Ruxpin

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

A Heart of a Champion

Warm-up

  • SSH – 20 IC
  • Mountain Man Poopers 15 IC
  • Hairy Rockets 20 IC

The Thang:

Mosey to grassy area in front of doctors office

  • Moroccan Night Club 40 IC
  • Cherry Picker 15 IC
  • Flutter Kicks 30 IC

Mosey to HOB entrance

  • Imperial Squat Walker 20 IC
  • Merkins 15 IC
  • Zombie Crunch 15 each direction OYO

Mosey to Rogers Signs

  • Iron Mike 10 IC
  • Diamond Merkins 15 IC
  • The Outlaw 10 each direction OYO
  • The First F3 Message: A Philosophy for Winning

Mosey to fire hydrant jail break to next hydrant

  • Cherkins 25 OYO
  • Big Boys 25 OYO

Wosey to guard railing

  • Plyo Merkins 20 OYO
  • Dips 40 OYO

Mosey to Rogers Signs

  • Twinkle Toes 20 IC

Mosey to HOB

  • The Sketch 12 IC
  • The Second F3 Message: The Heart of a Champion

Mosey to AO

  • Number-rama
  • Name-arama
  • COT

Message: Excerpt from Bob Richards A Heart of a Champion book

A Philosophy for Winning

We all want to win, but what are the characteristics of winning. Number one: you’ve got to have the will to win. It’s a will to win, and not just a wish to win. I know a lot of people who have what I would call a wish to win. They’d like to go to the top. They daydream about the position they’d like to hold in life. They tell you their potential, about the heights they could soar to, or the distances they could run, the times they could perform if they would only get out and train. I think the greatest thing in life is to be able to dream, to have great aspirations, but I think it equally important that you have a will that can turn that dream into a reality.

Second you need to have inspiration. I’ve been amazed to see mediocre athletes, fellows drifting along with great potential but never really realizing their full abilities, suddenly inspired by a great coach, or some great ideal something that will lift them up and they would do the impossible. Inspired people: It’s when the see themselves not as they are but as they can become. It’s when they see themselves, not in terms of their weaknesses and shortcomings; their failures and inadequacies, but in terms of what they can be, when they begin to believe they can be what their vision tells them—-that’s when they’re inspired.

Lastly, take God with you. It’s the greatest ingredient in what I call a winning philosophy. These athletes believe that they have a power greater than their own. Nothing can thwart them, with God they do great and tremendous things.

The Heart of a Champion

Every man or woman needs the heart of a champion. It’s a quality of mind, a mental resolve, an attitude that turns a man or woman beyond the normal and the mediocre to accomplishing great things in all walks of life. The difference between a champion and a mediocre athlete is the difference between one who gives up and one who doesn’t. This is the basic philosophy that has made America great. It’s a philosophy of freedom, of liberty, of the great ideals we cherish. The spirt of America is the spirit of greatness; it’s the heart of a champion.

The champions I’ve seen have had another great quality. They dared to believe the impossible. What is the story behind athletics? It’s the story of young men and women who come along and say, “no matter what others say, I believe the record can be broken.” These young men and women, with faith and courage and vision in their hearts, daring to believe the impossible and training themselves to a peak perfection, have broken every record in the books.

The America system and way of life is perhaps more beautifully expressed in athletics than in any other field of endeavor? All the competitive element, all the drive, all the pressure, all the fire that makes America great is found in our athletic programs. The Bible says: “All things are possible to him who believes”

Life has its hurts, its setbacks, its defeats, its heartaches. No man can meet life in all of its fullness, but he must at one time or another meet hurt and pain and suffering—not only physical but mental pain, spiritual pain, financial pain. The champion is the one who can meet it with a stiff upper lip, with faith in God, and somehow, even with that hurt and pain in his heart, he keeps on going to achieve greatness.  

Bocce Ball

Bocce Ball

QIC: Semi
AO: Grit Mill

Warm-a-Rama
25 seal jacks i/c
25 seal wave i/c
10 mountain man pooper i/c
25 plank jacks i/c

The Thang
Mosey past the basketball court to the bridge, lt. Dan halfway across, Dan lt. The other half over to the bocce court on the right.

Bocce ball
Teams of 2 try to roll their ball closest to the “Jack”
We completed an Exercise after each round;
Squats 25
Urkins 25
Derkins 25
Split squats 10 per leg
Lbcs 25
Big boys 15
Merkins 25
Dips 25

3rd F
Leadership Ignited • Devotional

https://bible.com/reading-plans/16538/day/1?segment=0

Mosey back to AO

Number-Rama
NAME-A-RAMA
COT

8 HIM showed today: Semi, Sherlock, Dunkin, Waterboy, Focker, Ruxpin, Time Clock, Spreader

A Little Dicey

DATE: 19 May 22

QIC: Chappie

YHC and Focker were stand-ins for Mr. Mom, who pushed back his VQ to next Tue., May 24, as he was “feeling under the weather.” (Stay tuned) Focker adjusted to the change order and got in his VQ Warm-O-Rama. The guy’s a natural! Time to get him in the Q rotation. Focker warmed up the 14 PAX who won THAT FIRST BATTLE (over the fartsack) like this:

WARM-O-RAMA:

  • Disclaimer given
  • Finkle Swings – 10 each leg, OYO
  • Turn & Bounce – 15 IC
  • Windmill – 15 IC
  • MNC – 20 IC
  • SSH – 20 IC
  • Flutter Kicks – 20 IC

Focker said he forgot how hard it was to do cadence while exercising. But YHC observed that his old Army days came right back. The dude’s a natural! And major Tclaps to Focker: He just jumped into F3 a month or two ago and he just doesn’t miss! Consistency is key. Look up consistency in the dictionary and you’ll find Focker’s pic. Keep posting brother, you’re on to something!

Resemblance (in name only)

YHC broke out the big dice for the dicey weather. Here’s how it went down:

THE THANG:

4 Big Dice, roll ’em down the field as far as you can, PAX make their way to the dice via Bear Crawl or Crawl Bear and do that number of reps…

First Roll: 17

  • Bear Crawl to Dice
  • 17 Burpees
  • 17 X’s & O’s

Second Roll: 6

  • Crawl Bear to Dice
  • 6 Burpjacks
  • 6 V-Ups

Third Roll: 14

  • Bear Crawl to Dice
  • 14 Burp-N-Merks (Total Merkins = 105)
  • 14 E2K’s (each leg)

PAX circled up and took in 3rdF at this point: “Habits eat Willpower for Breakfast” (see below). After the 3rdF it was a Prison Break back to the parking lot.

PAX partnered up for Partner Push across the parking lot and back, while 5 PAX would rotate over to the swing-set to swap out for AMRAP Swerkins. Most got in…

  • Partner Push – 3 rounds
  • Swerkins – 3 rounds, AMRAP

Round of Mary:

  • 4-Count Freddies – 51 IC (at the hands of YHC)
  • Flutter Kicks – 20 IC (at the hands of Drago)
  • 6″ Hold – 3 rounds of 10-Counts (YHC)

That was a wrap.

NUMBER-RAMA

NAME-O-RAMA

COT/BOM:

  • Announcements: Get the word out about the Memorial Day Mini (CSAUP), menu sign-up will be posted today or tomorrow, and don’t forget to bring a brief bio of a fallen warrior to share sometime during the workout. Roving Ruckf3st Friday will be at CHOP.
  • Prayer: For Fireplex’s dad, Johnny, battling cancer. For YHC’s M’s Uncle Donnie, given a week to a month to live (cancer). For Chauffer’s M and family. And for Quattro’s M’s feet…

Always happy to Q, thanks Mr. Mom for extending the opportunity. Glad to be your stunt double. Can’t wait to see what you unveil at your VQ.

Chappie, out!

The following is the 3rdF shared mid-workout: (Highly adapted from Steve Moore)

I recently heard the statement by Steve Moore that HABITS EAT WILLPOWER FOR BREAKFAST. Good or bad, your habits will dominate your willpower. Period. Hence, the saying in workout circles “You don’t need motivation, you need discipline.” Discipline forges habits and whether you’re trying to make or break a habit, willpower eventually subsides.

Understanding the power of habit is critical! The difference between ordinary and extraordinary in every area of daily life physically, spiritually, relationally, financially, and intellectually, etc. isn’t one shining moment of overachievement. It’s a series of meaningful but modest actions over time.

WILLPOWER CAN GET YOU STARTED, initiating positive change, but [Good] Habits will enable you to follow through consistently.

HABIT FORMATION: There’s common agreement that habits include a REWARD, a ROUTINE, and a CONTEXT.

REWARD: Can be as simple as the feeling of satisfaction you get from doing something that aligns with your goals, makes you feel good, or achieve a desired outcome.

ROUTINE: The specific sequence of actions that produce the reward. This is where your brain connects all the individual action steps and bundles them for retrieval later. (i.e. like getting up and driving here this morning, you didn’t have to think about it step-by-step; it is routine. And that’s the way we want our habits to be.)

CONTEXT: Is any part of the situation or environment that serves as a trigger for the routine. For example: When I started going to F3 workouts in SC, I was a night-owl, always have been. I immediately found it difficult to stay up til 1 or 2 a.m. AND get up to workout. I had willpower, but needed new habits because eventually the old habit of staying up half the night would eat my willpower for breakfast! I’m at my best when I get to bed at a decent time (new habit). The reward is that I’m able to make the workouts and stay physically fit. The routine, as I mentioned the other day, is that I wake up at 4 a.m. no matter what (regardless of whether I’m working out), and the context quite simply is physical fitness, camaraderie (fellowship), and faith (mine is strengthened because of walking through life with you guys and being part of something bigger). I want to engage in these practices because the value is compounded over time. The same could be said for working hard, eating healthy, investing in a friendship, etc.

Yet, because WILLPOWER is a diminishing resource, WILLPOWER must focus on building a habit, not on completing a task (i.e. anybody can do something 1x or 2x…). There’s a difference. WILLPOWER helps establish the context and routine. But the power of habit enables consistency and compounds the benefits/reward over time.

Since there’s great wisdom in the Word of God I’ll leave you with this: The Bible warns against bad habits (which enslave) but it also exalts good habits, discipline, and self-control:

  • 2 Peter 2:12 warns we’re not to be like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed. Turned into food, clothing, wallets, boots…
  • Prov. 25:28 says, “A man without self-control [good habits] is like a city broken into and left without walls.”
  • Prov. 13:4 “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the diligent (HIM w/good habits) is richly supplied.”
  • 2 Tim. 1:7God have us a spirit NOT of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
  • Gal. 5:22-23But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control; [and the kicker is…] against such things there is no law.” !!!

Habits eat WILLPOWER for breakfast, be sure to develop good ones (habits).

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.

A Tough Mother

Date: 05/08/2022

AO: Aegis, Georgetown, DE

QIC: Fireplex

Warm up

SSH – 40 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.

Imperial Walkers – 20 IC

Windmills – 20 IC

The Thang 

B.O.M.B.S. – 50 Burpees,  100 Overhead Claps, 150 Merkins, 200 Big Boy Sit-ups, 250 Squats.  PAX  will mosey @.08 miles around the circle after every 25 count of each exercise completed.  When all is completed you will have moseyed approximately 2.4 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 05/07/2022

 MOM EARS

May 3, 2017

Two words. But a valuable reminder just in time for Mother’s Day.

Recently, I had occasion to stay at my son and daughter-in-law’s house while I recovered from a painful injury.

They set me up with a wonderful little “apartment” in their basement – recliner, remotes (of course), kitchenette. And like all the babies in our family, a night monitor.

I needed some help in the middle of the night, but I hadn’t touched the pager. Suddenly, I hear my daughter-in-law’s feet coming down the stairs. In my 3 AM haze, I said, “But how did you know?”

She smiled and gave these two little words: “Mom ears.”

And that’s something a lot of us have to celebrate this Mother’s Day.

Those Mom-ears who heard our silent cries over the years.

Who heard our need when others would only see our deed.

Who heard the heart that our words could not express.

Who listened to our jabberings, our dumb jokes, our endless attention-getting antics.

Who heard the unspoken fears. Unspoken pain. And carried them to the throne of God.

Sadly, mom-ears have also heard mean words they didn’t deserve, angry words that left a scar, rebellious words because we didn’t want to hear what we now know was wisdom.

But somehow, a Mom heart could reach for some of God’s amazing grace, and forgive, though wounded.

As a dad, I learned early how important it was for me to seek and respect what my wife heard in our kids. Those times when I got home and was ready to drop a bomb on a disobedient child – while she intervened, with “actionable intel” of what was going on behind the scenes in their life.

I’m not sure Moms fully know their massive power to define their child’s life. For better or worse.

“She speaks with wisdom on her tongue” (Proverbs 31:26).

“The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down” (Proverbs 14:1).

Sure, I know Moms who’ve turned their God-given Mom-ears to the seductive song of an “all about me” world. Whose children languish under the awful cloud of “I’m not worth much. Mom doesn’t think so.”

Deafened moms can’t hear themselves nagging, controlling, criticizing, diminishing – hoping to make a “super kid,” crushing them in the process.

The Mom-ears that have tended to miss their children’s cries are those who stopped listening to the One who gave her these children.

“Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him” (Psalm 127:3).

It’s so easy to succumb to the selfie drumbeat of “my rights, my pleasure, my flourishing.” A sort of deafness can grow. Deaf to those quiet little cries in the night, the intuition to drop everything I love and listen, the Heavenly Father’s promptings as He “gently leads those that have young” (Isaiah 40:11).

But thank God many of us were blessed, not with a perfect mom, but a mother whose ears truly heard us.

If you have a mom with those wonderful “ears,” tell her how her finely-tuned heart shaped and changed your life. While you can.

If you’re a Mom who wants to have better ears for your children, just know there’s amazing power to do that. In the Jesus Whose relentless love led Him to die for our sins, the great relationship-wreckers.

There is no greater life-force on earth than a woman whose ears are always open to the voice of God and the voices of those she loves.

And for the one who approaches this Mother’s Day with little to celebrate – because their Mom really wasn’t one – there is a higher hope. Because God has said: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion for the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will never forget. See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands” (Isaiah 49:15-16).

On the palms of His hands. With nail prints.

His ears listen all day, all night for the deepest cries of your heart.

Respectfully Submitted,

Fireplex

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

Lawnmower

QIC: Semi

Warm-a-Rama
20 seal jacks i/c
20 seal wave i/c
10 hip circles oyo
15 mountain man pooper i/c
15 Windmill i/c

The Thang

Each HIM grabs a coupon
Mosey to the old bank

10 chuck Norris merkin
5 kettle bell clean w/coupon per side
10 coupon merkin
5 kettle bell clean w/coupon per side
20 derkins
5 kettle bell clean w/coupon per side
30 urkins
5 kettle bell clean w/coupon per side

Capri lap around the parking lot

30 coupon flys, shoulders on the wall or curb
5 kettle bell clean w/coupon per side
30 coupon bench press, shoulders on the wall
5 kettle bell clean w/coupon per side
Bolt 45, heels on curb
20 gas pumpers, coupon between knees

3rd F

Told my story if how I got into F3

Mosey back to AO

Round of Mary
10 X n O’s, Waterfall
25 4 count Freddie, Woodstock

Number-Rama
NAME-A-RAMA
COT

8 HIM  showed today: Chappie, Ruxpin, Kwak, Woodstock, Waterfall, Sherlock, Looney Toons, Semi

“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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