3&6), grab card from deck, do the exercise, but keep your cards to the end. Try to get 3 cards.
Once you’ve done a station you’ve completed that station. By-pass it if already done. DO NOT throw down actual sandbags!
Bonus: RETURN TO AO WITH ALL THE COUPONS, AND WITH WATER IN MOUTH (Spit it out/Swallow it no Burpees!) Due to time no Burpees were rewarded, however, several PAX did them after BOM. Growing success—most of the PAX succeeded at this crazy exercise invented by the Apache Indians (who ran great distances while holding water in their mouths)
Wait a second! 23 PAX/24 Waters…who didn’t drink up?
3rdF shared prior to the round of I Declare War:
Navy Seal, Admiral McRaven, told this training story during a commencement address:
He said, “Every day during training you were challenged with multiple physical events. Long runs. Long swims. Obstacles courses. Hours of calisthenics, something designed to test your mettle. Every event had standards, times you had to meet. If you failed to meet those times, those standards, your name was posted on a list. And at the end if the day those on the list were invited to a circus.
A circus was 2 hours of additional calisthenics, designed to wear you down, to break your spirit, and to force you to quit. No one wanted a circus. A circus meant for that day that you didn’t measure up. A circus meant more fatigue, and more fatigue meant that the following day would be more difficult, and more circuses were likely. But at some time during training everyone, everyone, made the circus list.
An interesting thing happened to those who were constantly on the list: Over time those students who did 2 hrs. of extra calisthenics got stronger and stronger; the pain of the circuses built inner strength and physical resiliency.
Life is filled with circuses. You will fail. You will likely fail often. It will be painful. It will be discouraging. At times it will test you to your very core. IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE YOUR WORLD—don’t be afraid of the circuses!”
In 1 Cor. 9:24-27 Paul used this kind of physical training as an illustration to tell of something of greater importance—living for Christ.
“Don’t you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such way that you may win. And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. (More important.) Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I beat my body [discipline] and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.”
The Bible gives this allegory to tell us that to cross the finish line effectively it’s going to take work. Not to earn it, but it just takes work AND because, like any athlete or any man, there will be times when we just don’t feel like putting in the work [out]. T.D. Jakes reminds us, “Your feelings will never cooperate with your dreams. Beat your feelings into captivity. Because when you beat your feelings into captivity, that is what discipline is!”
This sounds like Admiral McRaven, except that it stretches across the spectrum from physical training to the things we face in our everyday world… “Life is filled with circuses. You will fail. You will likely fail often. It will be painful. It will be discouraging. At times it will test you to your very core.” IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE YOUR HOME, YOUR WORKPLACE, YOUR COMMUNITY, AND YOUR WORLD—IF YOU WANT TO BE A H.I.M., don’t be afraid of the circuses!” [Anticipate and expect to do the extra work]
COT:
Name-O-RAMA – 23 PAX
Announcements: SLT Meeting tonight @ Tequila Real, 6:30 pm; Roving RuckF3st Friday stepping off at Georgetown Circle in the Gloom; Quattro need girls clothing and school supplies for trip to girls orphanage
Prayers: Quattro as he’s preparing for mission trip to El Salvador; Cardinal’s M and children and the PAX with Cardinal when he died during the workout.
Honored to stand in for Bunt in his absence, thankful for the opportunity to Q
Warm-a-Rama 13 seal jacks i/c 20 mountain man pooper i/c 23 Moroccan night club i/c 13 seal waves i/c 10 hip circles oyo each direction 23 Windmill i/c
The Thang Every PAX grab 1 large coupon and 2 small coupons
Tabada 20 second on, 10 second off = 1 round 10 rounds of 6 excercises Curls – palms up, hammer Flys (shoulders on large coupon) – palms up, palms in Squats – 6″, wide Bench press (shoulders on large coupon) – elbows in, palms together Holding chair chest squeeze – extended, close Abs – gas pumpers, lbcs
3rd F
2023 is about discipline Decide what you want Write that down Make a plan Work on it EVERY SINGLE DAY Your competition isn’t other people Its YOUR PROCRASTINATION It’s the knowledge you neglect Compete against that Conquer yourself Master the universe within
Start on the “1st Day just like the song and then you do 2nd Day & 1st Day, Then 3rd Day, 2nd Day, 1st Day and so on…
Music – Different Varieties of “The 12 Days of Christmas”
1 run
2 burpees
3 15 sec plank (Total time 15 sec)
4 merkins
5 E2K
6 big boys
7 flutter kicks (double count)
8 American hammers ( double count)
9 mountain climbers (double count)
10 air squats
11 side straddle hops
12 – 1 round of stairs at library
Stop before you do the 12th day go back to the library plank wait for the six.
THRD F
3 benefits of fellowship
Fellowship is the relationship that we have with one another as Christians. It is based on the relationship we have with Jesus Christ. When you and I became Christians three relationships changed: Jesus became our Savior; God became our Father; and the church became our family.
There are many Benefits to fellowship but here are 3 of them.
Benefit 1
“Fellowship builds friendships. The early church really was a close knit group. They were all together and had everything in common. I believe that the reason that the early church had such good relationships was because of their commitment to Jesus and to each other.”
Benefit 2
Fellowship builds unity. The church is called to be united. Unity is having everything in common and being of the same mind.
We cannot manufacture unity within the church. We cannot fake unity. We can only protect, or guard the unity we already have. Paul calls it “the unity of the Spirit.” This phrase reminds us that “the unity, the agreement, the common ground” Fellowship builds unity.
Benefit 3
Fellowship builds God’s kingdom. Our fellowship, the relationship we have with one another and with Jesus is a witness to the world. The early church was committed to Jesus and to one another and the world saw it. When Christians regularly meet together to worship God and fellowship with one another, we are a witness to the world. Jesus said: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). We are to love God and love people.
Rev. J. Patrick Street is Lead Pastor at Redeemer Church
Benefit 1 really hits home for me. Fellowship builds Friendship.
BEEKER is the only reason why I am here. Beeker has been talking about this group for about two years to me. The summer of 2021 he brought it up real quick and of course i ignored him. I thought why would you want to wake up how early and run from parking lot to parking lot and work out. Then this past summer I realized I needed to change my health and needed to start doing something. Beeker would first work out with this group and then meet me at 6:15 to help me out. I actually started to feel bad that he was doing two a days just to help me out. So then I decided to suck it up and wake up earlier and get my butt kicked at my first Saturday with the 2.0 work out. After a couple of weeks I couldn’t understand why I kept wanted to come back morning after morning and then FOCKER one morning during a Ruck brought up the 2nd F (fellowship) and how important that part of this group is to him. I stepped back and realized this is the same for me. Every morning Seeing Wirlybird, Quattro, Sherlock and T-Rex non stop picking on each other and everyone else. The constant bomb jacks that Fireplex is doing. Then you see and hear about Spreader and Ruxbin loosing weight and becoming more healthy for themselves and their families. The extra rucking that Chappie encouraged myself and the whole group for the November challenge. And then there is Nutz working some crazy hours and making the time for his family and coming to the workouts so we can always say Deez Nutz.
I truly can not say thank you all enough for the camaraderie and the fellowship that you have all given me and shown me.
Bolt 45’s – 15 squats full up to halfway down, 15 squats halfway down to full down, & 15 squats full motion. All completed IC as a 4 count.
Hydraulic Squats – 17 IC (6 Count)
Mosey @.5 miles to Holy Hill and took a brief break for the F3Message…see below
The Thang
1st & 10 Routine per the Exicon…Well sort of….:)…..Perform 10 merkins and 1 burpee. Nur up the hill and run down. Perform 9 merkins and 2 burpees. Nur up the hill and run down. Perform 8 merkins and 3 burpees. Nur up the hill and run down. You recognize a pattern developing here. Rinse and Repeat until you complete 1 merkin and 10 burpees followed by your final Nur up the hill and a run back down.
Mosey @.5 miles back to CHOP.
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.
The Ozark Mountains of Arkansas and Missouri are known for their rocks. They make for some hard farming, some beautiful views, and some challenging road building. Like this one stretch of highway from Branson, Missouri, to Springfield, Missouri, that they widened. As you slowed down through those construction zones, there were some pretty impressive changes that were taking place. Some places were nothing but solid-rock mountain, but somehow they managed to blast away at those mountains and they literally made a road where a mountain used to be!
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Removing a Mountain, Making a Road.”
Now if human engineers can do that, don’t you think God can? In fact, God’s mountain-moving ability may be your only hope right now.
Let’s remember the miracle Jesus promised to us, as recorded in our word for today from the Word of God. In Mark 11:23, He says, “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Obviously, it’s not the power of your word that removes mountains; it’s the power of God. The words immediately preceding these dramatic promises are these: “Have faith in God.”
But we have a God who does remove mountains that appear as if they could never be moved – in answer to the faith-believing prayers of His children. This might be one of those times when the only way there’s going to be a road for you is if God blows away the mountain that stands in the way. But you can ask Him, you can trust Him to do just that, within the boundaries of His perfect will of course.
Our mountains don’t usually come in the form of some huge rock formations. For you, what blocks the way might be a person whose heart is hard; whose heart needs a miraculous change. God does those. According to Proverbs 21:1, “The heart of the king is in His hand.” Maybe your mountain is seemingly impossible financial obstacles.
That’s the kind our ministry has faced a number of times, and we were facing that as it became clear that God wanted us to build our own headquarters to better carry out His orders. We didn’t have one dollar in a building fund. We had no reserves and no clear idea of where an amount like that would come from. But in less than a year, there was the headquarters, totally debt-free. There was this mountain, and then by God’s power and grace, there was a road.
Maybe it’s going to take a change of leadership in order for there to be a way, a miraculous recovery, or seemingly impossible breakthroughs. But God does all of those. God’s allowed you to run up against this mountain so you would run to the end of you. All our lives, we underestimate and under trust the God we have. There’s way too much of us and way too little of God. And then there it is – that massive mountain looming in the way, so huge there’s nothing you can do to move it. There’s nothing any human solution can do to move it.
Well, praise God! You what? Yeah, praise God! You’ve just reached the end of you and possibly you are at the beginning of unleashing your Lord as never before. I love the promise in Ephesians 3:20, “He is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine according to the power that works in us.” I call that a 320 in Ephesians 3:20.
Looking at that mountain, you’d have to say, “No way.” But looking at your all-powerful God, don’t you ever say, “No way.” He blows away mountains and makes a road where you could have never dreamed there would be one, and then you know what? He gets all the glory!
F3 First State doesn’t have hills by comparison to some other regions, we’re on the coast of Delaware and it would be nothing short of proper to call us “flat-landers.” Nonetheless, what hills we have we try to utilize. One location was fondly dubbed “Oh Hill No!” a number of years ago; its a grassing hill that rises to the Milton, DE water tower. Another is the hill on the street adjacent to it, aptly referred to as Merlot Hill–yes, that’s the reason why–and yes, the FNG was promptly given that nickname. Anyway, today it wasn’t “Oh, hill no!” it was “Oh, hill yeah! Like YHC said, we don’t have many [real] hills, so it was simply time to embrace the suck. But…it all started with a VQ Warm-O-Rama by the one and only Deez.
WARM-O-RAMA:
Moroccan Night Club – 26 IC
Merkins – 10 OYO
Cherry Pickers – 21 IC
Merkins – 10 OYO
SSH – 20 IC
Merkins – 10 IC
Chairman Lap
Great job by a self-confessed very anxious Deez on his first time ever Warm-O-Rama
THE THANG:
PAX prepared to mosey to Merlot Hill, YHC divvied up some restrictor plates (1 40lb sandbag/2 20lb sandbags) among the normally faster PAX for making our .5 mile trek to the hill. Cool thing happened, PAX passed them around the entire journey there and back. In an act of genuine camaraderie every HIM embraced the suck.
Once at the base of the hill YHC set us up for a set of 11’s (i.e. not enough time for 21’s). Sandbags? Well, grab one whenever it becomes available either on your way up the hill or on your way down. They were vying for these things! Crazy PAX! Sandbags are for kids.
Big Boys at the bottom, 1 – Merkins at the top, 10 (Keep going until the numbers are switched 10 – 1)
For the PAX on teams participating in the @F3Alliance Merkins & Miles Challenge, the wrap up was an additional 10 Merkins to get to a total of 100 during the workout.
Midway through the set of 11’s YHC circled-up PAX for the following 3rdF:
If you’ve ever had a long year then you can probably relate to the lyrics of Toby Mac’s song titled Faithfully. Lyrics:
It’s been a long year
It almost took me down,I swear
Life was so good
I’m not sure we knew what we had
I’ll never be the same man
I’ll never feel like I felt before
It’s been a hard year
It almost took me down
Refrain But when my world broke into pieces
You were there faithfully
When I cried out to You, Jesus
You made a way for me
I may never be the same man (YHC’s commentary: Hard times change a man, for better or worse, depending upon who or what we depend…)
But I’m a man who still believes
When I cried out to You, Jesus
You were there faithfully
The song goes on to for several more verses… Refrain, Refrain, Refrain… Check out the full song here…
If you don’t know; the story behind the song is that Toby Mac and his wife lost their oldest son, Truitt, to an overdose in Oct. 2019.
I’ve never lost a child, and I won’t even pretend to know the pain of that experience. But he does say that Jesus was there faithfully. And I don’t know if anybody in this circle has experienced losing a child, but I can tell you this: Whatever the cause, we’ve all experienced, or will experience, some REALLY long/hard years.
I’ve pastored a church where for the first few years a small group of people wanted my head on a platter…non-stop! They were hard years!
I inexplicably went through 2 years of depression where I was immobilized, then tormented, daily, by plans of ending it all. (Thank you to Ruxpin for speaking about this recently…guys find it extremely difficult to broach this subject, but it has to be talked about.)
I’ve faced long years with each of my boys, wondering if they’d ever turn the corner
And I’m certain you’ve had long years too! Regardless of whatever it was that made that year (those years) long, the truth that matters most, and the one we sometimes need to look for to see is that…
(Refrain adapted) …when my world broke into pieces God was there faithfully | When I cried out to You, Jesus | You made a way for me | I may never be the same man | But I’m a man who still believes | When I cried out to You, Jesus | You were there faithfully
That’s Toby Mac’s testimony, and it’s so relatable because it’s ours too! Yet it’s not the promise of the song that captures us, but rather it is the promise of Scripture:
In Deut. 31: 6-8 Moses told Joshua 2x, “Be strong and courageous…God is the One who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.” (Comment: Sometimes we need to hear it from someone else.)
In 1 Chron. 28:20 David said to Solomon, “Be strong and courageous, and act; Do not fear nor be dismayed…for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you.” (Comment: Promises of God also have to be passed down from generation to generation. Others must hear it from us that “My God, the One true God, the God in whom I have come to trust, is with you.)
The promise is found also in 1 Kings 8:57 “May the Lord our God be with us…may He not leave us nor forsake us.” (Comment: Here it a blessing we’re calling down upon ourselves.)
And in Joshua 1 God spoke directly to Joshua and promises him 2x in the first nine verses: “I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.” And, “For the Lord your God is with youwherever you go.” (vv.5, 9) (Comment: While we may need to hear it from others, or while we may be speaking forth this promise to someone who needs to hear it; the greatest moments are when we hear God speaking directly to us. BUT…that means we have to be listening. These promises are for those listening and longing to hear from God, to walk with God, and to trust Him and pursue Him with their whole heart. They are not for those pursuing a life without Him. …long silent pause…)
We find the same promise(s) in the NT:
In a passage referred to as the Great Commission, in Matt. 28:20 Jesus’ parting words to His followers included the same promise, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth, “Go therefore [in My authority] and [as you are going] make disciples [followers of Christ] of all nations [people groups], baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you,” and here it is: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
One last place the promise is found is Hebrews 13:5 “…for He [Jesus] Himself said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.”
Anytime something is repeated, it’s because we need to hear it [again!]. And I don’t know who needs to be assured of this today, or who will need to hear this promise’s echo in the future, but it is God’s promise to us; one that we can all likely attest is true, that when everything breaks into pieces, when we’re in our darkest hour, and when we’ve come to a place of pain that we’ve never felt before, or when it has just simply turned into a long year, Jesus will be there with us faithfully. For “He will never leave us nor forsake us.” HIM rely on the Lord [especially] during those times.
After PAX wrapped their remaining rounds of 11’s, we grabbed the restrictor plates and headed back to the AO. Again, in a genuine display of camaraderie PAX were vying over the sandbags. Gimme, gimme, gimme…in a very unselfish and selfless way!
COT:
Number-Rama – 19 PAX won THAT FIRST BATTLE and posted in yet another glorious Gloom
Name-O-Rama
Announcements:Turkey Day workout will be a full hour (05:15 – 06:15 hrs.), followed by Coffeeteria at Quattro’s, followed by a few hours of killing targets. (BYOG – Bring Your Own Guns & BYOB – Bring Your Own Bullets, or just show up and get a feel for shooting. Ah…I love the smell of gunpowder in the morning! …sorry, there will be no Napalm.)
PRAYERS: For Rob; for the family who lost their 21-yr-old son to a heart attack; for a couple of other requests slipping YHC’s mind as of the writing of this Backblast. Nonetheless, God knows, He remembers)
Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Windmills – 15 IC
Jiminy Crickets – 10 OYO
Mosey @.5 miles to “Oh Hill No”
The Thang
The Super Sheldon Cooper on “Oh Hill No”. Inch worm with a merkin up the hill, Crawl Bear down and complete 10 Burpees, 10 Squats, 10 Merkins & 10 Big Boys. Dragon Crawl up the hill, Crawl Bear down and complete 10 Burpees, 10 Squats, 10 Merkins & 10 Big Boys. For the final round, complete a Bear Crawl up the hill, Crawl Bear down and complete 10 Burpees, 10 Squats, 10 Merkins & 10 Big Boys. F3 Message and Dragon Crawl @ 50ft. before moseying back to the CHOP.
Mosey @.5 miles back to CHOP.
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.
Politicians – promises. They’re almost synonyms. And, man, we’ve been through the election campaigns. And, of course, you know, we’re probably on promise overload! You get it from the time they declare their candidacy. “He broke his promise!” “He can’t keep that promise!” “If I’m elected, I promise…”
Elections raise hopes. Reality often crushes them, doesn’t it? The promises often seem to get swept away and trashed with the victory celebration confetti. Fact is, no politician keeps all their promises. Sometimes, well, because they never meant to, sometimes because of unforeseen circumstances, and often just because he/she simply doesn’t have the power to deliver what they promised.
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “So Many Promises.”
Now, it’s not just politicians. Look, we parents make a lot of promises – too many of which we either forget, neglect or just fail to keep. The promis-er may forget. The promis-ee never does. Most of us can still remember, like years later, the parents’ promises that never happened.
We make promises at work, at church, to friends. Raising expectations, and then dashing them by never following through. We lose what takes years to gain and just a day to lose – trust. We shake our heads in disgust at the politicians’ words that seem so hollow in light of their broken promises. Forgetting the “trail of tears” that we ourselves have left with the things we said but never did.
I stood before an altar years ago and made some of the biggest promises of my life. I told the woman I loved – and, more importantly, I told God – that I would love and care for her and be committed to her “’til death do us part.” She staked her life on my promise, and the Lord, in the Bible’s words, was “acting as the witness” of my “marriage covenant.” That’s what the book of Malachi says (Malachi 2:14). I found myself listening again and then again to those promises I made that day to try to be sure I was keeping them.
I learned the hard way, that in every relationship, you think before you promise. And do whatever it takes to deliver when you do promise. Now, our word for today from the Word of God, Ecclesiastes 5 beginning in verse 5 says this: “It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it. Do not let your mouth lead you into sin.” King David described the man God will honor as one who “keeps his oath even when it hurts” (Psalm 15:4).
After so many soaring speeches in political campaigns, I wrote these words in my personal journal: “A political season shows that humans promise what they ultimately lack the power to deliver, and hopes are dashed. But my hope is based on a Savior who, by beating death, has shown me He can do anything and everything He has promised!” Man, that’s awesome!
Well, He promised, “My God will supply all your needs” (Philippians 4:19). And in a thousand amazing ways, He always has. He said, “Your strength will equal your days” (Deuteronomy 33:25), and there’s never been a day He didn’t deliver. He promised “they who honor Me I will honor” (1 Samuel 2:30), and He’s come through every time I’ve risked to do the right thing. He told me, “I am the Lord your God who directs you in the way you should go” (Isaiah 48:17), and He’s done it at every crossroads.
I’m sure, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that He will keep the promise on which my eternity rests, “God has given us eternal life, this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life…you who believe in the name of the Son of God…know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:11-13).
I have no fear of death. I have no doubt about heaven, because I’ve put my trust in the only One who can forgive my sins – the One who died for them. I trust in the only One who can give me eternal life – the One who walked out of His grave. And He waits to do that for you. In a world of littered promises, this Jesus will deliver the life and eternity He promised if you’ll grab Him today with all your trust like a drowning person grabs a lifeguard.
Our website is there to help you do that. I hope you’ll go there today. It’s ANewStory.com. You can plant both your feet on His promises and you’ll know He’ll deliver. He has no unforeseen circumstances. He cannot lie. And nothing is too hard for the Lord.
It was a bit chilly this morning so a good warm up was called for but with YHC still dealing with a sprained ankle the choice of exercises was limited but got the job done.
Bat Wings: Done to a 4 count cadence. 20 Forward arm circles HOLD 20 Backward arm circles HOLD 20 Seal claps HOLD 20 Overhead claps
Mountain Climbers 20 IC
Turn and Bounce 20 IC
Cherry Pickers 20 IC
Hairy Rockettes 20 IC
Moroccan Nightclub 20 IC
BOLT 45s
After getting sufficiently warmed up all PAX moseyed to the Arena’s parking lot.
THE THANG:
Once all PAX arrived to the parking lot we formed a circle approximately 30 feet around a speaker and the F3 Workout deck. PAX were informed that we would Bearcrawl to the deck YHC would pick 5 cards then we would Crawlbear back to original position do the stated exercises on the cards with the following guidance: Cards 2-10 would be the card value plus 10 repetitions, Royals – 25 repetitions, ACE – 50 repetitions. Upon completion of the round PAX would Bearcrawl back and another PAX identified by YHC would choose 5 more cards and repeat as time allowed.
ROUND ONE:
Plank Jacks – 25
Standing Lunges – 20 each leg
Diamond Merkins – 25
Flutter Kicks – 20 IC OYO (supposed to Rosalitas but no one knew what that was)
Lunge Walk – rotated the circle until back to original position
ROUND TWO: Chosen by Spreader
Flutter Kicks – 50 IC OYO
Calf Raises – 50
Dips – 25
Hand Release Merkins – 15
Squats – 13 (Card was WOJO Squats but again we improvised for the unknown)
THIRD F:
The Fisherman and the Businessman
Once upon a time there was a businessman who was sitting on the beach in a small Italian village.
As he sat, taking a brief break from the stress of his daily schedule, he saw a fisherman rowing a small boat back into the harbour. In the boat were a few large fish.
Impressed, the businessman asked the fisherman, “How long does it take you to catch so many fish?” To which he replied “Oh, not so long.”
The businessman was confused, “Why don’t you fish for longer to catch even more?”
“More? This is enough to feed my entire family and even offer some to my neighbours,” the fisherman said.
“So what do you do for the rest of your day?” Enquired the businessman.
The fisherman replied, “Well, I’ve usually have caught my fish by late morning, at which point I go home, kiss my wife, and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I take a nap and read. In the evening, I go to the village to have a drink with my friends, play guitar, sing, and dance into the night!”
Putting his entrepreneurial hat on, the businessman offered a suggestion.
“I have a PhD in business! I can help you become much more successful. From now on, you should spend longer at sea and catch as many fish as possible. When you’ve saved enough money, buy a bigger boat to catch even more fish. From there, you’ll soon be able to buy more boats, set up your own company, build a production plant to can the fish and control distribution, and move to the city to control your other branches.”
To this, the fisherman asks, “And after that?”
The businessman laughs, “After that, you’ll be able to live like a king, take your company public, float your shares and be rich!”
“And after that?” Asks the fisherman once more.
“After that, you can retire, move to a house by the sea, wake up early in the morning to go fishing, then return home to play with your kids, kiss your wife, take a nap in the afternoon and join your friends in the village to drink, play guitar and dance into the night!”
Puzzled, the fisherman replies, “But isn’t that what I’m doing already?”
Moral of the story:
Be content with what you have. Do you really need to keep pushing for more? Stress is often a choice.There’s joy and peace in simplicity.
Philippians 4: 6-9
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
After the 3rd F all PAX moseyed pack to the Grit Mill.
COT:
Announcements: Roving Ruck at Aegis this Friday
Prayer requests: Sherlocks father, YHCs family with his 2.0s being sick and his brother and nephews as the year anniversary of their wife and mother tragically passing away approaches.
Kudos to Beeker (Hospital name: Corbin Bean) for getting in his VQ Warm-O-Rama. Great job brother; it was awesome for YHC (Hospital name: Todd Bean) to tag-team with you and get you into the Q rotation.
Here’s how it all went down this Gloom:
WARM-O-RAMA:
Um…yeah, YHC has little recollection of everything we did, but it was well executed and sufficient for getting our heart rates up and warming up the PAX for the following
THE THANG:
Had to start with a Bearcrawl across the freshly resealed parking lot. Boom! After years of complaints by those who have soft and supple hands, it has to be said: That thing is clean. PAX just couldn’t wait to use it!
PAX grouped up in gaggles of 5–couldn’t have planned it better; there were 20 PAX and we needed 4 groups for 4 stations:
Station #1: At this station groups had to Prison Break to Willow St, and Mosey back. This was the time-setter station, as after PAX went down a back groups would move to the next station.
Station #2:Swerkins AMRAP. How about that? 5 PAX in each group and 5 swings for Swerkins.
Station #3:Curb-Stop Leg-lifts AMRAP How about that? 5 PAX in each groups and 5 curb stops for Leg Lifts
Back to station #1, Rinse & Repeat AMRAP. PAX rotated through the stations 3x, taking a 3rdF breather mid-way, after which YHC got in the old stand-by Side-Straddle-Hops, then Seal Jacks, before resuming the workout. Somewhere in there we snuck in a Chairman Lap, before closing out with a short round of Mary: 4-Count Freddies – 25 IC, courtesy of YHC, and Superman/Banana, courtesy of Quattro
The following 3rdF shared by our Q, Chappie:
In the year 1519, Hernán Cortéz arrived along the Yucatan Coast off of Veracruz, Mexico with 600 (300?) men and, upon arriving and disembarking their ships, Cortés sounded the order to “burn the ships!” Before moving inland Cortéz destroyed 10 of his 11 ships, cutting off he and his men’s only hope of retreat and leaving them with no option but to conquer.
We can use this as a metaphor today to venture into new territories, to explore the unknown, and to take what we might see as potentially hazardous risks (followers of Christ cannot help but to take faith-filled risks). Sometimes, even when there is uncertainty we must burn the ships, we must lead others to burn the ships. I.e. we need to eliminate the off-ramps in our own lives, or maybe in our workplaces, our churches, our teams, etc., so that we can make certain we’re not avoiding the challenges, and make certain there is no turning back. (That’s a great hymn btw.)
In whatever the case may be the story of burning the ships is as relevant a metaphor as ever; for in many cases if you leave the ships in the harbor, you’re not fully committing to whatever the task, or mission, or vision might be.
We workout at O-Gawd-Thirty just about every morning because it’s part of the physical, mental, and spiritual challenges we’ve accepted. Why? Because F3 workouts increase your ability to be an asset in your home, your workplace, and the communities in which you serve. We do this “fitness, fellowship, and faith” stuff so that we’re more capable physically, mentally, & spiritually to lead our families & solve problems, etc. If we live in accordance with the mantra “burn the ships” it will serve as a metaphor for eliminating the excuses we’re prone to, and the backup plans we usually have in place. “Burn the ships” says the only option is to conquer, the only option is victory, the only option is to succeed! Burn the ships and you will have no other option!
There’s another man who said that. Well, actually, He said it a little differently: In Luke 9:23 Jesus said “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” You know, right after that in vv. 57-61 Jesus actually turned 3 people away, who said they would follow Him wherever He’d go. Each had excuses and Jesus called them out on it: One realized they’d be without a place to lay their heads, another wanted to wait until his after father died, and the third wanted to spend some time at home first. The context tells us they took the off-ramp; it implies they turned back instead of following Jesus. Then in v. 62 Jesus said, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Gentlemen, HIM put their hand to the plow and never look back! (Ask the farmers…)
HIM take up their cross daily and follow Jesus.
Gentlemen, HIM “burn the ships!” Excuses are not an option.
YHC is always grateful for the opportunity to lead at @f3firststate. We have more and more PAX being added to the Q list (men are stepping up), so opportunities are becoming more sparse–a good problem to have! Hey, that’s what we’re about…planting, growing, and serving.
COT:
Announcements: Shirt order down to last day, 10/19 at midnight. 2.0 Workout this Saturday at the Aegis AO.
Prayers: Semi’s 2.0 traveling back to college; Quattro’s family fighting “the big green monster”; Fireplex’s Dad; and Ruxpin’s M; etc.
A little moist this morning at the CHOP for Ruxpin’s Revenge
Date: 10/04/2022
AO: CHOP, Milton, DE
QIC: Fireplex
Warm up
SSH – 20 IC
Windmills – 20 IC
Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Hydraulic Squats – 10 IC (6 Count)
Bataan Death March – A Patriot run with the last PAX completing 2 burpees before running to the front. It took two chairman laps for all 17 HIM to complete their opportunity to do the burpees.
The Thang
The Super 21 as it appears in the Exicon. 1 Merkin to 1 Big Boy Sit up. 2 Merkins to 2 Big Boy Sit-ups. 3 Merkins to 3 Big Boy Sit-ups, etc., etc., etc. But wait there is a twist….after each set completed of #1 though #5 you will do 21 Imperial Walkers. After each set completed of #6 through #10 complete 21 Mountain Climbers. After each set completed of # 11 through #15 complete 21 Monkey Humpers. After each completed set of #16 through #20 complete 21 Prisoner Squats. After the final set of #21 Merkins to 21 Big Boy Sit-ups, then finish strong with 21 Burpees. All PAX were asked to complete the remainder at home if they did not complete the entire set.
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.
The book is called Good to Great. It’s a thought-provoking book on management written by Jim Collins and a research team that he headed. They identified eleven of the most effective companies in the United States, and then they pursued this question: “What specifically makes these companies so different?” This research actually challenged many of the author’s preconceptions. There were actually lots of surprises. Interestingly, the first thing Collins and his team point to as common to every one of these consistently successful companies is this, and it is a surprise – the modesty of the various CEOs who led them. They suggest that the starting point of a great company is a humble leader – highly focused, sometimes driven people – but known for being gracious, self-effacing, understated. I guess in a word, humble.
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Surprising Secret of Greatness.”
If you’ve listened much to what Jesus says about leadership, those recent “discoveries” shouldn’t be a great surprise to you. In Mark 10, beginning with verse 42, our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus presents what most people believe about being a leader – and then the truth according to Jesus.
He says: “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them…not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.” Then Jesus backs it up with the way He lived His own life: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus believes that you can earn your authority in people’s lives by serving them, by putting them first, by helping them succeed. And, sure enough, the most contemporary research only reinforces the importance of humility in leadership. The Good to Great authors illustrate their conclusions in this area with what they call windows and mirrors. When these successful CEOs do something right, they walk over to a window and point to all the reasons out there (especially all the other people) that are the reasons for their success. When they do something wrong, they walk to a mirror and they assume the blame themselves. Less effective leaders? Well, the authors say they do it just the other way around – when things go wrong they point out the window and point to excuses and explanations. When things are going right, they go to the mirror to admire the one who deserves the credit they think.
Whether you’re in a position to lead your children, or lead a business, or a staff, or a church, a class, a project, a ministry, don’t fall for the popular lies about leading people – that success means being pushy or punishing, pulling rank, playing politics, manipulating, promoting yourself. No, it’s humble servanthood that is the surprising secret of success. That’s humility as in always being teachable, and courteous, vulnerable, willing to accept responsibility rather than place blame; caring about the person, not just the project.
Former Attorney General John Ashcroft’s godly father tried to prepare him for life in the nation’s Capitol after his son had gotten elected to the United States Senate. Listen to what he said, “John, the culture of Washington is a culture of arrogance.” (By the way, most power-centers are.) He said, ” But the culture of Jesus is a culture of humility. Don’t get sucked into the culture of arrogance.”
That’s good advice for any of us who have someone to lead. Remember, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).
