It was one of those real short nights. I had just spoken for a large youth event, and the night went late for the best of reasons: God brought hundreds of young people to faith in Christ that night. The counseling of all those kids took a blessedly long time. Now Jason, who was one of the organizers, took me to my hotel that night and he told me he would be picking me up in a few hours for my very early morning flight. I said, “I’m sorry you have to get me so early when you’ve been up so late.” He said, “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll just roll out of bed, throw on a baseball cap, and come on over.” (Which, by the way, I think is the major reason there are baseball caps.) Well, bless his heart, that’s just what he did. When we got to the airport, I asked him if we could pray together before I went on my plane. He respectfully took off his baseball cap, and we had a neat time of prayer. When I opened my eyes at the end, he still had his cap off. And a very creative hair style – I mean, it was all over the place! He even laughed about it. The cap covered what he didn’t want anyone to see-except when he was praying.
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Real You, Real Prayer.”
Actually, prayer should be the time when we are willing to expose what we don’t want anyone to see or know otherwise. It’s meant to be the place where we can be 100% honest and 100% transparent. And when we are, some amazing things can happen.
Our word for today from the Word of God begins with Hebrews 4:13, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” In other words, there is no point in posing or role-playing when you’re with God. He already knows your deepest feelings, your deepest failings, your deepest struggles. Our hat is always off in front of God, whether we take it off or not. He knows everything we cover up for other people. There’s no point in trying to put a tie on for God if “everything is uncovered and laid bare before Him.” Right?
Now we might worry about how God will respond if we really get real with Him. Well, listen to verse 15. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin.” The Savior you’re approaching is the one who has been here, who has been, while fully God, fully human. He gets us!
When God the Son was here, He experienced temptation from Satan himself. He experienced loneliness, abandonment, agonizing over God’s will, grief, family tensions, homelessness, excruciating pain, even dying. So you come emotionally naked to one who has lived…not necessarily all your exact circumstances, but feelings very much like yours. You’ll not shock Him with your struggles-He already knows. You won’t be rejected for your feelings-He understands.
And when you come with the cover off, you leave with resources from God that can change everything. Hebrews 4:16: “Let us then (in other words, since we’re going to a God who knows all about us, who has walked in our moccasins) approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
God wants to pour out His mercy and His grace on the hardest, hurtingest parts of your heart and life. But the real God will only help the real you. You don’t come with your “cap off” to show God what He doesn’t know about. You come totally exposed emotionally and spiritually because God will only help you with what you honestly open up to Him.
So when you’re praying, don’t come to God with the official you, with the image you show everyone else, with the dressed up, touched up, covered up you. Uncover in His presence what you can’t uncover to anyone else. And let His grace; let His healing come pouring into the parts of your heart that need it the most.
Come like the old hymn says, “Just as I am without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me.”
Bolt 45’s – 15 squats full up to half way down, 15 squats half way down to full down, & 15 squats full motion. All completed IC as a 4 count.
American Hammers – 50 IC
Cherry Pickers – 20 IC
Mosey @.5 miles to Holy Hill
The Thang
1st & 10 Routine per the Exicon…Well sort of….:)…..Perform 10 merkins and 1 burpee. Nur up the hill and run down. Perform 9 merkins and 2 burpees. Nur up the hill and run down. Perform 8 merkins and 3 burpees. Nur up the hill and run down. You recognize a pattern developing here. Pax took a break for the 3rd F (see below) after completing the round starting with 5 merkins. After the break for the message, all HIM completed the rounds down through 1 merkin and 10 burpees with a final Nur up the hill and the run down.
Mosey @.5 miles back to CHOP.
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Prayers were offered for multiple needs within the attending PAX, but please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.
I heard a while back about a novelty company that made a lot of money on people having birthdays that they might not be real excited about. You know, like those milestone birthdays: 40, 50, 60. I’ll stop there. Of course, if you’re sad about how many birthdays this is, consider the alternative. That means you’ve stopped having birthdays, and that’s not good. This company actually produces a whole line of birthday products called “Over the Hill.” Maybe you’ve seen them. There are these black balloons with these words on them, black banners, cards; all kinds of dark little reminders that tap into the very things you don’t want this birthday to mean. A friend of mine was facing the classic Baby Boomer crossroads of turning 60 and was talking about it to an older man that he knew. And that man said something that made me laugh several times since then. He said, “Hey, how can I be over the hill when I’ve never even made it to the top yet?”
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Time is Slipping Away.”
After I stopped laughing, I realized that’s how a lot of folks feel about their life. Where did it go? How can it be flying so fast? Especially when there’s so much I thought I would have or do by now and I haven’t. Job said it this way in the Bible, “My days are swifter than a runner” (Job 9:25).
I remember telling the quarterback of our high school’s freshman football team, “Hey, Chris, you’re going to blink your eyes and suddenly you’ll be a senior playing your last games.” He smiled, “Yeah, whatever.” One day in the senior locker room, he reminded me of what I had told him when he was just starting high school. He said, “Where did it all go so fast? Wasn’t I a freshman just yesterday?” I well know the feeling.
Our word for today from the Word of God, James 4:13-14 put our little journey on this planet into perspective. The Bible says, “Now listen you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this city or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
And at that point, now I’m… this is me talking, “It’s all about eternity.” A friend of mine was at a class reunion where he was talking with a classmate who had become a very successful physician. As the conversation turned somehow to talking about God, the doctor just said very candidly, “Frankly, I’m nervous about eternity.”
You know what? We should be, if we’re not ready for the God we’re going to meet on the other side. Actually, the Bible tells us that we couldn’t be more “unready” to meet God. Isaiah 59:2 says, “Your sins have separated you from your God.” The Bible makes it clear that we’re all in deep trouble with God because as it says, “all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory” (Romans 3:23). We’ve been so busy pursuing the elusive goal of happiness and success that we have forgotten eternity.
And waiting to get ready for it is just foolhardy. As the Bible says, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth” (Proverbs 27:1). How many funerals have we been to of people who thought they had more time; maybe lots more time, and suddenly it was over.
We’re not ready for eternity unless every sin of our life has been erased from God’s book. And there’s only one person who can do that: the person who died to pay for that sin, and that is Jesus. In the words of the Bible, He “made peace (with God) through His blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:20). The choice is simple. Either we put our trust in Jesus and His death for our sins, or we pay that death penalty ourselves – forever. Jesus came to give us heaven. Once you come to His cross and put your total trust in what He did there for you, death is no longer the end, it’s just the beginning! All death can do, then, is take you to heaven if you belong to Jesus.
If you don’t belong to Him, if you’re not sure you do, don’t risk another day without Him. The Bible says, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart” (Hebrews 4:7). I urge you as soon as you possibly can today to say, “Jesus, you died for my sins so I don’t have to. You’re my hope. I’m Yours.”
Listen, our website is there to help you cross that line. And I’d encourage you to go there today. It’s ANewStory.com.
The days, the years really do fly faster than we ever dreamed; each bringing us closer to our last day. There’s just such peace in knowing you’re ready for eternity whenever it comes.
The Super 21 “Streudel Special”. 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 set completed of #1 though #5 you will do 21 Imperial Walkers. After each set completed of #6 through #10 complete 21 Mountain Climbers. After each set completed of # 11 through #15 complete 21 Monkey Humpers. After each completed set of #16 through #20 complete 21 Prisoner Squats. After the final set of #21 Merkins to 21 Big Boys then finish strong with 21 Burpees.
F3 Message
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.
Health clubs and spas love January! Business skyrockets as December bulges turn to January workouts.
A “new year” sounds like a great time to work on a new you. Thus, the infamous New Year’s resolution. “A firm decision to do or not to do something.”
Sadly, research shows that about 88% of our resolutions won’t happen.
It’s not that we aren’t sincere about wanting to improve. We really do want to be healthier. Spend more time with the family. Get out of debt. Do better in school. Clean out the junk. In our house. Or in us.
So why do our great intentions so often end in failed commitments?
My work has put me in the middle of many folks’ efforts to change. From their experience – and too much of my own – I’ve seen four reasons we fail.
1. We’re not specific.
Goals have to be more than general intentions. “I’m going to be a better husband” … “I’m going to get in shape” … “I want to make more of a difference” – nice ideas. Not likely to succeed. “I’m going to give my wife all of my attention at least once a day” … “I’m not going to eat after 6 o’clock and I’ll spend 20 minutes on the treadmill each day” … “I’m going to volunteer at the shelter” – those are specific – and measurable – enough to give a person a decent shot at real change.
2. We’re not accountable.
A resolution between me, myself and I is just too easy to forget. But when you announce to several key people the commitment you’ve made, you’ve put yourself on the line to do it. Like the Bible says, “Two are better than one … if one falls down, his friend can help him up.”
3. We give up too soon.
Babies learn to walk by a process I call “step … boom!” They fall down, but they don’t stay down. They get up! Next time – “step, step, step … boom!” Until one day they’re rocketing across the room. Sadly, when we fall down in our effort to do better, we too often stay down. But one day’s failure is just that. One day. Keep it that way. Get up and keep walking!
4. We have a power shortage.
Especially when it comes to the changes that really matter. Breaking the cycle that’s hurting the people I love. Conquering the dark part of me that has brought me down again and again. Moving beyond the pain of my past. Attacking that fatal flaw that has cost me so much.
Every new year has the same last name. “A.D.” 2015. A.D. “Anno Domini.” The year of our Lord. Measured by how many years it is since Jesus Christ came.
My whole life has been “B.C./A.D.” The me I couldn’t change before Christ took the wheel of my life. And the changed life He’s made possible since I gave me to Him.
I thought I could only trust me to drive. But I drove into too many ditches. Ran over too many people. Crashed too often. I couldn’t get me to the man I want to be. I need to be. That the people I love need me to be.
Like one of the men who wrote the Bible. He said, “I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t … Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?”
I know that feeling. And I’ve found the power to change where that Bible-writer found it. “Thank God!” he said – “The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.” It took the Man who died for my sin to give me the power to beat my sin.
My personal B.C. – a man I didn’t want to be. My personal A.D. – the man I could never have been without the great Life-Changer.
Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Windmills – 20 IC
Toy Soldier Set – 50 LBC’s, 25 E2K’s (each side), 15 Big Boys
Mosey .47 miles to the School.
The Thang
PAX completed the Hindenburg BLIMPS routine from the exicon. We modified the sprint portion to a straight line between FOUR light poles that were approx. .02 miles apart. Perform exercise at pole #1, sprint to pole#2 & perform exercise, sprint to pole#3 & perform exercise & lastly to pole #4 & perform exercise. Plank it up until all PAX are in. That completes Round #1. Reverse directions and perform the second exercise working back to the pole where it all started. Rinse and repeat until all 6 Rounds are complete. Round # 1 – 10 Burpees, Round #2 – 20 Lunges (10 each leg). Round #3 – 30 Imperial Walkers. Round #4 – 40 Merkins. Round #5 – 50 Plank Jacks. Round #6 – 60 Squats.
F3 message –The 3rd F was shared after completing round #4.
Mosey .47 miles back to the Aegis.
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers. Welcome to FNG F3 Klick.
F3 Message 01/09/21 – Gleaned From Ron Hutchcraft Ministries
WHEN THE RAIN JUST WON’T STOP – #8870
January 8, 2021
Every once in a while the sun just decides to take a vacation for a few days. Not too long ago, we had one of those stretches of weather when we didn’t see the old boy for the better part of a week. It was just like one rainy day after another. Everyone around here and everything around here was soaked. I was running into our headquarters one morning on a day like that, as one of my co-workers was, and we were both trying to avoid getting drenched in the process. I made some comment about the relentless rain, but he was looking at a little bigger picture than I was. Remembering last summer’s withering drought, he said, “This is going to be good for us later on.”
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “When the Rain Just Won’t Stop.”
You might be going through one of those seasons in your life when the “rain” never seems to stop. It’s been stress, bad news, struggle, disappointment, grief, confusion. We all take our turn facing those seasons when we keep waking up to another rainy day.
Our word for today from the Word of God has been, for 2,000 years, a bright light for dark days. The well-worn words of Romans 8:28 have helped millions of believers see a bigger picture when it seemed as if it would never stop raining. As familiar as you might be with these words, they may literally have your name on them for this particular season of your life. So, listen to them with your heart; “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
One great saint described Romans 8:28 as “a soft pillow for a long night.” I hope you will let it be that for you. Because it gives you God’s ironclad assurance that there is meaning in what you’re going through; there is a holy purpose for God either sending or allowing those things in your life. His purpose for our dark times is seldom explained, but it’s always there. It doesn’t say everything is good. No, it says everything is being worked together for good. For your good, if you’re one of those “who love Him.”
So you can say, no matter how many days it’s been raining, “This is going to be good for us later on.” God simply wouldn’t let this happen if it wasn’t going to be good for you later on. Romans 8:29 tells us that the ultimate good God is going to bring out of this is to make you more like His Son. I believe God shapes and allows the circumstances to come into your life that will best develop some quality of Jesus in us. There’s nothing greater God could do for you than to plant in you the way Jesus loves people, the way Jesus treats people, the way Jesus is patient with people, the way Jesus understands what a hurting person is going through, and this kind of bondedness is what Jesus had with His Father.
And that may take a lot of rainy days for God to make you the man or woman He created you to be and redeemed you to be. He’s toughening you, or maybe He’s tenderizing you, purging you of old ways of doing things, squeezing you into new and better priorities, sensitizing you to people that maybe you’ve hurt or neglected, moving you to burn some old bridges or to treat some old wounds. What gets you through the rainy days is the calm assurance that “God is working all this together for my good to make a better me.”
Are you going to enjoy one rainy day after another? Not necessarily. But it sure helps to see them in the big picture perspective. God is using these days to prepare you for better days ahead. So if you got up this morning and found that it was raining again, lean hard on Romans 8:28 and say, with all the confidence of a blood-bought child of God, “This is going to be very good for us later on.”
Bolt 46’s IC (4 Count) – 16 squats to halfway down (Q Lost Count). 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Cherry Pickers – 20 IC
The Thang
Mosey @.5 miles to O Holy Hill.
PAX performed 12 hydraulic squats in cadence with a weird 6 count, 12 best form LBC’s in 4 count cadence, & 12 best form merkins in 4 count cadence. Once complete Pax will nur up the hill and run down and plank for the 6. PAX completed 11 hydraulic squats in cadence, 11 best form LBC’s in cadence, & 11 best form merkins in cadence. Nur up the hill and run down and plank for the 6. Rinse and repeat in descending order until time became a factor. HIM completed 5 evolutions down through the round of 8.
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 – 12/24/20 – see below for Billy Graham & Ron Hutchcraft posts gleaned from the Internet…
In His Own Words – Billy Graham’s 1993 Christmas Message
December 21, 2020
The joyful Christmas message of peace on earth and goodwill to men seems clouded this year by events at home and around the world that dramatize the terrible increase in violence and crime.
We live in a world dangerously torn by hate and conflict, and people feel powerless to do anything about it. Many also know that their own hearts are driven by destructive passions and motives they cannot seem to control or change.
The decline in moral values is having a tragic effect on our society. People are concerned about their children, their families and their country and are desperately searching for answers. In taking God and religion out of our lives, we have lost our moral and spiritual bearings.
This Christmas season let us consider our spiritual heritage. Let us listen carefully to the angels’ words that continue to offer us hope, especially at this critical time.
“Fear not.” the angels said on that starry night in Bethlehem. “For I bring you good news of great joy, which shall be for all the people. For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.”
In a world more needy than ever, let us open our hearts to the child in the manger, who can bring us new life and new power over the violence, crime, and evils of our day.
The occasion was a city-wide art contest. They were told to paint paintings entitled “Peace.” While the judges were understandably attracted to this beautiful pastural scene that a local painter had painted. It was a green pasture. It was the puffy white clouds and the beautiful blue sky and a little boy going by with a fishing pole over his shoulder and a quiet brook and some birds. That got second place. First place – well, the picture was of an angry, stormy day at the seashore as the ocean was beating against the cliffs and the cliffs were stark and dark because of the darkness of the storm. The sky in this painting was angry and black, green and purple. You had to look twice to figure out what in world this had to do with peace. But if you looked halfway up the cliff these little baby birds were nestled underneath the wing of their mother, and they were sleeping totally oblivious to the storm that was howling all around them. Now it’s the Christmas season. It’s supposed to be about peace; but, if you feel the holiday pressure like I do, seems more like a storm, a stress which leads us into those birds.
Well, I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “A Christmas Survival Kit.”
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Isaiah 30:15, “in quietness and trust is your strength.” What a great verse for the chaos that Christmas has become. You’re in the middle of it right now. The shopping – the entertaining – and getting all the cards out – “Oh, who did we forget. They sent us a card; we better send them one.” – All of the church events that are going on – maintaining all the family traditions that the kids insist on or you do – the guests are coming – family time – you know, they’re flying in – they’re driving in. Suddenly the Christmas season seems more like “Stress on Earth” than “Peace on Earth,” and then God speaks “in quietness and trust is your strength.”
If you are going to protect the heart of Christmas and not succumb to the hassle of Christmas, you must protect a quiet spot at the beginning of each day where quietness and trust will be your strength. Think about those birds in that painting. Peace was not the absence of a storm, it was peace right in the middle of it. They found their quiet spot. Well, the secret is the same for you. The more hectic the season is, the harder it is to get your quiet time with the Lord and the more you need it.
It would be tragic if Jesus gets lost in the process of you getting ready for His birthday. If anything, make your time with Jesus more top priority than ever. First of all because Christmas becomes an idol if it crowds out Christ. Secondly, you need to be with Him to keep everything in proportion. Unload your concerns on Him. Focus on the relationship with Jesus. It’s a love relationship above all else. Eliminate the overload. Ask the Lord if there’s things you can eliminate. Simplify as you ask for His wisdom. What’s your Christmas survival kit? “Quietness and trust is your strength.” It comes from non-negotiable times spent with the Prince of Peace, not peace that’s the absence of a storm but peace right in the middle of a storm.
1. a cooking appliance with a rotating spit for roasting and barbecuing meat.
2. F3 Definition of Rotisserie – You #$% is in for a Beatdown !!
PAX moseyed @.63 miles to the first pain station at MFD and completed 30 American Hammers in a four count cadence.
Moseyed from the FD @.49 miles to 514 Chestnut St. where we completed a toy soldier set of 100 LBC’s, 50 E2K’s each side and 25 Big Boys.
Moseyed .22 miles from 514 Chestnut to WBOC (OTS) where all PAX Bear Crawled for @8 parking spaces (@80 ft.) and completed ATM’s – 15 alternating shoulder taps (4 count), 10 tempo Merkins (4 count), and 10 fast merkins OYO. PAX Bear Crawled back (@80 ft.) and completed another evolution of said ATM’s.
Moseyed .21 miles from WBOC to 611 Federal Street where we completed a descending round of Super 21 without any recovery exercises between the rounds. 21 merkins, 21 LBC’s. 20 merkins, 20 LBC’s, etc. descending through the round of 15. Time was a factor and Q challenged each HIM to complete the descending rounds to 1 merkin, 1 LBC OYO at home.
Moseyed 1.16 miles from 611 Federal Street back to CHOP. Total – 2.71 miles overall mosey, not counting any mileage accrued for those that circled back to bring up our 6.
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Prayers were offered for multiple needs within the attending PAX, but please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.
Chappie hosted coffeteria for all HIM in the Church Fellowship Hall. Thanks to Quattro for donuts and extra coffee.
Maybe it was the dumb voices I did. But the kids used to love it when I read “Winnie the Pooh” to them. Tigger with his irrepressible “hoo-hoo!,” bouncing everywhere. And Eeyore with his head down and his ever-present gloom.
I’d rather be Tigger than Eeyore. Maybe without the bouncing. I want to be the one who leaves sunshine in the room, not storm clouds.
That’s not so easy. There’s plenty to make us Eeyores. Overheated schedules. Grumpy folks. Medical battles. Family tension. Too little sleep. Long delays. Aggravating pain. Aggravating people.
Then there’s the antidote. Thanksgiving. Well, actually, giving thanks. That may be the difference between being the joy-bringer or the joy-killer.
The “inventors” of our Thanksgiving exemplify that difference. According to H. U. Westermayer, “The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than those who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.”
There’s Thanksgiving the holiday. Then there’s thanks-living, the lifestyle. It’s the difference between the dirty window and the blessing glasses.
When I look out a dirty window, the whole world looks yucky. Even the really good stuff is dimmed by all the caked-on dirt that’s coloring my view.
If you’ve decided your role in life is “victim,” it will be hard to see much that’s positive through that window. Abused … neglected … abandoned … misunderstood … passed over … wounded – that’s real hurt.
But to let those who hurt you define you is a self-imposed sentence of despair. Denying the many good things because they don’t fit the victim narrative. Living as a prisoner of your past.
Unthankfulness, for whatever reason, breeds some ugly offspring. In Romans 1, God describes how humans end up doing unthinkably depraved things – and where that downward slide starts. “They wouldn’t worship Him as God or even give Him thanks … their minds became dark and confused” (Romans 1:21 NLT).
Unthankful heart -> dark mind. Bitterness … resentment … depression … anger … rebellion against God. They come from an ungrateful heart.
Yes, you can choose to go through life looking out your dirty window, seeing all that’s wrong. Or, you can choose to put on your blessing glasses. That enables you to live – not in denial of the bad stuff – but celebrating the goodness of God all around you. If you have eyes to see it.
Henry Ward Beecher, said: “The unthankful heart … discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as a magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!”
And those blessings are always there. The ever-changing masterpieces of the Ultimate Artist all over the sky, the yard, the horizon. The smile of a friend, the laughter of a child, the roof over your head. The food in the fridge, the song of that bird, the car that runs, the job you have, the person who cares. We call them “God-sightings.”
Actually, thanks-living isn’t just an option for a follower of Jesus. It’s a command. “Always be joyful” – how am I going to do that, for heaven’s sake? “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16, 18).
When you look at life through blessing glasses, all kinds of good things blossom. Joy that’s from what’s happening in your spirit, not your situation. Peace that banishes anxiety. Faith that sees a God who’s bigger than whatever is bigger than you are.
Thanksgiving’s a great time to become intentional about collecting blessings, not burdens. Living “with gratitude in your hearts to God.” To “do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:16-17).
For me, that thanks begins, not at a turkey-filled table. But at an old rugged cross. Where I once again allow myself to be leveled by the love of my Jesus. Who took my hell. So I can spend forever in His heaven.
Thanksgiving – and thanks-living – begin with the love that will never let me go.
Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Monkey Humpers – 25 IC – Special Welcome Party For QuattroWho Was Rolling In Hot (RIH)
Cherry Pickers – 20 IC
Moroccan Night Clubs – 25 IC
The Thang
Three Alarm Fire – Arms, Legs, Abs, “R” Exercise, and “M” Exercise
First Alarm
A – Overhead press with Coupon (Block) – 20 OYO
L – Lt. Dan’s – Half of Parking Lot
A – LBC’s – 50 OYO
R– Run 1 Lap around the Block .25 miles
M – Monkey Humpers – 20 OYO x 4 Count
Plank until 6 is in
Second Alarm
A – Curls with Coupon (Block) – 20 OYO
L – Bobby Hurley’s – 20 OYO
A – American Hammers – 30 OYO x 4 Count
R – Run 2 Laps around the Block .50 miles
M – Mountain Climbers – 15 OYO x 4 count
Plank until 6 is in
Thanks to all HIM for Understanding and Finishing the Exercise Set as I Responded to a Real Alarm – MVC on Coastal Highway. Thank the Good Lord, the Injuries were Minor. I did Return and Finish the Set On My Own….:)…
Third Alarm
A – Triceps Curls with Coupon (Block) – 20 OYO
L – Smurf Jacks – 20 OYO x 4 Count
A – Toy Soldier Set – 100 LBC’s, 50 Y2K’s, & 25 Big Boy Sit Ups
R – Run 3 Laps around the Block .75 miles
M – Merkins – 30 OYO
Plank until 6 is in
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.
F3 Message – 09/17/2020 Constitution Day
How Did the Bible Influence the U.S. Constitution?
By Tamara Christine Van Hooser – Updated May 10, 2019
Christians and critics hotly debate how the Bible influenced the U.S. Constitution. Secularists argue that contrary to popular opinion, the Founding Fathers were “deists” at best and never intended any religious influence in matters of government. Many Christians counter that while there were certainly theological differences and variations in the level of Christian commitment between the men who framed the Constitution, the principles upon which it is founded reveal foundational assumptions of a Christian worldview, even though the document does not explicitly refer to God nor the Bible. A look at the words of the Constitutional Convention delegates themselves provides insight into how their thinking was influenced by the Bible and Christian principles when framing the laws of the new nation.
Founding Fathers’ Worldview
The laws set forth in the U.S. Constitution did not emerge out of a moral vacuum unrelated to the writers’ own beliefs, but rather are the product of the reasonings of those who created it. By their own words, the Founding Fathers were not neutral on the question of religion as the basis of government and society.
For example, in a letter to the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts, John Adams writes, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Noah Webster stated, “The moral principles and precepts contained in the scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws. All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery, and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.”
Delegate Governor Morris of Pennsylvania forthrightly professed, “I believe that religion is the only solid base of morals, and that morals are the only possible support of free governments. Therefore education should teach the precepts of religion and the duties of man towards God.”
Origins of Constitutional Law
While the Constitution does not explicitly refer to God, the concepts of law which it contains stem from the cultural assumptions of basic biblical truths widely held by the people of that time regardless of their actual piety towards God. In other words, it is an inarguable fact that not all Americans of that era actually held to the Christian faith, yet they held to the commonly accepted morals, ethics and standards of behavior derived from English Common Law, which drew from biblical law given to the Hebrews by God.
Underlying Biblical Principles
The rule of law laid out in the Constitution descends from the Ten Commandments. As they suffered at the hands of corrupt human authorities, the Constitutional delegates were aware of the flawed nature of human beings as shown in Genesis 3 and Jeremiah 17:9. Thus, they designed a system of checks and balances and separation of powers to prevent one individual or group from abusing the citizens through self-serving power ploys.
The three branches of government are reminiscent of the roles of God as described in Isaiah 33:22. The exception for Sundays in the time limit for the president to sign a bill into law in Article VII, Section 2 hints at the assumption that Sunday was a day of rest as set forth in Exodus 20.
Exodus 18 reveals that before Israel demanded that God give them a king, the Hebrews had a representative form of republican government, not unlike the system created in the Constitution.
Both Leviticus 19:34 and Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution require uniform treatment of immigrants. Deuteronomy 17:15 warns the Hebrews not to let a foreigner rule over them just as the Constitution requires the president to be a natural born citizen of the U.S.
The requirement in Article III Section 3 to establish guilt in cases of treason by the testimony of at least two witnesses recalls the biblical instruction in Deuteronomy 17:6 to have the testimony of two or three witnesses before putting a man to death.
Separation of Church and State
Contrary to the popular conception of many, the words “separation of church and state” do not actually appear in the U.S. Constitution. The sole reference to religion in the Constitution is Article VI, Section 3, “…no religious Test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”
The Bill of Rights was added later to include First Amendment protections, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Critics argue that these words indicate the Founding Fathers wanted to establish an entirely secular form of government, wholly uninfluenced by religion of any stripe.
Christians point out, however, that the many writings of the early Americans in the era of the birth of the Constitution contain numerous quotations and ideas which can be traced back to a biblical source. They assert that the Constitutional delegates so took for granted the necessity of a biblical foundation for government that they would not have conceived of conducting government completely removed from any influence of religion. Rather, they wanted to make sure that government could never again interfere with or oppress religious freedoms or establish one Christian denomination over another as the religion of state to the detriment of all others.
About the Author
Tamara Christine has written more than 900 articles for a variety of clients since 2010. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in applied linguistics and an elementary teaching license. Additionally, she completed a course in digital journalism in 2014. She has more than 10 years experience teaching and gardening.
Selected Quotes of the Founding Fathers About Christianity
“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.” Thomas Jefferson, 1781.
“We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that ‘except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.” Benjamin Franklin, a statement he made at the Constitutional Convention, on June 28, 1787.
“I have tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty; through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am a sinner. I look to Him for mercy; pray for me.” Alexander Hamilton’s last dying words, July 12, 1804.
“This is all the inheritance I give to my dear family. The religion of Christ will give them one which will make them rich indeed.” Patrick Henry in Last Will and Testament, November 20, 1798.
“We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.” James Madison The Father of the U.S. Constitution.
“It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge THE Providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and to humbly implore His protection and favor.” George Washington October 3, 1789 Proclaiming a National Day of Prayer and Thanksgiving.
“Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only Law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited… What a paradise would this region be!” John Adams, 1756.
“An appeal to arms and the God of hosts is all that is left us. But we shall not fight our battle alone. There is a just God that presides over the destinies of nations. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone. Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death.” Patrick Henry, 1775.
“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great Nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religious, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here.” Patrick Henry, 1776.
“I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus. I have little doubt that our whole country will soon be rallied to the unity of our Creator and, I hope, to the pure doctrine of Jesus also.” Thomas Jefferson, Written on the cover of his personal Bible.
“It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible. Of all the dispositions and habits that lead to political prosperity, our religion and morality are the indispensable supporters. Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that our national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” George Washington, Farewell Speech, Sept. 19, 1796.
“Oh, eternal and everlasting God, direct my thoughts, words and work. Wash away my sins in the immaculate blood of the Lamb and purge my heart by thy Holy Spirit. Daily, frame me more and more in the likeness of thy son, Jesus Christ, that living in thy fear, and dying in thy favor, I may in thy appointed time obtain the resurrection of the justified unto eternal life. Bless, O Lord, the whole race of mankind and let the world be filled with the knowledge of thee and thy son, Jesus Christ.” George Washington, written in his personal prayer book.
“We have no government armed with the power capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and true religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” John Adams, 2nd US President.
“The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.” John Quincy Adams, 6th US President.
“The Congress of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools.” US Congress, 1782.
Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Mountain Climbers – 25 IC
Cherry Pickers – 20 IC
Moroccan Night Clubs – 25 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 B.O.M.B.S. which consist of 50 Burpees, 100 Overhead Claps, 150 Merkins, 200 Big Boy Sit-ups, 250 Squats. PAX partnered up and worked on the set while their partner ran a lap around the Walgreens approximately .11 miles switching off after each lap. Each PAX were asked to try to complete their half of the listed exercises. Q suggested that any unfinished exercises be completed as homework.
Mosey .48 miles back to CHOP
F3 Message 08/11/20 – From Ron Hutchcraft Ministries
STUBBORN DIRT AND A STRONG SHOWER – #2993 Years ago, I was at a youth conference where we needed to raise some money for a camp scholarship fund. So we challenged the kids to buy their counselor into this Friday night food fight. Oh, well, the kids found the money all right! So Friday night all of us leaders showed up on the field of battle with the campers watching like these sadistic spectators at the Roman Coliseum. Now, for starters, we got hosed down so everything would cling to us. I’m embarrassed about the food we wasted, frankly, but I’m at least glad we paid for a few kids to get to camp.
Well, Round 1 was flour. The campers got their money’s worth as we redecorated each other with this blizzard of flour, followed by eggs, then fudge sauce – you get the idea? The last round was the worst – lard. From our hair to our toes, we were totally gross by the end of this massacre. Our only satisfaction was at the end when we went after those kids to give them a big, gooey hug. I couldn’t wait to get to a shower. And I was there a long time, especially with my new coat of lard. I’ve never felt dirtier – but clean has never felt better!
Well, I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You about “Stubborn Dirt And A Strong Shower.”
If you’ve ever felt real dirty, you know how much you enjoyed that shower that made you clean again. If only there was a shower that could make us clean on the inside – where we carry the guilt, and the regrets, and the dirt of the things we wish we’d never done – or the things we should have done and didn’t. Unfortunately, there is no medication, no therapist, not even a religion that seems to be powerful enough to remove the dirt on our soul.
That’s why our word for today from the Word of God is such good news. Acts 3:19 – “Repent and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” Now look at this, all the sins of your life can be wiped out – erased from God’s records. God says you can be clean – that you can have a new beginning. He’s offering a cleansing spiritual shower for those who repent and turn to Him. Now, that means you acknowledge the wrongness of what you’ve done and that you’re ready to turn from your sin-choices – and to Him for a new beginning.
We all have things we’re ashamed of – there are things we’re not proud of – things that make us afraid of what God will do when we meet Him on Judgment Day. According to the Bible, the sins of our life will, in fact, make it impossible for us to ever enter God’s Heaven because there’s no sin there. Our only hope is if somehow God will forgive a lifetime of choices that have left Him out.
And there’s only one place where a spiritual shower like that is available – at Jesus’ cross – the place where every sin of yours was paid for. You carry all the garbage of your life up that hill – you give yourself in total trust to the One who paid for your sin on that cross – and you leave your sin at that cross forever. You may have started this day guilty – but you may go to sleep tonight forgiven and finally clean. God’s promise: “Everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through His Name” Acts 10:43. There is nothing you’ve done that is so bad that Jesus didn’t pay for it on His cross.
Today can be the day you are finally clean. If you’ve never trusted Jesus to be your own Savior from your own sin, would you tell Him you’re doing that right now? Your sins will be erased – and you will never carry them again – or face them when you meet God. And the only thing that would keep you from heaven will be gone.
That day I felt so gross, it was an awesome feeling to stand in that shower and have all that accumulated junk get washed away. That’s what Jesus wants to do for your heart, right now. It is an incredible feeling to finally be clean.
Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Windmills – 20 IC
Mountain Climbers – 20 IC
Mosey .5 miles to Holy Hill
The Thang
The Super Sheldon Cooper on a “freaking hill” – 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. Nur up the hill & 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. Nur 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. Break for the 3rd F.
F3 Message – See below
Right back at it for another round or two before returning to CHOP.
Nur 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. Nur 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. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.
F3 Message 07/21/20 – From Ron Hutchcraft Ministries Posted 09/15/2016
I’m a tornado and hurricane kind of guy. I mean I don’t like them but, I’ve lived where you learn about those things. I’m not an earthquake kind of guy. I’ve never lived where those mattered much. But when I was in San Francisco, I was where earthquakes are a big deal! Most people there still have dramatic stories to tell about what happened during that big quake in 1989, the one that interrupted the 3rd game of the World Series. Some of the heaviest damage and injury was in the Marina District of San Francisco.
Well, actually, I was doing a youth radio program back then, and we went there to record part of it. In fact, we were right on the comer of Beach Street and Divisadero where several buildings collapsed or burned, including one that had been totally consumed by fire. One of the neighbors described the scene for us, one very different from this quiet neighborhood with beautiful rebuilt homes. The night of the quake was total chaos. This neighbor described that awful fire with the unbearable heat that had destroyed the building on the other comer. He said, “The fire started out with a gas leak. It was small. If I could have gotten over there, I literally could have put it out with a bucket of water. But then it started to spread and pretty soon there was no way to stop it.”
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “A Bucket of Water, or a Three-Alarm Fire.”
God believes in fighting fires when they’re small, when you can still put them out with a bucket of water. He talks about it in Ephesians 4:26-27, our word for today from the Word of God, and some of the most insightful verses in the Bible for preserving relationships. Here’s what God says, “In your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” Could it be that you have let a fire smolder in some relationship in your life? Let it go, let it grow and you will have a blaze on your hands you cannot control.
Maybe there is a strained relationship in your life right now, between you and your mate, or you and a child, you and a co-worker, you and your parent, you and a spiritual brother or sister. Maybe there’s trouble in your marriage and so often, honestly, it’s the guy who’s the last to admit that anything’s wrong. Men – let’s face it – tend to be postponers when it comes to dealing with relationship difficulties. But I’m telling you, the fire isn’t going to stay the same size. Relationships of all kinds burn down when someone lets the small fire just go, until it becomes this uncontrollable inferno that can do so much damage.
In fact, the Bible says that when you let conflict or strain or anger go longer than a day, you literally give the devil himself a place to get into your relationship. Four verses later, in Ephesians 4:31, God lists the kind of ugly things that come from letting relationship fires go unaddressed: “All bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, slander, every form of malice.” Look, can you see some of those flames maybe right now growing in a relationship of yours.
Don’t wait another day to do something about the fire. It’s as small now as it’s ever going to be. Gently confront what you have to confront, forgive what you have to forgive, apologize for what you need to apologize for, and overlook what you have to overlook, but deal with whatever is between you, whatever is breaking or broken.
Because I’ll tell you this, the devil is standing there with his gasoline can ready to pour gasoline on that fire so everyone involved will get burned. You need to come running with whatever water it will take to put it out now. A bucket of water now is a whole lot better than a 3-alarm fire later.
Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 Squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Windmills – 20IC
Toy Soldier Set – 50 LBC’s, 25 E2K’s (each side), 15 Big Boys
Mosey (Patriot Run) approx. .47 miles to the school
The Thang
PAX completed the Hindenburg BLIMPS routine from the exicon. We modified the sprint portion to a straight line between FOUR light poles that were approx. .02 miles apart. Sprint to pole#1 and perform an exercise at pole #1, sprint to pole#2 & perform exercise, sprint to pole#3 & perform exercise & lastly to pole #4 & perform exercise. Plank it up until all PAX are in. That completes Round #1. Reverse directions and perform the second exercise working back to the pole where it all started. Rinse and repeat until all 6 Rounds are complete. Round # 1 – 10 Burpees, Round #2 – 20 Lunges (10 each leg). Round #3 – 30 Merkins. Round #4 – 40 Imperial Walkers. Round #5 – 50 Plank Jacks. Round #6 – 60 Squats. Chattahoochee caught the planned spelling error on the reversal of the imperial walkers and the merkin sets. So…we completed 40 merkins to make up the difference when we returned to Aegis.
F3 Message – The 3rd F was shared after completing Round #4.
Mosey (Patriot Run) approx. .47 miles back to Aegis
PAX finished the beatdown strong with 40 merkins OYO.
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Please keep all of our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.
Welcome to FNG – Yukon.
F3 Message – 07/04/2020 – Excepts from Tony Cooke Ministries
Quotes, Stories, and Illustrations for the 4th of July
“Do not let anyone claim tribute of American patriotism if they even attempt to remove religion from politics.” – George Washington’s Farewell Address to Nation
“Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave? Sure I love my country with all her faults. I’m not ashamed of that, never have been, never will be.” – John Wayne
“America was established not to create wealth but to realize a vision, to realize an ideal – to discover and maintain liberty among men.” – Woodrow Wilson
General Omar Bradley said, “America today is running on the momentum of a godly ancestry, and when that momentum runs down, God help America.” Bradley also said, “We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount… The world has achieved brilliance without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.”
“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not but religionists but by Christians, not on religion but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” – Patrick Henry
“We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that ‘except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel.” – Benjamin Franklin (From the debates at the Constitutional Convention, June of 1787)
2 Chronicles 7:14 – if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Proverbs 14:34 – Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.
“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our constitution was made for a moral and religious people… it is wholly inadequate to the government of any other…” – John Quincy Adams
Only in America
1. Only in America can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance. 2. Only in America are there handicap parking places in front of a skating rink. 3. Only in America do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions, while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front. 4. Only in America do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries and a DIET coke. 5. Only in America do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our junk in the garage. Hello. 6. Only in America do we use answering machines to screen calls and have call-waiting so we won’t miss a call from someone we didn’t want to talk to in the first place. 7. Only in America do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.
The Inscription on the Statue of Liberty, written by Emma Lazarus Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me; I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
No King But Jesus! The Colonists grew in their resilience and confidence in God, to the point where one Crown-appointed Governor wrote of the condition to the Board of Trade back in England: “If you ask an American who is his master? He will tell you he has none, nor any governor but Jesus Christ.”
The Committees of Correspondence soon began sounding the cry across the Colonies: “No King but King Jesus!”
From America’s God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations, William J. Federer, Fame Publishing.
“It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.” – George Washington
1 Timothy 2:1-4
1. Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2. for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3. for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4. who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
“In reading over the Constitutions of all fifty of our states, I discovered something which some of you may not know: there is in all fifty, without exception, an appeal or a prayer to the Almighty God of the universe…. Through all fifty state Constitutions, without exception, there runs this same appeal and reference to God who is the Creator of our liberties and the preserver of our freedoms.” – D. James Kennedy
“History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster.” – General Douglas MacArthur
“I speak as a man of the world to men of the world; and I say to you, Search the Scriptures! The Bible is the book of all others, to be read at all ages, and in all conditions of human life; not to be read once or twice or thrice through, and then laid aside, but to be read in small portions of one of two chapters every day, and never to be intermitted, unless by some overruling necessity.” – John Quincy Adams
“Under God” and the Pledge of Allegiance The words “under God were taken from Abraham Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address, “…that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth…” and were added to the Pledge of Allegiance on June 14, 1954 by a joint resolution of Congress, 243 (Public Law 83-396). (The Pledge was initially adopted by the 79th Congress on December 28, 1945, as Public Law 287.) On June 14, 1954, President Eisenhower signed into law the pledge:
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which is stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
President Eisenhower gave his support to the Congressional Act, which added the phrase, “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance, saying:
“In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource in peace and war.”
President Eisenhower then stood on the steps of the Capitol Building and recited the Pledge of Allegiance for the first time with the phrase, “one nation under God.”
From America’s God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations, William J. Federer, Fame Publishing.
“In America, nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gave you.” – Amy Tan
“My County, ‘Tis of Thee” was written by a Baptist minister, Samuel Francis Smith. “The Pledge of Allegience” was written in 1892 by a Baptist minister, Francis Bellamy. The words “In God We Trust” are traced to the efforts of Rev. W.R. Watkinson. Rev. John Witherspoon, a Presbyterian minister was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
“The choice before us is plain: Christ or chaos, conviction or compromise, discipline or disintegration. I am rather tired of hearing about our rights and privileges as American citizens. The time is come – it is now – when we ought to hear about the duties and responsibilities of our citizenship. America’s future depends upon her accepting and demonstrating God’s government.” – Peter Marshall
“Every generation of Americans needs to know that freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.” – Pope John Paul II
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” – John Adams
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” – Edmund Burke
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” – Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of Liberty.” – President John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, Friday, January 20, 1961
“In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility — I welcome it.” – John F. Kennedy
“Freedom is the last, best hope of earth.” – Abraham Lincoln
“…I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’” – Martin Luther King, Jr. (From his “I Have a Dream speech, delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963)
“Patriotism is not so much protecting the land of our fathers as preserving the land of our children.” – Jose Ortega Y Gasset
A teacher went into her classroom about fifteen minutes before the class was supposed to begin and caught a bunch of boys in a huddle on their knees in the corner of the room. She asked what they were doing, and one of them shouted back, “We are shooting craps.” She replied, “That’s all right. I was afraid you were praying.”
During the dark days of the American Revolution, when the Continental Army had experienced several setbacks, a farmer who lived near the battlefield approached Washington’s camp unheard. Suddenly his ears caught an earnest voice raised in agonizing prayer. On coming nearer he saw it was the great General, down on his knees in the snow, his cheeks wet with tears. He was asking God for assistance and guidance. The farmer crept away and returned home. He said to his family, “Its going to be all right. We are going to win!” “What makes you think so?” his wife asked. “Well,” said the farmer, “I heard General Washington pray out in the woods today—such fervent prayer I have never heard. And God will surely hear and answer that kind of praying.” And the farmer was right! It happened because Washington put his hope in God.
“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” – Thomas Paine
“I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.” – Patrick Henry
“The U. S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself.” – Benjamin Franklin
In June of 1863, just weeks before the battle of Gettysburg, a college president asked Abraham Lincoln if he thought the country would survive. President Lincoln replied: “I do not doubt that our country will finally come through safe and undivided. But do not misunderstand me… I do not rely on the patriotism of our people… the bravery and devotion of the boys in blue… (or) the loyalty and skill of our generals… But the God of our Fathers, Who raised up this country to be the refuge and asylum of the oppressed and the downtrodden of all nations will not let it perish now. I may not live to see it… I do not expect to see it, but God will bring us through safe.”
“Finally, let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light, and labored in its hope. They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of their society, and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, or literary. Let us cherish these sentiments, and extend this influence still more widely; in full conviction that that is the happiest society which partakes in the highest degree of the mild and peaceful spirit of Christianity.” – Daniel Webster.
The United States of America is 226 years old today (July 4, 2002). That’s a long time for a nation to remain free. But, when you take the long, historical view, America is just a CHILD among the nations. Egypt, China, Japan, Rome, or Greece all make America’s history seem so short. Consider what a brief time we’ve really been here as a nation: When Thomas Jefferson died, Abraham Lincoln was a young man of 17. When Lincoln was assassinated, Woodrow Wilson was a boy of 8. By the time the nation mourned the death of President Wilson, Ronald Reagan was a boy of 12.
Edward Gibbon, author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, has attributed the fall of the Empire to:
1. The rapid increase of divorce; the undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society. 2. Higher and higher taxes and the spending of public monies for free bread and circuses for the populace. 3. The mad craze for pleasure; sports becoming every year more exciting and more brutal. 4. The building of gigantic armaments when the real enemy was within, the decadence of the people. 5. The decay of religion–faith fading into mere form, losing touch with life and becoming impotent to warn and guide the people.
Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Delivered November 19, 1863 Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
“I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessing on our deliberations, be held in the Assembly every morning…” – Benjamin Franklin, 1787 Constitutional Convention
TRIBUTE TO THE UNITED STATES This, from a Canadian newspaper, is worth sharing. America: The Good Neighbor.
Widespread but only partial news coverage was given recently to a remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television Commentator. What follows is the full text of his trenchant remarks as printed in the Congressional Record:
“This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts.
None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States. When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.
When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped. The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans.
I’d like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10?
If so, why don’t they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American Planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon – not once, but several times – and safely home again.
You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here.
When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke.
I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don’t think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.
Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I’m one Canadian who is tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those.”
Stand proud, America! Wear it proudly!
Quotes by Ronald Reagan “I believe this blessed land was set apart in a very special way, a country created by men and women who came here not in the search of gold, but in search of God. They would be free people, living under the law with faith in their Maker and their future.”
“Our liberty springs from and depends upon an abiding faith in God.”
“The truth is, politics and morality are inseparable, and as morality’s foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related. We need religion as a guide.”
“If we lived by the Golden Rule, there would be no need for other laws.”
“I believe with all my heart that standing up for America means standing up for the God who has so blessed our land. We need God’s help to guide our nation through stormy seas. But we can’t expect Him to protect America in a crisis if we just leave Him over on the shelf in our day-to-day living.”
“My fellow citizens, those of you here in this hall, and those of you at home. I want you to know that I have always had the highest respect for you, for your common sense and intelligence and for your decency. I have always believed in you and in what you could accomplish for yourselves and others.
And whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty’s lamp guiding your steps and opportunity’s arm steadying your way.
My fondest hope for each one of you, and especially for the young people here, is that you will love your country, not for her power or wealth, but for her selflessness and her idealism. May each of you have the heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, and the hand to execute works that will make the world a little better for your having been here.
May all of you as Americans never forget your heroic origins, never fail to seek Divine guidance, and never lose your natural God-given optimism.
And finally, my fellow Americans, may every dawn be a great new beginning for America and every evening bring us closer to that shining city upon a hill…My fellow Americans, on behalf of both of us, goodbye, and God bless each and every one of you and God bless this country we love.”
