If you’re not coming to the Monthly 3rd Breakfast (last Friday of each month), you’re missing one of the best things going on in F3 Cherokee. Its been powerful to hear men tell their stories and hear them open up with their struggles. It’s a needed reminder that, while the details may be different, we’re all fighting the same battles and voices in our heads.
Foosball spoke this month and it was a great reminder as to why we post, even on the hard days. He reminded us that “winning isn’t crossing the finish line, winning is going back and making sure the 6th, 7th, and 8th guy crosses the finish line.”
As we enter December and the gloomiest of the Gloom, we all need this reminder.
Bear with me on this example… A while back, I read a book about the Christian life and the author was making the point that we should never get over, or grow tired of, the gospel. His statement was “when you assume to gospel, you lose the gospel.” The gospel is the ‘why’ behind all the ‘what’. The problem is, over time, we get so focused on the ‘what’ that we lose sight of the ‘why’. Next thing we know, we start to question the ‘what’, we don’t remember why we started doing it in the first place, and we begin to drift from our true mission.
The exact same thing can happen with us in F3. If we assume the mission, we lose the mission. Its easy to get caught up in plant/grow/serve, CSAUPs, and other fun and crazy things. But if we forget the ‘why’ behind all of this, we will eventually run out of the motivation, energy, and desire to keep this going.
…”for the invigoration of male community leadership”
“Leave no man behind, but leave no man where you found him”
“We don’t post for ourselves, we post for the man next to us”
There’s a consistent theme in all of the messaging from F3, as a man Gets Right, the goal is to turn his attention from himself and towards the service of others. The Gloom is the incubator of this process and the High Impact Man begins to allow it to permeate every aspect of his life. This cannot be achieved in isolation, we need each other in order to develop into the men we were called to be. We need each other.
We are entering the Gloomiest of the Gloom. The fartsack reaches its peak temptation in January and February. Too many men are drawn to its warmth, pack on the winter weight, and let their fitness level tank. If we want to live up to our mission, we cannot let this happen to ourselves, or to our brothers.
Find an AO, dedicate yourself to it and the PAX there. Let them keep you accountable, and you hold them accountable. It can be fun to visit AOs and travel around the county, but we all need that consistent group to hold us accountable. Use your off days to visit, but commit yourself somewhere 2-3 days each week, and show up ready to make a difference.
Leadership in F3 can too often be confused with being on the SLT (Shared Leadership Team), or a Site Q, Quarter Q, etc… All that is just the framework for the real leadership that we want to unleash. The kind of leadership that brings real change and keeps us on mission. True F3 leadership is consistently showing up and investing in each other. Be a leader by encouraging the Site Q, volunteering to Q, encouraging the newer guys, hanging back with them, picking up the 6. Listen to each other in the COT, pray for one another, and follow up to see how PAX are doing.
We’ve made a huge difference in this county. Let’s not take a step back. There are so many men who still need to find what we’ve found.
It’s time to do the hard things. Let’s get after it.
SYITG