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What’s the weekly mettle maker?
Training tips and educational info in support of our free programs, that’s what! What’s mettle? Mettle is, “The ability to meet a challenge or persevere under demanding circumstances; determination or resolve.”
Mettle maker #431: Mettlecraft Month 2024 Week 2
Mettlecraft Month is in full swing — see a few photos from last week on the right. This year we’re going to face self-defense and rescue readiness tests, punctuated by extra fitness challenges — new challenges every week. At the club in Richmond, VA, each week we’re going face 7 challenges plush a bonus homework challenge. Distance learners and friends are encouraged to face the challenges solo — please share links to your personal photos and videos, either by email or in the comments.
These challenges have been compiled from a variety of sources. They come from either Mark Hatmaker’s Black Box Program, various armed forces readiness tests, Native American traditions, survival exams, and so on.
They are not competitive. Don't keep score. The goal of these tests is simply to self-assess — to disabuse yourself of misconceptions and become aware of your actual capabilities.
WEEK 2
Drag a 100 lb weight 50 yards in 30 seconds.
Vertical jump 20”, Females 16”.
Complete a 500 meter dry swim. Set timer for 8 minutes and complete sets of alternating Prison Push-ups, Swimmers (belly down, arms and legs moving), Flutter Kicks, and Front Plank.
Get 8 Pull-ups in 2 minutes. If you can’t do Pull-ups, do Chin-ups. If you can’t do Chin-ups, do Knee Tucks.
Ranger Roll a fallen comrade and carry him/her 25 yards. If you can’t do Ranger Roll, do a Fireman’s Carry or Buddy Drag.
Balance on a log for 1 minute. If you don’t have a log, do a one-foot stand on a yoga block or similar.
Run 1 mile while carrying a 45 lb weight. Don’t use an awkward weight, like a 20 kg plate, sandbag, etc. not a backpack or weighted vest.
Bonus Homework: Agape test. Agape is benevolent, selfless love that desires the good of others (see this week’s homily below). For one day, sun-up to sundown, say “yes” with a smile to any request you receive from your family, friends, or fellow man. Tell no one about the test, nor about what you’ve done.
If this week’s mettle maker is fun, consider signing up for a totally free mind-body-spirit program that incorporates self-defense, fitness, outdoor skills, and spiritual development — sign up for our free Rough ‘n’ Tumble Distance Learning Program!
Holy Eucharist is LIVE on YouTube every Sunday at 10 am EASTERn. Click HERE to watch live. To view and print a copy of the program for holy Eucharist, CLICK HERE.
Homily for the Thirty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time, 11/10/24 – Father Mitch
Readings: 1 Kgs 17:10-16, Ps 146:7, 8-9, 9-10, Heb 9:24-28, Mk 12:38-44
Mark 12:38-44 World English Bible
In his teaching Jesus said to them, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk in long robes, and to get greetings in the marketplaces, 39 and to get the best seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts, 40 those who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”
41 Jesus sat down opposite the treasury and saw how the multitude cast money into the treasury. Many who were rich cast in much. 42 A poor widow came and she cast in two small brass coins,† which equal a quadrans coin.‡ 43 He called his disciples to himself and said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, this poor widow gave more than all those who are giving into the treasury, 44 for they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on.”
Following God’s command, Elijah goes into the wilderness and stays by a seasonal creek named Cherith. There he’s fed by the ravens and drinks from the stream. When it dries up, God sends him to Zarephath, telling him that a widow will care for him there.
Elijah comes upon the woman and asks for water and bread. She replies, “As the LORD, your God, lives, I have nothing baked; there is only a handful of flour in my jar.” Note she says, “your God.” She is not a Jew but a gentile and a foreigner. And yet she has faith; so much faith that she gives Elijah what she believes to be the very last of her food. And by faith her flour bin never grows empty and her jug of oil never runs dry.
Look, brothers and sisters, for the emerging pattern. Perhaps the widow of Zarephath, a pagan, perceives a corner of the pattern in its earliest stage. A foreign holy man unlike the pagan ones to which she is accustomed comes to her. This is no rich temple priest in his finery. This is a prophet wandering in wild places, giving up comforts, risking life and limb to follow his God’s commands. Perhaps she has begun to hear the new story spreading across the ancient world, coming out of the Hebrew tradition – the story of a new and different God. Unlike the pagan gods and goddesses who look, think, and act like people, complete with faults, foibles and squabbles, almost as likely to curse as they are to bless, the invisible Hebrew God walks with his people every step of the way, protecting, guiding, and leading them. He is not a chaotic mishmash of demi-human forces, but a single, all knowing, all powerful, always present God who sustains all of creation.
But even if the widow of Zarephath doesn’t see the emerging pattern, we can. We can because we have another example in our gospel reading from Mark. Like the widow who helped Elijah, this widow holds nothing back. Jesus says, that she, “gave more than all those who are giving into the treasury, for they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on.” This kind of selfless giving was as extremely rare then as it is today. It was as virtually unheard of in the ancient world as it is in our modern one. And yet the Judeo-Christian tradition sets it up as the ideal pattern of behavior.
That’s remarkable. No philosophical tradition before or since has suggested that selflessness is normal. It’s a truly unique view. But what’s even more shocking and extreme is that God himself steps into the pattern. In the person of Jesus Christ, God enters into his creation and does what both widows have done. He’s God. He lacks nothing. He could give out of his abundance as the scribes and rich folks did. But no, he doesn’t. God does something incredibly mind-bending and radical.
He doesn’t give out of his abundance. Like the widow in the temple, he holds nothing back. Like the widow of Zarephath, he pours out his jug and empties his bin. And he takes giving even further, all the way to the ultimate extremity, giving up not just his money or his food, but even his very nature, relinquishing his deity to become a mortal man. And then, retaining absolutely nothing for himself, he gives up his life, spreading his body on a cross.
He sacrifices everything to save everyone.
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† 12:42 literally, lepta (or widow’s mites). Lepta are very small brass coins worth half a quadrans each, which is a quarter of the copper assarion. Lepta are worth less than 1% of an agricultural worker’s daily wages.
‡ 12:42 A quadrans is a coin worth about 1/64 of a denarius. A denarius is about one day’s wages for an agricultural laborer.