Bolt 45’s – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats
Cherry Pickers – 20 IC
SSH – 20 IC
Imperial Walkers – 20 IC
Four Count Freddie’s – 31 IC
Hydraulic Squats – 10 IC ( 6 Count)
The Thang
Pax paired up to complete as many Burpees as time allowed. One PAX Nurs up the hill to Mill Street from the flag pole pad area at the fire station and runs down while the other works on his burpees. Pax rotate positions upon completion of each Nur and run down the hill at approx. .14 miles for each lap. When all Pax reach 50 Burpees a break for the F3 message took place. Pax continued the evolution for a second set of 50 Burpees.
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.
There’s a mountain in northern New Jersey that has an intriguing view. It’s called Garrett Mountain, over the city of Paterson, New Jersey. In the 1980s, Paterson happened to be the fourth poorest, middle-sized city in America. Now, if you had driven around that city then and that’s all you saw, you would think the whole area of north Jersey was poor. But just beyond Paterson on the horizon, you can see some of the wealthiest communities in America.
If you drove around some of those towns, you’d think the whole area was well-off. If all you saw was Paterson, you’d say, “There’s no countryside around here.” If all you saw were the suburban communities, you’d say, “There’s no city here.” See, I like Garrett Mountain, because it gives me a bigger view than I can get when I’m right in the middle of things. Up there, you can see the bigger picture. Maybe you need a mountain like that right now.
1 Samuel 8:4 says, “All the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel. They said to him, ‘You’re old and your sons don’t walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us such as all the other nations have.’ But when they said, ‘Give us a king to lead us’ this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him: ‘Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they’ve rejected, they have rejected Me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking Me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now, listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.’ Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king.”
Samuel has a frustrating situation. The structure of the judge ruling Israel on God’s behalf is coming unglued. He’s being unappreciated by the people he has given so much for. Does that sound familiar? These people are off on a total tangent that he knows is wrong. They’re trying to get a king, when all they really need is God ruling through the judges. Maybe you have some frustrating people in your life. Different issues, but frustrating.
What did he do when the people frustrated him? It says, “So, he prayed to the Lord.” What they did displeased Samuel, “So he prayed…” He didn’t tell them off or blow up. He takes the people and his feelings straight to the Lord when he’s frustrated. Do you?
There are two good results when you do that. First, the Lord gives Samuel the big picture. He says, “This isn’t against you. It’s part of a pattern.” And he defuses the emotions. It’s like being on that mountain overlooking both the suburbs and the city. You can see the whole picture when you take the frustration to the Lord. You can see where things are coming from, and where things are going. You’re above that limited view you have when you’re right in the middle of the aggravation. When you take the frustrating people to the Lord, He gives you the big picture instead of you just reacting to an incident.
Secondly, He gives you a balanced response. He told Samuel to listen to them and then warn them. Listening to frustrating people gives you credibility. They’ll listen if you’ve listened to them. Then warning them fulfills your responsibility to tell them the results of the way they’re going. Some people listen without warning people; some people warn people without listening to them.
When people’s actions displease, frustrate, and hurt you, would you go to God first? You know what He’ll do? He’ll take you up on a mountain where you can see the whole picture, and help you respond in a balanced way. When people frustrate you, go over their head. Go straight to the Throne Room of the King.
Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Four Count Freddie’s – 30 IC
Mosey @.5 miles to the Armory
The Thang
All Pax worked on the descending Burpee and Big Boy evolution. 20 Burpees and 1 Big Boy Sit Up. Up the steps of the Armory hitting every step and back down. 19 Burpees and 2 Big Boy Sit Up’s. Up the steps of the Armory hitting every step and back down. 18 Burpees and 3 Big Boy Sit Ups. Up the steps of the armory and back down hitting every step and back down. Continue the descending pattern until completing the round of 10 Burpees and 11 Big Boy Sit Ups. Break for the F3 Message before continuing the descending evolutions. Pax completed 210 of each exercise if completing the total evolution.
Mosey @.5 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.
Sometimes you see hitchhikers by the side of the road. What are they usually holding? A sign, usually crudely lettered, and it doesn’t have the name of the car they want to ride in. No, it has the name of a place on it; the place they want to go. On Indian reservations, hitchhiking is a way of life. I asked one of our Native American friends recently about her hitchhiking experiences. She told me she asked only one question before she got in a car. She didn’t care about the make of the car, the driver’s IQ, or where the driver was from. She had one question, “Where are you headed?”
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “How Your Friends Change Your Life.”
Hitchhikers have a simple basis for deciding who they will travel with: is this person going where I want to end up? That’s exactly the question we all should have in mind when we’re deciding who we’re going to travel with.
Our word for today from the Word of God is from Proverbs 13:20. This is God’s counsel concerning the people you hang out with, people you spend time with, make friends with, people you date, people you marry. “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.” You tend to become like the people you spend time with. Like a hitchhiker, you end up where the people you are traveling with end up. God reinforces that point in 1 Corinthians 15:33. He just simply says, “Bad company corrupts character.”
If you’re going to make good decisions about who to travel with at your school, at your workplace, in your social life, or even who you’ll marry, you first need to decide what kind of person you want to become; what kind of goals you want to achieve. I hope you want to end up being a positive person, not a negative person. Who needs any more of those? You probably want to end up being caring, not self-centered, encouraging, not tearing people down, living for what really matters instead of just some attractive, meaningless junk.
And if you’ve been to the cross of Jesus to have your sins forgiven; if you belong to Him, I hope you want to end up being someone that Jesus is proud of; someone who lives for the One who died for you – not for some little earth-stuff. Decide what kind of person you want to be; what kind of attitudes you want to have. And then look for some people who have the same “destination sign” as you do.
Your selection of friends, associates, romantic prospects may well be one of the most important choices you will ever make because you will probably end up on the same road as they do. If you’re with people who are spiritually careless, or just don’t care, you’ll probably end up there, too. If you’re with people who just simply settle for mediocrity as a Christian, you will live that grey life like they do. But if you are connected with some people who are going in the “make a difference” direction, the “live for other people” direction, the “live for Jesus” direction, chances are that’s where you’re going to end up – going the direction where your life can mean the most and matter the most, and count for something lasting.
You can ask any hitchhiker, it really does matter who you decide to travel with. You don’t decide who you’re going to go with on the basis of how cool they are, or how well-connected they are, or how exciting their lifestyle looks – or even how they treat you. You ask that all-important, deciding question about who you’re going to spend your time around, “Where are you headed?” You only travel with someone who’s going to a destination that you’re not ever going to regret.
18 Seal jack i/c 18 Imperial walkers i/c 18 Mountain man pooper i/c 10 Hip circles each direction oyo 18 Seal waves i/c 18 Plank jack i/c
The Thang Each HIM grabs a coupon and woseys to bank parking lot.
1 HIM pushed sled as timer as rest of PAX AMRAPS the following exercises
Sprawl and curl w/coupon Pess jacks /w coupon Block chop R w/coupon Block chop L w/coupon
3rd F Jesus led with intention and so should we.
Your team needs your hard skills; that’s a given. You wouldn’t be able to do your job without a professional understanding of the equipment and principles of your role in video, audio, and lighting. Chances are, you’re a generalist or perhaps an expert in just one of those categories, but either way, you have you “know” what you’re doing to develop your process and your team into an excellent, competent production.
But hard skills only get you so far as a production leader. You’re not just a tech anymore, but rather a steward of your house, and your team needs more than your technical expertise.
Your team needs your intention.
This means that you can’t simply show up to work and hope for the best, and it probably starts the night before your Monday office hours. In a recent chat I had with Justin Firesheets, a co-contributor here at Church Production and the head project manager for production at Church of the Highlands, he mentioned that his work day actually starts the night before. He sits down for just a few minutes and plans out his day so he can hit the ground running the next morning.
That sort of intention shows great wisdom, friends. Now, it might look a little different for each of us. Perhaps that means you spend the first few minutes of your office day doing the same thing, but whatever it looks like for you, it means that you don’t fly by the seat of your pants.
You might not think so, but Jesus lived this way. It’s a mistake to think that he was more of a hippie than an intentional leader, that he just followed the whimsical notions of the Holy Spirit in a happy, flowery hopscotch across Judea for three years.
Jesus was much the opposite of that. His parables were full of the thoughts of an intentional leader, so much so that scholars now believe Jesus was not a carpenter, but a stonemason business owner, something akin to a modern subcontractor. He knew what it meant to run a business and have people rely on him for their livelihood. He didn’t work in a haphazard manner.
For that matter, it’s a mistake to think that the ways of the Holy Spirit are whimsical. The intentions of Jesus were driven by an unfathomable connection to the Holy Spirit. Jesus walked into his desert fast with intention, driven by the Holy Spirit. Jesus walked from city to city with intention, driven by the Holy Spirit. Jesus sent his disciples to find a donkey and an upper room, driven by the Holy Spirit. Jesus intentionally embraced his torture and excruciating death, driven by the Holy Spirit. The pattern is unmistakable.
It Only Takes a Few Minutes
This is the crazy r and a great leader is about five minutes. Intention doesn’t take much time; it just requires a simple pause to gather tasks and priorities and organize them on paper (or tablet) into a workable plan. Ten minutes, tops. That’s a lot of bang for buck
Mosey to playground behind library
15 swerkins 5 pull ups 10 screaming lunges per leg
Mosey back to bank parking lot
Sled rounds x 2 Sprawl and curl Curls for the girls Merkins Pretzel sticks L Pretzel sticks R American hammers Flutter kicks Lbcs Press jacks Gas pumpers
Return Coupons
Fireplex made his 100th beatdown today
Number Rama Name Rama COT
7 HIM showed today: Semi, Probe, Fireplex, Chattahoochee, Streudal, Toy Soldier, Quattro
Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Windmills – 15 IC
Hydraulic Squats – 10 IC (6 Count)
Mosey from the AO to “Oh Hill No”
Over the Hill Set – Modified Burp Back Mountain
Split Pax into two groups or if it is a smaller group you can complete it as one unit together.
1st round the 1st group Nur’s up the hill and mosey back down while 2nd group completes clock merkins on the incline completing 5 reps each at 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock, & 9 o’clock. Rinse and repeat until your partner returns. Switch stations and repeat.
2nd round the 1st group bear crawls up the hill and mosey back down while 2nd group completes the same evolution of clock merkins. Rinse and repeat until your partner returns. Switch stations and repeat.
3rd round the 1st group completes the inch worm up the hill and mosey back down while the second group completes the same evolution of clock merkins. Rinse and repeat until your partner returns. Break for the message
F3 Message
Final round the 1st group completes the crawl bear up the hill and mosey back down while 2nd group completes the same evolution of clock merkins. Rinse and repeat until your partner returns. Switch stations and repeat.
All Pax Nur up and moseyed down the hill Twice to complete the set.
Toy Soldier Set – 100 LBC’s, 50 Y2K’s x2, 25 Big Boys OYO
Mosey back to the AO for the Circle of Trust including announcements, prayer, the Count-O-Rama & the Name-O-Rama. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.
It’s important for fathers and sons to do things together – like when my son helped me with the yard work so we could bond. I remember one day when my oldest son was about five. It was a hot day. I was mowing and my son was following around after me clipping. I looked over to him and I smiled. About five minutes later he came over and yelled over the mower, “Daddy, could you please do that again?” I said, “Could I do what again, son?” He said, “Daddy, could you smile at me again? Your smile keeps me going.”
Ephesians 6:4 has some great parenting instructions: “Fathers do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” God says, “Don’t tear your children down. Bring them up.” A father has incredible power to be either one – to make your son or daughter feel inadequate and small, never good enough, or to make your son or daughter feel competent, worthy, appreciated, and valued. It’s clear which one God expects from a father, and from a mother.
In 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12, Paul is likening the lives of believers to a positive father. Here’s what he says, “For we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God.” Do you see the verbs there? Three words that are the godly ways of a father – to encourage your child, comfort your child, and urge him or her to live a godly life.
How are you doing? Did I just describe most of the conversations you have with your son or daughter – you’re encouraging, you’re comforting, are you urging? Think about the comments, for example, made years ago by one of President Clinton’s most impressive advisors, a man named Bill Galston. The news article I read back then said he was at the peak of his career when he resigned from his position. No one could believe it! Why?
Well, Bill Galston had worked hard trying to balance time with his ten-year-old son and his hugely significant job. He took his son to his White House office so they could talk while he worked. He even woke up at 6:00 in the morning so they could spend a few minutes together. But Bill was at the breaking point. He couldn’t do both. His son wrote him a letter saying, “Baseball is not fun when there’s no one there to applaud you.”
There’s just no substitute for a father. In the moments that matter to our children: the proud moments, the hurting moments, the amusing moments, the arriving home moments, the serious moments. And there are few sources more influential on earth than your approval of your son or your daughter. Could it be that there’s been too much emphasis on what’s wrong with your son or daughter, on what you want them to improve, on their weak points rather than majoring on the positive?
So much of the sense of security and sense of worth comes from knowing that Dad is pleased with them, that Mom is pleased with them. Focusing on the encouraging, on praising what’s good about them, on noticing even the slightest improvement, on building up not tearing down, concentrating on the things that matter to them. Realize what your most important job is. Bill Galston told the President of the United States, “You can replace me. My son can’t.”
Does your son or daughter need to hear your applause again, see your smile again? Maybe you need to make a new beginning by asking their forgiveness. Or start now to make it your daily mission to build them up, focus on their good points, and give them all of you sometime during that day. Your son or daughter is looking your way for something only you can give them; the smile that keeps them going, because a father’s smile is powerful, life-giving encouragement.
Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Imperial Walkers – 15 IC
Windmills – 15 IC
The Thang
B.O.M.B.S. – 50 Burpees, 100 Overhead Claps, 150 Merkins, 200 Big Boy Sit-ups, 250 Squats. After every 25 evolutions of each exercise, PAX will NUR up to Strawberry Alley from Front Street and mosey back approx. .02 miles. Time limited the Nur and Mosey and affected the last 250 Squats. They were completed without the Nur/Mosey “break”. When all was completed, Pax Nur’d up the grade & moseyed down approximately .5 miles.
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.
The tornado sirens went off near our daughter’s house a few nights ago. She knew what to do. She and our son-in-law quickly herded their three children into the basement until the danger passed.
Unfortunately, Nikki Carpenter lived outside of town where she couldn’t hear the tornado sirens. She and her three young sons had no time to prepare, and there was no basement in the trailer where they lived. For me, Nikki’s story seems especially moving on this Mother’s Day weekend.
When part of the storm system that hit our area moved on to Yazoo County, Mississippi, Nikki Carpenter was getting Austin (1), Ethan (2), and Layne (7) ready for their day. The tornado was a monster – an E-F4 packing up to 170 mile per hour winds and measuring 1.75 miles wide. As the tornado bore down on their trailer, Nikki grabbed a mattress, threw it over her boys, and lay on top of it to protect them.
It took neighbors more than two hours to work their way through the debris to get to that trailer – or what was left of it. Those three little boys were pulled out alive. Mom didn’t make it. Her mother said: “She saved those kids and gave her life.”
Here was a mom, doing what mothers do on a daily basis – sacrificing herself for her children. In this case, letting all the wrath of a tornado fall on her so it wouldn’t fall on the ones she loved.
And for me, a moving reminder of the One who covered me so I wouldn’t die. My Jesus let all the wrath of all my sin fall on Him, so it would never fall on me. He died; I lived.
That’s what happened on a cross on a hill outside the city of Jerusalem. Strip away all the religion and all the ritual, and that’s what Jesus is all about. The only Son God has, choosing to lay down His life to save you and me. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep…No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:11, 18).
There’s no way anyone could take the life of the Son of God. He made the tree He was nailed to and the men who put Him there. The only way He could die was if He gave His life. And that’s what He did: the brutal ripping of His body with Roman whips, the crown of thorns jammed onto His head, the spikes driven into His hands and feet, and the spear thrust into His side. Worst of all, the hell of being totally cut off from the Father, because He was carrying our sin. Nobody did all that to Him. He let it happen, because it took that dying to pay the death penalty for my sin.
That’s how much He loves me. That’s how much He loves you. He loves you too much to lose you.
So like a loving mother taking the brunt of that tornado, Jesus put Himself between you and the eternal death penalty of your sin. “God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:9). Jesus’ sacrifice removes all your sin from God’s book the moment you tell Him, “Jesus, You are my only hope. I’m resigning from living my life my way, and I’m pinning all my hopes on what You did for me on that cross.”
One day I chose to give my life to the One who gave His life for me. Things have never been the same, because Jesus didn’t just die for the world. “He loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20)…and for you.
PAX: Deez, Bunt, Ruxpin, Toy Soldier, Chattahoochee, Probe, Fireplex
Warm up
SSH – 20 IC
Cherry Pickers – 15 IC
Bolt 45’s – IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Streudel Claps – 15 IC
Windmills – 15 IC
The Thang
Beginning at CHOP, all Pax will mosey to Wharton Street and complete Aiken legs – 20 squats, 20 box jumps, 20 lunges (10 each Leg), 20 split Jacks (10 each Leg). Then Mosey to Federal Street and complete 20 Burpees, 20 Squats, 20 Merkins, 20 Big Boys. Then mosey to Front Street by the PD and complete Aiken legs – 20 squats, 20 box jumps, 20 lunges (10 each Leg), 20 split Jacks (10 each Leg). Finally, a short mosey to CHOP and complete 20 Burpees, 20 Squats, 20 Merkins, 20 Big Boys. A break was taken for the F3 message. All Pax will mosey to Wharton Street and complete Aiken legs – 20 squats, 20 box jumps, 20 lunges (10 each Leg), 20 split Jacks (10 each Leg). Mosey back to CHOP and complete 20 Burpees, 20 Squats, 20 Merkins, 20 Big Boys. Approx. 1.03 miles were completed for the beatdown.
F3 Message – see below
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.
As a New York Knicks basketball fan, I’ve had some victories and some play-off games to cheer for. But I’ve had my share of disappointments, too. And too many of them have come at the hands of one particular opponent – a player named Reggie Miller. This man has done more to stop my team than just about anybody I can think of because something happens to this man in a close game, when there’s suddenly just a minute or two left. He’s on fire! He may or may not have had a lot of points earlier in the game, but somehow he seems to save his best for last. With time running out, Reggie suddenly becomes a scoring machine, making fantastic shots, often scoring enough points to send my team home for the season. Any player is a powerful force when he knows the end is near and lights up to makes a difference!
Well, I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You about “Lighting Up At The End Of The Game.”
You may be at a point in your “game of life” when you feel as if most of the game is behind you. You’ve scored just about all the points you’re going to score. You’re just sort of coasting from here to the end of the game. Well, that is no way to finish your game!
Consider Caleb from our word for today from the Word of God. He was one of those 12 scouts Moses sent ahead to check out the Promised Land before the Jews were to enter it. Ten came back saying, “Giants there! No way!” Two came back saying, “God is with us! Way!” But because of the unbelief of the people, a whole generation wandered in the wilderness for 40 more years until all the adults of that unbelieving generation were dead – except those two believers, Joshua and Caleb. Now, with the new generation taking the Promised Land, Caleb is 40 years older than his first visit there. But is he ready to hang up his sneakers and call it a game? No way!
Here it is. Joshua 14:10. “So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as He said.” Not bad for 85, huh?
Here is one of God’s players who is near the end of his game – but he wants to light up the scoreboard. He says, “Give me that mountain! I’ll take on those giants if they’re in the way of what God wants!” That’s the kind of fourth quarter players that God is looking for! Yes, your body may slow down some, your energy may not be what it once was, but you aren’t dead yet! God wouldn’t be leaving you here if He still didn’t have work for you to do, lives for you to touch, a difference for you to make! In the Holy Spirit’s great outpouring just before Jesus returns, God says in Acts 2:17, “Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.”
Maybe you’ve allowed yourself to slip into a survival mentality, or maybe you’ve become self-absorbed or self-pitying. In the fourth quarter, some people just settle into a reward mindset. “Well, I’ve worked hard all these years. I’ll just settle back and relax now. It’s time just to reward myself for what I did in the first three quarters of the game.” Wait a minute! The game isn’t over yet! We’ll rest in heaven. We’ll get rewarded in heaven. But, for now, we can’t waste any of the all-too-few days we have to serve Christ. As the Apostle Paul neared his finish line, he said he was “poured out like a drink offering.” He wanted to cross the finish line having given so much for his Master that he had nothing left when he collapsed into Jesus’ arms! Don’t you want to do that?
That’s the kind of four-quarters heroes God is looking for. So make up your mind that you’re going to finish your game well. For, as Amy Carmichael said, “We will have all eternity to celebrate our victories, but only a few short hours to win them.” And we are in those few short hours.
Bolt 45’s – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats
Windmills – 15 IC
Cherry Pickers – 15 IC
The Thang
We completed a Modified Burp Back Mountain at “Oh Hill No”….Pax completed 50 Burpees each. 10 Burpees, then NUR up the hill to the first light pole and run down. 10 More Burpees, then NUR up the hill and run back down. Each Pax completed 5 rounds for 50 Burpees. We took a break for the 3rd F message that referenced slowing down. We completed 5 more burpees and a final NUR up the hill and a run down before moving on to the next pain station. At the Bank parking lot, we completed a 10:40 Captain Therkin set which is 1 big boy to 4 American hammers then 5 merkins. 2 big boys to 8 American hammers then 5 merkins. 3 big boys to 12 American hammers then 5 merkins. We completed the set up to 10 big boys, 40 American hammers and 5 merkins.
Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust. Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.
I hear a lot of wives complain about communication being a problem in their marriage. It sure was for my wife and me on a trip we took one summer. We had a lot of miles to cover in our van in one day – one very hot day. The day the air conditioner decided not to work, which meant we had to travel with all the windows down or have a sauna on wheels for the next 12 hours. I had a lot of work to do on this trip, and my wife enjoyed driving, so she was in front where it’s really good for the driver to be, and I was in the back of the van with my computer. Now, about communication? No way. No matter how important the information was, we couldn’t possibly yell loud enough to overcome the wind. All you could see was lips moving; it was like a silent movie. So, we had to save up anything we wanted to say for toll booths, traffic jams, and any place where we had to slow down. Those were the only times we could hear anything!
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Slowing Down So You Can Hear.”
Our word for today from the Word of God, we’re in 1 Kings 19:11-13. God’s prophet Elijah has been on a fast track of activity and now he’s hit this time of deep emotional turbulence. He really needs to hear from the Lord. He does, but not in the form he might have expected.
Here’s what the Bible says, “The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.” That day, in a quiet whisper from heaven, God’s servant received just the word he needed from God.
God often whispers. And you’ve got to be quiet to hear what He has for your heart. We like the dramatic spiritual experiences – the winds and the quakes and the fire. And sometimes God does speak to us through the high-octane spiritual moments. But often what our heart most needs to hear comes in His gentle whisper. And like that day of the roaring wind in our van, you can only hear what He’s trying to say when you slow down.
Which you may not have done much lately. Which may explain why your soul is getting so dry and brittle and why there’s confusion instead of direction, why there’s weakness instead of power, more frustration than peace. You’ve been traveling too fast to hear the whisper of God.
God’s message to you is, “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps.46:10). You’ve just got to find some time when you and the Lord can have some quality time. You’ve got to get back your daily quiet time with Him. You’ve got to get those Sabbaths that you’ve been losing or neglecting.
And it may be that God has brought some of the difficulty of recent days into your life for the express purpose of slowing you down so you can hear Him. God uses a lot of instruments as brakes on our overheated lives like an illness, an injury, the loss of your job, a financial crisis, a crisis in your family. When we won’t put on the brakes, the Father who loves us will. If He has you in a slow down zone right now, don’t fight it. Don’t just endure it. Open up your heart to your Lord to hear what you might never have been able to hear at 70 MPH.
In our high speed lives, the times to slow down become very important. They might be the only times you can really hear what God and others who love you have to say.
Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down. 15 squats halfway to full down. 15 full squats.
Windmills – 15 IC
Imperial Walkers – 15 IC
The Thang
Super 21 Routine – 21 Merkin & 21 Big Boys, 20 Merkins & 20 Big Boys, 19 Merkins & 19 Big Boy’s, repeat until completing 1 of both. Equals 231 of each exercise.
Spartan Run Routine – Run/sprint 100 yards (modified to 50 yards) and drop and do 15 merkins. Plank until all PAX are complete. Wosey back to the start. Run/sprint 100 yards (modified to 50 yards) and drop and do 15 merkins. 10 reps for 150 merkins for the exercise (Totals 150 if 10 reps of 15 are complete).
A total of 401 merkins for the beat down includes the 20 completed on the warm-up.
As an airline passenger, those video images from the Los Angeles airport that day were just plain disturbing: a human stampede, terrified passengers, fleeing from a gunman on the loose in the terminal.
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Anger Monster.”
These explosions of violence have happened in a theater, a mall, a school, an office, a church. The bullets may start flying any place, leaving behind lost and shattered lives. And you can be pretty sure the person pulling the trigger is an angry man. Whose anger – often hidden from those who know him, one day erupts like a volcano, destroying whatever is in its path.
My sense is that there are a lot of angry people around us these days, seething inside, sinking into a darker and more dangerous place each day. You see it surface as road rage, angry parents at their kids’ games, frustrated shoppers, bullies at school and on the Internet creating anger in their victims.
Usually, behind anger is pain. Angry people feel wounded, wronged, unheard, victimized, and taking it out on whoever inadvertently pushes their buttons. Many times there are, in fact, things in their past that have left them broken inside, but never with an excuse to wound or do violence to someone else because of it.
I suppose, at one time or another, each of us is the angry person. Not on a rampage to end lives, but angry enough to inflict some serious damage on people around us. Most often the people we love the most.
Mount St. Helens in Washington used to be considerably higher until she literally blew her top in an eruption one day. The eruption didn’t last long. The damage? That’s there forever. Underlying a lot of our explosive moments is this full glass thing. If I pour water into a half-empty glass, it will take quite a bit to make it spill, right? But if I’m going through life with a glass that’s already full, it only takes a drop to make it spill. And there are plenty of “drops” in a day’s time; aggravations, conflict, and difficulties.
And with the spill comes the lashing out. Usually the violence is the verbal kind. The world’s best-selling book, the Bible, describes it as “reckless words (that) pierce like a sword.” See, long after the wounder has forgotten, the wounded carries the scars of that anger.
Part of the problem is that some of us were raised to stuff our emotions. We don’t deal with them. That’s what fills up the glass. The time bomb’s going to keep ticking until we make room in that glass, which means taking a bold healing step; facing that pain that we’ve stuffed in our closet. It’s the match that keeps lighting the fuse of the anger and leaving a trail of burn victims in our wake.
It may mean walking through the pain with a counselor. Or digging deep into spiritual resources for the most liberating step a wounded person can take – forgiving. Even seeking forgiveness from those who’ve been the victim of my anger.
Maybe the kids are right. There actually is a monster in the closet, a wounded monster, who needs to be dragged out into the light so the healing can begin. Ironically, it is often the “monsters” that we can’t control that drive us to a greater power; someone who has repeatedly proven He can subdue the dark forces that control us. The dark side is what drives me to Jesus Christ.
When He was on earth, He encountered a man in the grip of forces so dark no one could control him. And it says, “He tore the chains apart… No one was strong enough to subdue him.” No one except Jesus. He expelled the “evil spirit.” And the man ended up “sitting at Jesus’ feet… in his right mind” (Luke 8). Jesus is still doing miracles like that, fixing what’s broken inside us, transforming the evil inside us. That victory over our darkness cost Him his life at the cross.
Our word for today from the Word of God, Revelation 1:5 says, “He loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood.” Today He wants to bring peace into the angry storm in your life if you’ll open the door of your heart to Him. How to do that? Go to our website. You’ll find it there – ANewStory.com – and let Him begin the transforming relationship that tames the monster inside.
