The BackBlast:

Dates: 07.18.2019

Where: happy_jack

QIC: Earhart

Number of Pax: 5

Pax Names: Pitchfork, Oddjob, C4, Floppy, Earhart

Warm-O-Rama: Mosey from THJ starting point to midfield of the soccer field. 10 SSH, 10 Weedpickers, and Runner’s Stretch (OYO). For the PAX convenience, this was the starting point for The Thang 1.

The Thang: The Thang 1: The corners of the soccer field were marked with glowsticks. Glowsticks used to be a fixture of the masculinity (military/camping), but young party animals have appropriated our culture. I had to go to the “Celebrate” isle of Walmart to even find them. So today we had a fiesta. 5 burpees in the middle of the field then AYG to a corner for a pain station. Complete the pain station exercise then back to the center of the field for 5 more burpees. This was repeated 4 times (1 for each corner). Our pain station exercises spelled out JACK. 10 reps each–J-Los (Rubicon), Alternating Shoulder Taps (Rubicon), Carolina Dry Docks, and flutter Kicks (full count in cadence).

The Thang 2: Bojangles Biscuits (4 each). Remaining on the field and using the red soccer field lines, we sprinted the long sides of the field and moseyed the short sides. C4 is on a different level. He’d do a modest mosey then fly past us all on the long sprints. Dude is legit. After each lap, we completed 10 merkins. After lap 4, Cody was ready for water, so we moseyed over to Lake Smelly for a dip.

The Thang 3: I was routing for Cody to take a long break so we could recover–didn’t happen, so we moseyed to the base of Easy Mountain. We executed an Elizabeth Warren up Easy Mountain to the chain and did 25 LBCs. We turned around an ran to the base of the other mountain (name forgotten so help me out). I asked Floppy to use a “Fellowship Pace” for us. His Fellowship Pace turned out to be my actual pace. To be fair, he and C4 were having no trouble chatting, so I need to step it up. We executed a Black Snake up the other mountain (Indian Run but weaving through the PAX on the way up the line). 25 LBCs at the top of the other mountain. We were at about 3 miles at this point so we jogged (at my pace) through the top parking lot and around to the playground. C4 led us on an AYG finish to the flag.

COT: Praise for Legionnaire’s sister and traveling mercies for Legionnaire. Praise for the lifted spirits of Frenchy at a surprise birthday party beatdown (such a great story to hear). Prayers for Frenchy’s 2.0 suffering from back/neck pain and episodes. Prayer’s for Frenchy’s sister in England (cancer diagnosis). Lifted up the men of our community in prayer–that we seek God’s wisdom, that we lead as we are called to do, and that we love our Ms the way Christ loves His Church. Thank you to God for the sacrifice of His Son.

Naked Man Moleskin: “We are all gods but for the wisdom.” This quote has been bouncing around in my head all week. I don’t fully appreciate what the author of the quote meant to convey, but I have taken something away from it. We are powerful. We have the ability to dream, to create, to destroy, to heal, to love, and the list goes on. The are awesome powers! They are also the powers of God. God’s ability to do these things far exceed our imaginations, but the point remains–we have seemingly godlike abilities. There are two issues here: (1) our abilities are limited by our own understanding (subordinate to God’s) and (2) we do not have the WISDOM of God. Type A dudes often focus on their abilities–especially when in crisis. But what good are our abilities without wisdom? Uninformed at best. So we must ask for wisdom, and God will give it generously (read James 1:5-8). We will always fall short of God’s power and wisdom, but that does not mean we should not consistently ask God for His wisdom. So do it.