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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 #432: Mettlecraft Month 2024 Week 3
Mettlecraft Month is in full swing —this year we’re facing survival, rescue, and mettle tests for self-defense readiness compiled from a variety of sources, including but not limited to Mark Hatmaker’s Black Box Program, various armed forces readiness tests, Native American traditions, survival exams, and so on.
Distance learners and friends should face the challenges solo. Share links to photos and videos by email or in the comments.
They are not competitive. The goal of these tests is simply to self-assess — to disabuse yourself of misconceptions and become aware of your actual capabilities.
Modify, adapt, and overcome. “Do what you can, where your, with what you’ve got” (Theo. Roosevelt). This week it was raining, so we switched things up a bit to avoid getting people and equipment muddy. A little rain is okay, but nobody wants to hop in the car and drive home covered in mud! See video on above-right.
WEEK 3
48 sit-ups in 2 minutes.
Standing Broad Jump your height.
Complete a 25 meter underwater swim on one breath. To approximate this test this on dry land, walk 100 yards on a single breath.
Square Choke hang for 1 minutes. Put your arms around your hanging heavy bag, grab in a Square Choke, pick up your feet, and hang.
Buddy Drag an adult 25 yards.
25 Hand-Release Push-ups in 2 minutes. At the bottom of each Push-up, lift hands off the floor and reset.
Run 1 mile while carrying a 45 lb weight. Females and older folks, sub a 25 weight, or complete a POW Run with fingertips touching ears. Bum knees? Just carry the weight while walking.
Bonus Homework: Detachment test. For the next 24 hours, make a concerted effort not to be ruled by your emotions. This is a universal idea, even in fiction. Jedi Knights understand that extreme emotions are an entry to “the dark side.” In Zen Buddhism the goal is to avoid “attachments.” In Christianity, we seek to avoid being ruled by our passions. A great example is the recent presidential election in the USA. Many people were very depressed or pumped up by the results. If given free reign, extreme emotions on this topic, whether your candidate won or lost, could lead to alienation from relatives, friends, neighbors and coworkers. Resentment, loathing, and anger at the choices of others could stew. Feelings of superiority could lead to a lack of empathy. It’s perfectly normal and healthy to feel joy when things go your way, or sadness when they don’t. But if we allow ourselves to be ruled by it? Not good! Jesus told us to be above worldly things. He said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) As much as we can, given our mortal limitations, we too need to overcome the world! And remember, “And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21)
If this week’s mettle maker was 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-third Sunday of Ordinary Time, 11/17/24 – Father Mitch
Readings: Dn 12:1-3, Ps 16:5, 8, 9-10, 11, Heb 10:11-14, 18, Mk 13:24-32
Mark 13:24-32 World English Bible
Jesus said when asked about the day and time of the return of the Kingdom,
“But in those days, after that oppression, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, 25 the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken.* 26 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 Then he will send out his angels, and will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the sky.
28 “Now from the fig tree, learn this parable. When the branch has now become tender and produces its leaves, you know that the summer is near; 29 even so you also, when you see these things coming to pass, know that it is near, at the doors. 30 Most certainly I say to you, this generation‡ will not pass away until all these things happen. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
32 “But of that day or that hour no one knows—not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Watch, keep alert, and pray; for you don’t know when the time is.”
In our gospel reading from today, Jesus warns us against attempting to predict the return of the kingdom. He will do so again in the book of Acts 1:7. The disciples ask him, “Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom to Israel?” And he says to them, “It isn’t for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has set within his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.” In other words, don’t trouble yourself with exact dates and times. That’s not your business – that’s Heavenly Father’s business. Just accept your responsibility to carry the word to all the ends of the earth and let God the Father worry about dates and times.
And yet, from the very beginning, Christians have speculated on the date of Jesus’ return. Despite being told not to worry about it, many Christians have been so obsessed with the date that they’ve poured through the Bible looking for clues for millennia. They’ve even resorted to using psychics and seers, astrology and numerology – occult methods condemned by the church fathers and forbidden in the Bible! – to try and predict the date of the coming of the kingdom. New Protestant denominations, like the Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses have arisen around such prophecies. Milennial cults have even sprung up around various predictors and predictions, such as David Koresh and the Branch Davidians.
But we should be staunch in our rejection of these ideas in all their forms. As the Roman Catholic Catechism says,
The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgement. (676)
In simple terms, the return of the Kingdom is not in time. It happens outside history, and is thus impossible to predict. The Kingdom of God is eternal. Asking when the Kingdom of God will come is like asking, “When will 2+2=4?” The Kingdom is, like mathematics, a metaphysical truth – a metaphysical truth of such an entirely higher order that, unlike algebra, it is all but impossible to mortal minds to grasp.
The endeavor to pin a date on the return of the kingdom is not only forbidden, it pushes the immediacy and beauty of Christian life into some distant future. It drains away the beauty of the eternal. Engaging in this sort of thing is like a culinary expert who focuses on food chemistry rather than on making delicious food. It is like a painter or sculptor who focuses on pigment science or metallurgy rather than on making beautiful art.
Jesus said in Luke 17:20-21, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” Let us, brothers and sisters, follow Jesus’ command and attend to the task at hand. Let us be, as Jesus has commanded us, in the moment, attentive, alert, and prayerful. Let us have faith in him, do his will, and stand fast. If we do this, we can be in the kingdom now, in the life to come, eternally, and forevermore.
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* 13:25 Isaiah 13:10; 34:4
‡ 13:30 The word translated “generation” (genea) could also be translated “race”, “family”, or “people”.