FIRST WATCH BEATDOWN

July 9, 2019

July 9, 2019 Doubtfire on Q

Gloom Factor 05:15 67° and clear

12 PAX  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkqeUhszaBE

WARMARAMA: 20 Moroccan Nightclubs IC , 20 SSH IC , 20 Copperhead Squats IC, 20 Cherry Pickers IC, 20 Mountain Climbers, 15 SSH IC

The Thang 1: Mosey to Shipbuilders Village and partnered off. Partner 1 runs to Spinnaker Lane and nurs back while partner 2 is doing merkins and then switch. Then Partner 1 runs to Genoa Ln and nurs back while partner 2 is doing side plank leg lifts switching sides at 10 counts. Then switch with partner.

Thang 2: Mosey to Post Office circle. Same partners. Partner 1 bearcrawls halfway around circle and crawlbears the second half of the circle while Partner 2 does 80/40/20 super toy soldier set. Then switch.

3rd F – First Watch Psalm 143:8 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you.  Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.

I have struggled all of my life with a shallow relationship with my heavenly father.  I have tried since I was 15 years old to have a daily quiet time with him. I have had spurts of success, but never sustained.  Some events in my life over this past year have caused me to reflect on that issue and I have made some major changes accordingly.  I belong to a Christian business leaders group called C12 Group. About 5 years ago I was at a C12 conference in Orlando the founder, Buck Jacobs gave a stirring message about how important it is to have a consistent daily time in the Word of God and prayer.  He said the best success for that time is the first hour of every day, no matter what you do. Make it non-negotiable. At the prompting of a very good friend of mine, Herb Troyer, whom I ironically introduced him to C12 4 years ago, he suggested I revisit that message.  I did, and I have successfully adopted this routine into my life now 138 days straight (Buck is on day 10,000+-). I would encourage each of you to consider this to be part of your life, a non-negotiable start to your day. God will redeem your time and rest.  

Apart from Christ, we are all creatures of our fleshly desires and habits. Even though He promises that our salvation is secure, our commitment to living under the Lordship of Christ must happen one day at a time as we react to the many challenges and temptations which come our way. Our ability to provide Godly leadership stems solely from our daily intimacy with Christ. Unless we abide in Him by routinely accessing His means of Grace (i.e., Bible, prayer, worship, fellowship, witnessing), it is easy for us to get off track and be compromised in our ability to be ambassadors and make disciples.

Start small, 10-15 mins everyday.  Routines become habits, habits become part of us, good or bad.  This will change your life, I promise you.

Psalm 119:11 Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Ephesians 6:13 ..put on the whole armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Mosey back to AO for Namorama and COT

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4

Tic-Tac-Gohhh!

It was great to once again have a Cousin Eddie with us. We had 2 PAX from different regions in SC last week and today we extended a warm (very warm!), humid, and sandy welcome to JAX FL, Gecko. Nothing like getting that F3 Passport stamped! That made it a 12-pack for the beatdown.

This Gloom’s “gameful employment” brought to you by Nugget’s influence. Our brother has a reputation for bringing games into his Q’s, so YHC, looking for a fresh Q idea, decided to throw-down with a man-sized game of sandbag Tic-Tac-Toe. a.k.a. Tic-Tac-Gohhh! Of course, we started with the warmup…

WARM-O-RAMA:

  • SSH – 18 IC
  • Swartz Jacks – 20 IC (just pay attention Leatherman, you’ll get ’em figured out)
  • Imperial Walkers – 20 IC
  • Hill Billy Walkers – 18 IC
  • Crab Flippers (a.k.a. Cherry Pickers) – 20 IC
  • Flying Squirrels – 10 OYO

Mosey down N. Bedford Street to the field on North Bedford Street Park, where PAX would find what pre-ruck rucker Ruxpin caught YHC red-handed setting up prior to the workout: A man-sized Tic-Tac-Toe painted on the field (shout-out to sprayable sidewalk chalk!) YHC should’ve taken a pic because, you have to admit, it did have a cool F3 symbol painted in the middle square.

PAX counted-off by 2’s…well, some of us did. Uh, hem, Doubtfire! It took a couple tries but we got it figured out. Nonetheless, 12 PAX beat the Fartsack to post for this highly excellent game! 12 PAX equals 2 teams of six. Y’all started your Saturday with 2 Six PAX! Here’s how it all went down:

THE THANG:

Teams were set up EXACTLY 100′ feet apart. Team X, with 5 40lb sandbags stacked at their cone marked with X’s. Team O, with 5 40lb sandbags stacked at their cone marked with O’s. On the count of 3, 2, 1 Gohhh! PAX took turns and had to carry a sandbag and carefully place it (like a baby, per Q’s instructions) into the tic-tac-toe design in the middle of the field trying to get 3-in-a-row-tic-tac-toe! Teams played to win the best of 7 rounds.

Round 1: O’s win! (wouldn’t you like to hear THAT more??)

  • Winners, Plank.
  • Losers, 25 Sandbag Squat Swings
    • (Yes kids, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose!)

Round 2: O’s win! (yep, you heard it here first, folks! O’s won 2 straight!)

  • Winners, Plank.
  • Losers, 25 Sandbag Squat Curls

Round 3: X’s win! O’s 2 – X’s 1

  • Winners, Plank
  • Losers, 25 OH Shoulder Press

Round 4: X’s win! O’s 2 – X’s 2

  • Winners, Plank
  • Losers, 25 Bulgarian Ball Busters

Round 5: X’s win! O’s 2 – X’s 3

  • Winners, Plank
  • Losers, 25 Sandbag Pulls (vertical…sack to your Bombjacks!)

Round 6: O’s win! O’s 3 – X’s 3

  • Winners, Plank
  • Losers, 25 Plank Pulls

CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND, Round 7: Teams compete with their best line-up

  • Jack Wins! SOG…Son Ofa Gun!
  • Losers, 18 Burpees (both teams)

Great competition, great fun! We all got stronger, so yep, it looks like everyone actually did win. Hmm…

3rd F Breather: YHC shared a rinse and repeat of a 3rd Word he shared from a life experience which really drove home the Word of God:

Exodus 33:13-15. Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but You have not let me know whom you will send with me. you have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with Me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me Your ways so I may know You and continue to find favor with You. Remember that this nation is Your people.” The Lord replied, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. Verse 15 reads: Then Moses said to Him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not lead us up [to the Promised Land] from here.

  1. As leaders, what’s one thing we CANNOT do without? God’s presence!
  2. Earlier in verse 2 it says that an angel would go with them, but NOT God’s presence.
  3. In verse 3, going into the Promised Land, victory was promised
  4. BUT…God’s presence WOULD NOT go with them. Before Moses pleaded with God later in the chapter, we read that God had planned to withhold His presence from His people.

Have you ever thought about why? This used to confound me until I was walking a trail in the woods across the parking lot from my church years ago, with 2 of my 3 boys. After playing with every stick (guns/swords) and every rock (grenades) it was time to start heading down through the woods, across the field and parking lot toward home. But the boys would not stay with me! After repeated urgings for them to stay with me, without their corresponding response to do so, I, slightly ahead of them on the trail just simply stepped behind a large tree. I literally hid or withheld my presence. I’m their father, so I didn’t do it to be mean or even to make them suffer. I didn’t go home and cruelly leave them in the woods to fend for their 2-yr-old and 3-yr-old selves. I stepped behind the tree to hide my presence for one reason: To hear the words “Daddy, where are you?” They cried out almost immediately and I responded almost immediately. That’s when it hit me! When God hides His presence from us it’s not because He’s mean, wants us to suffer, and it’s not that He is cruel. He simply wants us to recognize His absence and to call out to Him and say, Daddy, where are you? I need your presence in my life, my leadership! I need you God. That’s what Moses cried out on behalf of himself and the nation. And God answered and said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

As men, husbands, fathers, and leaders what’s one thing we cannot do without in order to be HIM? God’s presence! When you notice His absence, repent (turn) and cry out to Him.

The Thang 2:

  • 10 Swerkins, run (kinda) across field – 20 Carolina Drydocks
  • 10 Swerkins, run (kinda) across field – 15 Split Jacks (15 each leg)
  • 10 Swerkins, run (kinda) across field – 10 Mtn. Man Poopers
  • 10 Swerkins, run (kinda) across field – 05 Nipple Scraper Merkins

Mosey back to AO for a 10 mins of Mary:

  • 15 Climb da Ladder -Compliments of Vanilla
  • 20 4-Count Freddies – Compliments of Hideous
  • 25 Reverse Crunch – Compliments of Nugget
  • 15 Big Boys – Compliments of Bovine
  • 20 Flutter Kicks – Compliments of Ying Ying (great cadence bro!)
  • 20 Groiners – Compliments of Doubtfire (some serious sucktology!)
  • 15 Burpees – Compliments of Cousin Eddie, Gecko from JAX, FL.
  • Great recall Nugget!

YHC heard the bells ringing; time to circle up.

  • Announcements: Get your shirts now, order window closes in few days and won’t open again for 6 or 8 months. order try this link:
  • Prayers: Chappie’s teens; Gecko’s teens; Chattahoochee; etc. Thanx for taking the hand-off Vanilla!

Thanks for the opportunity to lead HIM! Thanks for your ear at Coffeeteria, Gecko. What are the odds that you show up in DE and post at exactly the same time we’re working through almost identical issues with sons? Perhaps Soul-Q might’ve had a hand in our schedules.

Chappie, out!

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6

New Beginnings

Warmup:

Milton Mustard Seed welcomes our brother from Charleston, SC today.
  • Side Straddle Hop 20 IC
  • Seal Jacks 20 IC
  • Smurf Jacks 20 IC
  • Plank Jacks 20 IC
  • Hairy Rockets 15 IC
  • Mountain Man Poopers 15 IC
  • Cherry Pickers 15 IC

The Thang

Caterpillar Snake Run with 12 pound medicine ball to 4 locations with exercises at each location.

First stop H&R Block

  • Merkins 20 IC
  • Air Drama Squats 25 OYO
  • Flutter Kicks 25 IC

Second stop Adkins Law Firm

  • Diamond Merkins 15 IC
  • Ballerinas Toe Squats 25 OYO
  • American Hammers 25 IC

Third stop field behind apartments

  • Hand Release Merkins 20 OYO
  • Bobby Hurley 20 OYO
  • Absolution 10 IC

Final Stop field behind AO

  • Walking lunges across field passing medicine ball
  • Burpees 10 OYO
  • Toy Soldier Set 40/20/10

F3 Message: New Beginnings bud around you and within you every day. You don’t need a clean slate. God is in the business of making all things new.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has come the new is here.

Peter 1:3 Praise be to theGod and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Jeremiah 29:12 For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Seal Jacks Smurf Jacks 20 IC

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3

Texas Hold’em

Waterfall was the dealer (on Q)

Warm Up: 20IC side strattle hop, 20IC Moroccan night club, 20IC Windmills, 20IC seal jacks

The Thang: Poker with 2 decks of cards and the ball of suck (a die with different exercises on each face). We did this with 11s with dips on one side of the parking lot and squats on the other side. The cards and ball of suck were in the middle. Paired up into teams of two. Each team started with 2 cards face down. To get a card, as you went by, you had to roll the ball of suck and do the exercise to get a card. If you didn’t want a card, you could pass and keep doing your 11s. The team with the best hand at the end of the workout won.

The Message: Romans 12:1-2 Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. I talked about not getting sucked into the us vs. them mentality in our culture. Instead be conformed to the Bible.

Count-A-Rama, Name-A-Rama, COT

Winning hand was 5 Kings!

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2

Wheelbarrows and 45’s

QIC Semi


Warm-a-Rama
All i/c
20 seal jacks
20 Windmills
20 seal waves
20 Cherry pickers
20 mountain man pooper

The Thang

Mosey to new HOB entrance

Pax pair off

Big boy 45’s.
Wheelbarrow to light pole
Sumo squat 45’s I/c
Wheelbarrow to light pole
Leg lift 45’s.
Wheelbarrow to light pole
Legs 6″ squats. I/c
Wheelbarrow to light pole


3rd F
All in
Talked about how Abraham was all in sacrificing his son Issac for the Lord.
Genesis 22

Mosey back to CHOP

13 HIM showed – semi, Ruxpin, leatherman, Vanilla, Chappie, Wildwing, Chairman, toy soldier, Waterfall, doubtfire, Fireplex, nugget, FNG gump

Number Rama

Name Rama

COT

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0

Lucky # 7 on the ball field

6/22/19

Nugget on Q 


Warm up. 25 SSH. 15 cherry pickers. 15 windmills. 15 mt climbers. 


Mosey to baseball field. 


Bearcrawl 1-2-3. Partner. Pax 1 bear craws then crawl bears while partner to is doing exercises. Both must complete 100 merkins. 200 lbcs. 300 squats. 


7 of diamonds. Rep increases by 7 each time around bases. 7 burpees. 14 4ct flutter kicks. 21 merkins. 


3rd F. Message on genealogy of Jesus. How he came from a lineage of people with some skeletons in their closet. But he uses everyone from all walks of life. 


Blue Falcon. Split into teams. Each team has 30 seconds to come up with a 2 minute workout. They tell each other their workouts. Then hey do theirs and switch and do the other teams workout. First team to complete both workouts win!


Mosey to circle. 

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2

Stations of Pain @CHOP and sweat…many stations of sweat.

June 18 2019

QIC – Summit 

AO- CHOP

Warmup- 

SSH- 15 

Imperial Walker – 15

Mountain Climber- 15 

Arm circles – 15

Reverse arm circles – 15 

Bolt 45s 

Mosey around block back to AO

The Thang- 

Each PAX Pick a station to start

Stations- 

  1. Burpees
  2. Squats with 50lb sandbag
  3. Merkins
  4. LBC’s
  5. Hair Burners – with Cindy 
  6. Squat – Overhead Press w/cindy
  7. Dips on bench 
  8. American Hammer
  9. Burpjacks
  10. Plank

Work Each station for 60 seconds , Q calls next and move to next station for 60 sec. 

10PAX 10 stations. 

After 3 stations complete , all Pax go for Mosey around block. Return for 3 stations, mosey , last 4 stations then Mosey.

Meet in middle for –

3rd F – https://www.success.com/rohn-4-tips-for-setting-powerful-goals/

Rinse and repeat for 30 seconds with no mosey in-between.   Go until time. 

Woof.     God work men.  😓

Name-a-Rama

COT 

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2

Normandy 75th Ruck Q

More great numbers for a Saturday, 11 PAX posted for a beatdown at the Aegis–including 1 FNG. Welcome shout out to Ox! Again, brother, remember it doesn’t get easier but you get better/stronger/faster. Keep posting. A few PAX got in some pre-ruck action: Shout out to Ruxpin, Leatherman, & Summit (bought a ruck, so he’s neck-deep now! 😉 )

Most of what was done and most of what YHC shared was captured in screenshots, so after the warmup info, those items will simply be posted. So here goes…

Warm-O-Rama:

  • SSH – 30 IC
  • Seal Jacks – 30 IC
  • Crab Flippers – 30 IC (a.k.a. Cherry Pickers)
  • Windmill – 15 IC
  • Sebif – 15 IC (Something Else But I Forgot)

All warmup repetitions were either 30-count or combined to be a 30-count, as esplained by YHC in recognition of his grandfather’s unit — the 508th PIR — which jumped into Normandy and subsequently fought for the next 33 days til getting a reprieve and being sent back to England to prep for their next mission. This day marked day 3 since jumping in…so the countdown was on at 30 reps.

508th PIR – “Red Devils”

PAX were informed through commo channels to bring a ruck if they owned one. A few extras were on hand, but 40# sandbags sufficed otherwise. The Thang, courtesy of GORUCK, would commence at Georgetown’s WWII Memorial since this past Thursday was the 75th Anniversary of D-Day.

The Skinny:

Ruck Q courtesy of GORUCK

PAX rucked 1 Mile to the field at the corner of W. North & Pleasant Streets, completed the above workout following YHC’s 3rdF, then rucked 1 Mile to return to the WWII Memorial at the Georgetown Circle. The excellent pace was set by the PAX doing a 30-steps shuffle during the ruck to and fro.

1 mile 2x

Here’s the 3rdF shared for a breather:

YHC took the PAX into a little OT, but no one’s feelings were hurt…at least he doesn’t think so.

Number-Rama: 11!

Name-O-Rama: Not sure what happened but Bovine got really confused; he thought he was Doubtfire! 🙂 FNG named Ox. Welcome to the tribe!

COT/BOM:

  • Announcements/Prayers
  • A few met up for coffeeteria at what America runs on, and had some great 2ndF.

Grateful for the opportunity to Q at the Aegis…more grateful for the opportunity to share about my Pappap and the 508th…and ever grateful for that greatest generation! Aye! Thanks for your ear, men! Awesome push by all.

Chappie, out!

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4

Toy Soldier’s D-Day Beatdown

Date: 6/6/19

QIC: Toy Soldier

Warm-up: SSH, Sun Goddess, Smurf Jacks, Hairy Rockets, Mountain Man Poopers.

The Thang

Mosey to HO Brittingham Elementary School. Share 10 facts about D-Day throughout the workout.

  • High Knee run from 1st light post to 2nd
  • Lt. Dan from 2nd post to 3rd
  • walking lung 3rd post to 4th
  • bear crawl 4th to 5th post
  • merkin crawl (merkin and move laterally and merkin until arrows on road)
  • 30 Burpees
  • 30 Bigboys
  • Mosey around parking lot
  • 20 Bobby Hurleys
  • 20 Flutter Kicks
  • Mosey around parking lot
  • 10 Iron Mikes IC
  • 10 Outlaws
  • Mosey to AO

On 6 June 1944, British, US and Canadian forces invaded the coast of Normandy in northern France.The landings were the first stage of Operation Overlord – the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe – and aimed to bring an end to World War Two. By night-time, around 156,000 Allied troops had arrived in Normandy, despite challenging weather and fierce German defences. At the end of D-Day, the Allies had established a foothold in France and within 11 months Nazi Germany was defeated and the war was over.

Here are 10 things you may not have known about the operation:

1. Photography appeal

As early as 1942, the BBC launched a bogus appeal for photographs and postcards from the coast of Europe, from Norway to the Pyrenees. It was actually a way of gathering intelligence on suitable landing beaches and Normandy was settled on. Millions of photos ended up being sent to the War Office and, with the help of the French Resistance and air reconnaissance, military bosses were able to target the best landing spots for D-Day.

2. Phantom army

The Allies put a lot of effort into trying to convince the Germans that the invasion was going to be near Calais, not Normandy. They invented phantom field armies based in Kent as part of their D-Day deception plan, named Operation Fortitude. They built dummy equipment – including inflatable tanks – parachuted dummies, used double agents and released controlled leaks of misinformation which led the Germans to believe the Allies were going to invade via the Pas-de-Calais and Norway. The Germans took the bait so much that even after D-Day they held many of their best troops in the Calais area expecting a second invasion.

3. Two million troops

By 1944 more than two million troops from more than 12 countries were in Britain preparing for the invasion. On D-Day, Allied forces consisted primarily of US, British and Canadian troops but also included Australian, Belgian, Czech, Dutch, French, Greek, New Zealand, Norwegian, Rhodesian [present-day Zimbabwe] and Polish naval, air and ground support.

4. Weather watching

The officers organising the operation were very particular about the timing of D-Day. They wanted a full moon with a spring tide so they could land at dawn when the tide was about half way in – but those kind of conditions meant there were only a few days that could work. They chose to invade on 5 June, but ended up delaying by 24 hours because of bad weather. It was Group Captain James Martin Stagg who made the vital forecast and persuaded General Eisenhower to change the date.

5. Rommel’s shoes

In fact, the forecast was so bad that the German commander in Normandy, Erwin Rommel, felt so sure there wouldn’t be an invasion he went home to give his wife a pair of shoes for her 50th birthday. He was in Germany when the news came of the invasion.

6. Sleeping Hitler

When the D-Day forces landed, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was asleep. None of his generals dared order reinforcements without his permission, and no-one dared wake him.Crucial hours were lost in the battle to hold Normandy. When Hitler did finally wake up, at around 10am, he was excited at news of the invasion – he thought Germany would easily defeat the Allies.

7. Commonwealth strength

While America formed the biggest national contingent, the combined force of Commonwealth service personnel – mostly British and Canadian – was greater. Of the 156,000 men who landed in France on 6 June, 73,000 were American, and 83,000 British or Canadian. The Commonwealth naval contingent was twice that of the Americans.

8. Bloody Omaha

There were five beaches that were chosen for the operation, codenamed, from east to west, Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha, Utah. Casualties varied widely – on “Bloody Omaha”, where around 4,000 men were killed or wounded, one US unit landing in the first wave lost 90% of its men.On Gold Beach, by contrast, casualty rates were around 80% lower. The fighting during the Battle of Normandy, which followed D-Day, was as bloody as it had been in the trenches of World War One. Casualty rates were slightly higher than they were during a typical day during the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

9. Smashed toilets

The vibration of HMS Belfast’s guns firing during D-Day was so powerful it actually cracked the crew’s toilets.

10. Pub test

Having been given his top-secret mission to attack the Merville battery on D-Day, Terence Otway had to be certain his men wouldn’t spill the beans ahead of 6 June 1944. He sent 30 of the prettiest members of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, dressed in civilian clothes, into village pubs near where his soldiers were training.

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5

It Ain’t Over

Date: 06/01/19

AO: Aegis, Georgetown, De.

QIC: Fireplex

Warm up

SSH – 20 IC

Chilly Jacks – 15 IC

Cherry Pickers – 15 IC

Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down.  15 squats halfway to full down.  15 full squats.

Mountain Climbers – 15 IC

Windmills – 15 IC

Dips – 15 IC

The Thang

Mosey to County Building Steps.  Each PAX crosses the steps without skipping any steps.

Mosey to Armory steps and completes Aiken legs – 20 squats, 20 box jumps, 20 lunges (10 each Leg), 20 split Jacks (10 each Leg).  The twist is that each PAX will take each step up and each step down at the Armory before performing each exercise.  Rinse and Repeat.

Mosey to Library and complete the Burp & Merk – Burpee with ascending merkins up to 10.  Each PAX will Bear Crawl to each parking space line (parallel parking spaces) and complete a Burpee with a hand release merkin.  Bear Crawl to the next space and complete a Burpee with two hand release merkins. Bear Crawl to the next space and complete a Burpee with three hand release merkins. You see the pattern now….:)…..Continue until completing a Burpee with ten hand release merkins over the course of 10 parallel parking spaces. @250 ft. 

Mosey to School and complete the bottom feeder/deconstructed toy soldier set exercise.  Crab walk to first sidewalk and complete 50 LBC’s.  Crab walk to second sidewalk and complete 15 E2K’s each side.  Crab walk to third sidewalk and complete 15 E2K’s each side.  Crab walk to fourth sidewalk and complete 20 big boy sit-ups. The overall length of the exercise area was approx. 435 ft.

F3 Message – See below

Mosey back to Aegis.  PAX completed @.9 mile mosey excluding the pain stations.

Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, Naming of FNG (Welcome Kaisy !!) and the Circle of Trust.  Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayer. 

F3 Message 06/01/19

Ron Hutchcraft Ministries

IT AIN’T OVER! – #2581
“Well, some of us had to wait almost 20 years for it – but the 1996 New York Yankees finally won the World Series. Now they had to be the champs to do it – the Atlanta Braves. And after the first two games of the best-of-seven series, I thought the Yankees had gone into a coma – they got creamed. Ah, but that’s when it got exciting – they came back to win next two games. The series was tied at two games apiece, of course – and the then Yankees appeared to doze off again in Game Five – they were behind 6-0! Speaking of dozing off, that’s what at least one Yankee fan did – including the guy I heard buying a newspaper the next day. He saw the headline announcing that the Yankees had come back and won that game 8-6! He grabbed that newspaper, saw the outcome of the game, and then said some things I can’t quote – after which he said, “I can’t believe it! I gave up on them in the seventh inning and went to sleep!” He missed a great victory.

Well, I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “It Ain’t Over!”

Our word for today from the Word of God is a verse we need at least several times a year, I think. Maybe this is one of your days for it and God knew that. Galatians 6:9 – “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

God is challenging the mistake we make so often that costs us His best – we give up too soon. Like that sleeping Yankees fan. He looked at the way the game seemed to be going, decided it was as good as over, and he missed a great victory. Well, God doesn’t want you to make that same mistake with something you’ve been hoping for – something that looks like it just isn’t going to happen. You’re tempted to give up. But God is flagging you down to say, “Don’t become weary in doing good – the harvest you’ve hoped for is coming.” Like Yogi Berra said, “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”

The problem is we look at the score right now and lose hope. But on God’s scoreboard, it’s only the third inning, or maybe the sixth or the seventh. But, you may be saying, “There just isn’t enough time for it to happen now,” or “I can’t see any way it could happen now” – be careful. You’re underestimating your all-powerful God – the One who delivered an entire nation from Egypt in one night!

But we tend to assume what the final score will be based on the score in the middle of the game. And that’s when we give up and start taking God’s will detours – we panic, we put together some patchwork solution of our own, we start leaning on our own understanding instead of trusting in the Lord with all our heart, or we just stop hoping, or praying, or working for it.

Which leads me to that wonderful challenge I heard years ago from a seasoned old saint – “Never doubt in the darkness what God has told you in the light.”

Or, don’t give up in the middle of the game, or don’t give up even if it’s near the end of the game. You can’t tell what God is going to do for a wonderful finish to this game. God has a way of hitting a bases loaded, grand slam home run in the bottom of the ninth with two outs – if you don’t give up before that harvest comes! I just hope you don’t miss that grand finish because you gave up on the game too soon!” From Ron Hutchcraft Ministries #2581″

Dawn and I were blessed with the opportunity to share an incredible blessing with a terminally ill seven year old.  He had an inoperable brain tumor.  We attended a Phillies game through a great organization where Dawn coordinated the efforts on the families behalf.  The young man and his family are huge Phillies fans.  The game we attended happened to be the ring ceremony for 2008 World Series champions, but the 2009 Phillies had yet to win.  Down 10 – 3 in the seventh the Phillies put together an improbable rally that included four walked in runs by the Atlanta Braves.  I’ve coached little league teams that haven’t matched that feat.  I’m not convinced that God is a Phillies fan, but I choose to believe that he may have answered a very sick little boys prayers on that day.  We were blessed to have been a part of that special game, and to share in comforting that very brave young man before the Lord took him home. 

Respectfully Submitted,

Fireplex

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