Why: Why not? You’ll regret not being there if you miss it.
Q&A:
Q: How much does it cost?
A: Not a dime. But each PAX/M is asked to bring a pasta dish of your choice, salad, & dessert (just bring something to share)
Q: BYOB?
A: Drinks will be provided. But booze…I think is BYOB. Check with Ruxpin
Q: When should I RSVP?
A: Yesterday. Since you can’t do that hit up Ruxpin on the GroupMe or DM him so that he and Shawna can start to get a headcount.
Q: What if I have any additional questions not covered here?
A: Reach out to Ruxpin or Chappie in the Gloom or on F# First State FB or IG.
Thanks ahead of time to Ruxpin and his M, Shawna, for hosting this always-a-fun-time event. Let’s get together, celebrate Christmas and another year of F3, and enjoy some 2ndF beyond a morning workout (i.e. lets introduce our families to each other…)
8 PAX posted on this cool breezy morning for a pre thanksgiving beatdown to work up an appetite followed up by a little fellowship and coffeteria plenty of laughs and oh the stories that were .
WARM UP– 25 SSH, 20 WINDMILLS, 20 IMPERIAL WALKERS, 20 CHERRY PICKERS ALL IN CADENCE 15 BIG ARM CIRCLES FOWARD 15 BIG ARM CIRCLES BACKWARDS OYO.
THE THANG– THE Q TRIED SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERENT THIS MORNING AND ANNOUNCED THAT ANYTIME DURING A MOSEY ANY PAX CAN YELL DROP AND GIVE ME 5, 10 OR 15 MERKINS. THIS STARTED OUT PRETTY STRONG DURING THE FIRST MOSEY BUT SLACKED OFF A LITTLE AFTER THE FIRST PAIN STATION. I DID LOSE COUNT BUT PLENTY OF MERKINS WERE DONE.
MOSEY TO THE FISHING PIER,
1st PAIN STATION BEAR CRAWL THE LENGTH OF PARKING SPACES EXCLUDING THE HANDICAP SPOTS, 25 DIPS ON BULKHEAD, 25 DERKINS ON SAME BULKHEAD, TOY SOLDIER SET 35 (LBCs) 25 (E2Ks) EACH SIDE, 15 (BIGBOYS), 25 SQUATS
MOSEY TO STRAWBERRY ALLEY,
2ND PAIN STATION HEY THERE’S A WALL WE HAVE NOT USED YET ALL PAX HAVE A SEAT AGAINST THE WALL WHILE PAX INDIVIDUALLY PERFORMED 5 TEXT BOOK BURPEES SOME OF US MAY HAVE BEEN GLAD THERE WERE ONLY 8 PAX A SHORT BREAK FOR A LITTLE 3RD F.
MOSEY TO THE PARK
3RD PAIN STATION 15 STEP UPS EACH LEG ON BENCH, PAX WORK CAPT. THOR WHILE 2 PAX AT A TIME MEET DO A MAX SET OF PULL-UPS ON THE HUMBLING RINGS.
MOSEY UP THE HILL AND BACK TO THE CHOP JUST IN TIME FOR 4 MINUTES OF MARY.
THE FIRST THANKSGIVING WAS A 3 DAY FEAST FOLLOWING A SUCCESSFUL HARVEST. NATIVE AMERICANS AND PILGRIMS FROM THE MAYFLOWER COME TOGETHER TO CELEBRATE HEALTH AND HARVEST. WHEN WE SAY THANKSGIVING WE ARE SAYING THANK YOU TO ALL THE PEOPLE THAT HELPED MAKE AMERICA THE PLACE IT IS TODAY. KEEPING WITH THAT I WOULD TO SAY THANK YOU TO ALL THE SERVICE MEN AND WOMAN, POLICE FIRE AND EMS THAT CONTINUE TO MAKE AMERICA WHAT IT IS TODAY.
AS YOU ANTICIPATE TIME WITH YOUR LOVED ONES AND A DELICIOUS THANKSGIVING MEAL TAKE TIME TO REFLECT ON THE HOLIDAY AND HOW YOU CAN MAKE IT MEANINGFUL. THANKSGIVING IS FULL OF WAYS TO NURTURE GRATEFULNESS, EXPRESS GRATITUDE TOWARD GOD AND CELEBRATE A MEMORIAL HOLIDAY. DISCOVER HOW TO GO BEYOND FOOD AND FOOTBALL AND GLORIFY GOD ON THIS THANKSGIVING DAY. BE CAREFUL THAT YOU DO NOT TAKE THE DAY AND LEAVE OUT THE GRATITUDE, GRATITUDE UNLOCKS THE FULLNESS IN LIFE. IF THE ONLY PRAYER YOU SAY IS THANK YOU THEN IT WILL BE ENOUGH AND REMEMBER THANKSGIVING IS A TIME OF TOGETHERNESS AND GRATITUDE.
Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to
halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full
down. 15 full squats.
Cherry Pickers – 15 IC
Mosey .48 miles to Food Lion Shopping
Center
The Thang
Pax
performed a quick Mike Tyson set of 7’s in the alley between Walgreens and
Dollar Tree utilizing a bear crawl to traverse the distance between the walls. Once complete Pax went right at a set of
Doracides which is identified in the Exicon as follows: Two Pax worked together to reach exercise reps of 100, 200,
300, & 400 of 4 different exercises.
One Pax worked on the exercises while the second Pax completed suicides
to three designated waypoints. The extra
twist is at the waypoint of each suicide run; the Pax completed 1 burpee, then
2 burpees, and finally 3 burpees before returning to the starting point. Once all three suicide sprints were
completed, the Pax switched stations until all reps of each exercise were
completed. The exercises completed are
as follows: 100 American Hammers, 200
Merkins, 300 LBC’s, & 400 squats.
Mosey .48 miles back to CHOP
F3 Message
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers. Specific prayers were lifted up for Lisa, Doubtfire, Briggs Family, and Aaron.
“I only had 24 hours in Athens, Greece. Well, what am I going to do? Well, I knew what I wanted to see – the Acropolis, and there it is. It’s on this hill that dominates the city, and it’s there that the ancient Greeks built this incredible temple to their goddess Athena. Even after 20 centuries, I have to tell you, it’s still an impressive, imposing structure and it still dominates the city. The Acropolis was the most sacred, most protected, most honored place in all of Athens. In fact, it was a serious crime to violate that temple, as it was in many ancient cultures. Hey, everybody knew the temple got first class treatment because the gods live there.
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A
Word With You today about “Temple Treasure.”
Now, those ancient worshippers had the wrong
God, but in a way they had the right idea about His temple. It was in the time
of those temples and ancient deities that Paul wrote our word for today from
the Word of God in 1 Corinthians 6:19- 20.
Here’s what he says, “Do you not know that
your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received
from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God
with your body.” Now Paul is presenting here one of Christianity’s most
revolutionary and most shocking ideas. If you belong to Jesus Christ, you are
the building God lives in!
And even pagan people knew that the way you take
care of your god’s dwelling place tells a lot about how you feel about your
god. If you know Christ, you are God’s two-legged temple! You don’t have to go
to Greece to see a temple – all you have to do is look in the mirror! So
everything you do with that body of yours, God is part of. Everything you do to
that body, in a sense, you do to God.
So the question is: Are you treating your body
like the temple treasure that it is? If you really care about the God you say
you love, you won’t let His temple run down, get overweight, get abused by an
eating disorder, or get all out of shape. Ancient pagans knew you had to keep
the temple in good condition because your temple advertises what your god is
like. That’s what you and I do with the body that His Holy Spirit has come to
live in. Maybe you’re devaluing that temple God lives in with the junk you put
in it, or by playing around sexually, using His temple to satisfy your glands
or your curiosity. Do you know who lives in the body you’re doing that with?
The Holy Spirit of God.
It isn’t smart to junk up God’s temple. It isn’t
smart to misuse God’s temple. That’s what the moneychangers found out when they
were abusing God’s temple in Jesus’ day – when His temple was a building. It’s
one of the few places in the Bible where Jesus is really angry. He physically,
angrily goes after those who have messed up the place that is God’s dwelling.
Today, that’s your body, and Jesus doesn’t like it when you junk up His temple.
It matters what you do with His temple; what you put into it, how you treat it. The reason it matters to Jesus so much – what you do with that body of yours – with that temple of yours – is that He paid for you with His blood. You were, remember, “bought at a price.” And that price was Jesus’ life. He has a right to expect that the body His Spirit has moved into will be kept very special for Him.”
Respectfully Submitted,
Fireplex
MUPPET LEGS – Compliments of Bolt 45’s, Mike Tyson’s, & Doracides !
Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Cherry Pickers – 20 IC
Mosey .5 miles to that darn hill
again….:)…
The Thang
Q revisited the beatdown that could
not be completed on last Q opportunity.
We started with the exercises originally slated for the descending evolutions
of the hill climbing portion of the beatdown….but we decided to start back at
10 instead of 5 where we had left off last time….:)……PAX completed 10 Burpees,
10 Squats, 10 Merkins & 10 Big Boys.
Nur up the hill and mosey down and complete 9 Burpees, 9 Squats, 9
Merkins, & 9 Big Boys. Dragon Crawl
up & mosey down and complete 8 Burpees, 8 Squats, 8 Merkins, & 8 Big
Boys. Nur up the hill and mosey down and
complete 7 Burpees, 7 Squats, 7 Merkins, & 7 Big Boys. Boo Boo Bear Crawl up the hill and mosey down
and complete 6 Burpees, 6 Squats, 6 Merkins & 6 Big Boys. Nur up the hill and mosey down and complete 5
Burpees, 5 Squats, 5 Merkins, & 5 Big Boys.
Mosey .5 miles back to CHOP
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.
F3 Message 11/12/19
LAST-SECOND VICTORIES They’re usually some of the most exciting moments in sports: the touchdown or field goal that wins the game with no time left on the clock, that game-winning basket as the final buzzer sounds, or the game-winning home run with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning. Whatever the sport, there is nothing like a sudden victory when victory seems out of reach. It makes the fans go ballistic.
It can be
really nerve-wracking when you’re behind and time is running out, but it’s
really thrilling when a hero pulls it out at the last minute. The longer
someone walks with God, the more they come to appreciate Him as the God of the
last-second victory, the God of the eleventh hour.
The Bible
reveals many names by which God wants us to know Him. One that has meant so
much to so many for so long is the name Jehovah-jireh. It means, “The Lord
will provide.” You may be facing a need or situation right now where that
is literally your only hope – that the Lord will provide. Maybe it’s a job, a
friend, the funds, the person, the answer, the house, the healing, or the
breakthrough you need.
There is
a rock-solid promise in Philippians 4:19 that “God will
meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
God’s supply has nothing to do with what’s happening in the economy, in the
news, at work, or in what your resources can do. It’s all about His unlimited
“Jesus-account” in heaven, which transcends every limitation earth
has.
God
sometimes waits a while to meet that need. That’s when we tend to panic, to
come up with some desperate way to meet the need on our own, or to abandon our
trust in God because we think He’s taking too long. That takes us right out of
the will of God and aborts what God was going to do.
It’s
in Genesis 22 that God is known as
Jehovah-jireh for the very first time. We can learn a lot from how He worked
that day for Abraham. Abraham had, by faith, obeyed God’s direction to take the
son God had once promised to him, climb Mt. Moriah with him, and sacrifice his
son – as God Himself would do one day when Jesus died on the cross.
Believing
that God will somehow provide something Abraham can’t imagine, Abraham promises
his servants that both he and his son Isaac will return from the
mountain. Genesis 22:10 says his faith and
obedience went so far that “he reached out his hand and took the knife to
slay his son.” At the very last moment, God stopped him and showed Abraham
a ram, stuck in a thicket, who would be sacrificed instead of his son. The Bible
says, “So Abraham called that place, ‘The Lord Will Provide.'”
Jehovah-jireh made His move when there was no time left.
Now,
about your need. God loves to come through for us when there is absolutely no
place else that answer could come from, and there is no time left on the clock.
It’s 11:59 and the buzzer is about to sound. God shows up with His provision at
a time and in a way that will blow you away, that will give Him all the glory,
that will show the people around you the greatness of God, and that will take
you to a whole new level of faith and worship.
Have
faith in God. God’s last-minute victories are some of the most awesome moments
of your life. The greater the need and the later the hour, the more amazing
God’s work on your behalf is going to be. Hang in there until the end of the
game, because that is when God really does His stuff!
PAX: Chairman(Q), Chappie, Chattahoochee, Fireplex, Gump, Leatherman, Quatro, Semi, Vanilla, Wild Wing & Special Guest: Ryan Mavity (Cape Gazette)
Warmups: All In Cadence 18 SSH 20 Moroccan Night Clubs 18 Windmills 18 shell pickers
The Thang: Bring Sally Up Merkin Challenge (lots of complaining and grunting!).
Mosey to drawbridge. Toy Soldier Set: 35 LBCs 20 E2Ks 15 Big Boys.
Bear Bridge: Crawl bear up bridge incline, Ltnt Dan across deck, Bear Crawl down bridge. 10 count. Nur up bridge incline, Ltnt Dan across deck, crab walk down bridge. 10 count.
Mosey back to Primis. F3 Message:https://f3nation.com/2019/04/06/mammon-q1-9/
The Thang 2: Abbreviated version of William Wallace. Pax in 4 Corners of BBall Court: 3 in 2 corners & 2 in 2 corners (Thanks Chattahoochee!). Half Pax run to middle and do 10 Burpees while other half plank. Pax in middle run back when done and switch. All Pax to middle for 25 American Hammers IC.
Number-O-Rama and Name-O-Rama. https://youtu.be/VssjeqmRUjs
COT prayers for Chappie nephew Aaron overseas, Danielle Briggs and family as she battles cancer, Vanilla & Summit brother-in-law Jay (pancreatitis), Chairman’s Dads upcoming tests.
The Thang, nice friendly mosey to the fro t yard of Georgetown middle school and started off there with a round of BLIMPS
5 burpees (handrelease)
10 lunges each leg
15 imperial walkers (4 count)
20 Merkins
25plank Jack’s
30 squats
Then we near crawled to the first sidewalk for a super toy soldier set
50LBCs, 30E2Ks each side, 20 big boys
Lt. Dan to next sidewalk for 30 hand release merkins.
Crab walk to next sidewalk for 20 Bobby hurleys.
Mosey back to beginnings for a few capt thors 1:4 ratio big boys to american hammers only went to 5/20. After this we took a short break for a little 3rd F followed by another Mosey to Georgetown Armory steps for a round of Aiken legs 20 Squats, 20 box jumps, 20 lunges each leg, 20 split Jack’s, followed by another set of Capt. thor. Same as the last one followed up by by rinse and repeat on the Aiken Legs. From there we took a mosey to the front pad of Georgetown fire company for a round of Howling monkeys each Pax held their own ankles while we went around circle individually 10 monkey jumpers while all pax held start position. Since we were in front of camera fireplex requested something manly so we added 20 merkins in cadence. Then the one last mosey around the block just in time for 8 mins of mary. To old to remember what all that consisted of but we did get thru 7 pax each adding their own little bit to the ending of the beat down.
Finished up with count-o-rama, name-o-rama and COT.
Pulled the 3rd of from Q source
A man’s right relationship with himself, his fitness begins with his body because it is his most fundamental piece of physical equipment. A man must get it and keep it in the normal upright position at all times if he wants to be effective. In fact because preparedness requires him to be ready for the unexpected. ( not just to get ready for the expected) the him is focused on gradually but consistently accelerating his fitness level rather than merely staying in shape. Staying in shape is what amateurs try to do. These fragile bodies of ours are what we are given to house our souls. Life the thing so precious to each person that he will fight tooth and nail to preserve it. Is contained within this bag of muscle, flesh and bones we call the body. How can the soul prepare if the body withers and wither it will if we dont put it in motion against continually steeper hills and heavier rock. The body is made to be used. Let it fallow and it will not produce a good crop. But if it is well plowed and carefully tended the result will be a bounty of preparedness.
Those who stayed cozy got lapped! Especially those new young guys. What the what? Get upppp! Sorry, not sorry! Nonetheless a dirty dozen HIM started the week by winning THAT FIRST BATTLE and posting for an ad hoc beatdown by YHC. Doubtfire had to back out of his scheduled Q due to his back being tied in knots. Here’s to a recovery day for our brother and a quick return to the rotation. We have so many on the Q rotation that it sometimes feels like you don’t get to Q enough; that’s a good problem to have. YHC was excited to step in.
Never really JUST a standby, YHC went to the Exicon toolbox, pulled out the Bearmuda Triangle, and used it on the PAX. It lived up to its name…we mysteriously lost a PAX along the way (oh, wait, that was only a modification?). Here’s the skinny on the workout:
Warm-O-Rama:
SSH – 18 IC
Crab Flippers (Cherry Pickers on Delmarva) – 18 IC
Swartz Jacks – 18 IC (Uno, dos, tres, QUATTRO!)
Moroccan Night Clubs – 18 IC
Merkins – 18 IC
Patriot Run around the block – nice pace!
3rdF Message shared here – Content posted below
The Thang:
THE Bearmuda Triangle – 3 cones set up in a triangle pattern, 90 feet apart. PAX Bearcrawl from cone to cone, adding 1 Burpee at each cone. 3x around the cone triangle = 45 total Burpees
Two 10-counts later, PAX found themselves on the side wall of the church:
People’s Chair – 10 Count
5 Mexican Jumping Beans, OYO
BTTW – 10 Count
10 Mexican Jumping Beans
People’s Chair – 10 Count, 2x
15 Mexican Jumping Beans
The Jack Webb Finale: (Always a crowd pleaser)
Ratio: 1 Merkin/4 OH Claps all the way up to 10 Merkins/40 OH Claps
Though Leatherman tried to stop us, and stop the pain, we went…a WHOLE 30 secs over :-)’ Nice try brother, nice try!
Count-O-Rama:
COT/BOM:
Announcements: Nuh’in (at least not that YHC remembers)
Prayers: For family of Fireplex’s friend who passed from ALS, Chappie’s nephew (Aaron) who is deployed, for our bro Doubtfire on several different fronts
That was about it. Again, honored by the opportunity to lead. Always enjoy Q’ing. Humbled by it all. Get back soon, Doubtfire.
~Chappie, out!
Scars – 3rdF Content:
The theme of SCARS seems to keep coming up an awful lot in the last few weeks. Scars are often a kind of credential. Each of them has a story.
Kyle Carpenter (MOH recipient) bears some serious scars for jumping on a grenade to save the life of a fellow Marine. He devoted an entire chapter of his book YOU ARE WORTH IT to scars (cf. Ch.13, Don’t Hide Your Scars). In it, he wrote that “scars are a kind of credential”(210). Kyle added this story: “There is a greeter at my local Walmart, an elderly gentleman who always has a cheerful hello for everyone who comes through the door. One day, as I was walking in, he spotted me, flashed his huge grin, and then did finger pistols at me as he playfully asked, ‘Motorcycle wreck?'” I did finger pistols right back at him and replied, ‘Taliban!'”
Later he continued, “I would never encourage anyone to share something they aren’t comfortable sharing. But there are some scars that are so obvious, so apparent, that it is impossible to hide or ignore them. Instead of being ashamed of them, I think there is power in embracing these ‘stories’ that leave their marks on our bodies and souls” (211).
Scars are a kind of credential. They have tremendous power for creating bonds. “Wear them proudly. Wear them for yourself, to honor what you’ve been through. And wear them for others, to connect with them and inspire them to keep on fighting. They reassure others they’re not alone. They give hope that someday, their wounds will become nothing but scars, too” (215).
In 2 Cor. 11, the Apostle Paul shared quite a list of experiences which undoubtedly left him with serious scars. The context of the list was that he was facing off with false teachers who were trying to lead the Corinthians away from the truth. Paul shared the list not to brag about personal experiences, but to express that his heaviest burden of all was for the churches. The best scars are always the ones left from a cause that is bigger than we are! Listen to these verses from 2 Cor. 11:22-29…
22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. 24 Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. 26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; 27 I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?
Had Paul NOT been a true follower of Christ, had he NOT been truly concerned for the church, he would not have experienced (willingly endured) those trials — he would not have borne the scars which those trials inevitably produced — especially the 39 lashes x5! (Btw…that’s 195!).
Scars are a kind of credential. The nail-scarred hands of our Savior are credentials of His unconditional love. Proof that He paid our penalty in the cross. They are further proof that He is alive! Add to that, sometimes some else’s scars remind us we’re living, we’re ALIVE!
This past week you heard about the death of Toby Mac’s (and his wife, Amanda’s) oldest son, Truett, age 21. Toby Mac’s Facebook post was nothing short of phenomenal. In the midst of feeling exceptional pain that will leave exceptional scars, he and his wife, Amanda, were able to inspire others. Here’s how/why: (This is the last paragraph of their post)
Scars in the lives of HIM are a kind of credential. They’re credentials that we ARE unquestionably ALL IN, whether it be in relationship with God, in our families, our churches, our workplaces, or the communities in which we serve. Scars heal and tell a story BECAUSE YOU ARE ALIVE; scars mark you as resilient, tough, and as a survivor! They mark you as a HIM!
Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Windmills – 15 IC
Mosey .5 miles to “Holy Freaking Hill”
The Thang
The Super Sheldon Cooper on a “freaking
hill” with a few of my friendly animals – Complete 10 Burpees, 10 Squats, 10
Merkins & 10 Big Boys. Nur up the
hill and mosey down and complete 9 Burpees, 9 Squats, 9 Merkins, & 9 Big
Boys. Crawl Bear up & mosey down and
complete 8 Burpees, 8 Squats, 8 Merkins, & 8 Big Boys. Nur up the hill and mosey down and complete 7
Burpees, 7 Squats, 7 Merkins, & 7 Big Boys.
Inch worm up the hill and mosey down and complete 6 Burpees, 6 Squats, 6
Merkins & 6 Big Boys. Nur up the
hill and mosey down and complete 5 Burpees, 5 Squats, 5 Merkins, & 5 Big
Boys.
Time did not allow us to finish, but
below are the remaining evolutions as planned.
Dragon Crawl up the hill and mosey
down and complete 4 Burpees, 4 Squats, 4 Merkins, & 4 Big Boys. Nur up the hill and mosey down and complete 3
Burpees, 3 Squats, 3 Merkins, & 3 Big Boys.
Boo Boo Bear Crawl up the hill and mosey down and complete 2 Burpees, 2
Squats, 2 Merkins, & 2 Big Boys. Nur
up the hill and mosey down and complete 1 Burpee, 1 Squat, 1 Merkin, & 1
Big Boy.
Mosey .5 miles back to CHOP
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Welcome to FNG Thomas Bunting a.k.a. Radar. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.
Ambassador
grad 1970. Pastor in Canada and Germany retired in 2017. On the Council
of UCG-Canada and COE of UCGIA. Wife Valerie is British. Four adult children, 14 grandchildren
and 7 great.
Give me mountains to climb
and the strength to climb them” was a line I once read. I grew up in the
mountains, and although we did not climb in the technical sense of using ropes,
pins and other devices, we did spend many hours walking the hills and
mountains. The majesty of the peaks makes clear the concept of the grandeur of
God the Creator. It is humbling.
Climbing produces many
benefits that I’ve found to be helpful: strong legs, building confidence in
tackling heights, considering where to place your foot for each step. They are
all lessons of good planning and enable the body to become stronger and more
physically fit. The sheer exuberance of completing the task makes one want to
stand on top of the peak and shout with all of your might.
One of the
most important benefits of hiking is pushing yourself beyond what you think are
your limits.
In the past, I have taken
teenagers and young children for longer hikes in the mountains. I find
resistance comes when they get tired and weary. That is normal. One of the most
important benefits of hiking is pushing yourself beyond what you think are your
limits. Human beings are able to go beyond what they think they can do. The
body may be putting a great deal of pressure on the mind to stop, but the mind
is able to override the complaints of the body and complete the task. There are
lessons learned and character built that will keep you in good stead for a
lifetime. One lesson you can learn is knowing when to rest or pause and when
to proceed.
The safest place for a ship
is a harbor, but ships were not designed for staying in a harbor. You do not
become a great sailor by staying in quiet waters. Great sailors learn to be
great by facing and conquering the most severe storms and conditions that the
sea can give. No one would advocate that a sea captain start his career in the
most severe storm. Usually, a person starts out as a helper and assistant. He
gains experience during smaller storms and slowly develops the qualities needed
to tackle problems with expertise and competence. The same applies to the
mountains that we climb in life—whether they are real mountains or the
challenges of daily life, physical struggles, emotional or
spiritual issues.
A hard trail
Almighty God is very careful
about inviting humans to become part of the first fruits and first
resurrection. We read in John 6:44 that only God the Father decides
whose mind to open. It is not the great of the world that He chooses (1
Corinthians 1:26-27), but those chosen definitely must be able to embark on a
hard trail. It is surprising how some seemingly unlikely people have great
inner strength. Those chosen will have great rewards that will make the
struggle worth every difficult step. It will take all the strength, determination
and effort that they are able to put forth along with God’s help to reach the
summit. God is a strong helper during all of the struggles, and Jesus Christ
intercedes on our behalf.
People who
are new to the mountains do not always appreciate the dangers hidden there.
They will learn through experience that there is a proper way to climb
a mountain.
In Matthew11:12 we are told
that forceful men lay hold of the kingdom God offers. Jesus called them
“overcomers” in several places in Scripture. The obvious conclusion is that a
person will have to look forward and glimpse the wonderful future with such
conviction that nothing will deter them from achieving the goal. Hebrews 11
records the suffering of many. In Hebrews 12:3-9 Paul explains that
we need to endure hardship as discipline; God is treating us as sons. Hardships
are the mountains God has given us to climb. We need to rely on God’s Holy
Spirit and use our minds and concentration skills for this daunting task. God
will supply what we need, with His only request being that we appreciate what
is happening and learn to love His ways. Age and physical abilities are not
factors in this spiritual expedition.
Luke 14:28-33 reveals
the need to count the cost before embarking on an adventure. We need to know we
are able to complete the task. It is certain that no person, by themselves can
accomplish this task. They neither know the way nor have the strength. God
gives us what we need.
It’s worth the climb
Mountains are climbed one
step at a time. There are periods of rest, traversing and planning. Our
spiritual mountain gives us similar challenges. In 1 Corinthians
10:13 Paul stated that God only gives us that which we can bear and helps
when temptations or hardship come. It is comforting to realize that we are not
alone and have a thoughtful Creator who will lift us up.
People who are new to the
mountains do not always appreciate the dangers hidden there. They will learn
through experience that there is a proper way to climb a mountain. They will
find out that the view from the top is breathtaking. This spiritual climb is
the only way that leads to eternal life, and it is worth every ounce of
expended energy.
It is probably true that most
people would rather avoid the strenuous and demanding task of climbing
mountains (real or spiritual). Most people avoid pain and suffering. The way
God chose for His people is a difficult and narrow path. Jesus Christ felt the
loss of many disciples when the way was too difficult (John 6:66). Even His
close followers fled in panic when they saw that Jesus was not resisting arrest
and torture (Matthew 26:56).
In the end, the reward will
be more than worth the struggle. This life is short and full of troubles,
whether we choose to follow Jesus Christ or not. This life is physical and
temporary. The life we hope for, pray for and suffer for is eternal. God places
this hope into the hearts of all people.
Climbing mountains is a great source of joy and satisfaction. How much greater and joyful are God’s mountains when He walks at our side. So then we can pray, “Give me mountains to climb and the strength to climb them.”
T.ALK-3RD F ON JAMES 1:22. WE TALKED ON HOW WE SHOULD DO THE GOOD WE ALREADY KNOW. AND TO LIKEWISE STEER AWAY FROM WHAT WE KNOW IS BAD…WE ALSO TALKED ABOUT APPRECIATION AND THAT NOBODY OWES US NOTHING.
MOSEY BACK TO CIRCLE FOR CIRCLE OF TRUST. GREAT JOB MEN!
