F3

Back in December I started working out with F3, which stands for F3 Nation - Fitness, Fellowship, Faith. F3 is a nationwide, free, peer-led fitness movement for men. Our group meets at Drost Park in Maryville rain or shine three times a week from 5:30-6:15 a.m. We have anywhere from four to eight guys show up. They have a lot of different workouts, and most of them are pretty intense. They are Marine Corps level for sure (but that was forty years and forty pounds ago!). Each man works out at his own pace, modifying the exercises as necessary. The goal is "to leave no man behind, but no man where he is." A typical workout would include a variety of burpees, push ups, sit ups, bear crawls, squats, etc., etc., etc. Sometimes we use a concrete block to drag along with our bear crawl, for kettle ball swings, or for military presses ("face scrapers," as they like to say). They have a whole "Exicon" describing all the different exercises. Right now I'm participating at a 50-75% level and building up. After the workout we come together for the "Circle of Trust." This is a brief time to share any concerns or prayer requests. F3 is not specifically Christian. Like AA, they ask that everyone believe in something other than themselves. "FNGs," or "Friendly New Guys," have to tell a little bit about themselves. Then they are given a F3 name. I told my group that getting up in the dark reminded me of my paperboy days - and that's how I got my name.

Come and join us anytime.

Listening to the Lutheran Confessions

I am really enjoying this podcast of the Lutheran Confessions from steadfastlutherans.org. I'm listening through Podbean. The Lutheran Confessions are a collection of important statements of faith that arose from the Lutheran Reformation. These faithful catholic Christians called the church away from the scholastic (philosophical) theology and errors of the papacy back to the Christ-centered, Biblical theology of the New Testament and early church. At the same time they retained many of the beliefs and practices of the church which did not need to be changed.

GODISNOWHERE?

Some might see "God is now here." Others might see "God is nowhere." Not much more than 150 years ago the greatest scientists saw complete harmony between science and theology. Isaac Newton firmly believed in an elegant, mathematical universe.. He wrote more about the Bible than he did about science (See, The Clockwork Universe, Edward Dolnick)! But then some scientists began looking at the natural world apart from God. They consider the universe to be an elegant accident! Now their theories are running into trouble, especially with the math. To make an accidental universe work, they are realizing they need infinite multi-verses and parallel universes. That is more fantastical than an elegantly created universe. And there is no natural evidence of such things (See, Our Mathematical Universe, Max Tegmark). The wisemen followed nature (the star) and God's word to Bethlehem to see Jesus. Faith and science are in complete harmony.