It was great to once again have a Cousin Eddie with us. We had 2 PAX from different regions in SC last week and today we extended a warm (very warm!), humid, and sandy welcome to JAX FL, Gecko. Nothing like getting that F3 Passport stamped! That made it a 12-pack for the beatdown.

This Gloom’s “gameful employment” brought to you by Nugget’s influence. Our brother has a reputation for bringing games into his Q’s, so YHC, looking for a fresh Q idea, decided to throw-down with a man-sized game of sandbag Tic-Tac-Toe. a.k.a. Tic-Tac-Gohhh! Of course, we started with the warmup…

WARM-O-RAMA:

• SSH – 18 IC
• Swartz Jacks – 20 IC (just pay attention Leatherman, you’ll get ’em figured out)
• Imperial Walkers – 20 IC
• Hill Billy Walkers – 18 IC
• Crab Flippers (a.k.a. Cherry Pickers) – 20 IC
• Flying Squirrels – 10 OYO

Mosey down N. Bedford Street to the field on North Bedford Street Park, where PAX would find what pre-ruck rucker Ruxpin caught YHC red-handed setting up prior to the workout: A man-sized Tic-Tac-Toe painted on the field (shout-out to sprayable sidewalk chalk!) YHC should’ve taken a pic because, you have to admit, it did have a cool F3 symbol painted in the middle square.

PAX counted-off by 2’s…well, some of us did. Uh, hem, Doubtfire! It took a couple tries but we got it figured out. Nonetheless, 12 PAX beat the Fartsack to post for this highly excellent game! 12 PAX equals 2 teams of six. Y’all started your Saturday with 2 Six PAX! Here’s how it all went down:

THE THANG:

Teams were set up EXACTLY 100′ feet apart. Team X, with 5 40lb sandbags stacked at their cone marked with X’s. Team O, with 5 40lb sandbags stacked at their cone marked with O’s. On the count of 3, 2, 1 Gohhh! PAX took turns and had to carry a sandbag and carefully place it (like a baby, per Q’s instructions) into the tic-tac-toe design in the middle of the field trying to get 3-in-a-row-tic-tac-toe! Teams played to win the best of 7 rounds.

Round 1: O’s win! (wouldn’t you like to hear THAT more??)

• Winners, Plank.
• Losers, 25 Sandbag Squat Swings
  • (Yes kids, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose!)

Round 2: O’s win! (yep, you heard it here first, folks! O’s won 2 straight!)

• Winners, Plank.
• Losers, 25 Sandbag Squat Curls

Round 3: X’s win! O’s 2 – X’s 1

• Winners, Plank
• Losers, 25 OH Shoulder Press

Round 4: X’s win! O’s 2 – X’s 2

• Winners, Plank
• Losers, 25 Bulgarian Ball Busters

Round 5: X’s win! O’s 2 – X’s 3

• Winners, Plank
• Losers, 25 Sandbag Pulls (vertical…sack to your Bombjacks!)

Round 6: O’s win! O’s 3 – X’s 3

• Winners, Plank
• Losers, 25 Plank Pulls

CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND, Round 7: Teams compete with their best line-up

• Jack Wins! SOG…Son Ofa Gun!
• Losers, 18 Burpees (both teams)

Great competition, great fun! We all got stronger, so yep, it looks like everyone actually did win. Hmm…

3rd F Breather: YHC shared a rinse and repeat of a 3rd Word he shared from a life experience which really drove home the Word of God:

Exodus 33:13-15. Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but You have not let me know whom you will send with me. you have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with Me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me Your ways so I may know You and continue to find favor with You. Remember that this nation is Your people.” The Lord replied, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. Verse 15 reads: Then Moses said to Him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not lead us up [to the Promised Land] from here.“

1. As leaders, what’s one thing we CANNOT do without? God’s presence!
2. Earlier in verse 2 it says that an angel would go with them, but NOT God’s presence.
3. In verse 3, going into the Promised Land, victory was promised
4. BUT…God’s presence WOULD NOT go with them. Before Moses pleaded with God later in the chapter, we read that God had planned to withhold His presence from His people.

Have you ever thought about why? This used to confound me until I was walking a trail in the woods across the parking lot from my church years ago, with 2 of my 3 boys. After playing with every stick (guns/swords) and every rock (grenades) it was time to start heading down through the woods, across the field and parking lot toward home. But the boys would not stay with me! After repeated urgings for them to stay with me, without their corresponding response to do so, I, slightly ahead of them on the trail just simply stepped behind a large tree. I literally hid or withheld my presence. I’m their father, so I didn’t do it to be mean or even to make them suffer. I didn’t go home and cruelly leave them in the woods to fend for their 2-yr-old and 3-yr-old selves. I stepped behind the tree to hide my presence for one reason: To hear the words “Daddy, where are you?” They cried out almost immediately and I responded almost immediately. That’s when it hit me! When God hides His presence from us it’s not because He’s mean, wants us to suffer, and it’s not that He is cruel. He simply wants us to recognize His absence and to call out to Him and say, Daddy, where are you? I need your presence in my life, my leadership! I need you God. That’s what Moses cried out on behalf of himself and the nation. And God answered and said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

As men, husbands, fathers, and leaders what’s one thing we cannot do without in order to be HIM? God’s presence! When you notice His absence, repent (turn) and cry out to Him.

The Thang 2:

• 10 Swerkins, run (kinda) across field – 20 Carolina Drydocks
• 10 Swerkins, run (kinda) across field – 15 Split Jacks (15 each leg)
• 10 Swerkins, run (kinda) across field – 10 Mtn. Man Poopers
• 10 Swerkins, run (kinda) across field – 05 Nipple Scraper Merkins

Mosey back to AO for a 10 mins of Mary:

• 15 Climb da Ladder -Compliments of Vanilla
• 20 4-Count Freddies – Compliments of Hideous
• 25 Reverse Crunch – Compliments of Nugget
• 15 Big Boys – Compliments of Bovine
• 20 Flutter Kicks – Compliments of Ying Ying (great cadence bro!)
• 20 Groiners – Compliments of Doubtfire (some serious sucktology!)
• 15 Burpees – Compliments of Cousin Eddie, Gecko from JAX, FL.
• Great recall Nugget!

YHC heard the bells ringing; time to circle up.

• Announcements: Get your shirts now, order window closes in few days and won’t open again for 6 or 8 months. order try this link:

• Prayers: Chappie’s teens; Gecko’s teens; Chattahoochee; etc. Thanx for taking the hand-off Vanilla!

Thanks for the opportunity to lead HIM! Thanks for your ear at Coffeeteria, Gecko. What are the odds that you show up in DE and post at exactly the same time we’re working through almost identical issues with sons? Perhaps Soul-Q might’ve had a hand in our schedules.

Chappie, out!