Mr. Mom

Bombjacks, Blimps & A Crap Load of Burpees

Date: 08/04/2022

AO: CHOP, Milton, DE

QIC: Fireplex

Warm up

SSH – 20 IC

Burpees – 10 OYO

Cherry Pickers – 20 IC

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 for the remaining exercises as identified.  Round #1 – 10 Burpees. Round #2 – 20 Lunges (10 each leg).  Round #3 – 30 Imperial Walkers.  Round #4 – 40 Merkins.  Round #5 – 50 Plank Jacks.  Round #6 – 60 Squats.

F3 message –The 3rd F was shared after completing round #4.  See Below….  

PAX finished the beat down strong with more burpees OYO & AMRAP.

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

F3 Message 08/04/22

THE TROUBLE WITH SELFIES

January 9, 2017

Jim cracked me up with the story he told in his recent family newsletter.

He and his honey were enjoying some personal time at the Atlantic Ocean. Which is really big. Jim decided to take a picture of himself and the ocean. Which is really big.

Later, he made a disturbing discovery – which he reported this way. “I think I missed the ocean!”

Which is really big.

Oh, he’s in the picture, all right. But the Atlantic is nowhere to be seen.

Now how can a smart guy miss something as big and beautiful as the ocean?

By totally focusing on himself.

I’ve made that mistake. Missing the big thing because I was so focused on myself. I suspect I’m not alone.

When we’re hurting…when we’re grieving…when we’re grappling with a big problem – we tend to go inward and become all about ourselves.

We miss the person we married because we’re so focused on our frustrations with them. Before we married them, we magnified what we loved and minimized what bothered us. Now we’re all about our frustrations with them, forgetting all we loved about them.

So it’s selfie time. All about me. Losing sight of the one we once could not live without. So we stop loving like we did, and they start responding to the change.

We can miss our kids the same way. By dwelling on how they’re disappointing us, defying us, distancing themselves from us. So we’re sucked into a cycle of seeing – and talking about – only what they need to change. Not seeing – and talking about – the big picture of their strengths and their potential. We focus the lens on our hurt and fear and frustration – and miss the big stuff. The masterpiece God made and entrusted to us.

I know how much my picture can become a selfie when I’m going through a hurting time. Pain tends to make us selfish. Self-centered. Self-pitying. All those nasty self words.

But my Bible tells me that there’s always something bigger going on than the immediate situation. “All things work together for good to those who love God,” it says (Romans 8:28). And it quotes God as saying, “I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).

There’s a Big Plan. For my good. But I’ll miss the big and beautiful part if all I focus on is my pain.

When my precious Karen was suddenly gone last May, my natural tendency was to be all about me – my grief, my life without her, my future.

But, thankfully, God quickly rescued me from my selfie. And began to show me what I could become through this greatest heartbreak of my life. I can honestly say my heart is more open than it’s ever been – open to God’s voice, open to letting my journey help others on their journey, open to the broken and breaking hearts all around me.

What’s scary is that our “selfie” focus can actually cause us to miss the biggest and most beautiful sight of all.

The God who made us.

We so want to have life our way that we live as if we’ve dethroned Him from the throne of our life. In the Bible’s words, “Each of us has turned to His own way” (Isaiah 53:6). And those “God, You run the universe, but I’ll run me” choices have “separated you from your God” (Isaiah 59:2).

All about me. Missing the God who’s the reason we’re here. Whose love we’re made for. Who thought we were worth sending His Son to die for.

The Ocean is right there, within my sight. Unless I’m blocking the view.

Respectfully Submitted,

Fireplex

Aiming for the Top

Warm-up
• The Happy Jack – 4 IC 4 rounds
• Mountain Man Pooper 20 – IC
• Hairy Rocketts 20 – IC
• Moroccan Night Club 40 – IC
• Low Lateral Skater – 10 IC

The Thang:
Mosey around the block stop on grass opposite of the church
• The Pump Jack – partner up one partner does 5 merkins the other holds plank switch and complete until failure, then walking lunge around group until the final group fails.
• Heels to Heaven – 25IC
• Flutter Kicks – 25 IC
Mosey to AO
• The Sketch – 10 IC
• Rockett Dips – 50 OYO
• Squat Walk Rocketts parking line to parking line
• Toy soldier set 50, 25, 15
3rd F: Aiming for the Top
Chairman Lap
• Diamond Merkins – 10 IC
• Iron Mike – 10 IC
• The American Hammer – 30 IC
• Number-rama
• Name-a-rama
• COT


Message: Excerpt from Bob Richards A Heart of a Champion book
Aiming for the Top

Why do they keep aiming for the top, taxing their bodies, minds and spirits to the ultimate? Why do men try to accomplish the impossible, risking life and limb itself in order to attain peaks? Man is endowed with an instinctive impulse to get to the top. Many people tell me that the only reason businessmen work is for money. I don’t believe it. I think many of them are trying to accomplish something tremendous with their lives. The scientific mind keeps reaching out, grasping for new ideas in a continuing search for new truths. Deep in the heart of every person are great goals that he wants to accomplish. In some people it is a burning desire, an obsession. Man cannot be content, no matter how high he has gone he wants to go higher, no matter how much distance he has traveled he wants to go longer, no matter how fast he has gone he wants to go faster.

Qualities to reach the top
Self-control
Most of the great champions in the world learn to hold their emotions in check; they have a certain amount of emotional stability. At least 50% of success depends on the mind; what you think, your goals, your faith, your determination, and the creative imagination of your mind.

Every problem that man has could be solved if only man would think. You’ve got to aim for the top. Many people limit themselves by the failure to comprehend what they could really do. They had a little goal they wanted to accomplish, but it wasn’t really big enough to challenge them, nor great enough to pull out the deepest within them. You never know what potential you’ve got within you until you reach out for the highest.

Burpee Baseline

Warm -A- Rama

Side straddle hops

Hip circles x10 both ways oyo

Grinder push-ups calf stretch 

Cherry pickers 

Knee circles x10 oyo

Bolt 45s brought by Mr Fireplex

The Thang

Mosey to Firehouse parking lot 

Play quick video on “Just one more” (Ed Mylett)

DEATH BY BURPEE”   – This is a test of mental toughness…. You against you and you can only cheat yourself.  Do your best as we want to see an improvement when we revisit this again after the burpee challenge in August 

Minute 1 – 1 burpee 

Minute 2 – 2 burpees 

Minute 3 – 3 burpees

Minute 4 – 4 burpees 

(To 20 total if you can last)

If you fail to make the amount of burpees in a minute, you are done!  

***** Keep your total in your head and I’ll mark you down   

3rd F – LT Brian Murphy (podcast to follow) 

CHILDISH GAMES

6 corners – you run to a corner and someone rolls the dice.  If it lands on your corner number, you stretch….. everyone else must partake in the workout (must run to corners 1-6 and be in there before dice stop) 

1 min for the losers who guessed wrong or have no luck.

  1. Plank – 1 min
  2. Air squats – 1 min
  3. Flutter kicks – 1 min
  4. Bear crawl – 1 min
  5. Bomb jacks – 1 min
  6. LBCs – 1 min
  7. Iron mikes – 1 min
  8. Suicide Sprints – 1 min
  9. Burpees  – 1 min

Number -A- Rama

Name -A- Rama

COT- prayer

July 21st Beatdown

Good morning to you HIM

This was done on a whim

I am no pro

As most of you already know

You are here at F3 

Because you want to be

If you can’t do any particular move

Just keep up with your own groove

You can not sue

So don’t even try to

We have to get going before Wooly has to Poo

Warmup

Side straddle hops

Cherry pickers

Windmill

Chairman lap

Rope climb

American hammers

Chairman lap

Flutter kicks

Big boys

Chairman lap

3rdF

Thinking By Walter D. Wintle

If you think you are beaten, you are

If you think you dare not, you don’t,

If you like to win, but you think you can’t

It is almost certain you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost

For out of the world we find.

Success begins with a fellow’s will

It’s all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are

You’ve got to think high to rise,

You’ve got to be sure of yourself before

You can ever win a prize.

Life’s battles don’t always go

To the stronger or faster man,

But soon or late the man who wins

Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!

Chairman lap

Open the door

Sherlock shuffle

Chairman lap

Caterpillar crawl ups

Bolt 45s 

Dice game 

A Twisted Deck of Pain

DATE: 22 JUNE 2022

QIC: Focker

YHC had his Virgin Q this morning! Thanks to the 17 HIMs who showed up for a record attendance at The Grit Mill! It meant a lot to have such good representation on my first Q. I decided to use fate and the F3 Workout Cards to assist me on the beatdown.

WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Disclaimer given
  • Moroccan Nightclub – 20 IC
  • Side Straddle Hob – 20 IC
  • Imperial Walker – 20 IC
  • Cherry Picker – 20 IC

Following the warm-o-rama we mosied to the parking lot at Arena’s and the PAX circled up around the speaker and workout cards.

THE THANG:

YHC broke out his new F3 Workout Cards for this beatdown. With the PAX circled around the cards about 15 feet from the deck of cards. Inspired by T-Rex using music for his beatdown, YHC brought a speaker to play 90’s alternative for the entire beatdown.

Everyone bear crawls to the center where YHC drew five cards for the first set and a different PAX was identified for the subsequent sets. Once cards were drawn, everyone crawl beared back their original position.

Call out for the exercises written on the cards as follows:

  • 2-10: card value + 10 reps for the exercise
  • Royals: 25 reps for the exercise
  • Ace: 50 reps of that exercise

At the completion of the set everyone bear crawls back to the deck for more cards.

Set breakdown:

SET ONE:

14 – Alternating Side Squats

25 – Freddie Mercury’s

12 – Bulgarian Split Squats

18 – Backward lunges

25 – Diamond Merkins

SET TWO:

13 – High, Slow Flutter Kick IC

17 – Monkey Humper

14 – Carolina Dry Dock

Bear crawl 15 feet, Crawl bear 15 feet

20 – Rosalitas

Conducted the 3RD F after the second set:

Continuing the theme of checking on each other and on the people in our lives with whom we haven’t spoken to in a while. YHC shared a personal story of how he was going through a difficult time in his life and felt alone and had received a special message to seek out Psalm 20.

Psalm 20
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 May the Lord answer you when you are in distress;
may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
2 May he send you help from the sanctuary
and grant you support from Zion.
3 May he remember all your sacrifices
and accept your burnt offerings.[b]
4 May he give you the desire of your heart
and make all your plans succeed.
5 May we shout for joy over your victory
and lift up our banners in the name of our God.

May the Lord grant all your requests.

6 Now this I know:
The Lord gives victory to his anointed.
He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary
with the victorious power of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
8 They are brought to their knees and fall,
but we rise up and stand firm.
9 Lord, give victory to the king!
Answer us when we call!

Two days later, YHC met a woman while performing his duties as a nurse, and she was the key to change the direction his life was going in and make everything right in his world. Continue to reach out to each other and to others in your life. You just may be the person to turn their life around for the better!

SET THREE:

16 – Jumping lunges

25 – Monkey Humper

17 – Derkins

18 – Luge

25 – American Hammers

SET FOUR:

14 – Heels to Heaven

20 – Butt Kicks

18 – Merkins

17 – Lil Baby Crunches

15 – Hand Release Merkins

SET FIVE:

19 – Squats

16 – Wide Arm Merkins

50 – Calf Raises

25 – Shoulder Taps

19 – Ranger Merkins 

Mosey back to The Grit Mill to end the beatdown.

NUMBER-RAMA

NAME-O-RAMA

COT/BOM:

  • Welcomed Thomas Lilly FNG nicknamed as Knobs.
  • Announcements: TRexs’ M’s event this weekend at Milton Memorial Park. Roving Ruckf3st Friday will be at The Grit Mill
  • Prayer: For Quattro’s friend who was recently diagnosed with colon cancer. For MacDaddy and Taps and the group traveling via bicycles. Prayers for all us HIMs to be the leaders and examples to others in our homes, jobs, and communities. Prayers for all the needs and attentions of those present.

I am honored that so many PAX showed up for my VQ! I was truly grateful and humbled.

Focker, out!

Ultimate Goals

QIC: Semi

Warm-a-Rama
15 seal jacks i/c
15 seal wave i/c
Side shuffle across parking lot,
Side shuffle back
Toy Soldier halfway across parking lot,
Nur back
Karaoke across parking lot,
Karaoke back

The Thang
Ultimate frisbee with a twist
Have to be in the soccer goal to score (goals are facing away from each other)
Score a goal = 5 burpees,
  Other team does 15 e2ks per side

3rd F
9 lessons from F3
1. You can go a lot farther with others by your side.
2. Men need challenges to stay sharp mentally, physically, and emotionally.
3. Confidence is built by setting and accomplishing goals.
4. Competition makes us better.
5. Sweat and shared suffering build strong bonds.
6. If you’re not accelerating, you’re decelerating.
7. You’re stronger than you think you are.
8. The COT is great therapy.
9. Friends make life worth living and loving.

Number-Rama
NAME-A-RAMA
COT
16 HIM showed today: Semi, Chappie, Ruxpin, Fireplex, Toy Soldier, T-rex, Spreader, Focker, Mowdaboat, Rooster, Mr. Mom, Looney Toons, Flat Bottom, Dunkin, Quattro, Chauffer

Looney Tunes in The Multiverse of Madness

Looney Tunes on Q at CHOP for a cold windy Spring day in May. The point of the workout was to throw some Chaos into the Routine to mix things up, keep us out of breathe and our bodies guessing.

21 Men Posted to the CHOP for this morning’s beatdown.

Warm Up 5:15-5:20 minutes

  • 20 Morrocan night club
  • 10 Burpees
  • 20 Harry triggers
  • 20 on your 6 hairy triggers
  • 10 Count back leg stretch
  • 20 Imperial Walkers
  • 20 Side Straddle Hops


Part 2 5:20-5:25 Minutes Wosey to the Wall

  • 10- In Cadence Inverted Merkins
  • 20 – Big Boys

Part 3 5:25-5:35 Minutes

Half Mile Mosey to the Bottom of the Hill

3rd F– See Below

  • Bolt 45 Part 1 at bottom of hill
  • Nur to top of the Hill
  • Bolt 45 Part 2 at top of hill
  • Bear Crawl down
  • Bolt 45 Part 3 at bottom of hill

At this point it was rumored through Quattro that Hideous complained about the Awesome workout we were having. So Looney Tunes pulled the plug! Declaring we were stopping the workout and heading back to CHOP to start over.

That’s it’s! Mosey Back to CHOP: 5:35-5:45 Minutes

Part 4 5:45-5:55

3 Knees Over Toes – Wall of Pain

  • 25 Tibialis Raise – Back against the wall, Feet shoot out. lift feet lower them.
  • 25 FHL Calf Raise (Flexor Hallucis Longus) Hand against the wall feet shooting out
  • 25 Repeat Tibialis Raise

PART 5 5:50-5:55 am

Coupons to Hell

Teams of three with Coupons

Everyone had the chance to go Once:

Man 1 – 20 Slow Bicep Curls

Man 2 – NUR with block

Man 3 – 20 Slow Overhead Press

DONE

We named a new FNG- Boones Farm! Welcome to F3

3rd F from John Whiting-Bulletproof Entrepreneur You’ve got this ultra-powerful tool at your disposal and nobody has ever shared with you how to use it or even what it is!You are composed of mind, body and soul.You are a soul, a being, YOU. You just happen to be living in a body. When someone is talking to YOU, they’re talking to you, not the body, not the mind… YOU!
You are incredibly powerful. Your thoughts until this point in your life have created the reality which you now know.Some may call this “your heart”Every single thought you’ve had has created your reality perfectly.

Your MIND is separate from YOU

Your mind is a collection of mental image pictures organized by similarity.

They go back in time since the beginning
You are not born with fear and anger. They are learned, recorded and stored as mental image pictures.Your mind is the voice you hear telling you to be afraid, angry, sad, depressed, resentfulYour mind is NOT YOU.
This is incredibly important
Your body is not YOU eitherYour body is a vehicle for this physical universe
Your body is the vehicle for your soul (YOU) and your mind
The entire game of the physical universe is to achieve your soul’s desires while consistently reducing the limitations of the mind and body.

So ignore your fears and your pains.

Easter Weekend Beatdown: the Stations of the Cross Workout

Easter Weekend Beatdown: the Stations of the Cross Workout
F3antastic workout I devised to celebrate Jesus before a weekend of Egg hunts and over eating!

The Reason for the Season


The WARMUP
20 Side Straddle Hops
20 Harry triggers
14 Imperial Walkers
20 Cosack Squats

**Mosey to the School – Go down S Bedford. Right on West Pine Street.**
10 count for the Q to catch his breath.
I explained there was a theme to this workout and there would be 14 stations, to see if the HIM could guess it.

The THANG
Nur to station 1
1st Station: Jesus is condemned to death
(50 Merkins)
Nur to station 2
2nd Station: Jesus carries His cross
(50 American Hammers. seated twists)
Nur to station 3
3rd Station: Jesus falls for the first time
10 Burpees.
Nur to end
**PLANK FOR 6
The third F was broken up and this was the first portion, I explained that we were doing a Stations of the Cross workout, no one guessed it.
Catholics love the stations of the cross.

Up next:
4th Station: Jesus meets his mother – Mary
4 minutes of Mary**

The Dolly – legs apart then together, legs straight, 6 inches off ground.

High Dolly(Rosalita) – Legs apart then together, legs straight

Dying Cockroach. Legs in sky, touch opposite foot, in cadance.
****

**• JAIL BREAK BACK to the starting point**

5th Station: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry His cross
Wheel Barrell to station 6

6th Station: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
(20 Big Boys)

Wheel Barrell to station 7 (bonus)

7th Station: Jesus falls for the second time
(20 burpees)

Nur to Station 8
8th Station: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
14 Air squats.

Nur to Station 9
9th Station: Jesus falls for the third time
(30 Burpees)

10th Station: Jesus clothes are taken away
(100 LBCs lil baby crunches)

11th Station: Jesus dies on the cross
Bear Crawl to the Wall!

12th Station:
Jesus is nailed to the cross
(2 minute wall sit)

13th Station: Jesus is taken down from the cross
(40 lunges)

14th Station: Jesus is laid in the tomb
(50 push-ups)

**MOSEY HOME**

New FNG named – Son of Chauffeur : Tinder

Block It Out

Date: 04/05/2022

AO: CHOP, Milton, DE

QIC: Fireplex

Warm up

SSH – 31 IC

Windmills – 21 IC

Cherry Pickers – 21 IC

Imperial Walkers – 21 IC

Jiminy Crickets – 10 OYO

Hydraulic Squats -11 IC

The Thang

Grab a block and mosey to the dentist office.  Pax completed 20 Merkins each side with one hand on the block.  Pax utilized the block and a parking bumper to complete 20 abyss merkins.  Pax completed a Lt Dan for approx. 50 yards utilizing the block before moseying to Shipbuilder’s entrance for American Hammers with the blocks (IC) as well as 20 Big Boy Sit-ups.  Leaving that pain station each Pax completed a 50 Yard bear crawl with the block before moseying to the next pain station.  At that station each Pax completed a Bolt 45 set with the block all in IC.  All Pax woseyed down Willow Street with the block and then moseyed at the halfway point.  When reaching the end of the street or the final pain station, each Pax completed 15 Blockees.  Pax moseyed back to CHOP with their block.     

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

F3 Message 04/05/22

WHY YOUR LOAD SEEMS SO HEAVY – #8338

Maybe it’s a guy thing. Maybe it’s just a Ron thing. But I hate to waste time or waste effort. You know? Here’s what that it looks like when I’ve just returned from the grocery store to restock our empty refrigerator and shelves. I basically look like a mule – yeah, with bags all over my body, carried on almost every appendage. I don’t want to make any more trips to the car than absolutely necessary, oh no, no! So I’m willing to try whatever calisthenics, to tolerate whatever overload will enable me to get everything in the house in one trip. This approach has been known to have its problems. Sometimes I drop a bag or two or one of them rips open; thus, making more work. And I’ve got this shoulder. Yeah, wrecked it pretty well. You think it might be traceable to carrying too much too many times?

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Why Your Load Seems So Heavy.” 

There’s a price to pay for carrying too much at once. You might be paying some of that price right now; the stress, the anxiety, the fatigue, the frustration of those who carry more than they’re supposed to. I’m one of those. I know.

I also know how my Savior says I’m supposed to live. His instructions are very clear in our word for today from the Word of God in Matthew 6, beginning with verse 25. He says, “Do not worry about your life…look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them…Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?…Why do you worry?…Do not worry…your Heavenly Father knows what you need…Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

First of all, you don’t have to be a Biblical scholar to pick up Jesus’ message here. He basically says it four times, “Do not worry.” If you looked at us stressed out, freaked out, worn out warriors, you might conclude this is one of the most disobeyed commands Jesus ever gave. We do worry – a lot. And in so doing, we carry a heavier load than we’re designed and equipped to carry. God has promised to give us what we need to carry today: daily bread, strength equal to your day, mercies new every morning, a cross to bear one day at a time, the renewing of our spirit day by day. But there’s no promise about carrying your tomorrow while it’s still today.

John Newton, the writer of “Amazing Grace” said, “Sometimes I compare the troubles which we have to undergo in the course of a year to a great bundle of sticks – far too large to lift. But God does not require us to carry the whole bundle at once. He mercifully unties the bundle and gives us one stick that we are to carry today and then another that we are to carry tomorrow, and so on. We might easily manage it, if we would take only the burden appointed for each new day. But we choose to increase our troubles by carrying yesterday’s stick over again today and by adding tomorrow’s burden to our load before we are required to bear it.” That’s great stuff!

John Newton nailed it. See, we add baggage from yesterday and the potential burdens of tomorrow to what we’re carrying today, and we start dropping things, and stumbling, and even hurting ourselves. So much of what we worry about tomorrow never happens. And you won’t have God’s promised resources to handle tomorrow until tomorrow. So no wonder you’re overwhelmed and discouraged! Dwelling on yesterday or tomorrow takes your focus off today so you don’t even do today very well!

So approach your load God’s way – take your busy life one day at a time, or maybe one stick at a time. That’s how you do a massive load. And about tomorrow? Take advantage of God’s awesome invitation, “Cast all your care upon Him because He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7)

Respectfully Submitted,

Fireplex

https://youtu.be/j8WbGSgL-0I

“Hill”denburg Blimps

Date: 03/08/2022

AO: CHOP, Milton, DE

QIC: Fireplex

Warm up

SSH – 30 IC

Cherry Pickers – 20 IC

Bolt 45’s IC (4 Count) – 15 squats to halfway down.  15 squats halfway to full down.  15 full squats.

Windmills – 20 IC

Mosey .5 miles to Oh Hill No !

The Thang

Pax completed the modified “HILL”denburg BLIMPS routine at Oh Hill No.  We modified the sprint portion to a NUR up and run down Oh Hill No and perform 1st exercise, NUR back up Oh Hill No and run down and perform 1st exercise again. Plank it up until all PAX are in.  That completes one round.  Rinse and repeat until all 6 Rounds with the exercises as identified below are complete. Round # 1 – 10 Burpees, Round #2 – 20 Lunges (10 each leg). Round #3 – 30 Imperial Walkers. Round #4 – 40 Merkins. Round #5 – 50 Plank Jacks. Round #6 – 60 Squats. Round #5 and Round #6 were completed back at the CHOP by those that had extra time.

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 03/08/22

STRONG STORMS AND SHALLOW ROOTS – #3857

Tuesday, October 23, 2001

John and Becky were gone when this huge windstorm hit their neighborhood recently. Although no one could be sure a tornado was involved, the winds were clocked at 70 miles an hour. John and Becky told me that when they returned later that day, their street was closed. A huge pine tree had been blown down, and it fell right across the road. Now other kinds of trees had lost some branches, but the wind had actually totally uprooted this evergreen. Well, a neighbor explained to John that it really isn’t that hard to uproot a pine tree – no matter how big it is. Because even though it’s a big tree, it has shallow roots – so it’s relatively easy to bring it down.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about “Strong Storms And Shallow Roots.”

Now, there are a lot of “pine-tree-Christians”–some even big and beautiful Christians–who have shallow roots. And that’s why they keep falling.

Jesus talked about vulnerable believers in our word for today from the Word of God, Luke 6:46-49. He says, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to Me and hears My words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock (or developed deep roots). When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears My words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation (or had shallow roots). The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

Now, that’s two kinds of Christians–just like two kinds of trees: one with deep roots that can withstand a storm and one with shallow roots that gets felled by the storm. With the times we’re living in becoming more stressful and more uncertain–and even dangerous–it’s pretty important to be sure that your commitment to Jesus is deeply rooted.

Shallow spiritual roots come in several varieties. There’s environmental faith–the kind that is strong when you’re in your Christian world but caves in when you’re not. And then there’s second-hand faith. That’s a faith that isn’t really yours firsthand–it’s rooted in your parent’s Christianity, or your church’s faith, or your pastor’s faith, or your Christian friends. There isn’t much really going on directly between you and Jesus. That will never survive a storm.

Stagnant faith–that’s another form of shallow roots. Not much new has happened between you and Jesus for a long time, and consequently, He seems farther–He seems less real than He used to. And when a test or temptation hits, it won’t be enough to keep you standing. And one other kind of “shallow-roots-Christianity”–event faith–the kind that depends on the next spiritual event, the next high, the next big, Christian experience to keep you going. In between, you go into a deep valley. That kind of relationship with Christ is going down eventually.

Jesus’ parable about the two houses is a call to a strong foundation – to deep roots. And He tells us the difference between storm-proof and storm-wrecked faith. It’s not whether or not you know what He says. Both the man whose house stood and the man whose house fell, “heard” what Jesus said. The difference was putting what Jesus said into practice.

The question is, are you regularly getting into God’s word on you own–and then immediately going out and acting on what you read? It’s immediate assimilation of God’s words into real life situations that makes you a little stronger each day. So you read or listen to God’s Word asking these two questions: “What did God just say to me?” and “What am I going to do differently today because of what He said?”

And every time you do that, your roots go a little deeper into Jesus. Meetings won’t do it, theology won’t do it, a great Christian environment won’t do it. It comes from letting Jesus change you through His Word a little bit each day. That is spiritual reality. That is deep roots. The kind that will leave you standing strong no matter how fierce the storm.

Respectfully Submitted,

Fireplex

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