Chattahoochee

Keeping up with the Cheer Center

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QIC: Semi

Warm-a-Rama

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

Go Tell Your Dad

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Date: 06/13/2024

AO: CHOP, Milton, DE

PAX: Deez, Quattro, T-Rex, Whirlybird, Drago, Toy Soldier, Chattahoochee, Probe, Streudel, Fireplex

QIC: Fireplex

Warmup

SSH – 25 IC

Moroccan Night Clubs – 40 IC

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  

  1. Split Pax into two groups or if it is a smaller group you can complete it as one unit together.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.

F3 Message 06/13/24

THE POWER OF A FATHER’S SMILE

June 14, 2023

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.

Respectfully Submitted,

Fireplex

This One is For Mom

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Date: 05/16/2024

AO: CHOP, Milton, DE

QIC: Fireplex

Pax: Quattro, T-Rex, Deez, Bunt, Toy Soldier, Chattahoochee, Probe, Streudel, 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.

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.   

F3 Message 05/16/2024

THE MOTHER AND THE MONSTER

May 6, 2010

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.

Respectfully Submitted,

Fireplex

Toasted By Streudel

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Date: 05/07/2024

AO: CHOP, Milton, DE

QIC: Fireplex

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.   

F3 Message 05/07/24

LIGHTING UP AT THE END OF THE GAME – #3017

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.

Respectfully Submitted,

Fireplex

Slow the “H” Up

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Date; 04/02/2024

AO: CHOP, Milton, DE

QIC: Fireplex

Pax: Bunt, Chattahoochee, Probe, Streudel, Ruxpin, Woodstock & Fireplex

Warm up

SSH – 20 IC

Imperial Walkers – 20 IC  

Moroccan Night Clubs – 51 IC

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.

F3 Message 04/02/24

SLOWING DOWN SO YOU CAN HEAR – #7864

Thursday, March 2, 2017

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.

Respectfully Submitted,

Fireplex

HOB Disc Golf

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QIC: Semi

Warm-a-Rama
20 Seal jack i/c
14 seal waves i/c
14 mountain man pooper i/c
14 Michael Phelps i/c
10 hip circles each way oyo
30 Moroccan night club i/c

The Thang

Patriot run to HOB

Frisbee golf
Add 10 to the strokes of each hole
Diamond merkins
Wide Merkins
Pretzel sticks
Burpees
Gas pumpers
Merkins

3rd F
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/Eg7KagTg9ZNRNWTk/?mibextid=5uw8Mq

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/B9muoCrUVZ2m9tcs/?mibextid=5uw8Mq

Mosey back to AO

Number-Rama
NAME-A-RAMA
COT

9 HIM showed today: Semi, Probe, Yukon, TRex, Streudal, Fireplex, Chattahoochee, Bunt, Deez

Merkins Make Me Mad

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Date: 03/05/2024

AO: CHOP, Milton, DE

QIC: Fireplex

Pax: Bunt, Wood, Pooh, Deez, Semi, Woodstock, Ruxpin, Chattahoochee, Probe, Fireplex

Warm up

Merkins – 20 OYO

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.

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.

F3 Message 03/05/24

THE ANGER MONSTER – #9437

March 14, 2023

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.

Respectfully Submitted,

Fireplex

December Ultimate

, , , , , , , , , / Leave a Comment / Aegis, DE, Georgetown / By

QIC: Semi

Warm-a-Rama

20 seal jacks i/c
20 seal waves i/c
20 plank jacks i/c
Side shuffle around circle, switch facing direction halfway
10 hip circles each direction oyo
15 Michael Phelps i/c
15 mountain man pooper i/c
Toy Soldier halfway around circle, lt dan the other half

The Thang

Patriot run to Ruxpin’s distillery by the way by the railroad tracks

15 hanging knees raises oyo

Mosey to field by church

Ultimate frisbee – 2 teams of 5
Turn overs – 5 merkins.       Total – a lot!
Touch downs – 5 burpees.  Total – 30, 35

3rd F

WHY DOGS LIVE LESS THAN HUMAN

Here’s the surprising answer of a 6 year old child.

Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog’s owners, Ron, his wife Lisa, and their little boy Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle.

I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn’t do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.

As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience.

The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker‘s family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away.

The little boy seemed to accept Belker’s transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker’s Death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that dogs’ lives are shorter than human lives.  Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, ”I know why.”

Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I’d never heard a more comforting explanation. It has changed the way I try and live.

He said, ”People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life — like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?” The six-year-old continued,

”Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don’t have to stay for as long as we do.”

Live simply.
Love generously.
Care deeply.
Speak kindly.

Remember, if a dog was the teacher you would learn things like:

• When your loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
• Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
• Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure Ecstasy.
• Take naps.
• Stretch before rising.
• Run, romp, and play daily.
• Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
• Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
• On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.
• On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.
• When you’re happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
• Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
• Be faithful.
• Never pretend to be something you’re not.
• If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
• When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently.

That’s the secret of happiness that we can learn from a good dog.

Mosey back to circle

Number Rama
NAME-A-RAMA
COT

10 HIM showed today: Semi, Woodstock, Chattahoochee, Fireplex, Whirlybird, Wood, Bunt, Chauffer, Ruxpin, Spaceman

Let’s Say Hill-O to Chet

, , , , , / Leave a Comment / CHOP, Milton, DE / By

Date: 11/09/2023

AO: CHOP, Milton, DE

QIC: Fireplex

PAX: Bunt, Chattahoochee, Hoss, Probe, Struedel, Fireplex

Warm up

SSH – 20 IC

Cherry Pickers – 15 IC

Four Count Freddie’s – 30 IC

Bolt 49’s –  I lost count but it was supposed to be as follows… 15 squats full up to half way down, 15 squats half way down to full down, & 15 squats full motion.  All completed IC as a 4 count.

Windmills – 15 IC

EMT/Firefighter Chet Reynolds walked by our workout during our time at the Firehouse.  Everyone wanted to stop to say Hello to Chet.

Mosey to Oh Hill No

The Thang 

The Modified Slugger & Toy Soldier Routine.  Crawl Bear up the Hill and Bear Crawl down and complete 20 Diamond Merkins, 20 wide armed merkins and 20 Hand Release Merkins.  Nur up the Hill and mosey down and complete Aiken legs – 20 squats, 20 box jumps, 20 lunges (10 each Leg), 20 split Jacks (10 each Leg).    Inch worm up the hill and Nur down and complete a Toy Soldier Set 100 LBC’s, 50 E2K’s each side and 25 Big Boys. 

Mosey back to the CHOP. 

Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust.  Prayers were offered for multiple needs within the attending PAX, but please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.   

F3 Message 11/09/23

BELIEVING IN SPRING

Hope is hard to come by during the “winter” seasons of your life, like the loss of someone you love. Sometimes someone close to you dies suddenly, and the grief is almost unbearable. You are overwhelmed.

You are able to talk about the hope factor when your life is anchored to a personal relationship with the one who created you. You can know that death cannot ultimately win. Death is reduced to being a painful interruption. It can be very painful, but only an interruption.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:13 of the Word of God, it talks about those who have already died. It says, “We do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men,” listen to this, “who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.” Verse 17 says, “We who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with those people in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” Notice it says “…we do not grieve as others who have no hope.”

The winter will not last. The reunion in the spring is sure to come and will last forever. This is because Jesus died to remove the great separator of sin; the sin that separates us from God and from each other. Jesus conquered death the moment He walked out of His grave. He assures those who belong to Him that they will share His victory over death. Jesus is the living Savior who gives eternal life to those that are His.

So what is hope? It’s the confident expectation that there is something better than this. It’s what gets you through an otherwise depressing winter. There will be a spring. What you see isn’t what you get! Maybe it’s winter for you right now. The pain, the struggle, and the wounds are very real. If what you can see now is all there is, the outlook is bleak, but this is not all there is if you belong to Jesus.

The Bible describes it this way, “Christ in you, the hope of Glory” ( Colossians 1:27). Do those three words describe you in Jesus – Christ in you? Your relationship begins the day you do what the Bible says, “To all who received Him, to those who believed in His name He gave the right to become the children of God” ( John 1:12). As the Bible asks so beautifully, “If God is for us who could be against us?” ( Romans 8:21).

If you’re short of hope, there is Jesus. The very hopelessness of this winter you are in could be the very thing that drives you to His waiting arms and to the hope only this living Savior can give. With Jesus you can live in real hope. The confident expectation that there will be something better than this is guaranteed by the Son of God Himself. He will bring the spring.

Respectfully Submitted,

Fireplex

They Named A Corner After You

, , , , , , , / Leave a Comment / CHOP, Milton, DE / By

Date: 10/03/2023

AO: CHOP, Milton, DE 19968

QIC: Fireplex

PAX: Bunt, Chattahoochee, Drago, Fireplex, Probe, Ruxpin, Toad, Toy Soldier

Warm up

SSH – 20 IC

Cherry Pickers – 20 IC

Bolt 45’s – 15 squats to halfway down.   15 squats halfway to full down.  15 full squats

Windmills – 20 IC  

The Thang

Hindenburg BLIMPS from the Exicon

Modified version of Blimps. Perform exercise at corner #1, mosey to corner #2, perform exercise, mosey to corner #3, perform exercise.  Then mosey to corner #4, perform exercise, and then mosey back to corner #1.  Plank it up until all PAX are in.  That completes one round.  Round #1 – 10 Burpees. Round #2 – 20 Lunges each leg.  Round #3 – 30 Imperial Walkers.  Round #4 – 40 Merkins.  Round #5 – 50 Plank Jacks.  Round #6 – 60 Squats.

Each round consists of @ .25 miles – Mill Street was the block of choice.  All Pax completed four rounds through the round of 40 Merkins at each corner. One evolution of the 50 Plankjacks and one evolution of 60 squats was completed in the COT to finish the morning strong.

Count-O-Rama, Name-O-Rama, and the Circle of Trust.  Please keep all our HIM in your thoughts and prayers.

F3 message 10/03/2023

THE HARVEST OF DOING GOOD – #9207

April 26, 2022

Our friend Mark grew up on the farm; actually on an Ozark Mountain farm. And that means rocks in your fields! One local grandfather used to say, “Every time it rains I grow rocks in my field.” Mark knows all about that. Over a period of time, his mother made him clear hundreds of rocks out of one of their fields when he was just a little guy. Well then, Mark bought some land from his mother as an adult. And as he started to work one of those fields, he was really pleasantly surprised by how amazingly rock-free it is. Then it dawned on him, this was the field he had made rock-free when he was a boy!

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Harvest of Doing Good.”

Mark was reaping the good work he did many years ago, enjoying the benefits of those efforts. That’s a reminder of one of the wisest laws in the Bible, “Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7). We usually think about that in terms of the bad consequences of the bad seed we sow, but there’s another side to that reaping equation.

In Galatians 6:8-9, our word for today from the Word of God, it says, “The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the spirit will reap eternal life.” So you don’t just reap the bad you sow; you reap the good you sow. Paul goes on to make a very practical application, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Why do we sometimes give up on some of the good we’re trying to do? Well, because of the nature of harvesting. If a farmer plants corn on a Tuesday, he doesn’t go out and pick it on a Wednesday, or maybe for many, many Wednesdays after that. There’s a time lag between sowing and reaping, and so it can look like nothing’s going to come from it. So we quit sowing in the lives of our children, our church, our coworkers, our friends.

But we end up living today in the life we built yesterday – the relationships we built – good or bad, the reputation we built. We’re living in it today. The ways we’ve treated people. Well, you did some sowing today and you’ll ultimately get back the kinds of things you sowed. So spend the time that person needs from you. Consciously do random acts of kindness each day. Give a gift when there’s no occasion for your appreciation; just giving it for the person themself. Send those thank you notes. Give that compliment; that word of encouragement. Use the money God’s entrusted to you to lift people’s burdens and people’s spirits. Don’t be afraid to be generous. After all, Jesus said, “You lose your life by trying to hang onto it, but you find your life by giving it away” (Luke 9:24).

Scripture is full of encouragement to keep sowing good seed. “Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again” (Ecclesiastes 11:1). “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you – and even more” (Mark 4:24). “A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed” (Proverbs 11:25). Don’t be afraid of what you’ll lose by giving. God has promised that you’re going to gain so much more. You don’t become richer by keeping what you’ve got. You become richer in your life in some way or another by giving it away.

So, keep scattering good seed wherever you go. Make it a daily thing, because when you do, somewhere down the road there’s an awesome harvest coming.

Respectfully Submitted,

Fireplex

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