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.”
Bolt 45’s – IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Cherry Pickers – 20 IC
Moroccan Night Clubs – 20 IC
Pax completed a Toy Soldier set consisting of 100 LBC’s, 50 E2K’s each side, and 25 Big Boy ‘s.
“Chairman Lap” out the back driveway of the CHOP, to the left on Willow, left on Union and to the left back to CHOP parking lot. Approx. .25 miles.
The Thang
All Pax were asked to complete a set of 21’s approx. 15 – 20 yards apart. Complete 20 merkins and bear crawl approx. 15 – 20 yds and complete 1 Bobby Hurley. Bear crawl back the 15 – 20 yards and complete 19 merkins, then bear crawl back and complete 2 Bobby Hurleys. Continue until you reverse the order to 20 Bobby Hurleys and 1 merkin.
Why are refrigerator doors important? Well, you probably say, “To keep the cold inside,” or “to keep that little light inside from burning out.” Yeh, that’s true too. But you might be forgetting one of the most valuable functions of a refrigerator door. That’s right; it is a great place to display the artwork of your children or your grandchildren! Right! Ours has been covered for years. Now, throughout our house and our offices, you can find pictures drawn by our grandchildren, crafts made by our grandchildren. You may not think they’re masterpieces or great works of art, but they’re precious to us.
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Surrounded by Precious.”
And why are these humble artistic creations so valuable to us? Because of who made them, of course! The person who created them is precious to us, so what he created is precious to us. There’s a song the children love to sing; I did, too, when I was one of those Sunday School kids. “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” They’re all precious to Him – people of every color, every background, every I.Q., every nationality, every age. And they had better all be precious to us.
Sadly, even though according to the Bible, “God is no respecter of persons” (Romans 2:11), God’s children, all too often, are respecters of persons. We judge people by their category. To be honest, most of us secretly, and sometimes openly, think of some people as being “not quite on our level,” or not our type, as being “outsiders,” or in some way not quite as important as we are.
Don’t try telling that to God. In His book, you and I are surrounded by people who are precious. Why? For the same reason our grandson’s artwork is precious to us – because of who made them. Every man or woman in our world was made in the image of Almighty God Himself. Every man and woman in our world is “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:13), and is, in the Bible’s words, “God’s workmanship.” Our subtle racism, or prejudice, or feelings of superiority are nothing less than sin to a holy God who “so loved the world that He gave His Son.” (John 3:16).
And your Savior went out of His way to be with those everyone considered being of less worth. He’d walk past the religious leaders to express His forgiveness to a repentant prostitute. He’d make a despised Samaritan the example of a good neighbor. He would stop the entire parade around Him for the man everyone else wanted to shut up; blind Bartimaeus. And in Mark 1:40-42, our word for today from the Word of God, it says, “A man with leprosy came to Jesus and begged on his knees, ‘If you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ He said. ‘Be clean!'”
What a scandal! Lepers were the lowest of the low – the total outcasts. And no one ever touched them except Jesus. Every person is of equal value to Him. Every person should be of equal value to you and me as His follower. No matter what race, no matter what class, no matter what their limitations, no matter what their education, no matter what nation or religion they come from.
Jesus’ followers don’t get to choose who they’ll treat as precious, because they’re all precious to Him. Our mission is to show every person in our personal world how very special they are to Him and to us because of Who made them!
Bolt 45’s – IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Cherry Pickers – 15 IC
Windmills – 15 IC
Mountain Climbers – 20 IC
Jiminy Crickets – 10 OYO
The Thang
At the Aegis, Pax completed the Route 66 routine around the circle. 1 lap around the Aegis and complete 1 burpee. A second lap around the circle and complete 2 burpees. Rinse and repeat until reaching 7 burpees.
Pax moseyed to the Georgetown Firehouse to complete a Mike Tyson set of 7’s in the back parking lot utilizing a bear crawl to traverse the distance between the station wall and a set of parking bumpers. Pax completed 1 Mike Tyson at the wall and bear crawled across to the parking bumpers to complete 6 Mike Tyson’s, then bear crawled back to the wall for 2 Mike Tyson’s and back to parking bumpers for 5 Mike Tyson’s. Rinse and repeat until the number of evolutions was reversed from where it began.
Pax moseyed to the school.
Spartan Run Routine – Run/sprint approx. 50 yards from one parking lot light pole to the next and drop and do 10 merkins. Plank until all Pax are complete. Run/sprint 50 yards back to the starting light pole and complete 10 merkins. Plank for the 6. Pax completed 10 reps for 100 merkins for the exercise.
Pax moseyed back to Aegis and finished strong with a Toy Soldier set consisting of 50 LBC’s, 30 E2K’s each side, and 20 Big Boy ‘s.
It’s got to be one of my favorite plays – “Fiddler on the Roof.” The story is virtually a modern classic. It tells with this incredible charm and warmth the story of 19th Century Jews in Russia. All the joys of Jewish faith and Jewish family are there, along with the pain of persecution for being Jewish. Tevye, the milkman, is the colorful father of the family; a man who is forever arguing with himself. If you’re familiar with the play, you’ll remember how his conversations with himself – and even with God – will go back and forth as he talks himself in and out of opposite viewpoints. Tevye will present one view, and then inadvertently he will say, “On the other hand…” and he’ll talk himself out of it. He doesn’t actually reach many conclusions!
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Paralysis of Analysis.”
There are a lot of folks who have a little bit of Tevye in them – always analyzing, often not reaching any conclusion. I’m a data-based decision maker. I like to weigh all the information I can before I make a decision or a commitment. And that’s a good thing until it paralyzes you; until it keeps you from exercising the one thing the Bible says you have to have to please God – faith.
In John 6, beginning with verse 7, we see an example of the disciples going as far as analyzing could take them and nearly missing a great miracle. Jesus and His disciples are facing this hungry multitude of at least 5,000 people. Sizing up the situation analytically, in our word for today from the Word of God, Philip gets his calculator out and tells Jesus, “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” So much for the earth-math. Jesus is about to do something that earth-math could never anticipate.
Andrew’s calculation is simpler but it leads to the same human-sense conclusion. He said, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” But using miracle-math instead of earth-math, Jesus instructs His men to “Have the people sit down.” You probably know the rest. Thousands were fed from that one small lunch, and the disciples “filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over.” Don’t you just love it – one basket of leftovers for each disciple. So much for earth-math.
When Jesus went to his hometown of Nazareth, all the people there could do was analyze Jesus’ history, and the Bible says it was the one place Jesus could do no miracle because of their unbelief. Endless analysis (intellectual, theological) ultimately takes you in this futile circle and it often costs you the miracles that come only to those who risk everything on a great Savior.
“We walk by faith, not by sight,” Paul says (2 Corinthians 5:7). Now some people need to think a little more and they need to use their God-given mind to seek out the truth. But there’s only so far thinking and analyzing can take you. Those who try to figure out the science of stepping out of a boat when Jesus says to, will never know what it is to walk on water.
Right now, God may be asking you to take a step that doesn’t quite add up. All your analyzing can’t show you how you’re going to get from here to there. The bridge over that gap? Yeah, it has a name. It’s called faith.
Don’t miss some wonderful things God wants to do because you’re suffering from the paralysis of analysis. You belong to a Lord who loves to do, as the Bible says, “immeasurable more than all we ask or imagine!” (Ephesians 3:20).
Chappie Rocking the Socks in Support of World Down Syndrome DayQuattro is COVID-19 Ready and Sporting Socks for World Down Syndrome Day Awareness.
Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Jiminy Crickets – 10 OYO
Windmills – 20 IC
The Thang
Pax completed the Hindenburg BLIMPS routine from the Exicon at the CHOP. We modified the sprint portion to a straight line across the CHOP Parking lot approx. .02 miles apart. Sprint from the Church to the field behind CHOP and perform 1st exercise, sprint back to Church and perform 1st exercise, sprint back to the field and perform 1st exercise. Sprint back to the Church and perform 1st exercise. Plank it up until all PAX are in. That completes one round. Rinse and repeat but perform the second exercise working from the Church to the field. Rinse and repeat for the 3rd and 4th exercises. Round #1 – 10 Burpees. Round #2 – 20 Merkins. Round #3 – 30 LBC’s. Round #4 – 40 Lunges (20 each leg). Round #5 – 50 Plank Jacks. Round #6 – 60 Squats.
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.
F3 message –The 3rd F from Ron Hutchcraft Ministries was shared after completing Round #4. See Below….
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.
At a party with some of our ministry staff and volunteers, we had a lot of fun with a common party game. You know, each person brings something they really want to get rid of, beautifully wrapped, of course. Everyone draws a number. When your number comes up, you have the choice of opening one of the unopened gifts and making it yours or taking that unopened package and trading for what someone else has already opened, and then you leave them with whatever is in that still-wrapped package. Somehow, there always ends up being a few items that everyone wants. And depending on how aggressive your people are – and we’ve had some pretty aggressive ones – they remember who’s got the hot item and they go after it with a vengeance. Those few items just keep moving around in trade after trade.
My sister-in-law, who is a wonderful worker in our ministry, actually drew the #1, which meant she didn’t get to make a trade at the beginning. But while the trading frenzy for the evening’s hot items got more and more intense, she just sat peacefully and quietly through it all, because she remembered the oft-forgotten rule of the game. Since #1 didn’t get to make a trade at the beginning of the game, she makes the last trade of the game. So all along, she knew what she wanted. And all along she is sitting there thinking, “I know how this is going to end!”
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Knowing the Ending.”
One of the exciting things about what God reveals to us in His Word is that we get to see how things are going to end. The frenzy and chaos may last quite a while, there may be lots of twists and changes, but, like my sister-in-law’s perspective on that game, there is no question about how it’s going to end up.
Our word for today from the Word of God is the incredible promise of Romans 8:28; the verse that one great writer called “a soft pillow for a long night.” Later verses will declare that if God is for us, no one can successfully be against us, that Christ’s love makes us conquerors in the worst of life’s disasters, that there will never be a life-quake so severe that it will be able to take us out of Jesus’ love. But before all that, this promise of how everything in a believer’s life will end up. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” In the King James, “God works all things together for good.”
During the game, it can get really frantic. In fact, it can even hurt a lot. The verse doesn’t say everything is good. It says God is working everything together for good – the agony, the ecstasy, the pains, the gains, the losses, even what the devil is doing to you. Paul’s thorn in the flesh wasn’t good in itself; it hurt him, it frustrated him, and the Bible says it was a “messenger from Satan.” But Paul saw the good that came later in the game. The pain had brought him to the end of himself and into an experience of God’s power that only the powerless ever touch. The gain was far greater than the pain.
That is the implied guarantee of Romans 8, that God will not allow it in your life unless it can be used for a greater good. No matter how hard this current situation is to understand, no matter how almost unbearable the pain, it’s possible for you to keep going with this unexplainable sense of peace and well-being. Because while God never guarantees that all the chapters will be happy, He does guarantee a happy ending.
The outcome – a better family, a better ministry, a better business, a better you if you will stay on the Jesus-path, if you will let the struggle turn you to your Lord, not away from Him. He will do what will bring you the greatest good and Him the greatest glory. Relax in that guarantee, no matter how it looks now.
As the pressure and the frenzy increase around you, you’ll be able to sit there with this wonderful inner calm saying because of your Sovereign Lord, “I know how this going to end.”
Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Windmills – 15 IC
Dips – 30 IC
Mosey to Ball Park @.5 miles.
The Thang
The Super 21 Cycle. 1 Merkin to 1 Big Boy Sit up. 2 Merkins to 2 Big Boy Situps. 3 Merkins to 3 Big Boy Situps, etc., etc., etc. But wait there is a twist….after each completed set of #1 though #5, PAX will complete 21 Imperial Walkers. Bear Crawl to 1st base. After each completed set of #6 through #10, PAX will complete 21 Mountain Climbers. Bear Crawl to 2nd base. After each completed set of # 11 through #15, PAX will complete 21 Monkey Humpers. Bear crawl to 3rd base. After each completed set of #16 through #20, PAX will complete 21 Prisoner Squats. Bear Crawl to Homeplate and PAX will complete the final set of #21 Merkins to #21 Big Boys, then finish strong with 21 Burpees. Q took a break for the 3rd F after all PAX completed the 2nd base exercise set. See below for the word provided from Ron Hutchcraft Ministries.
Mosey back to Aegis @ .5 miles.
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.
F3 Message 02/15/2020 – From Ron Hutchcraft Ministries #7641 – 04/25/16
Valentine’s Day! That’s the season when all of us think about the love we found, or the love we lost, or the love we’re looking for. And, man, people are looking! Did you know there are over 5,000 dating websites, including Match.com, OKCupid, along with SeniorPeopleMeet, Farmers Only and DateACowboy.com?
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “How to Build a Love that Lasts a Lifetime.”
Love is where we place our greatest hopes. It’s where we experience our greatest fears and our greatest hurts, and make our greatest mistakes. It’s a treasure, for sure, but it’s a fragile treasure. Like a fragile plant, love has to be watered and protected with some basic love-nurturing steps.
Let me give you some. First of all, handing out goodies – emotional goodies that is. Love thrives on affirmation, encouragement, compliments, praise, “atta-boys.” But love is torn down by critical words, angry words, sarcastic words; on our lips momentarily, in their memory forever. The Bible so wisely says, “The tongue has the power of life and death” and “reckless words pierce like a sword” (Proverbs 18:21; 12:18).
That’s why the Bible’s challenge to “encourage one another daily” (Hebrews 3:13) is glue for a love that lasts. Because everybody needs a cheerleader, and all of us need to be one.
Secondly, unpack your suitcase; the suitcase where we carry the junk from our past into the present. The abuse. The betrayal. The neglect. The injustice. And the anger and negativity and bitterness that go with it. Unless we face it, we can’t fix it. And if we don’t fix it, we’ll spread it. The poison will spill into lives that don’t even deserve it. And they will poison love.
That’s why God tells us in Hebrews 12:15, “See to it that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” If we harbor resentment and unforgiveness, it’s just going to keep growing into a monster that invades every close relationship.
Unpacking this suitcase we’ve carried so long has a name. It’s called forgiving, which sometimes seems like humanly impossible. But it’s not supernaturally impossible, because the One who forgave His crucifiers will download His forgiveness into any struggling heart and He’ll pour His healing into every broken heart.
Thirdly, relinquish the wheel, because controlling people hardens their heart and pushes them away. Control freaks are fixers. We’re always trying to fix and change what we love. But when you hold onto something too tightly, you crush it – including love.
I’ve found a lot of freedom in five words John the Baptist spoke long ago, “I am not the Messiah.” When you realize that it’s your job to love people and it’s God’s job to change them, you can experience the wonderful freedom of releasing what you’ve been controlling.
I guess most importantly, to build a love that lasts a lifetime, anchor your heart. See, there’s a problem with love. It’s “loseable.” Betrayal. Divorce. Death. No human love can truly anchor a human heart, a lonely heart. So how can that aching hole in our hearts ever be filled? How can we finally know that we’re safe in a love we can’t lose?
Our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 8:39, “Nothing can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That’s God’s ironclad guarantee to every person who belongs to His Son, who proved His love in blood poured out on a cross for the very sins you’ve done against Him.
This is love that comes looking for us all the way from heaven to the cross. And He’s come looking for you today through our time together. So, let today be the day to let His love in. Let Jesus in and say, “Jesus, the life you died for, that you paid for with your life is yours beginning today. I am yours.”
Our website is to help you get there – ANewStory.com. Would you go there? The love of a lifetime is within your reach right now.
1 Corinthians 13 New King James Version (NKJV)
The Greatest Gift
13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,[a]but have not love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Windmills – 15 IC
Burp & Merk – Burpee with Ascending Merkins up to 10
Chilly Jacks – 25 IC
20 lunges (10 each Leg) – OYO
20 split Jacks (10 each Leg) – OYO
The Thang
B.O.M.B.S. – 50 Burpees, 100 Overhead Claps, 150 Merkins, 200 Big Boy Sit-ups, 250 Squats. PAX partnered up and worked on exercises while their partner ran a “Chairman Lap” out the back driveway of the CHOP parking lot, left toward Union Street, and then left back to the CHOP. The distance per circuit is approximately .25 miles. Pax switched off with their partner after each lap. Each PAX completed their half of the listed exercises before moving on to the next exercise. The entire “Thang” was complete before a break was taken for the F3 Message.
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.
F3 Message 02/04/20 – From Ron Hutchcraft Ministries
A BUCKET OF WATER, OR A THREE-ALARM FIRE – #7744
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.
