Cardinal's wife: Keep going. God is using you to change lives
Watch Cardinal Jr. complete the 1 millionth burpee of MABA 2024
We crossed the 1 million burpee mark on Thursday. That was also the day in which we honored Taylor “Cardinal” Phelps, who died during an F3 workout near Knoxville one year ago (January 11, 2023).
Tens of thousands of burpees were done in Cardinal’s honor this week as men across F3 Nation completed the MABA workout he was leading when he died. There is one burpee in particular that I want to share with you. Cardinal’s son, Clay “Cardinal Jr.” Phelps, completed the ceremonial 1 millionth burpee of MABA 2024. Here he is doing that.
Cardinal’s wife, Andrea Phelps, wrote a letter to F3 Nation. It’s below.
Cardinal’s wife: Keep going. God is using you to change lives
January 11, 2024
To the men of F3,
I am so thankful that you have chosen to take this day that represents so much pain, sorrow, and heartache for me and turn it into something positive. Thank you for remembering Taylor, for continuing to bless and encourage my kids and I, and for being the light of Christ in Roane County. I can’t be there with you today. I have to do what’s best for my kids and their healing. But, please know that my heart is with you as you celebrate my husband’s home going. Just knowing that you are together, just like you were on the day that he went to be with Jesus, makes this day easier to face.
The togetherness is what he loved about F3. You were what he had been searching for and needed in his life. I have no doubt that there are other men that are still searching for a brotherhood like yours, so don’t stop, keep going. You may not realize it, but God is using you to change lives.
I remember walking into the hospital waiting room, where so many of you had gathered, after I had said goodbye to my best friend. I looked at a member of our church and asked, “Why did God let him live last summer just to take him now?” We had almost lost Taylor the summer before due to a kidney abscess. I just couldn’t understand why I had to go through that experience only to lose him a few months later. She didn’t have an answer for me that day. Noone had any answers that day, only questions. However, she called me a few weeks later and reminded me of what I had asked. She felt like God had given her the answer. She said, “It was because he hadn’t met F3 yet. God waited to take him until they were in your life to take care of you.” She was right. God waited…so that I would have you to walk with me through the darkest valley of my life. Thank you. I will never forget what you have done for us. We love each of you. You are family.
In Christ,
Andrea, Clay, and Evie Phelps
SIGN UP NOW FOR Year 4 of MABA. There’s plenty of time to log burpees. MABA—Make America Burpee Again—is an annual challenge in which participants do 100 burpees a day (on average) every day in January.
Loneliness is killing us, middle-aged men especially, and MABA is a cure. You can’t be lonely when you’re doing 100 burpees a day with your friends.
MABA’s theme is Fall down. Get back up. Together.
We all fall down. We all have to get back up. We must not do it alone.
Sign up today and challenge your friends, enemies and frenemies to join you. If your kids and/or wife are doing burpees with you, please log them as a separate entry. The kids especially will love that, and so will you! Every burpee counts!
Log your burpees here. And you’re not going to do 3,100 burpees and not buy a shirt, are you?