Bolt 45’s – IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Cherry Pickers – 20 IC
Moroccan Night Clubs – 20 IC
Pax completed a Toy Soldier set consisting of 100 LBC’s, 50 E2K’s each side, and 25 Big Boy ‘s.
“Chairman Lap” out the back driveway of the CHOP, to the left on Willow, left on Union and to the left back to CHOP parking lot. Approx. .25 miles.
The Thang
All Pax were asked to complete a set of 21’s approx. 15 – 20 yards apart. Complete 20 merkins and bear crawl approx. 15 – 20 yds and complete 1 Bobby Hurley. Bear crawl back the 15 – 20 yards and complete 19 merkins, then bear crawl back and complete 2 Bobby Hurleys. Continue until you reverse the order to 20 Bobby Hurleys and 1 merkin.
Why are refrigerator doors important? Well, you probably say, “To keep the cold inside,” or “to keep that little light inside from burning out.” Yeh, that’s true too. But you might be forgetting one of the most valuable functions of a refrigerator door. That’s right; it is a great place to display the artwork of your children or your grandchildren! Right! Ours has been covered for years. Now, throughout our house and our offices, you can find pictures drawn by our grandchildren, crafts made by our grandchildren. You may not think they’re masterpieces or great works of art, but they’re precious to us.
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Surrounded by Precious.”
And why are these humble artistic creations so valuable to us? Because of who made them, of course! The person who created them is precious to us, so what he created is precious to us. There’s a song the children love to sing; I did, too, when I was one of those Sunday School kids. “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” They’re all precious to Him – people of every color, every background, every I.Q., every nationality, every age. And they had better all be precious to us.
Sadly, even though according to the Bible, “God is no respecter of persons” (Romans 2:11), God’s children, all too often, are respecters of persons. We judge people by their category. To be honest, most of us secretly, and sometimes openly, think of some people as being “not quite on our level,” or not our type, as being “outsiders,” or in some way not quite as important as we are.
Don’t try telling that to God. In His book, you and I are surrounded by people who are precious. Why? For the same reason our grandson’s artwork is precious to us – because of who made them. Every man or woman in our world was made in the image of Almighty God Himself. Every man and woman in our world is “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:13), and is, in the Bible’s words, “God’s workmanship.” Our subtle racism, or prejudice, or feelings of superiority are nothing less than sin to a holy God who “so loved the world that He gave His Son.” (John 3:16).
And your Savior went out of His way to be with those everyone considered being of less worth. He’d walk past the religious leaders to express His forgiveness to a repentant prostitute. He’d make a despised Samaritan the example of a good neighbor. He would stop the entire parade around Him for the man everyone else wanted to shut up; blind Bartimaeus. And in Mark 1:40-42, our word for today from the Word of God, it says, “A man with leprosy came to Jesus and begged on his knees, ‘If you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ He said. ‘Be clean!'”
What a scandal! Lepers were the lowest of the low – the total outcasts. And no one ever touched them except Jesus. Every person is of equal value to Him. Every person should be of equal value to you and me as His follower. No matter what race, no matter what class, no matter what their limitations, no matter what their education, no matter what nation or religion they come from.
Jesus’ followers don’t get to choose who they’ll treat as precious, because they’re all precious to Him. Our mission is to show every person in our personal world how very special they are to Him and to us because of Who made them!
In a culture obsessed with measuring talent and ability, we often overlook the important role of inspiration. Inspiration awakens us to new possibilities by allowing us to transcend our ordinary experiences and limitations. Inspiration propels a person from apathy to possibility, and transforms the way we perceive our own capabilities. Inspiration may sometimes be overlooked because of its elusive nature. Inspiration can be activated, captured, and manipulated, and it has a major effect on important life outcomes.
Isaiah 40:28-31: Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
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.
Be led by men who participate in the workout in a rotating fashion, with no training or certification necessary
End with a Circle of Trust
WARM-0-RAMA
20 SSH IC
20 cherry pickers IC
20 smurf jacks IC
20 Grady Corn IC
THE THANG
Run approximately .5 miles to parking lot circle in front of local HOB school where pax will complete the escalator.
Escalator- Take lap around parking lot and do 10 burpees, Lap around parking lot 10 burpees 20 jumpin beans lap around parking lot 10 burpees 20 jumping beans 30 merkins F3 message insterted here (details at end of back blast) … Lap around parking lot 10 burpees, 20 jumping beans 30 merkins 40 squats. Lap around parking lot 10 burpees, 20 jumping beans, 30 merkins 40 squats 50 lbc lap around parking lot. Wosey to stop sign, Mosey .5 miles back to CHOP.
Number o rama (12 HIM posted)
Name o rama
COT- Please continue to pray for our President and his advisors. Please pray for peace during this time of unrest. Praise the Lord for Quatros father in law and let keep him lifted in prayer to make a full recovery. GritMill will be reopening on July 2 2020. CHOP will be closed and all HIM will meet at the Grit Mill. Way to get after it HIM!! (total distance running today was 3 miles)
F3 MESSAGE
Ephesians 5:15-2115Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the LORD’s will is.
The Devil is about like a roaring lion right now. He is using every distraction he can to separate us, and cause divide. We need to discern the time, we need to remember the great commission. Jesus told us to simply treat others the way we wish to be treated not to treat others the way they treat us. Its an easy lesson, but a hard practice.
Matthew 5:43-48
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 [a]But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your [b]brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the [c]tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Matthew 5:41 41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.
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
The so-named workout will become evident as you read on but it was done in honor of the race that is always run on Memorial Day — The Indianapolis 500. This year it is postponed to later this Summer in August. Meanwhile, it served as a good motivator for the first workout at CHOP since mid-March.
Monday was the “official” reload of F3 First State since the shutdown and it was a good one! The relaunch was a brutal 2nd Annual Memorial Day Mini CSAUP at Cape Henlopen State Park. 13 PAX started the day with a mile-long double Patriot Run to the beach, planted the shovel flags, promptly got completely wet, and commenced to making “sugar cookies” between sets of Sandbear and recitations of the F3 principles: Open to all men. Free. Always outdoors, rain or shine, hot or cold. Peer led. And always end with a COT. It all unraveled from there. But it was awesome to be back together! PAX shared brief bio’s of fallen warriors throughout the workout to keep focused on the reason for the Day. We ended the 2-hr CSAUP with a tailgate coffeeteria.
The morning after: 13 PAX posted again for what was originally scheduled as a day of reeecovery. Yet the draw of being circled up together again for motivation, accountability, locking shields, and to be sharpened “as iron sharpens iron,” drew PAX out of the fartsack to ignore recovery for a Chappie led H.O.B./M.E. 500 — so named after the perfect little oval in front of these two elementary schools: H.O. Brittingham & Milton Elementary…
The Oval
First things first…
WARM-O-RAMA: (something like this)
Disclaimer given because it’s been so long, and because of the presence of an FNG; welcome Spread!
SSH – 18 IC
Crab Flippers – 18 IC
Moroccan Night Clubs – 18 IC (not Arm-Circles Chappie!)
Windmill – 18 IC
Mosey’d to H.O.B. & M.E.
3rd F YHC chose to share his 3rd F word to be sure to get it in:
First, a quick recitation from the PAX of F3 core principles and mission.
See if you can finish this very popular verse from Jeremiah 29:11 : “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you…’ <PAUSE> …’a future and a hope.'”
We tend to think the 2 most important thoughts of this verse are that God will give us A FUTURE and A HOPE.
But I’ve been re-thinking this lately because in our nation, our state, and our communities we’re surrounded not only by signs people are putting on their front lawns with the word “hope.” on them, but behind those signs are people concerned about an undetermined and unknown future. They’re looking for hope. Maybe you are too!
Whether we’re talking about businesses, schools, churches or other entities that have been affected by the shutdown who wonder if they’ll be able to reopen and what it will look like when/if they do, nobody likes an unknown future. That’s why I think there are 2 words in Jeremiah 29:11 that are even more important than the words “future” and “hope.” I’m talking about the words: “IKNOW.” God was saying to Israel, the false prophets don’t know the future, but “I know.” Israel themselves didn’t know the future, but God said, “I know.” Our federal, state, and local governments can’t even pretend to know the future, but God says, “_______________.”
Admit it, having an unknown future bugs us! It’s disorienting! I don’t know the future, and you don’t know the future, but the most important part of this verse, that part which actually gives us hope, is that God says, “I know…I ALONE know…the plans I have for you.” This is a call to turn to God and trust Him!
“For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.'” Trust Him for those plans, THAT future!
The Thang:
PAX partnered up and completed the following exercises cumulatively (Partner 1 runs lap, partner 2 exercises, swap, rinse and repeat to total number of reps were completed:
100 – Apollo Ono
200 – Merkins
300 – Seal Jacks
400 – Squats
500 – LBC’s (500, get it?)
Mosey return to CHOP AO
Number-Rama
Name-O-Rama – Welcome again, Jalil Davis (F3 Spread)
COT – Prayers lifted for several PAX and family members, etc.
Honored to Q the reload workout at CHOP. Welcome back, welcome, back, welcome back…
14 HIM beat the lag from the new hours of Daylight Savings Time and posted at CHOP in Milton, DE for some ab work. Plus, the PAX got in their fair share of Merkins for March Merkin Madness (actually only 147 total).
WARM-O-RAMA: (Intended for Phyfe but he couldn’t make it because of working the Blue Light Special today – no worries, we’ll get him on the schedule again.)
SSH – 18 IC
Swartzjack – 18 IC
Smurfjack – 18 IC
Plankjack – 18 IC
Crabflippers – 18 IC
THE THANG:
PAX lined up single file at the edge of the field which had 6 cones lined up evenly from one end of the field to the other (lit up with chem-lights – you gotta admit it was cool looking!)
RR Tracks to the far cone (approx. 175 yards)
Cone #1 – COP Hello Dolly – 50 IC (…and the mumble chatter begins)
Mosey to parking lot – 6 Merkins OYO
First 3 guys back to lot had to grab a Restrictor Plate (Sandbag)
Mosey out to Cone #2 – COP X’s & O’s – 18 OYO
Mosey to parking lot – 12 Merkins OYO (from here on Restrictor Plates were voluntary, at least for the most part. Well, see what happened was…instead of mumble chatter there was some “mumble yelling” by the enforcer, Leatherman, to get everyone to step up and shoulder 1 of the 3 sandbags (i.e. some guys appeared to be bypassing the bags)
Mosey out to Cone #3 – COP 4-Count Freddies – 25 IC
Mosey to parking lot – 18 Merkins OYO
Mosey out to Cone #4 – COP Box Cutters – 30 IC
Mosey to parking lot – 24 Merkins OYO
Mosey to Cone #5 – COP Dying Cockroaches – 30 IC
Mosey to parking lot – 30 Merkins OYO
Mosey to Cone #6 – COP American Hammers – 30 IC
This is how it went…back and forth like suicides, only for abs instead.
PAX circled up for 3rdF:
One of the more popular Bible verses referred to in F3 circles is Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”
Most of us have shared that verse as part of a 3rdF, and if not, all of us have at least heard it because it’s been shared regularly.
Iron sharpening iron is a pretty simple concept. We all get it—I think that’s why its included in the Book of Proverbs—its masculine practicality speaks to the hearts of all men!
I’m referring to it today in terms of the leadership principle/practice of ACCOUNTABILITY. By very definition, without accountability there’s no iron sharpening iron. Having no accountability makes you about as useful as the file hanging by itself on a hook in my shed. (P.S. – proper use is critical!)
The question I want to pose is this: In an age when there is so little accountability (i.e. men refuse accountability) do you have someone to whom you’ve MADE YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE—willingly? I’m not talking about your workplace, where you’re subordinate to a supervisor or to someone who holds your paycheck. But I’m talking about a brother in the Lord, a brother in this circle, or another man, who, in any given circumstance can not only encourage you but call into question a decision, a motive, a response, a reaction, or a path you’ve taken? Have you made your heart receptive to the counsel of someone who might even wound you so that you’ll continue to grow and mature as a man, a husband, a father, and friend? Earlier, Proverbs 27 also says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend…” (27:6). If you don’t have that other piece of iron in your life (I think Mr. T’s words might be for you: “I pity the fool!)
The term ACCOUNTABILITY as its defined in our F3 lexicon is: “Submitting to a standard through enforcement and consequence. To practice Accountability, there must be a STANDARD (and objective measure of performance or behavior…p.s., you’re NOT it!), ENFORCEMENT (an external force to apply that Standard), and CONSEQUENCE (the result of the Enforcement of the Standard). This is certainly a larger definition by context than just a friendship with a brother from another mother, yet it still applies to iron sharpening iron.
That verse means that when iron is rubbed against another piece of iron it SHAPES and SHARPENS it. Similarly, we as men, can help each other become better by our discussions, criticisms, suggestions, ideas, and accountability. As HIM we should not only provide that kind of influence, whether good or bad, but we MUST welcome it as well!
The verse implies both the pleasure and advantage of accountability. Accountability means you have wise and profitable discourses by which you sharpen and are sharpened. I.e. something is added—you are filed, made smooth, or are given a good edge by accountability with another High Impact Man (HIM)…or other High Impact Men (plural). One last question: Do you have the MORAL COURAGE to make decisions for which you will be held accountable?
(Sources: QSOURCE by DREDD, F3nation.com Lexicon, & TBKC)
THE THANG #2:
PAX moved to the wall for a short game of Merkin Dice. PAX took turns rolling the BIG dice to determine the number of Merkins to be done between 10-Count BTTW’s. It went a little something like this:
Roll #1 – 10 reps
BTTW – 10 Count
Hand Release Merkins – 10 OYO
Roll #2 – 5 reps
BTTW – 10 Count
Tempo Merkins – 5 IC
Roll #3 – 6 reps
BTTW – 10 Count, courtesy of Leatherman. Recount courtesy of Doubtfire
Prison Cell Merkins – 6 OYO
Times up…and good thing because somebody’s pain was starting to become “special.” Lol. Plus, PAX had to have time to name our FNG>
COT/BOM:
Number-Rama
Name-O-Rama
Naming of FNG – Welcome FNG Jeff Chorman, now known in F3 circles as Woodstock
Announcements:
Softball games Saturday in Milton to raise support for Delaware Food Bank: Bring your non-perishable food items to the ball fields (Suggestion: You could ruck them to the ball fields.)
2nd Annual Shamruck: Family Ruck this Sunday (3/15). Stepping off from the Big Lot’s parking lot in Milford at 3:17 p.m. Rucking 1 mile to McDonald’s for Shamrock Shakes. Rucking 1 mile to return to parking. Bring a ruck (40 lbs if you weigh over 150, 20 lbs if you weigh under 150. If the kids can’t ruck pull ’em in a wagon, bring friends, etc. Let’s just enjoy some time together under ruck and having some quality 2ndF and giving our families the opportunity to get to know one another.
Prayers: Stafford Family, effected by cancer. Family of Trion’s M’s uncle, Roger. YHC’s friend, undergoing brain tumor removal tomorrow. Other PAX’s families battling for the marriages, etc. P.S. – don’t forget to pray for Quattro, who is sick.
Grateful for the beautiful weather and the amazing full moon to workout under. More than anything, YHC is grateful for the HIM who posted and the accountability that is available (for all who are willing) through this special esprit de corps among F3 brothers. Thanks for posting men!
Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Jiminy Crickets – 10 OYO
Windmills – 20 IC
The Thang
Pax completed the Hindenburg BLIMPS routine from the Exicon at the CHOP. We modified the sprint portion to a straight line across the CHOP Parking lot approx. .02 miles apart. Sprint from the Church to the field behind CHOP and perform 1st exercise, sprint back to Church and perform 1st exercise, sprint back to the field and perform 1st exercise. Sprint back to the Church and perform 1st exercise. Plank it up until all PAX are in. That completes one round. Rinse and repeat but perform the second exercise working from the Church to the field. Rinse and repeat for the 3rd and 4th exercises. Round #1 – 10 Burpees. Round #2 – 20 Merkins. Round #3 – 30 LBC’s. Round #4 – 40 Lunges (20 each leg). Round #5 – 50 Plank Jacks. Round #6 – 60 Squats.
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.
F3 message –The 3rd F from Ron Hutchcraft Ministries was shared after completing Round #4. See Below….
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.
At a party with some of our ministry staff and volunteers, we had a lot of fun with a common party game. You know, each person brings something they really want to get rid of, beautifully wrapped, of course. Everyone draws a number. When your number comes up, you have the choice of opening one of the unopened gifts and making it yours or taking that unopened package and trading for what someone else has already opened, and then you leave them with whatever is in that still-wrapped package. Somehow, there always ends up being a few items that everyone wants. And depending on how aggressive your people are – and we’ve had some pretty aggressive ones – they remember who’s got the hot item and they go after it with a vengeance. Those few items just keep moving around in trade after trade.
My sister-in-law, who is a wonderful worker in our ministry, actually drew the #1, which meant she didn’t get to make a trade at the beginning. But while the trading frenzy for the evening’s hot items got more and more intense, she just sat peacefully and quietly through it all, because she remembered the oft-forgotten rule of the game. Since #1 didn’t get to make a trade at the beginning of the game, she makes the last trade of the game. So all along, she knew what she wanted. And all along she is sitting there thinking, “I know how this is going to end!”
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Knowing the Ending.”
One of the exciting things about what God reveals to us in His Word is that we get to see how things are going to end. The frenzy and chaos may last quite a while, there may be lots of twists and changes, but, like my sister-in-law’s perspective on that game, there is no question about how it’s going to end up.
Our word for today from the Word of God is the incredible promise of Romans 8:28; the verse that one great writer called “a soft pillow for a long night.” Later verses will declare that if God is for us, no one can successfully be against us, that Christ’s love makes us conquerors in the worst of life’s disasters, that there will never be a life-quake so severe that it will be able to take us out of Jesus’ love. But before all that, this promise of how everything in a believer’s life will end up. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” In the King James, “God works all things together for good.”
During the game, it can get really frantic. In fact, it can even hurt a lot. The verse doesn’t say everything is good. It says God is working everything together for good – the agony, the ecstasy, the pains, the gains, the losses, even what the devil is doing to you. Paul’s thorn in the flesh wasn’t good in itself; it hurt him, it frustrated him, and the Bible says it was a “messenger from Satan.” But Paul saw the good that came later in the game. The pain had brought him to the end of himself and into an experience of God’s power that only the powerless ever touch. The gain was far greater than the pain.
That is the implied guarantee of Romans 8, that God will not allow it in your life unless it can be used for a greater good. No matter how hard this current situation is to understand, no matter how almost unbearable the pain, it’s possible for you to keep going with this unexplainable sense of peace and well-being. Because while God never guarantees that all the chapters will be happy, He does guarantee a happy ending.
The outcome – a better family, a better ministry, a better business, a better you if you will stay on the Jesus-path, if you will let the struggle turn you to your Lord, not away from Him. He will do what will bring you the greatest good and Him the greatest glory. Relax in that guarantee, no matter how it looks now.
As the pressure and the frenzy increase around you, you’ll be able to sit there with this wonderful inner calm saying because of your Sovereign Lord, “I know how this going to end.”
