Tag: Bonsai

Ruck to Honor Master Deputy II Micheal Robert Doty

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Lift your rucks up and hold them over your head.  Let’s take a moment to understand what we are here for today.

Yesterday I attended the celebration of life for York County Sheriff’s Duty Mike Doty.  I heard story after story about a man who took his work, family and friends with an equal level of seriousness.  This seriousness was driven by a passion to help people.  Whether it was a complete stranger, a family member, or a friend he was there without question and, as was pointed out, without a complaint.

One story told by his pastor was how he liked to look good.  I can tell you first hand, this is true, as I remember the day I met him in what I think was the winter of 2007.

My brother in law joined the Fort Mill Police Department in 2007 and two of the first friends he made were twin brother Chris and Mike Doty.  They were both intentional about welcoming him into the police family.  I quickly learned just how blurry the lines become between the PD, Sheriff’s Office, and the Highway Patrol.  This was primarily from what I witnessed in the actions of Mike and Chris Doty.  I hung out a fair amount with Chris, but did not have the opportunity to get to know Mike largely due to the shift he worked.  However, I remember the day I met Mike when he showed up to a small party I was attending with my brother in law and Chris.  Mike was on duty so he was in uniform and it being the winter he had on a beanie.  I specifically remember him being happy with his beanie because as he said it, “it matched the color of the uniform.”  I didn’t know why I remembered that tiny detail until yesterday.

This tiny detail is an example of how Mike approached everything.  Most of us would have simply grabbed a black beanie and been happy with warm ears, but not Mike.  He took things that extra mile.  This clearly carried forward into the impact he had on our community.  His intense passion for stopping underage drinking and drug abuse was a topic I heard more than once yesterday and have read about in news reports.  One specific example shared was a story shared by York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson about Mike’s focus on the opioid crisis we have today.  Again, not doing anything halfway, Mike initiated the York County Narcan program which trains officers to recognize opioid overdoses and take measures to reverse the effects.

I shared these thoughts with the PAX at the beginning of the workout all the while holding our rucks over our heads.  The focus for day is Mike Doty and like Mike we would not do anything halfway.  We would do reps based on numbers in Mike’s life and we would do them with an attention to detail and in good form.

With the rucks still over our head we would start where Mike’s life began.  Mike and Chris Doty were born on February 2, 1980. 

Birth 2/2/1980

  • 2 Overhead Squats
  • 2 Ruck Thrusters
  • 19 Merkins
  • 80 Single Count Flutter Kicks 

12 Years of Service & 37 Years of Life

Next we focused on the years in Mike’s life that were the source of the stories and the man Mike was.  Mike lived a full, impactful 37 years and gave 12 years of service to the Sheriff’s Office.  To honor these years, we covered the entire parking lot in front of Harris Teeter with a fast paced burn for 30 minutes.  For the run, we carried our rucks either with straps on our chest, by the handles, or if you are Rad, over your head since we were apparently lacking in shoulder work.

  • 12 Man Makers
  • Run 100 Yards (Carry Ruck)
  • 37 Ruck Swings
  • Run 100 Yards (Carry Ruck)
  • 12 Squats
  • Run 100 Yards (Carry Ruck)
  • 37 Bent Over Rows
  • Run 100 Yards (Carry Ruck)
  • 12 Merkins
  • Run 100 Yards (Carry Ruck)
  • 37 Ruck Curls

Speed Ruck back to the start and complete the series a second time.

At this point we were all completely smoked, but not done.  We then turned to the day that the people of York County will not forget.  The day that as tragic, anger and sadness inducing as it was, also brought a ton of beauty to our region.  Detective Mike Doty’s passing was the birth of a showing of support for our first responders that many of us have not seen in some time.  It comes in the wake of a treatment towards our officers that simply does not line up with the appreciation those that put their lives on the line deserve.

End of Watch 1/17/2018

  • 1 Bear Crawl (100yds)
  • 17 Merkins
  • 20 Overhead Presses
  • 18 Squats

Lastly we concluded by recognizing Detective Mike Doty’s badge number. I really wish we had a full hour, because to do this justice we needed to do 809 reps of something.  However, given we only had three minutes left we did the following.

Badge number 809

  • 80 Flutter Kicks with the ruck over head
  • 9 LBCs with the ruck over head

Thank you to the PAX who posted today for giving it everything you had!  We all went into this knowing that a 45 minute workout would never live up the level of respect we have or the tribute that we would truly love to pay; which is why everyone was crawling toward the end.  It was HARD but it should be when you attempt to honor a man like Detective Mike Doty.

We will continue to lift up the Doty family in our prayers.  We also continue to pray for the quick recovery of Sergeant Randy Clinton, Sergeant Buddy Brown, and Officer Kyle Cummings.  May the Lord watch over our first responders and keep them safe as they do daily for us.  Thank you to all of you for what you do daily and know that the men of F3 Back the Blue!

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A runner Qs a Bootcamp

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We had 7 Bootcampers and 6 Ruckers, the Ruckers were lead by Spiderman, the all looked like they were having a great time and they all thanked Spiderman for being so graciously easy on them(actually I just totally made that up. They all looked terrible)  Thankfully the rain stopped and the disclaimer was given and the Ruckers walked off while the BC guys started right in on a warm up routine of Squats, Jump Ropes(simulated), Lunge Walks, Toy Solders, Karaoke, etc.. Being sufficiently warm we moseyed to the back of HT and circled up for a little Hip & Leg work.

COP – Single Leg Quarter Squats, The Clam Shell(yes it’s a little awkward), Jane Fonda, Front leg lifts, The thigh master, Flutters and some Merkins just for fun.  Now that our hips and legs are ready to run lets go.

The Thang – Mosey to the bottom of the hill by the new apartments, educate the newbies about the hill that used to be there and how no GC workout was complete with out it. The new hill is paved nicer a little longer and not quite as step but it is still worthy of being run up and down several times.  The Q chose to do a round of 11s with LBCs at the bottom and Carolina Dry Docks at the top.  The Pax did great and nobody got lapped by Jedi. Next we were off to the back of the Oil Change place for another round of 11s with dips and derkins, an audible needed to be called as I noticed you can’t run around the Oil Chang place anymore, you have to take a much longer route around the Auto Parts store too. Oh well, everyone agreed that more running was better. We had to cut this sort of 11 due to the longer run, so we headed back to COT.  With 2 minutes still on the clock I made the mistake of asking Jedi for an Ab exercise and he delivered with some terrible rocking thing that I hope to avoid in the future.

Announcements- The Yeti & read your Newsletter

Prayers/Praises – Prayers for the family of the fallen Police Officer, and Praises for how the community has come together to support Law Enforcement.

A Brief challenge to remember Beginnings, and to remember that God’s Mercies are new every morning.

 

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4 non-rooster HIM’s got put to work

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For the non-roosters, 4 HIM stepped up at WEP for a brisk hour-long tour of Fort Mill parking lots.

Parking Lot 1:
-15 American Hammers
-20 Flutter Kicks
-20 Hello Dolly

Parking Lot 2:
-15 Shoulder Taps
-15 Knee Taps from Crab Walk Position
-10 Peter Parker
-10 Parker Peter

Backwards Run up hill, sprint down

Parking Lot 3:
-Adult Duck Duck Goose (Lutefisk educated PAX that the game is actually called Duck Duck Grey Duck). Whilst all PAX jogging in place, in a circle, 1 HIM ran around the circle twice. Each passing by, the HIM passed does a squat, then back to jogging in place.

Parking Lot 4:
-The Merkin Wave x15

Mosey to grassy and “leafy” hill:
-3x Jump Merkins up the hill, Crawl Bear down
-3x Bunny Jump up the hill, Reverse Inchworm down

Then came the partner work:
-15 Merkin Hi-Fives
-15 Big Boy Situp Hi-Fives
-10 Box Cutters; one set of legs were in while other set of legs were out
-Partner 1 did situps while Partner 2 did Merkins or Derkins on the knees
-Partner 1 plank while Partner 2 did 20 dips using Partner 1’s back

Bonsai took over and brought us to the church stairs for 16 flights of “see if we can get to heaven.”  We didn’t make it, so we went on the trail for a staircase burpee from 5-1.

Mosey to COT

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Beyond #1…What’s at your CORE?

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Beyond can be defined as “Outside the understanding, limits, or reach of.” That is what this thing is all about; recognizing that a push beyond, in all many aspects of life, can be a really good thing. If you’re a killer runner, come do a Merkin and a Pull Up with us. If you’re strength nut, come do a few sprints and bear crawls with us. The reasoning for this is well documented now, dating back a few months to when Jekyll let me share about this at a Colosseum Q I had.

And yes, I am 8 days late in getting this BB written which is rather ironic. I will work to get these posted both by the Q’s and YHC in a more timely manner.

We started last Tuesday with the 1st round of Beyond and the theme was CORE. Besides the obvious, physical reference to the word, Core can be defined as, “A central and often foundational part usually distinct from the enveloping part by a difference in nature.” In other words, when the world strips away your exterior, what are you left with to truly guide you. To take this a step further, I let the PAX know that Beyond will challenge them to push past the limits they’ve previously established for themselves. This is aided by listening to a Podcast, “Team Never Quit” in which you listen to stories of people who’ve endured unbelievable challenges and have pushed through to find the redemptive outcome on the other side. It seems impossible when you’re in the thick of “it”, whatever “it” might be in your life, but God has a plan. Bad and difficult things happen, yes, but we try to find a glimmer of hope and positivity on the other side.

Enough rambling…I need to figure out a better way to capture the names for Beyond but for now, we’ll have to rely on my fuzzy memory. I know we had 15  which I think included the following, Bob the Builder, Geronimo, Band Camp, Straight Up, Fire Marshall Bill, Frat Boy, Longshanks, Jedi, Cha Ching, Ginsu, Trucker, Lutefisk, Bonsai, MacGuyver, YHC. My sincere apologies if I got a few of these wrong.

Once we separated from the Block Party PAX, we jogged through the park and made our way to the playground, which still sounds strange every time I write that. We did a few warm up exercises like SSH, Arm Circles, Sumo Squats and more SSH which was then followed by a little stretching and lot more of my talking (rambling). What I was trying to get to was that you can’t quit and if you need a little motivation to keep from quitting, look to the man to your left and right and realize they won’t let you quit and you don’t want to let them down. If it were just you out there, we’d quit a lot sooner. Remember, YOU’RE NEVER ALONE OUT THERE…SO DON’T QUIT.

100 American Hammers (we all thought about quitting on that one unless you’re Jedi/Geronimo

25 LBC

100 Flutters

30 Peter Parkers

50 Mountain Climbers

Partner 1: 50 Carolina Dry Docks   Partner 2: Pull Ups until your partner is done and flapjack

Partner 1: 15 Burpees   Partner 2: Pull Ups until your partner is done

Mosey to the Big Hill where found some cones forming a 15yd x 20yd rectangle on the hill.

Backward run up the hill, 5 Burpees at the top then run down. Repeat this 5 times.

Next we bear-crawled around the rectangle for 3mins which was awesome…

Mosey to the wall at the Springs building

Nothing fancy, just a mere 3mins of muscle ups…yup, it was turrible.

We talked about not quitting and trying to answer the question of whether or not you can change what is at your CORE. What is left when the world takes what you see, away? So that was it. I learned a lot in these 45mins and I hope we continue to see a good contingent of guys willing to push themselves.

As you were…

Maximus

 

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Goruck Welcome Party prep at Golden Corral

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14 HIM’s showed up at GC for a crash course on the welcome party portion of a Goruck challenge, or to remind themselves how much the welcome party sucks.

We started with 12 HIM’s but stole Royale and Copyright from their planned boot camp workout.

Welcome party training consisted of a very simple combination of merkins, mountain climbers, SSH, flutters, overhead squats, curls, presses and Ruck swings at a 30 count of each – followed by a 100 yard bear crawl. This was a time hack with 15 minutes to complete the task.

The PAX made the time hack – but forgot that Rucking is a team activity. All 14 finished the hack at different intervals. The punishment for non-compliance was man makers x10.

After a quick breather and reminder the Goruck is about teamwork, new leaders stepping to the forefront, and that Welcome Party’s suck. We tried the task again.

This time the PAX worked perfectly as a team – but the time hack was missed. The punishment was manmakers x10.

At this point we had completed 500 ruck reps and still had seven minutes to spare. We finished up with 100 yard ruck tosses broken up into 50 yards tossing a 40 pound sandbag and 50 yards tossing a 60 pound sand bag

COT

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#218in18 Kick-off Convergence BackBlast

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76 PAX (including 4 FNGs) met in the gloom at Harris Teeter this morning to kick the year off the right way.

Group 1 – Jedi

Start with 60 seconds of plank tutorial, then a fairly lame attempt to explain the exercise “routine” for the upper body station. The routine, to be done in increasing AMRAP style:
· Incline Merkins
· Low Country Crab Boil (One leg, one hand dips)
· 90° Turn clockwise
· Staggered/Uneven Break Dancer Merkins (Left hand on curb)
· Staggered/Uneven Carolina Dry Docks (Left hand on curb)
· 90° Turn clockwise
· Pseudo Planche Merkins
· Donkey Kicks
· 90° Turn clockwise
· Staggered/Uneven Break Dancer Merkins (Right hand on curb)
· Staggered/Uneven Carolina Dry Docks (Right hand on curb)
· 90° Turn to starting position

Start with 10 reps for each exercise, then add 2 reps each round after that (10, 12, 14, 16, …). Only the elite few made it past the round of 12.

Group 2 – Peabody

An absolute honor to lead a convergence and had so much fun working with all the guys. Here’s the fun of the cardio Q.

SPRINT Relays!!!  

3 team

60 Yard sprint

Team members are doing Seal Jacks, side straddle hops, or flutters while teammate runs.

Winning team selects penalty exercise for 2 losing teams. (Unknown is losing team has to do the penalty exercise too but only half the reps).

Rinse and repeat the sprint relay races once teams are mixed up.

Mary to follow:

  • 50 LBCs
  • 25 Flutters
  • 10 Freddie Mercury’s

Lists of fun to hear the encouragement of other Pax and see the competition bring out the most in guys.  Saw lots of guys really push hard to win for their team.

Group 3 – Jekyll

Motley Crue and 80’s hairband soundtrack

  • COP: SSH, IW, Squat
  • 5 Burpee OYO, 4 OYO, 3 OYO
  • Lt Dan: squat and jumping , 1:4 ration
    • 1 squat: 4 jumping lunge, 2 squat: 8 Jumping lunge…10 squat: 40 jumping lunge
  • 5 burpee OYO
  • Calf Raises 25 each: Straight, Toes Out, Toes In
  • Donkey Kicks

COT

Welcome FNGs Iron City, Humps, Hillary, and Juliet

Prayers by CakeBoss for leadership.

– Ginsu

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Just in Time

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YHC peeled into the parking with 1 minute to spare before the 515 start to see 12 eager PAX waiting to warm up in the cold.  It would have been a bad look for the Site Q to be late to his own Q.

The Thang

Mosey to the Band Parking lot for COP

Usual suspects – SSH, Windmills, Imperial Walkers, Merkins, Squats.

Mosey over the parking lot loop at the front of the school for Dirty MacDuece.  4 sets of 3 exercises done to 12.  All in cadence.  Lap of the parking lot in between each set.

Set 1 – Merkins, Squats, LBCs

Set 2 – CDDs, Alternating Leg Lunges, Freddy Mercury

Set 3 – Diamond Merkins, Monkey Humpers, Rosalitas

Set 4 – Wide Arm Merkins, Sumo Squats, Hello Dollies

Mosey back to stadium parking lot for Mary.  Went around the circle with Pax calling out exercises – Freddy Mercury, LBCs, Toe Touches, American Hammers, Peter Parkers, Makhtar N’Diayes

COT – Announcements, Prayers and Praises.

Thanks to all that came out on a cold morning.  Your support is appreciated.

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More Running, Less Bootcamp

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#HypeTrain rolled into the #LacesIn Station once again.  This time it was a family affair with #SPEEDFORNEED coming south to join forces as well as #LacesOut (#F3RunClub) (#Yogging (soft J)) converging with the Bootcampers for 45 minutes of …..well lots of running.  The irony was not lost on YHC (the artist formerly known as Mountain Buffalo) as he gave up the ‘running for an extended period of time’ thing years ago.  Vowing never to return.  Yet his own Q hijacked by nothing more than simple running.  At the very least YHC squeezed in a couple of merkins (only for #Rooney’s sake) and taught everyone what an “updown” was – seriously?  Who doesn’t know what an updown entails?!?  It’s even in the gawl-dang name.  YHC digresses.  Here is what happened:

Little Baby Jog to the football field (so cushy – so soft).

Dynamic Warmup

High Knees, Butt Kickers, Side Shuffles, Toy Soldiers, Toe Touches, Long Strides, Power Skips (Trademark: WWLs).

Then merkins (Rooney!!!)  and windmills to straighten everyone out.

Time to Bootcamp:

Partner up and size kinda matters for very confusing sequence.

UpDown – Partner Push – Run to Opposite Side of Field – UpDown – Partner Push

Repeat this every 20 yards as you move down the field to the endzone and then go back down to the other endzone.

(This was a rugby (shocker – I know) simulation – expend energy – sprint – get on the ground – get back up – expend more energy – sprint again – then repeat.  While it was unorthodox and confusing to some – it was a smoker.)

Rinse and Repeat with 2 updowns before each partner push.  Another smoker.

Give me a ten count.

Hey – let’s breakout the running chairs and do some sprints!!!  Tolkien was nice enough to give us all a quick tutorial about how they work.  We split into teams and relayed around the track with weights.  Then we got on the field and chased the chairs for 100 yards – over and over and over and over and over again.  Then some (small) pax jumped in the chairs and they got pushed and the rest of us chased for 100 meters over and over and over and over again.  Okay – enough running!!!  Back to the field.

YHC went back to one of his favorites – the extra long bear crawl.  This time – 100 yards.  Crowd pleaser!

We worked our way back with some rugby sprints (could not resist).

Ended with a little bit o mary then ran the chairs back to COT.

 

Great time out there among so major #HIMs and it’s always an honor to lead.  YHC saw a tweet asking for more “SERVICE” to our community from F3Nation.  No better example of pure SERVICE then Tolkien.  The amount of time/energy/passion/service this man brings to #SPEEDFORNEED is incredible.  Follow his lead in 2018 – get out there – get uncomfortable – and serve others!  Aye!

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The Ballroom_ Moon River and some CakeBoss!

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6 PAX joined YHC at The Ballroom on this 12 degree morning. We all have a choice and if we think its cold outside, you need to ask yourself what is colder….the temperature or leaving your brother alone at an AO? I know some are sick and injured, but its also the easy choice to stay in the fartsack….I been there. However if you are choosing the easy route each day…..when faced with two tough choices you won’t be prepared. Yes, posting with your brothers in cold, rain miserable conditions…..makes you better prepared. 5 years of this, I can tell you that making the hard decisions and converstations that I don’t want to have but need to have…..have come easier because I posted with my brothers in all conditions.

Enough on that!

The Thang:

Immediate COP:

  • SSHs
  • Low Slow Squats
  • Moracan Night Clubs
  • Merkins
  • LBCs
  • Parker Peters

Mosey to school benches

  • 2 x 15 derkins
  • 2x 20 dips

Mosey to side of school

  • People’s Chair
  • Each PAX run around set of cones, until all complete

Mosey to football bleachers

  • Gaze at Super Moon

Mosey to endzone of football field

  • Run field to cones on field an do exercise to reps of yard marker 10, 20, 30, 40, 50
    • Run to 10 – 10 burpees and run back to end zone
    • Run to 20 – 20 donky kicks and run back to end zone
    • Run to 30 – 30 Merkins and run back to end zone
    • Run to 40 – 40 Lunge Hops and run back to end zone
    • Run to 50 – 50 Sumo Squats and run back to end zone
    • Run to 40 – 40 Ski Hops and run back to end zone
    • Run to 30 – 30 Wide Arm Merkins and run back to end zone
    • Run to 20 – 20 Leg Lifts and run back to end zone
    • Run to 10 – 10 Inch Worm Merkins and run back to end zone

On 6

  • Freddy Mercury’s
    • Bearcrawl to 5 yrd line and back
  • Rosalitas
    • Bearcrawl to 5 yrd line and back
  • Hello Dollys
    • Bearcrawl to 5 yrd line and back

Mosey to COT

  • Moracan Night Clubs
  • Squats
  • SSHs

YHC talked to the guys about not waiting for the calendar to flip, the next day or year but choose to make the changes needed in your life. Do it now! Get started on getting better now and don’t wait. Especially if you need to know Sky Q. I made the decision to put him first in my life and all other areas have benefited since making that change…..and not waiting to do it. Get better today and don’t hesitate!

  1. Joe Davis run Saturday with warm up at 0715
  2. 1/12 convergence at Baxter Harris Teeter 3rd F after
  3. Yeti 2/24

Prayers:

  1. Kids, patience, health, injuries, being better men and leaders in our lives

Thanks Short Sale for the opportunity

Cake Boss

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2017 Clave Boss 5k/10k & Christmas Convergence

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Here we are as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more——Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas!!

The largest turn out by far for the Clave Boss 5k/10k was a success. We started on time and as far as I know nobody died. Thank you to all the PAX that ran and had a fun time and fellowship.

For the 5k, here were are winners of Bundt Cakes

  1. MacGyver
  2. Harry Carry

For the 10k, here were are winners of Bundt Cakes

  1. Sir Topham Hat
  2. mix of PAX coming from all directions—no idea

For the Ruck, here were are winners of Bundt Cakes

  1. Dark Helmet for 11min pace 5k ruck…..nice work!

Honorable Mention for Anchorman completing the 5k and Barry Manilow being his wingman!

The Convergence kicked off on time and we had Gecko open us up in prayer. We split the groups up and away we went with COT at 0750. Click on links to see the pain that was delivered…..Merry Christmas!

Black Diamond – Longshanks Q – https://t.co/odVJHWCBPS

Bootcamp – Cha Ching Q – https://f3thefort.com/2017/12/23/christmas-convergence-boot-camp-mixed-w-some-bd/

Noderate – Barry Manilow Q – https://f3thefort.com/2017/12/23/your-moderate-option-at-the-convergence/

COT came together and we had 83 men attend this year.

Welcome FNG – Lake Effect, who is 41 not the 50 that he just shouted out. Classic!

Many announcements:

  • Thank you Site Qs for all your work, dedication and leadership!
  • Serve Saturdays ….reach out to Deacon, Bolt, NASA for info…..HIMs!!
  • Joe Davis Run Jan 6
  • Friday Convergence with 3rdF post beat down Jan 12
  • Rooster CSAUP Jan 20
  • Yeti – February
  • P200 – March

More than a workout!!

Prayers/Praises

  • Dark Helmet shared his sister is in need of prayer. Please remember DH and his family each day in prayer
  • Family visiting is fun and sometimes no so fun. BE HIMs!!
  • Prayers for all the PAX traveling and for peace this week!

Challenge:

I spoke to the PAX about how 2000 years ago Sky Q sent his son into the world in the form of a baby. When looking for a place to come in from the cold there WAS NO ROOM AT THE INN. I believe we all fall into this trap and put so much busy into our lives that we don’t have ROOM AT THE INN for Sky Q in our lives. We fill our hearts and minds with so much and when it come to his word and being in relationship, we DON”T HAVE ROOM AT THE INN (in our hearts).

I challenge myself and the PAX to make room for SKY Q and see how it changes your life in 2018 and beyond.

Honored to lead this PAX. I am blessed and grateful for each of you!

Cake Boss

 

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