Sunday, August 19, 2012

Making it count


One of the most beautiful and fascinating things about Karate is the kata.  It is a series of kicks, punches and moves that appear to simulate fighting against multiple unarmed attackers.  Although there are branches of the martial arts concerned with sport Karate, many still have the kata.  Take for your consideration two points:

There is a real fight

There is a real race to win


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One day while studying for a sermon I gave, two scriptures came to me in prayer:

  1. I Corinthians 9:20-27
  2. Ecclesiastes 9:10

There is a real fight

Upon comparing it to kata, since St Paul made an allusion to the Olympic games (or perhaps the Isthmian games) I realized that both the Christian and Karateka are fighting, but in Karate the beautiful paradox is that we train for a fight (kata) we never intend to have!
At times Kata does look like were beating against the air!

Most people who are not “religious” don’t realize that people had problems in Bible times just as worse as anything you hear on television or read in print. There was violence such as murder, rape and war.

People become damaged so easily (Psalm 119:83)

A Karateka is trained to have the heightened awareness and confidence to behave properly in a dangerous situation, although it may never become physical.

No punches delivered… does it count?

The Christian has an enemy, which is not a person or philosophy of man.  We do not war against flesh and blood, although anecdotal stories may paint It the wrong way (Ephesians 6:12)

Man can maim and kill the body, but we are the only ones that may allow our minds to be destroyed (Only by the grace of God).



There is a real race to win

I like watching some tournament fights, and presently I have a friend who is preparing for a rated fight.  He is training and dieting to get ready, and we do bad drills in the morning.  He is totally committed!  I love that.  Just like Paul wrote (II Timothy 2:5) he is striving lawfully for a prize.  Every point in his fight will have to land on his opponent to count!

The Isthmian games Paul referred to had about three main events, and at the end the Olympian victors received a wreath . . . Which eventually wilted.  Even a gold medal will show tarnish.

But the areas that we both strive for are to make our hits count in every facet of our lives:

  • Our careers
  • Our character and actions
  • Christian service

We both fight, lets make our training and lives count!

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