14 PAX posted at the Aegis AO in Georgetown for a D-Day inspired workout by Chappie that went a little something like this…
WARM-O-RAMA
SSH – 18 IC
IW – 18 IC
Cherry Picker – 10 IC
SwartzJack – 18 IC
MNC – 18 IC
PATRIOT RUN– for 2 reasons:
1) Today is 76th Anniversary of D-Day!
2) We should NEVER be ashamed to fly it high! And fly it high we should!
>>>To County Bank Steps (We’ll chalk that one up as practice…know what YHC means?)
Who said that? “Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force: You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely. But this is the year 1944! The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to victory! I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory! Good luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking. ~Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, 6 June 1944.
Workout: PAX Plank, each, in turn goes to top & back down. (1 rotation)
PATRIOT RUN:
>>>To School Field:
Almost nothing went exactly as planned on June 6, 1944. In the end, partly due to poor weather and visibility, bombers failed to take out key artillery, particularly at Omaha Beach. Many paratroopers were dropped far off their marks and became vulnerable to German snipers. And during the land invasion, a critical fleet of marine tanks sunk in stormy seas and failed to make it ashore. Despite the setbacks, Allied troops pushed through and by pure grit, got the job done.
Workout:
Round 1: Low-Crawl to 1st Sidewalk (get low!)
LZ Jumps (Squat Jump, Parachute Landing Fall style w/feet & knees together) – 33 Single Count
Merkins – 33 SC
Round 2: Run For Cover! (He sees you, get down! & low-crawl | Run for cover!, get up and run) from 1st SW to 4th SW and back. Snipe got YHC on this one, ankle’s still a little stiff but only because Chauffeur asked about it!
Round 3: Low-Crawl to start
LZ Jumps – 33 SC (Squat Jumps PLF style)
Hand-Release Merkins – 33 SC (Brutal, but when you’re ready to quite, remember they didn’t – Burp if you need a break/rest)
YHC Omaha’d the rest of the field workout due to time constraints, time to move!
PATRIOT WOSEY:
>>>Around corner to School Parking Lot:
French businessman Bernard Marie was 5 years old and living in Normandy on June 6, 1944. He remembers before the Allied invasion, he and his friends could not go out and play on the beaches because “Mother couldn’t trust anybody. So, for me, everybody wearing a uniform was a bad guy.” Bernard Marie recalls when the shooting was done. He heard his mother outside yelling, so he and his grandfather ran upstairs to follow her. “I will never forget,” he says, “She was hugging a soldier! I could not understand that. For me it was a bad guy. So she called me to come and said, ‘These soldiers are good, they’ve come to save us.'” To this day, Bernard Marie is grateful to that soldier—and to all the veterans who fought to liberate France from the Nazis. “The most important thing for any human being is freedom,” he says. “We cannot forget the 6th of June.”
Workout:
Advance & Retreat – PAX took turns calling Advance! or Retreat! for length of parking lot (kinda like suicides but not…)
Advance! – mosey forward
Retreat !– nuR back
PATRIOT RUN: (With a self-imposed punishment run by Quattro who everyone else thought was running ahead to get pics. No pics, but it did bring an important life lesson: Pay attention to details. Lol! Accelerating man!
>>>To Armory:
PAX acknowledged family members who fought in WWII, especially D-Day. Some of those mentioned…
Chauffeur’s grandfather, somewhere in the crowd
Quattro’s grandfather (L), SPC James H. Baxter Jr.
Chappie’s grandfather, CPL William Goodwin
We’ve done a lot of 33 reps today. Explanation: Done to honor YHC’s grandfather, CPL William Goodwin, who jumped into Normandy with his 508th PIR (Red Devil Regiment (82nd Airborne). They fought for the next 33 days in and around Chef-du-Pont before being sent back to England and preparing to jump again in Holland (Operation Market Garden).
Workout:
(Start at curb) Bearcrawl to top of steps – 33 American (of course!) Hammers, return… (again YHC cut out the rinse & repeat which included: 33 X’s & O’s & 33 Gas Pumpers (4-count)
PATRIOT RUN:
>>>Return to AO at WWII Memorial:
Other quotes:
“We’ll start the war from right here!” ~ Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., Assistant Commander of the 4th Infantry Division, upon finding that his force had been landed in the wrong place on Utah Beach. (Yes, that’s who you think it is)
“I took chances on D-Day that I never would have taken later in the war.” ~First Sgt. C. Carwood Lipton, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division. (Band of Brothers)
PAX circled up for the COT around the WWII Memorial
Number-Rama
Name-O-Rama
Named FNG: Welcome to Ruxpin’s 2.0, Peyton (now F3 Peddles)
Announcements & Prayers
A huge welcome back to Summit! We’ve missed you! Great to have you in the ranks again, brother. As always, YHC is grateful and humbled by the opportunity to lead these awesome HIM. Always inspired to hear the stories of WWII veteran’s from our own families as well. Let’s live lives that honor the sacrifices of those from the Greatest Generation.
20 SSH I/C 20 PLANK JACKS I/C 20 WINDMILL I/C SIDE SHUFFLE CAPRI LAP AROUND CIRCLE, switch direction half way 21 CRAB FLIPPER I/C 20 SEAL WAVE I/C 20 SEAL JACKS I/C
Bolt 45’s – IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Cherry Pickers – 15 IC
Windmills – 15 IC
Mountain Climbers – 20 IC
Jiminy Crickets – 10 OYO
The Thang
At the Aegis, Pax completed the Route 66 routine around the circle. 1 lap around the Aegis and complete 1 burpee. A second lap around the circle and complete 2 burpees. Rinse and repeat until reaching 7 burpees.
Pax moseyed to the Georgetown Firehouse to complete a Mike Tyson set of 7’s in the back parking lot utilizing a bear crawl to traverse the distance between the station wall and a set of parking bumpers. Pax completed 1 Mike Tyson at the wall and bear crawled across to the parking bumpers to complete 6 Mike Tyson’s, then bear crawled back to the wall for 2 Mike Tyson’s and back to parking bumpers for 5 Mike Tyson’s. Rinse and repeat until the number of evolutions was reversed from where it began.
Pax moseyed to the school.
Spartan Run Routine – Run/sprint approx. 50 yards from one parking lot light pole to the next and drop and do 10 merkins. Plank until all Pax are complete. Run/sprint 50 yards back to the starting light pole and complete 10 merkins. Plank for the 6. Pax completed 10 reps for 100 merkins for the exercise.
Pax moseyed back to Aegis and finished strong with a Toy Soldier set consisting of 50 LBC’s, 30 E2K’s each side, and 20 Big Boy ‘s.
It’s got to be one of my favorite plays – “Fiddler on the Roof.” The story is virtually a modern classic. It tells with this incredible charm and warmth the story of 19th Century Jews in Russia. All the joys of Jewish faith and Jewish family are there, along with the pain of persecution for being Jewish. Tevye, the milkman, is the colorful father of the family; a man who is forever arguing with himself. If you’re familiar with the play, you’ll remember how his conversations with himself – and even with God – will go back and forth as he talks himself in and out of opposite viewpoints. Tevye will present one view, and then inadvertently he will say, “On the other hand…” and he’ll talk himself out of it. He doesn’t actually reach many conclusions!
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Paralysis of Analysis.”
There are a lot of folks who have a little bit of Tevye in them – always analyzing, often not reaching any conclusion. I’m a data-based decision maker. I like to weigh all the information I can before I make a decision or a commitment. And that’s a good thing until it paralyzes you; until it keeps you from exercising the one thing the Bible says you have to have to please God – faith.
In John 6, beginning with verse 7, we see an example of the disciples going as far as analyzing could take them and nearly missing a great miracle. Jesus and His disciples are facing this hungry multitude of at least 5,000 people. Sizing up the situation analytically, in our word for today from the Word of God, Philip gets his calculator out and tells Jesus, “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” So much for the earth-math. Jesus is about to do something that earth-math could never anticipate.
Andrew’s calculation is simpler but it leads to the same human-sense conclusion. He said, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” But using miracle-math instead of earth-math, Jesus instructs His men to “Have the people sit down.” You probably know the rest. Thousands were fed from that one small lunch, and the disciples “filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over.” Don’t you just love it – one basket of leftovers for each disciple. So much for earth-math.
When Jesus went to his hometown of Nazareth, all the people there could do was analyze Jesus’ history, and the Bible says it was the one place Jesus could do no miracle because of their unbelief. Endless analysis (intellectual, theological) ultimately takes you in this futile circle and it often costs you the miracles that come only to those who risk everything on a great Savior.
“We walk by faith, not by sight,” Paul says (2 Corinthians 5:7). Now some people need to think a little more and they need to use their God-given mind to seek out the truth. But there’s only so far thinking and analyzing can take you. Those who try to figure out the science of stepping out of a boat when Jesus says to, will never know what it is to walk on water.
Right now, God may be asking you to take a step that doesn’t quite add up. All your analyzing can’t show you how you’re going to get from here to there. The bridge over that gap? Yeah, it has a name. It’s called faith.
Don’t miss some wonderful things God wants to do because you’re suffering from the paralysis of analysis. You belong to a Lord who loves to do, as the Bible says, “immeasurable more than all we ask or imagine!” (Ephesians 3:20).
Chappie Rocking the Socks in Support of World Down Syndrome DayQuattro is COVID-19 Ready and Sporting Socks for World Down Syndrome Day Awareness.
Our country and countries across the world are being greatly affected by COVID-19. Here is the “official” statement from F3 Nation on what is happening right now.
We are a #Starfish. Our mission is explicitly to invigorate male community leadership. Our hope is that we, to some degree or other, have done this. Therefore, we urge you to look locally to your Nant’ans for guidance on what you may want to do on the ground where you are. From Charlotte, we can’t know what the best practice is for Omaha, nor would we pretend to. Omaha will know what to do for Omaha, the same is to be said for regions across the Nation.
Be smart. We’ve all likely seen by now the many practices that are recommended by the CDC and other experts. In fact, very many of the great Leaders and Nant’ans of F3 have already put out guidelines for how they suggest things be handled locally in their regions. For example, in Puget Sound, where the virus made US landfall, they have been adjusting their COTs to not include a BOM, encouraging men to stay home if they feel sick, no partner work, etc. Again, look local for what you all might do to avoid spread of both the virus and any panic that may surround it.
LEAD. It is times like these that we now get to put into practice all this stuff we’ve talked about over the years. We have attempted to get ready for the expected, while staying ready for the unexpected… this is truly unexpected, unprecedented even… Lean in, do good, find a way to be useful and of service to your family and your community (even if that truly is staying home because you aren’t sure if you’ve been infected) and then articulate your vision of how you intend to help people… persuade them to join in the help, and exhort them as necessary.
Men, THIS is the kind of thing that we were made for. THIS is the kind of thing that you’ve been getting ready for by posting and living third. Go make cool stuff happen… we will get through this just fine.
We love you, and if the Nation can help in terms of resources, communication or otherwise, on a level past your local region, let us know. We will. ISI,
Warm-a-Rama 17 Seal jacks. I/c 14 Cherry picker. I/c Capri lap, side shuffle around circle, switch halfway 17 SSH. I/c 14 Windmill. I/c Capri lap, nur halfway, mosey rest 17 seal waves. I/c 14 MMP. I/c
Mosey to old napa store
14 burpees mosey around building, 14 merkins mosey around building, 14 squats mosey around building for 3 rounds.
Mosey to school
44 lbcs 22 e2ks 14 big boys Go up steps and Jump wall to sidewalk 3 rounds
3rd F
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 1 Peter 5:6-10 ESV A good affirmation that you are not alone in your struggles. There is season for everything. God will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
Site and Time Change for this Saturday’s Workout!!!!!
We are meeting at 0600 at Crossroad Community Church… In the parking lot near the ball fields! (look for the F3 stickers!)
A men’s fellowship [2ndF] breakfast will be served at 0730. We will have approximatly 30 minutes to get the stank off and be presentable… It would be cool if we all wore an F3 shirt (but size appropriate)
I’ve been told we will be out of there by noon. Bring $10 to offset to cost of breakfast.
Be prepared to leave there feeling like you are empowered to lead by example!
Mosey to Richard Allen School (where Q attended Kindergarten in 1985 [only one year mind you!]) parking lot, taking a quick pit stop for a set of fence hurdles at the Grace UMC park
Circle up for Global Warming (10 burpees, 20 bobby hurleys, 50 lbc, 25 WWI situps)
Time for recess!… Wosey to playground
Split in 2 groups: 25 x 2 each swerkins, extra PAX do E2k until swings open up
To the monkey bars: Merkins, while 1 PAX crosses monkey bars performing a newley-named workout “monkey junkers” 3x alternating regular, wide-arm, and diamond merkins
Break for 3rd F
Proverbs 22:28 "Do not move an ancient landmark which your fathers have set"
from Biography.com:
Born into slavery in 1760, Richard Allen later bought his freedom and went on to found the first national black church in the United States, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1816.
Synopsis
Minister, educator and writer Richard Allen was born into slavery on February 14, 1760. He later converted to Methodism and bought his freedom. Fed up with the treatment of African-American parishioners at the St. George Episcopal congregation, he eventually founded the first national black church in the United States, the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He was also an activist and abolitionist whose ardent writings would inspire future visionaries. Allen died in 1831 in Philadelphia.
Background and Younger Years
Minister, educator and writer Richard Allen was born into slavery presumably in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 14, 1760. (As with other details surrounding Allen’s life, there have been some questions as to the place of his birth, with certain sources asserting that he was born in Delaware.) Known as “Negro Richard,” he and his family were sold by Benjamin Chew to a Delaware farmer, Stokeley Sturgis, sometime around 1768.
Allen converted to Methodism at the age of 17, after hearing a white itinerant Methodist preacher rail against slavery. His owner, who had already sold Richard’s mother and three of his siblings, also converted and eventually allowed Richard to purchase his freedom for $2,000, which he was able to do by 1783. The paper detailing Richard’s freedom would in fact become the first manumission document to be held as a public file, having been donated to the Pennsylvania Abolition Society.
After attaining his freedom, Richard took the last name “Allen” and returned to Philadelphia.
Early Religious and Social Work
Allen soon joined St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church, where blacks and whites worshiped together. There, he became an assistant minister and conducted prayer meetings for African Americans. Frustrated with the limitations the church placed on him and black parishioners, which included segregating pews, Allen left the church as part of a mass walkout with the intention of creating an independent Methodist church. (While Allen gave the year of the walkout as 1787 in his own accounts, some scholars have asserted that the departure happened in 1792-93.)
Along with the Reverend Absalom Jones, who had also left St. George, Allen helped found the Free African Society, a non-denominational religious mutual-aid society dedicated to helping the black community. A century later, scholar and NAACP founder W.E.B. Du Bois called the FAS “the first wavering step of a people toward organized social life.” In 1794, Allen and several other black Methodists founded the Bethel Church, a black Episcopal meeting, in an old blacksmith’s shop. Bethel Church became known as “Mother Bethel” because it eventually birthed the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Helped by his second wife, Sarah, Allen also helped to hide escaped slaves, as the basement of the Bethel Church was a stop on the Underground Railroad.
Founding the African Methodist Episcopal Church
In 1799, Allen became the first African American to be ordained in the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Then, in 1816, with support from representatives from other black Methodist churches, Allen founded the first national black church in the United States, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and became its first bishop. Today, the AME Church boasts more than 2.5 million members.
Understanding the power of an economic boycott, Allen went on to form the Free Produce Society, where members would only purchase products from non-slave labor, in 1830. With a vision of equal treatment for all, he railed against slavery, influencing later civil rights leaders such as Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr.
Death and Legacy
Allen died at his home on Spruce Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March 26, 1831. He was laid to rest under Bethel Church.
In 2008, Richard Newman and NYU Press published an acclaimed biography of Allen—Freedom’s Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church and the Black Founding Fathers.
https://www.richardallenschoolgeorgetown.com/
Richard Allen Coalition Inc in Georgetown opened its doors in the 1920s as one of the 80 schools built by Philanthropist Pierre S. DuPont for African-American children in Delaware. This is one of the “DuPont Colored Schools” that continued to serve as the heart of the African-American community for more than half a century.
Beginning in 1829 when public schools were established in Delaware, both white and black Delawareans paid schools taxes. However, the taxes supported schools for white students only. The few schools for African-Americans that existed relied on contributions from local churches for land and materials. The modest wooden buildings were built with community-based labor.
When desegregation was implemented, it became part of the Indian River School District. Five years ago, the school district decided to close the school and has been vacant since then.In 2010, a small group came together to form the Richard Allen Coalition Inc. We are a diverse group with a common goal: to restore the school so it can once again be a cultural, civic, and educational center. We found so much history in this school which has never been recorded, including baseball games held on the field behind the school and baseball teams formed by Luther Tingle.On August 12, 2015, Phase I of our journey was completed when Governor Jack Markell signed the bill sponsored by Senator Brian Pettyjohn and Representative Ruth Briggs King which deeded the building to the Richard Allen Coalition. Phase II was a kick off with a gala at the Georgetown Cheer Center on February 6, 2016, which was a success.
Today, we are hosting programs on the grounds for the community. There has been considerable work within the building. With the community help, we have painted, sanded and worked to bring portions of the building into a useable facility. We are continuing to raise the funding needed to begin the renovation and restoration project of the Richard Allen Coalition School. It is an ambitious goal, but with the help of the grants, civic and business leaders of Sussex County, we can do it efficiently.
When Richard Allen School opened its door, it was a beacon of hope for African-Americans living in Jim Crow Delaware. When it opened, it welcomed all of us who wanted to learn about the past while helping our youth explore their talents and prepare for a wonderful future.
The state of Delaware mandated racially segregated schools until 1967. The Act of Free Schools of 1829 provided public education in Delaware, but taxes levied on both white and black citizens supported schools for white students only.
A few schools for blacks existed in the early 20th century but all land and material were acquired with contributions from local churches, and the modest wooden buildings were built with community-based labor.Pierre S. DuPont, appalled by the unfair tax system and the lack of educational opportunities for Delaware’s’ black students, donated the funds to build more than 80 schools for black students throughout the state in the 1920s.
Be the man in the boat: Abyss big boys while legs are hooked into side of playground boat -25 IC amid plenty of mumble chatter
Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Windmills – 15 IC
Dips – 30 IC
Mosey to Ball Park @.5 miles.
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. Q took a break for the 3rd F after all PAX completed the 2nd base exercise set. See below for the word provided from Ron Hutchcraft Ministries.
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.
F3 Message 02/15/2020 – From Ron Hutchcraft Ministries #7641 – 04/25/16
Valentine’s Day! That’s the season when all of us think about the love we found, or the love we lost, or the love we’re looking for. And, man, people are looking! Did you know there are over 5,000 dating websites, including Match.com, OKCupid, along with SeniorPeopleMeet, Farmers Only and DateACowboy.com?
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “How to Build a Love that Lasts a Lifetime.”
Love is where we place our greatest hopes. It’s where we experience our greatest fears and our greatest hurts, and make our greatest mistakes. It’s a treasure, for sure, but it’s a fragile treasure. Like a fragile plant, love has to be watered and protected with some basic love-nurturing steps.
Let me give you some. First of all, handing out goodies – emotional goodies that is. Love thrives on affirmation, encouragement, compliments, praise, “atta-boys.” But love is torn down by critical words, angry words, sarcastic words; on our lips momentarily, in their memory forever. The Bible so wisely says, “The tongue has the power of life and death” and “reckless words pierce like a sword” (Proverbs 18:21; 12:18).
That’s why the Bible’s challenge to “encourage one another daily” (Hebrews 3:13) is glue for a love that lasts. Because everybody needs a cheerleader, and all of us need to be one.
Secondly, unpack your suitcase; the suitcase where we carry the junk from our past into the present. The abuse. The betrayal. The neglect. The injustice. And the anger and negativity and bitterness that go with it. Unless we face it, we can’t fix it. And if we don’t fix it, we’ll spread it. The poison will spill into lives that don’t even deserve it. And they will poison love.
That’s why God tells us in Hebrews 12:15, “See to it that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” If we harbor resentment and unforgiveness, it’s just going to keep growing into a monster that invades every close relationship.
Unpacking this suitcase we’ve carried so long has a name. It’s called forgiving, which sometimes seems like humanly impossible. But it’s not supernaturally impossible, because the One who forgave His crucifiers will download His forgiveness into any struggling heart and He’ll pour His healing into every broken heart.
Thirdly, relinquish the wheel, because controlling people hardens their heart and pushes them away. Control freaks are fixers. We’re always trying to fix and change what we love. But when you hold onto something too tightly, you crush it – including love.
I’ve found a lot of freedom in five words John the Baptist spoke long ago, “I am not the Messiah.” When you realize that it’s your job to love people and it’s God’s job to change them, you can experience the wonderful freedom of releasing what you’ve been controlling.
I guess most importantly, to build a love that lasts a lifetime, anchor your heart. See, there’s a problem with love. It’s “loseable.” Betrayal. Divorce. Death. No human love can truly anchor a human heart, a lonely heart. So how can that aching hole in our hearts ever be filled? How can we finally know that we’re safe in a love we can’t lose?
Our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 8:39, “Nothing can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That’s God’s ironclad guarantee to every person who belongs to His Son, who proved His love in blood poured out on a cross for the very sins you’ve done against Him.
This is love that comes looking for us all the way from heaven to the cross. And He’s come looking for you today through our time together. So, let today be the day to let His love in. Let Jesus in and say, “Jesus, the life you died for, that you paid for with your life is yours beginning today. I am yours.”
Our website is to help you get there – ANewStory.com. Would you go there? The love of a lifetime is within your reach right now.
1 Corinthians 13 New King James Version (NKJV)
The Greatest Gift
13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,[a]but have not love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Buttkickers halfway around circle Toysoldiers the other half.
Mosey to school for BOMBS
Split up into 2 man teams 1 pax does exercise the other mosey’s half way across school yard Nur’s back as a team 50 Burbees, 100 overhead arm claps in jackwebb position, 150 merkins, 200 bigboys, 250 squats
Mosey to library- Lt. Danger across parking lot Lunge walk back.
Mosey to Armory- Toy soldier set 50 LBCs, 25 E2Ks, 15 bigboys.
1 set of Aiken legs 20 Squats, 20 box jumps on step, 20 Lunges, 20 Splitjacks.
Mosey back to the AO for number-rama, name-o-rama and COT
Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Mountain Climbers – 20 IC
Windmills – 15 IC
Dips – 20 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 with both feet hitting each step before performing each individual exercise of Aiken legs.
Mosey to Library and complete the Burp & Merk – Burpee with ascending merkins up to 10. Each PAX will Bear Crawl to each parking space and complete a Burpee with a hand release merkin. Bear Crawl to the next space and complete a Burpee with two hand release merkins. Continue until completing a Burpee with ten hand release merkins.
Mosey to School and complete the bottom feeder/deconstructed toy soldier set exercise. Crab walk to first sidewalk and complete 60 LBC’s. Crab walk to second sidewalk and complete 40 E2K’s to one side. Crab walk to third sidewalk and complete 40 E2K’s to the other side. Crab walk to fourth sidewalk and complete 20 big boy sit-ups. Karaoke back to the starting point switching directions at the halfway point.
F3 Message – See below
Mosey back to Aegis. PAX completed @.9 mile for the workout
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayer.
F3 Message 01/18/20
Source: Bible.org
Excerpts From Lesson 23: Going The Distance ( 1 Timothy 6:11,12)
Question: What do diets, exercise programs, marriage, and the Christian life have in common? Answer: It’s fairly easy and even fun to begin, but it’s not so easy to hang in over the long haul. Eugene Peterson, in his book, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction (IVP, pp. 1112), writes,
One aspect of world that I have been able to identify as harmful to Christians is the assumption that anything worthwhile can be acquired at once. We assume that if something can be done at all, it can be done quickly and efficiently. Our attention spans have been conditioned by thirty-second commercials. Our sense of reality has been flattened by thirty-page abridgments.
It is not difficult in such a world to get a person interested in the message of the gospel; it is terrifically difficult to sustain the interest. Millions of people in our culture make decisions for Christ, but there is a dreadful attrition rate. Many claim to be born again, but the evidence for mature Christian discipleship is slim. In our kind of culture anything, even news about God, can be sold if it is packaged freshly; but when it loses its novelty, it goes on the garbage heap. There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness.
The Christian life is not a hundred-yard dash; it’s a marathon, a “long obedience in the same direction.” Starting well is easy; finishing well is another matter. We all will encounter numerous hindrances. But, like Bunyan’s Christian, those whose burden has been lifted at Calvary will persevere.
In the final section of this letter, Paul tells Timothy and us how to go the distance. Timothy found himself in a difficult situation that was seemingly not suited for his timid personality. He had to confront the false teachers who had arisen among the Ephesian leaders by refuting their errors and by teaching the truth. No doubt he was catching flak from many in the church who had been led astray by these men and their errors. So Paul, like a coach at half time in a rough game, reminds Timothy of the game plan and challenges him to hang in there, even though it’s not easy. He gives four commands in verses 11 & 12 that are pillars for perseverance: Flee; pursue; fight; and, take hold:
To persevere, a man of God will flee worldliness, pursue godliness, fight for the faith, and take hold of eternal life.
The Greek text of verse 11 begins with the emphatic contrast, “But you, O man of God, flee these things.” In contrast to the false teachers and those who follow them in their love of money, you must run in the opposite direction. The title, “man of God” is used in the Old Testament of men like Moses, Samuel, Elijah, David, and a few prophets. It means a man who belongs wholly to God, who follows God’s Word in every aspect of life. A man of God has a certain dignity and aura about him so that when you’re with him, you sense the presence of God, because his life is so entwined with God. There’s no greater title that any Christian can covet for himself or herself than to be called a man or woman of God.
But it doesn’t happen automatically! “Some (v. 10) … but you (v. 11)”! To be a man or woman of God, you must resolve to stand against the tide. You must flee worldliness, pursue godliness, fight for the faith, and take hold of eternal life.
1. To persevere, a man of God will flee worldliness.
(When I say “man of God,” forgive me for not being politically correct, but I’m including women.) Right off we’re struck by the irony of what Paul commands Timothy: “But you, O man of God, flee!” You would expect, “But you, O man of God, stand firm,” or “fight.” Real men don’t flee, do they? Can you imagine a football coach saying, “Listen, team, the men on the other team are big and tough. When they come at you, I want you to turn tail and flee!” You don’t win by fleeing, do you?
But Paul knew that there are times when the way to victory is to flee, not to fight. We’re commanded to flee immorality (1 Cor. 6:18), idolatry (1 Cor. 10:14), youthful lusts (2 Tim. 2:22) and, here, to flee the love of money and false doctrine; but, James 4:7 tells us to resist the devil and he will flee from us. So we need to know when to fight and when to flee.
All the commands to flee can be summed up by saying, “Flee worldliness,” what John calls “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life” (1 John 2:16). The lust of the flesh refers to the strong desires to gratify ourselves by living by feelings rather than by obedience to God. The lust of the eyes refers to the desire to increase pleasure by acquiring things and outward status rather than by developing godly character. The boastful pride of life refers to self-centered living that focuses on this life in disregard of God and eternity.
Satan used these three avenues to tempt Eve. Scripture says that she “saw that the tree was good for food” (Gen. 3:6)–it would satisfy the desires of her taste (appealing to “the lust of the flesh”). Also, “it was a delight to her eyes”–it looked good outwardly (an appeal to “the lust of the eyes”). And, “the tree was desirable to make one wise”–she wouldn’t need to rely on God’s wisdom any more if she had her own (it appealed to “the boastful pride of life”).
Each of these temptations is a differently veiled form of exalting self: the lust of the flesh, to gratify self; the lust of the eyes, to enhance self, both in one’s own eyes and in the eyes of others; and, the boastful pride of life, to increase reliance on self and decrease the need to depend totally on God. The false teachers, whose doctrine and way of life Timothy was to flee, were into self. They were puffed up with pride (6:4); they didn’t submit to Scripture, but rather used it to promote their own selfish views, but without holding to its truth (6:4-5); they were into religion for personal gain, not for godliness (6:5).
I am ashamed to say that earlier in my ministry, I promoted some of false teaching on self-esteem that has flooded the church. God graciously opened my eyes to it, in part, through my reading of John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion. The entire work is edifying, but he has two wonderful chapters that would get us back on track if we would read and follow them: “The Sum of the Christian Life: The Denial of Ourselves”; and, “Bearing the Cross, a Part of Self-Denial” (Book III, Chapters VII & VIII). To quote him briefly,
There is no other remedy than to tear out from our inward parts this most deadly pestilence of love of strife and love of self, even as it is plucked out by Scriptural teaching…. Let us, then unremittingly examining our faults, call ourselves back to humility” (ed. by John T. McNeill, translated by Ford Lewis Battles [Eerdmans] III:VII:4).
Whenever a teaching appeals to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes or the boastful pride of life, we need to take off as fast as we can in the opposite direction. To persevere in the Christian life, the man of God must flee worldliness, especially the love w1111ofcz money that simply furthers the love of self.
2. To persevere, a man of God will pursue godliness.
We aren’t just to run from worldliness, but also to run to these six character qualities. The word “pursue” is sometimes translated “persecute”; it has the nuance of eagerly going after something. It implies effort, diligence, and determination. In other words, you won’t accidentally attain these qualities by hanging around church buildings long enough. You’ve got to go after them deliberately over the long haul.
A. PURSUE RIGHTEOUSNESS:
Here the word refers to conformity to the standards of God’s Word. When we trust in Christ as Savior, God declares us righteous in our standing before Him based upon the atoning sacrifice of His Son. It is a judicial action in which God puts our sin on Christ and He credits Christ’s righteousness to our account. This is called “justification”; as Paul argues in Romans 3 & 4, it is by faith, not by works.
But, having been justified (declared righteous) by faith, the Christian must then pursue a life of righteousness. As John states, “Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; … By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother” (1 John 3:7-8a, 10).
Obviously, Christians sin (1 John 1:8, 10). But the pursuit of the Christian is not toward sin, but toward righteousness. During a Monday night football game, an announcer observed that the Chicago Bears’ running back, Walter Payton, had accumulated over nine miles in career rushing yardage. The other announcer remarked, “Yeah, and that’s with somebody knocking him down every 4.6 yards!” A Christian may get knocked down by sin every few yards, but he gets up and keeps moving toward righteousness. It’s his pursuit.
B. PURSUE GODLINESS:
The word is closely related to righteousness. It has the nuance of reverence or awe in God’s presence. A godly person lives with an awareness of God’s holy presence, and so he fears God and flees from sin. As we saw in 4:7-8, we must discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness. You won’t roll out of bed some morning and find out that you magically attained it overnight. You won’t get it by going to a spiritual conference or having some emotional experience. You have to diligently discipline yourself to pursue godliness.
C. PURSUE FAITH:
Some commentators understand it to mean “faithfulness,” that dependability which is a fruit of the Spirit and should be present in every believer (Gal. 5:22). But it also can refer to the trust in God that consciously relies on Him in every situation of life. As Hebrews 11, the great chapter on faith, shows, men and women of faith believe the promises of God and live in light of them, even in the face of not receiving what is promised, because they trust that God will fulfill His sure word in heaven if not in this life (Heb. 11:13-16).
Again, you need to pursue faith. You don’t wake up some morning with vigorous faith any more than a guy with bulging muscles went to bed one night as a 98-pound weakling and woke up looking like Mr. America! How do you pursue faith? By trusting God in the frustrations, irritations, and trials that He sends your way. You deliberately humble yourself under God’s sovereign hand and cast all your anxieties on Him through prayer, knowing that in spite of how it may seem, He does care for you (1 Pet. 5:6-7).
Instead of learning to trust God with the little trials, many Christians grumble and chafe under them. They flatter themselves into thinking that if a major trial ever hits, they’ll trust God then. But it’s the small irritations that God uses to build our faith as we submit to Him and seek Him each day. We need to pursue faith in our daily circumstances.
D. PURSUE LOVE:
We often have the mistaken notion that love just flows effortlessly. If we have to work at it, it must not be love. But why would the Bible so often command us to love one another if it didn’t require diligent effort? In our day of self-focused Christianity we’re being told that we must learn to love ourselves before we can love God and others. But the Bible assumes that we all love ourselves quite well. The command to love our neighbor as ourselves is built on that premise. Calvin notes,
And obviously, since men were born in such a state that they are all too much inclined to self-love–and, however much they deviate from truth, they still keep self-love–there was no need of a law that would increase or rather enkindle this already excessive love. Hence it is very clear that we keep the commandments not by loving ourselves but by loving God and neighbor; that he lives the best and holiest life who lives and strives for himself as little as he can, and that no one lives in a worse or more evil manner than he who lives and strives for himself alone, and thinks about and seeks only his own advantage (II:VIII:54).
E. PURSUE PERSEVERANCE:
The word is not “patience” (KJV, putting up with difficult people), but perseverance or steadfastness, which means bearing up under difficult circumstances. We only can pursue perseverance by daily trusting in God as we hope in the promise of His coming and the blessings we will enjoy throughout eternity with Him.
F. PURSUE GENTLENESS:
The word doesn’t mean meekness in the sense of weakness. Timid Timothy wouldn’t need to pursue that quality, since he seemed to have plenty of it! Rather, it means strength under control. The root word was used of Alexander’s horse, a mighty and powerful animal, but completely broken, responsive to its master’s commands. As the very next word shows, a gentle man must fight. But he doesn’t fight for his own way, out of self-will, but for God’s way in submission to God’s will.
To persevere, the man of God must flee worldliness and pursue godliness as expressed in these six qualities: righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.
3. To persevere, a man of God will fight for the faith.
The Greek reads, “the faith,” meaning the Christian faith as revealed in the truth of God’s Word. As we’ve seen, sound doctrine is essential for sound Christian living. So Satan attacks sound doctrine, often with subtle errors and truth out of balance. So the Christian must, in the words of Jude 3, “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”
The history of the Christian church consists of repeated battles where the enemy introduces destructive heresies, those heresies are confronted, and the truth is clarified and proclaimed. That’s what Paul is doing in First Timothy. Many other New Testament letters have the same polemic thrust. The great church councils and creeds, while not carrying Scriptural authority, were attempts to correct false teaching and to set forth sound teaching. The Reformation consisted of godly men like Luther and Calvin combatting the corruption and false doctrine that had permeated the Roman Catholic church and setting forth the great truths of Scripture.
In every age, there are peace-lovers who promote unity, love, and tolerance as the chief Christian virtues. They say that we shouldn’t attack false teachers or expose their errors. If you dare to say you’re right and someone else is wrong, they accuse you of pride. So in the name of humility, we’re supposed to tolerate every kind of error!
But, as J. Gresham Machen, who stood valiantly for the truth earlier in this century, observed, not only was Paul a great fighter, but also all the great men God has used down through the centuries: Tertullian fought Marcion; Athanasius fought the Arians; Augustine fought Pelagius; and Luther and Calvin fought the popes. He concludes rightly, “It is impossible to be a true soldier of Jesus Christ and not fight” (cited in Fundamentalist Journal [3/83], p. 34). To persevere, we must flee worldliness; pursue godliness; and, fight the good fight of the faith. Finally,
4. To persevere, a man of God will take hold of eternal life.
You may be saying, “I thought Timothy already had eternal life. Why does Paul tell him to take hold of it?” To grasp Paul’s thought, we must note three aspects of the Christian experience set forth in this verse:
First, God calls us to salvation or the obtaining of eternal life. Salvation never begins with man, but with God. We all were dead in our transgressions, not only unable to call on God, but hostile and opposed to God, objects of His wrath (Eph. 2:1-3). If you have eternal life today, it is not because you first decided to call upon God, but because God, being rich in mercy, first called you and imparted eternal life to you as His free gift, according to His sovereign purpose (Eph. 2:4-10).
Second, we respond to God’s call and His imparting life to us by faith. Faith is a matter of the heart, but it is expressed outwardly through a public confession in baptism. Paul reminds Timothy of when he “made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses,” a reference to his baptism.
Third, we take hold of the eternal life God has graciously imparted to us. This refers to the process of laying hold of that for which we were laid hold of by Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:12). God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3), but we must take hold of those blessings, first by discovering them in God’s Word, and then by implementing them in daily life through faith.
Conclusion
Mario Cuomo, governor of New York, tells of a time when he was especially discouraged during a political campaign: “I couldn’t help wondering what Poppa would have said if I told him I was tired or–God forbid–discouraged. A thousand pictures flashed through my mind, but one scene came sharply into view.”
The Cuomo family had just moved into a new house, their first house with some trees. One tree, a great blue spruce, stood about 40 feet tall. But one night, less than a week after they moved in, they came home in a terrible storm to find that tree fallen, its roots pulled almost entirely from the ground. The family was dejected as they stood looking at this fallen giant. But Poppa, who stood barely five feet six, was determined. He declared, “Okay, we gonna push ‘im up!”
“What are you talking about, Poppa? the roots are out of the ground!” “Shut up, we gonna push ‘im up!” You couldn’t say no to him, so they got a rope and stood, pushing and pulling in the rain, and eventually got that great tree back in the hole, and then propped and staked upright again. Poppa declared, “Don’t worry, he’s gonna grow again.”
Cuomo reports that if you were to drive past that house today, you would see a straight, 65-foot blue spruce, pointing up to the heavens, with no hint that it once had its nose on the asphalt (cited in Leadership [Winter, 1993], p. 49).
Maybe as a Christian, like that tree in the storm, you’re fallen and discouraged. God wants you to stand upright again and to sink down roots so that you can weather the storms ahead. The roots that you need to persevere are to flee worldliness, to pursue godliness, to fight for the faith, and to take hold of the eternal life to which He has called you. Easy? No! Fleeing, pursuing, fighting, and taking hold all imply hardship and effort. But with Paul, Timothy, and many others who have gone before, God will give you strength to go the distance as you seek to obey His Word.
Copyright 1994, Steven J. Cole, All Rights Reserved.
12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
