April 7th, 2016 By Man Down

A few weeks ago when I shared my CLL diagnosis with the brothers at The Precinct, Tradition, and Davis Lake (my local AO hangouts), someone must have “leaked” my e-mail because I started getting a slew of encouraging and prayer-filled e-mails from the guys at Rolling Stone. Having never been at this AO, I figured that the best way I could say “thank you” in F3 style would be by inflicting some pain! Hence, my first Q at Roling Stone! 11 others joined me in the time of thanksgiving, and here’s how it went down…

Warmorama:

• Dynamic mosey to upper lot with high-knees, butt-kickers, forward and backward runs, then circle up
• SSH x20, IST x20, Happy Jacks?…Nah, Mountain Climbers instead x20, Wacky Jacks x10, Cotton Pickers, Windmills

The Thang:

• AYG to Pull-up Bars and Partner up. P1 does 10 pull-ups while P2 does dips until relieved. 3 sets each.
• Indian Run to Middle School – back man does 3 Burpees
• Find the big wall and find your partner. P1 does 10 muscle-ups while P2 does jump squats till relieved. 3 sets each. Ouch!
• Mosey to track. P1 sprints down straightaway and back while P2 does ‘Mericans, then switch. Keep going till 120 completed as a team.
• Indian Run back to Elementary School – back man does 3 Burpees

Mary:

• Bear Crawls? Okay, so not really a Mary exercise, but we had a few minutes to spare!
• LBCs, Box Cutters, Crunchy Frogs, Plank

Moleskin:

Truly a privilege to join up with the Stoners today! Great AO and great group of guys. Would love any of you guys to guest Q (or even just visit) The Precinct sometime (http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0b49acaa2ca6fa7-theprecinct). Thanks to Field of Dreams for riding over with me, and thanks to Triple Threat and Rib Shack for meeting us there!

Below is the actual quote which I paraphrased this morning. May it encourage you to appreciate the hard times of life and to ask the question, “How much can I get out of this?” rather than, “How fast can I get out of this?”

Grace is God drawing sinners closer and closer to him. How does God in grace prosecute this purpose? Not by shielding us from assault by the world, the flesh, and the devil, nor by protecting us from burdensome and frustrating circumstance, not yet by shielding us from troubles created by our own temperament and psychology, but rather by exposing us to all these things, so as to overwhelm us with a sense of our own inadequacy, and to drive us to cling to him more closely.

This is the ultimate reason, from our standpoint, why God fills our lives with troubles and perplexities of one sort and another—it is to ensure that we shall learn to hold him fast. The reason why the Bible spends so much of its time reiterating that God is a strong rock, a firm defense, and a sure refuge and help for the weak is that God spends so much of his time showing us that we are weak, both mentally and morally, and dare not trust ourselves to find or follow the right road.

When we walk along a clear road feeling fine, and someone takes our arm to help us, likely we would impatiently shake him off; but when we are caught in rough country in the dark, with a storm brewing and our strength spent, and someone takes our arm to help us, we would thankfully lean on him. And God wants us to feel that our way through life is rough and perplexing, so that we may learn to lean on him thankfully. Therefore he takes steps to drive us out of self-confidence to trust in Himself, to—in the classic scriptural phrase for the secret of the godly man’s life—“wait on the Lord.”

Father Loves You by James Packer, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986, p. for March 20

 

Davis Lake, Rolling Stone, The Precinct, Tradition

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