Ruxpin

The Escalator (The Self Inflicted Kind)

Date: 2/11/21

QIC: Gump

Warm o Rama

  • 20 SSH
  • 20 cherry pickers
  • 20 windmills
  • 20 grady corn
  • Bolt 45

The Thang

Slaughter starter (say that 5 times fast) 20 Burpees OYO

THE ESCALATOR

  • Pax did 10 burpees followed by 1 Chairman lap (1/4 mile)
  • 10 burpees, 20 mexican jumpin beans 1 Chairman lap
  • 10 burpees, 20 mjb, 30 merkins, 1 Chairman lap
  • 3rd F message (Below)
  • 10 burpees, 20 mjb, 30 merkins, 40 squats 1 Chairman lap
  • Slaughter finisher 20 burpees OYO

3rd F message

Todays 3rd F message came from the Courageous Bible study (based off the movie) Its a great Bible study that helps identify what it takes to become the courageous man that God has called us out to be.

COURAGEOUS LEADERSHIP

John Hagee defines leadership
as, “the discipline of deliberately
exerting

special influence within a group
to move it toward goals of
beneficial permanence that fulfill
the group’s real needs.” I feel
that the most significant word in
this sentence is ‘influence’ and
so we can say in brief,
“Leadership is Influence.”
Growing up, the image I had of a
leader was that of someone who
headed an institution. But I soon
realized that I was a leader in my
home, in my church and in my
friends’ circle because of

the influence I exerted on these
groups. As we go higher in our
leadership position we influence
more people. We can identify
people as good or bad leaders
depending on what kind of
influence they exert.

Nehemiah is an example of an
excellent leader. When it was
reported to him about the
miserable state of the Jerusalem
wall, he was a captive in a
foreign land. His

immediate reaction was of great
sorrow. But he also fasted and
prayed, confessing the sins of
the Israelites and asking for
God’s guidance in his future
endeavors. He saw the need and
heard the call. He already had a
good job of being the king’s cup
bearer, but took the risk of
pursuing a difficult task. He faced
mockery but continued to deal
with injustice. Indeed he
motivated and gave leadership
and direction to a

hopeless and demoralized
people. Nehemiah’s dependence
on God and his positive influence
on the people enabled them to
rebuild the wall in fifty two days.
Not only did he rebuild the wall
he also made the people confess
their sins and affirm their faith in
God’s Law. The book of
Nehemiah ends with a simple
prayer, “Remember me with
favor, O my God.”

When we look around us we will
notice that people are looking for
good leaders. Jesus was moved
with compassion when He saw
the multitudes that “were
harassed and helpless, like
sheep without a shepherd.”
(Matt.9:36). Are we ready to be
the godly influencers

Proverbs 11
Where there is no counsel, the
people fall; But in the

multitude of counselors there is
safety.

Proverbs 11:14 NKJV

Bass Ackwards

DATE: 02/09/21

QIC: Chappie

Congrats to Waler for pulling off an excellent VQ Warm-O-Rama! Glad to finally get you in the line-up; great job brother. PAX can’t wait for your official VQ. Kudos to the dirty dozen who won THAT FIRST BATTLE in the Gloom and posted in the rain to do a lot backwards, hence the title of this Backblast…

Warm-O-Rama: (YHC tried to remember the details, hope this is accurate)

  • SSH – 20 IC
  • Mt. Climbers – 20 IC
  • Imperial Walkers – 21 IC
  • Merkins – 10 IC
  • Cherry Pickers – 16 IC

The Thang: Waler handed it over to YHC and off we went…bass ackwards

  • Nur to Willow Street,
  • Mosey to Mulberry Street,
  • Nur toward new entrance for H.O.B. Elementary School,
  • Mosey to pick up the six,
  • Nur to entrance of H.O.B. Elementary

Wosey to other side of storm pond, partner up for a little trip to…

Burpback Mountain:

  • Partner 1 mosey’s to bottom of hill, then Nur back to the top,
  • Partner 2 does Burpees
  • Partners swap & rinse and repeat until Burpees are complete
  • Team Goal: Completed 100 Burpees cumulatively. Just keep moving! “I hate Burpees, let’s do Burpees” was the name of the game.

PAX got a breather at 50 Burpees for the 3rdF:

Andy Stanley shared a quote this past Sunday from Albert Speer which really caught my attention; so much so that I wrote it down right away.

First, if you don’t know who Albert Speer was, you’re not alone. He served as the Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during of World War II. He was convicted at the Nuremberg trials and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Speer later died in 1981. And as a right hand man of Adolph Hitler, we’d not typically think of him, a Nazi, as a man worthy of quoting, moreless someone to learn something/anything from.

Still, there are lessons to be learned even from some who’ve gained them the hard way. In his memoirs titled: Inside the Third Reich, Speer gave this profound statement: “Resist the evolution of a court.”

When you begin to understand his statement, it is incredibly powerful and poignant. It means to resist the development of a group of people around you, so-called friends, who will tell you only what you want to hear.

The Bible refers to this in reference to the end times and sound doctrine, but I also want us to apply it today in terms of that big word: ACCOUNTABILITY.

Second Timothy 4:3 says, “For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires.”

In other words, men will not want to hear the truth and as a result they will hang around— they will gather a court of—those who tell them only what they want to hear and tickle their ears.

Truth is, there is no such thing as autonomy, there’s no such thing as a self-made man, there’s no such thing as a man who can fully hold himself accountable. Can you hold yourself accountable? No!

Accountability by definition requires a shield-lock with others who will speak truth to us. Accountability is about ideal relationships between men.

Here’s how Dredd started his chapter on accountability in his book F3 Q Source:

“The HIM seeks accountability because his life is not his own. No matter how dedicated or deliberate a HIM is in the building of his Guardrails, there will be some stretches of his road that he will not be able to protect through his own Bricklaying. These are a man’s Blind Spots, the hardwired gaps in his nature that he cannot protect without help.” (103)

“Because he is a servant who lives for the mission, the HIM treats his blind spots like any other obstacle in his life—as a problem that impedes movement. Because a problem can and must be remedied, the HIM does so by seeking accountability.” (104) The HIM does so by “resisting the evolution of a court.”

“Nobody likes being held accountable, held to a standard through enforcement and consequence. But accountability shines the light of hope into a man’s blindspots.” (104)

As HIM let’s strive to resist the evolution of a court; let’s strive to develop the F3 First State 2ndF (Fellowship), and let’s strive to stay out of the danger zone of [perceived] autonomy and, instead, develop ideal relationships between some of the guys in this group for mutual accountability! You’re in danger if you don’t have another man or two who can tell you the truth, brutal truth if need be.

RESIST THE EVOLUTION OF A COURT!

After completing Burpback Mountain, PAX returned to the AO…mostly bass ackwards.

  • Nur up Mulberry Street toward AO,
  • Mosey to pick up the six,
  • Mosey Left onto Clifton Street til PAX are together,
  • Prison Break for 10 secs.,
  • Mosey to Union Street,
  • Mosey up Union,
  • Prison Break for 10 secs.,
  • Nur rest of the way back to the AO

Round of [wet] Mary: (Must be in cadence)

  • Hello Dolly (sitting) – Compliments of Ruxpin
  • Flutter Kicks – Compliments of Chattahoochee
  • Big Boys – Compliments of Waterboy
  • Big Boys (Again!) – Complements of Woodstock
  • Crab Jacks – Compliments of Fireplex
  • “Reverse Plank” – Compliments of Quattro 😉
A Round of Mary

Time!

COT:

  • NUMBER-RAMA
  • NAME-O-RAMA
  • Announcements: PAX will be doing the Rucking Challenges “Love Your Ruck” rucking challenge for this week’s Roving RuckF3st Friday (2/12) in Georgetown. Join the fun and love your ruck!
  • Prayers: Praise for successful implant of Pacemaker in Chairman’s dad, Denny, expected to be released today. Continued prayers for Gavin. YHC’s son was able to visit with him for about 1 hr. on Friday. Gavin is overwhelmed at times by what the future holds, whether he will ever walk again or not. We’re continuing to pray for a miracle by the hand of the God for whom all things are possible. Prayers for all PAX that we’d make ourselves accountable to a few guys in the group so that we’re more successful at being HIM in our homes, workplaces, and the communities in which we serve. RESIST THE EVOLUTION OF A COURT!

Lots of Nur today. I.e. bass ackwards, legs will be feeling it tomorrow. But, hey, you can’t skip leg day…unless, of course, you do (shout out to the Fartsackers, you got lapped)!

Grateful for the opportunity to lead once again, and honored to introduce Waler into the Q rotation.

~Chappie, out!

Abs Play

QIC: Semi

Warm-a-Rama

21 All i/c
Seal Jacks
Seal waves
Imperial walkers
Mountain climbers
Ssh
Windmill

The Thang

Mosey to the playground behind old HOB

2 Rounds

2 plankswerkins (hands in swing, merkin, extend arms out like superman, return to start)
4 pull ups
8 swerkins
12 hanging knee raises
16 big boys

3rd F
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away from the midst of his pursuits. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
James 1:2‭-‬18 ESV

2 rounds

2 hanging leg lifts
4 pull ups
8 swerkins
12 hanging knee raises
16 big boys

Mosey back to CHOP

Round of Mary
20 big boys
11 big boys i/c, 1 up, 2-3 down

Number Rama
Name Rama
COT

11 HIM showed today: Waterboy, Doubtfire, Fireplex, Chattahoochee, Chappie, Ruxpin, Strudel, Looney Tunes, Woodstock, Semi, Quarto

Gritt Mill

QIC: Semi

Warm-a-Rama
20 ssh i/c
15 plank jack i/c
20 Cherry picker i/c
15 Imperial walker i/c
20 seal jack i/c
20 Windmill i/c
10 seal wave i/c

The Thang

Mosey to parking lot behind old bank

10 derkins
15 erkins
25 big boys
10 reverse lunge (per leg)

3 rounds,

After first round nur to first parking island, mosey back

round 2 close hands on merkins, after 2nd round side shuffle to 2nd parking island

round 3 wide arm merkins

3rd f between rounds 2 and 3
Talked about intimacy, emotions, and rest

Mosey back to AO
Round of mary – 25 big boys, 20 hello dollies, 15? Seated reverse crunch

Number-Rama
Name-a-Rama
COT

4  HIM showed today: Semi, Chappie, Ruxpin, and Woodstock

Jan Two-Six for the Seven-Five

DATE: 1/26/21

QIC: Chappie

You: If you got whooped by your fartsack this morning

If your fartsack hit you as hard as Poirier hitting McGregor, if you’re reading this from a distance, or, if you sadistically enjoy recalling what you’ve been through in the Gloom, here’s how it went down:

WARM-O-RAMA:

  • SSH – 10 IC
  • Swartzjacks – 10 IC
  • Windmill – 15 IC (via Woodstock)
  • Toy Soldier Squat Jumps (Toe touches [Toy Soldier], Jump w/hands to side & slightly out, down to Squat – Rinse & Repeat)
  • Single Arm Flying-Squirrels – 5 each arm, OYO
  • Seated Reverse Crunch – 15 IC (On six, hands to side/slightly back for stability, Feet 6″, knees together, bring up to chest, extend back out to 6″, knees slightly spread, bring to chest, extend back out to 6″, rinse & repeat)
  • WACH Merkins – 10 OYO, Wide-Arm to Close Hand (Wide-Arm down, on Up hands come off ground and go to Close Hand, back up, hands go to Wide-Arm, Rinse & Repeat)

TODAY, GOTTA KEEP MOVING! — We’re going to do a few sets of double-deuces as we go (22 double-time steps under ruck to increase pace and to remember the average veteran suicide rate is 22/per day).

THE THANG: *Rest position for each workout is Plank, if you stop moving plank it up!

RUCK UP – 30lbs
• 10 – No Crawl Dragon (Stationary w/ruck)

Movement to dentist office:
• 75 – Ruck Squats

Movement to Orchard St.
• 75 – Shoulder to Shoulder

Movement to Mulberry St.
• 75 – Ruck Swings

—————————————————————————

YHC took a brief moment to share the 3rd F:

Ephesians 5:25 says, “Husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.”

As I was laid up with Covid19 in early December I’d announced on the F3 First State Groupme that I was going to “make the best of my time” by watching every episode of Band of Brothers. I mean, really, who ever gets the time to do that? None of us! We’re hard-working family oriented HIM! I was licking my chops with anticipation of an uninterrupted block of quarantine so that I could watch the series without excuse. I assumed I’d be down for 3-4 days and then jump back into action (well, I did not expect to be out over a month!).

What I also did not anticipate was that Band of Brothers would have to wait. I tested positive, so that meant my wife (a school teacher) also had to quarantine and teach from home. Have you ever tried to watch Band of Brothers while your wife is teaching 4th graders remotely from the next room? It really doesn’t work…at all. Band of Brothers was out!

Another blissful thing I did not anticipate as I lay on the couch growing worse each day, was the joy I had watching and listening to my wife teach her students. While I initially fussed (under my breath, of course) about being unable to watch the B.O.B. series, I was met with the pleasure of hearing/seeing my M teach. I’d sacrifice B.O.B. again to hear/see her do what she does. I honestly believe she’s THE BEST teacher around! I always have. I’d say that even if she wasn’t my M. She is one of those rare people who is doing what she loves, so she loves what she’s doing. She is one of those rare people who is doing EXACTLY what they’re called to do–and it is most obvious not only in the way she teaches, but, as much, in the way she genuinely loves each of her students.

Band of Brothers you’ve got nothing on my M! I loved watching and hearing her in action. There’s no way I could’ve (or should’ve) demanded she teach elsewhere in our house just so that I could corner the market on watching an HBO series. I love the whole series; it’s excellent! I’ve watched it before…a few times, but I was blessed instead to follow the Biblical counsel of the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians: “Husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her” (5:25). As HIM let’s pursue sacrificial ways (great & small) to demonstrate our love for our wives–giving them our all as Christ gave His all for the church.

————————————————————————–

Movement to Shipbuilders
• 75 – Ruck Deadlifts

Movement return to AO, Endex

NUMBER-RAMA

NAME-O-RAMA:

COT:

  • Announcements: Nuttin honey
  • Prayers: Rocky family lifted up during their time of grieving the loss of a loved one; our brother Streudel lifted up as he’s facing some tests/results today.

Ruck workout complete, to include many reps in honor of the 75th Ranger Regiment, four sets of double-deuces to be kept aware that there are an average of 22 American vets daily who take their own lives, and a total of .86 miles.

Shout out to Chattahoochee celebrating his 4-yr-Manniversary today. He was our longest serving Site-Q and is one of the most consistent PAX you will see. Follow him! Great to know you brother!

Always honored to lead. Thanks to all the PAX who won THAT FIRST BATTLE, dropped the DRP, and posted even knowing it was going to be a ruck beatdown. Let’s keep getting comfortable being uncomfortable. Aye?

Aye!

~Chappie, out!

Ran out of time. Here’s what we missed:

Movement to Pediatrician’s at Willow St.
• 75 – Ruck Pulls

Movement to Union St.
• 75 – Ruck Merkins

Post “One-Niner” Debut

Well it didn’t quite feel like, as Madonna sings, “the very first time,” but its been more than a month since YHC Q’d thanks to COVID 19–THE “One-Niner” and it was great to be back! Had the opportunity to Q, thought long and hard about it, then jumped in headfirst.

Here’s the skinny:

WARM-O-RAMA:

  • SSH – 18 IC
  • Swartzjacks – 10 IC
  • Smurfjacks – 10 IC
  • Splitjacks – 10 IC
  • Windmill – 10 IC
  • Cherry Pickers/Hairy Chiggers/Crab Flippers – 10 IC

Chairman lap mosey around the short block

THE THANG:

PAX walked perimeter of church building (safety brief walk around), as they would mosey this route between exercises.

Pretty simple…spell your full name, taking laps around the church between each letter. See image below. (For those who Fartsacked this is an easy one to catch up on; it’ll take you about 45 minutes.) Check it out:

Somewhere in the middle of the middle names PAX took a breather for the following 3rdF:

F3 is about leadership. In fact, our F3 Mission Statement is: to Plant, grow, and serve small workout groups of men for the invigoration of male community leadership.

That means what we do here on a micro scale is to spill over into our homes, workplaces, and into the communities in which we live. It means that what we do as a group must spill over into the communities in which we exist: Milton, Milford, and Georgetown.

We’ve done a little of that over the past few years, collecting toilet paper and cooking breakfast for residents at the Home of the Brave, collecting crayons for the young girl distributing crayons to sick children at AI, collecting peanut butter for the Milton Food Pantry, painting the future shelter near Lowes, bringing food to the collection container on the Georgetown Circle, etc.

I’m bringing this to your attention to say that we need to be even more attentive to opportunities for us to lead [together] in our communities during 2021.

I’m also bringing it up today to refer back to a word that has been added to leadership in F3 circles in recent years (at least as far as YHC knows). This is for personal application and its a word mentioned in Dredd’s book Q Source. It is the word virtuous. Virtuous Leadership. That is a very particular kind of leadership.

Virtuous is defined as: Having or showing high moral standards. F3 exists to bring about leadership in men which is marked by its high moral standards.

We can look all around us in the world and see leadership which is absent of moral standards. The political realm is one place this is easily seen. Truth be told, in the end, leadership absent of high moral standards isn’t really leadership at all!

This was the substance of the statement by President John Adams when he stated: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.”

Virtuous leadership means we’re not just leading in our homes, workplaces, and in the communities in which we serve, but that in each of those areas we are LEADING RIGHT.

In that vein the Bible says that leaders must “be above reproach…not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious (quick to argue, quarrel or fight), not fond of sordid gain, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled.” (Titus 1:7-8)

This is the standard for leadership in Scripture because as go the leaders, so goes the home, the workplace, and the communities in which they serve.

In 2021 let us be HIM by striving to be men who practice virtuous leadership.

Names spelled in full, it was time to circle up:

COT:

  • Number-Rama
  • [Full] Name-O-Rama
  • Announcements: Just be smart and use common sense concerning how you feel and whether you post or not (see write up on GroupMe
  • Prayers: For those on IR and those in our community out of action due to Corona virus, get well soon; for the State of Georgia and their run-off elections today; for the nation (march & Trump rally in D.C. tomorrow, 1/6); etc.

Well, it didn’t feel like a Virgin Q, but physically, it felt like it was the first time YHC worked out in years–a full month of the “One-Niner” has ransacked YHC’s legs and lungs. Still, thankful for all the men who posted, humbled to have good health, and grateful to be back!

~Chappie out!

BOMBS for the new year

QIC- Chattahoochee

14 HIM beat the fartsack and made it out for the first Saturday workout for 2021. All though there was some chatter among the packs and maybe a couple jokingly threats of bodily harm to the Q we all made it through to look forward to many more beatdowns in the upcoming year

Warm-o-Rama- 30 SSH, 25 Windmills, 20 Imperial Walkers, 20 Cherry pickers, 20 Smurfjacks, 20 MNC all IC.

The Thang- Mosey to the old NAPA for a short pain station stop 10 Jimmeny Crickets,and a Toy Soldier set 40 LBCs, 20 E2KS each side, 15 big boys. Back to a Mosey to the school for some BOMBS partner up PAX #1 runs from end sidewalk to center sidewalk of front schoolyard and back while PAX #2 performs excercises then switches out until team reaches said number of excercises combined as a team

50 burbees, 100 overhead hand claps, 150 Merkins, 200 bigboys, 250 squats. All PAX held plank until 6 was in.

BOMBS were followed by a short 3rd F then a nice friendly mosey back to the AO. Once we reached the AO and fireplex demonstrated his dancing abilities thanks to music from the gentleman on the Harley. we finished up with a round of HOWLING MONKEYS all PAX held monkey humper position while all PAX 1 at a time performed 10 monkey humpers

3rd F Proverbs 27:17

Iron sharpens Iron so one person sharpens another at f3 first state the Q is physically sharpening all PAX that post in return all those PAX are sharpening the Q’s leadership abilities. At the end of the beatdown we all come together in a COT were we all come together and sharpen each other physically, mentally and emotionally

Kickball

QIC: Semi

Kickball

Warm-a-Rama
20 seal jacks i/c
21 crab flipper i/c
20 plank jacks i/c
20 harry rockets i/c
10 monkey jumpers i/c for site Q RIH
20 ssh i/c
20 Imperial walkers i/c
20 Windmill i/c
20 seal wave i/c

THE THANG

Mosey to ballfields

PAX divides into teams

Batter kicks pitch and bear crawls to first base, side shuffle to second base, nur to third base, and side shuffle home
Batter completes trip around bases even if out
Batting team does 3 burpees per out.
Teams switch every 4 outs.

3rd F

Thanked other HIM for commitment and comrodery. Probe other HIM on hiatus to get back to coming out. Pray about Gtown adding another day or starting a site in Millsboro.

Mosey back to circle

NUMBER-RAMA
NAME-A-RAMA
COT

8 HIM showed today: Semi, Doubtfire, Chattahoochee, Quarto, Ruxpin, Yukon, Bolt, Woodstock

25° this morning

A special thank you to Wilson for being a good sport!

O Holy Hill

Date: 12/24/2020

AO: CHOP, Milton, DE.

QIC: Fireplex

Warm up

SSH – 25 IC

Bolt 46’s IC (4 Count) – 16 squats to halfway down (Q Lost Count).  15 squats halfway to full down.  15 full squats.

Cherry Pickers – 20 IC 

The Thang

Mosey @.5 miles to O Holy Hill. 

PAX performed 12 hydraulic squats in cadence with a weird 6 count, 12 best form LBC’s in 4 count cadence, & 12 best form merkins in 4 count cadence.  Once complete Pax will nur up the hill and run down and plank for the 6.  PAX completed 11 hydraulic squats in cadence, 11 best form LBC’s in cadence, & 11 best form merkins in cadence.  Nur up the hill and run down and plank for the 6.  Rinse and repeat in descending order until time became a factor.  HIM completed 5 evolutions down through the round of 8. 

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 12/24/20 – see below for Billy Graham & Ron Hutchcraft posts gleaned from the Internet…

In His Own Words – Billy Graham’s 1993 Christmas Message

December 21, 2020

The joyful Christmas message of peace on earth and goodwill to men seems clouded this year by events at home and around the world that dramatize the terrible increase in violence and crime.

We live in a world dangerously torn by hate and conflict, and people feel powerless to do anything about it.  Many also know that their own hearts are driven by destructive passions and motives they cannot seem to control or change.

The decline in moral values is having a tragic effect on our society.  People are concerned about their children, their families and their country and are desperately searching for answers.  In taking God and religion out of our lives, we have lost our moral and spiritual bearings.

This Christmas season let us consider our spiritual heritage. Let us listen carefully to the angels’ words that continue to offer us hope, especially at this critical time.

“Fear not.”  the angels said on that starry night in Bethlehem. “For I bring you good news of great joy, which shall be for all the people.  For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.”

In a world more needy than ever, let us open our hearts to the child in the manger, who can bring us new life and new power over the violence, crime, and evils of our day.

 A CHRISTMAS SURVIVAL KIT – #2596

The occasion was a city-wide art contest. They were told to paint paintings entitled “Peace.” While the judges were understandably attracted to this beautiful pastural scene that a local painter had painted. It was a green pasture. It was the puffy white clouds and the beautiful blue sky and a little boy going by with a fishing pole over his shoulder and a quiet brook and some birds. That got second place. First place – well, the picture was of an angry, stormy day at the seashore as the ocean was beating against the cliffs and the cliffs were stark and dark because of the darkness of the storm. The sky in this painting was angry and black, green and purple. You had to look twice to figure out what in world this had to do with peace. But if you looked halfway up the cliff these little baby birds were nestled underneath the wing of their mother, and they were sleeping totally oblivious to the storm that was howling all around them. Now it’s the Christmas season. It’s supposed to be about peace; but, if you feel the holiday pressure like I do, seems more like a storm, a stress which leads us into those birds.

Well, I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “A Christmas Survival Kit.”

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Isaiah 30:15, “in quietness and trust is your strength.” What a great verse for the chaos that Christmas has become. You’re in the middle of it right now. The shopping – the entertaining – and getting all the cards out – “Oh, who did we forget. They sent us a card; we better send them one.” – All of the church events that are going on – maintaining all the family traditions that the kids insist on or you do – the guests are coming – family time – you know, they’re flying in – they’re driving in. Suddenly the Christmas season seems more like “Stress on Earth” than “Peace on Earth,” and then God speaks “in quietness and trust is your strength.”

If you are going to protect the heart of Christmas and not succumb to the hassle of Christmas, you must protect a quiet spot at the beginning of each day where quietness and trust will be your strength. Think about those birds in that painting. Peace was not the absence of a storm, it was peace right in the middle of it. They found their quiet spot. Well, the secret is the same for you. The more hectic the season is, the harder it is to get your quiet time with the Lord and the more you need it.

It would be tragic if Jesus gets lost in the process of you getting ready for His birthday. If anything, make your time with Jesus more top priority than ever. First of all because Christmas becomes an idol if it crowds out Christ. Secondly, you need to be with Him to keep everything in proportion. Unload your concerns on Him. Focus on the relationship with Jesus. It’s a love relationship above all else. Eliminate the overload. Ask the Lord if there’s things you can eliminate. Simplify as you ask for His wisdom. What’s your Christmas survival kit? “Quietness and trust is your strength.” It comes from non-negotiable times spent with the Prince of Peace, not peace that’s the absence of a storm but peace right in the middle of a storm.

Respectfully Submitted,

Fireplex

Frisbee Golf

12/12/2020

QIC: Semi

Warm-a-Rama

All i/c
20 Seal jacks
20 Plank jacks
Mosey around circle
20 Mountain man pooper
20 Cherry picker
side shuffle around circle, switching halfway
20 SSH
20 Seal waves
Nur around circle
20 Imperial walkers
20 mountain climbers

The Thang

Mosey up Bradford street to park past church on left.
Each pair will play Frisbee golf through park and down Edward street to other field by other church doing an exercise as many times it takes to get to the hole.
Hole #1
Burpees
Hole #2
Lbcs – 40 extra at end of hole
Hole #3
Lunge between shots
Hole #4
Squats x 5
Hole #5 – throwing with non-dominit arm
E2ks (per knee) x 5
Hole #6
Sshs x 5
Hole #7
Merkins x 5

3RD F

Wavewalker song lyrics (abbreviated)

How’s it so simple? Faith like a child
I give you an inch and you take me a mile
I feel the wind rush and the thunder roll
And two feet on the water, only one way to go, yeah

I don’t gotta be afraid no more
‘Cause I know You’ll walk me through the storm
I’m more than just a talker

I’m a wavewalker
I’m dancing on water
When the devil tried to shake me, I just pray harder
Even in my darkest hour
Got Holy Ghost power
When I keep my eyes upon You, Jesus
I’m a wavewalker (wavewalker)

I walk over my fears, over my doubt
The supernatural, it feels so natural now

I don’t gotta be afraid no more
‘Cause I know You’ll walk me through the storm
I’m more than just a talker
I’m a wavewalker

This song made me think of Peter walking on the water to Jesus. How we need to keep our eyes on Him at all times.

Number-Rama
Name-a-Rama
COT

Named Semi’s 2.0 swarts

16 HIM showed today: Pusher, Semi, Fireplex, Chattahoochee, Doubtfire, Leatherman, Lunchable, Gblock, Swabbie, Waler, Quarto, Ruxpin, Woodstock, Biddie, Polar, (FNG) Swarts

Scroll to Top