Post 911

My wife made the best observation of this day in history and our reaction as a country. She put it on her facebook account and I asked if I could share it and she said yes.

I got me a good woman!


For those of you that are political correct lovers, please stop reading. Okay, you've been warned. Every event, especially tragedies, can be used to strengthen us so that we can go to greater heights, or we can allow it to defeat us and we can become weaker. There's lots of wonderful postings about how we 'remember' those that gave their lives on 9/11 and how we're 'grateful'. Are we? Have we used this attack on OUR soil to strengthen us, so that we support our military, stand up for Christian religious freedoms, fight to defend America? Or are we electing and supporting officials that are stripping our military; standing up for everyone's religions EXCEPT for Christian values; strengthening our borders; defending innocent Americans when they are captured on foreign lands? Lip service on an anniversary is like a man buying his wife a huge diamond, beautiful flowers and dinner at an expensive diner and then cheat on her, degrade her and live like a single frat boy the other 364 days of the year. SHAME on US, America. We need to find that passion of unity and demand that our leaders share our passion and love for our country. If not, OUT THEY GO!!! Let's truly honor the lives that were sacrificed on 9/11 because if we do not, the NEXT blood shed is not only on the terrorists, but OURS!


The thing about being a soldier, sailor, or any type of warrior is the willingness and ability to fight, but also to be ready.  I believe it was Thomas Jefferson that stated that the price of liberty and freedom was eternal vigilance. The late Ronald Reagan stated that we as Americans are only one generation away from tyranny!

The Biblical Church Part 9 Education

There are thee pertinent Bible verses that come to mind:

• My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6)

• Where there is no vision, the peopleperish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he (Proverbs 29:18)

• Put on the Whole armor of God  (Ephesians 6:10-18)

Knowledge

Ignorance of the law in court is no excuse.  Ignorance of how a piece of machinery works, if we try to repair it can result in an injury or fatality. Yet why do people think that ignorance of the word of God will still build a strong church or ministry?  Christian education in a church is just as important as preaching the gospel and winning people to God!  Soldiers are given basic training, then advanced training for their military occupation.  If the Church is an Army, we should be involved in spiritual combat training as well.  I’ve heard much talk from churches but little action!

I agree that a good portion of this combat is prayer.

 After all, the above mentioned scripture says that we wrestle not against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12)!  The Bible doesn’t mince words when Paul told Timothy to “Study to shew thyself approved”  or Paul told the Thessalonian church to “Study to be quiet”  nor Solomon who stated “A wise man studieth to answer”  our words and actions must be chosen both prayerfully and carefully!

A biblical church should be a church that teaches sound doctrine.  The doctrine should also be backed up with actions to prove it as well!  Moses commanded the Israelites to teach their children the precepts of God.  To this day in Jewish tradition, they will read a specific passage from the Bible that asks and narrates the reason behind the Passover that it may be learned and remembered! There are other activities, but this one comes to mind the most:  Do this, and REMEMBER why you are doing it!

Vision

Please note on the second point that, unlike many who quote this verse (Proverbs 29:18) I have included the entire rendering.  Mainly due to this reason:  A vision of God and what he expects of us requires knowing the word of God.  God doesn’t operate outside of his word (Bible).  The more we have on the inside through prayer and study, (once again humbly I say this, and within reason, because God can do anything) the more God can use our faculties.  I say this very carefully, because the Book of Numbers tells us that God used a Donkey to speak to an unwilling prophet (Numbers 22:28).  This is a good lesson to remember on humility.  Even with this illustration, it does not mean a soldier can neglect his training to be ready for battle!  Soldiers are given orders to “Take that hill” or “Hold this position” or something else depending on the situation.  A church that supports missions, has a defined community outreach and objectives to meet that end, is evidence that they are doing something!

Battle Gear

No matter what age, soldiers must be dressed and trained for battle!

 

Lastly, if we are soldiers, we must wear all of our spiritual armor.  I call to your attention the various photos of soldiers in Iraq, who wore their helmets, flack vests and goggles.  They were trained and dressed for offensive combat and defensive protection.  In the scripture, the allusion is to a Roman soldier in battle gear.  The first items of armor (Verses 14-17) are concerned with having our vitals protected (breast plate, loins, helmet, shield) .  The helmet of salvation is on our head – where our brain is, concerns mental protection as well as the shield of faith.  Any firey darts (or arrows) can be deflected if our shielding is ready.  The Fifth is having our feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel.  This goes back to education and training!  Armies have always depended on marching on their feet.  How do we know the gospel if we only hear it once?  The offensive weapons are prayer and the Word of God.  Many times, we hear the word of God is likened to a sword, that cuts very fine.  My experience is that people want to use this sword like a club and eventually become seriously injured.  In other words, they step on their tongue or are caught in hypocrisy or scandal.  This was all from using the word of God as a bludgeon rather than a sword!

My point is simply this: Preparation and training does not waste time or energy!

A Biblical church has a mission and diversifies it’s resources to be effective on all fronts!

 

Sincerely 

Your Brother in Christ

And  Senpai in Karate 

先輩

Worn Bibles and Black Belts

While I was unpacking my gear recently, I looked at the condition of my belt.  I have always had a concern over it's use.  This may sound silly, but is it "broken in"?
The ranks of White through about green belt usually go so fast that the belt never gets worn, just creased enough for it to be tied properly.
My mind wandered to a story that was shared with me while I was the member of an aggressively evangelistic church.  The pastor was preaching one morning and talked about how much people read their Bible.  One could tell because the pages were dog-eared or the shiny gold painted gilding was worn from the sides fo the pages.  My friend told me that a new visitor, who behaved in an overtly-religious manner (This is the kind that uses religious and Bible terms with the intent of impressing a person of how spiritual they are) was licking his finger and trying to rub the gold gilding off of the pages.

Silly, isn't it?

But this got me thinking about the three things that are common to both  Karate and Church:

• Wear
• Humility
• Confidence

Wear

When I say wear, I speak of the marks of the, if you will, trade.  For the Christian it is his or her Bible.  It is declared to be the Sword of the Spirit and sharper than any two-edged sword.  For the Martial artist, it is the body, but allow me to give a symbol instead: the Belt.  Both should show some signs of use and wear as they are 'essential'  to the trade.  An unused Bible shows a christian not reading and studying.  An un worn belt shows a martial artist that is probably not practicing and training.  Both are symbols that should indicate wear through "Training". and if not, then is that person ready for the trials and tribulations and may and will come?

Humility

The bible tells us that before honor is humility, but high and haughty spirits will lead to a fall.  To be confident in the word of God and his plan for your life is intellectually easy to do, but quite another thing when you are in the heat of circumstances.  This requires faith and trust.  sometimes we must wade through bad times and bad decisions that make us stronger, because we lack the perspective of humility.  A martial artist may be faced with events that can lead to an altercation, but is it always wise to "test a technique"?  I talked to a friend who is a part-time bouncer and he made the innuendo "I would rather fight a karate guy than a street fighter".  This was meant to say that a lot of martial arts scuffles in a bar, grill or club are due to pride.  We can also say that the martial artists who lose give the martial arts a bad name, and give the fight loser a needed lesson in humility!  True humility in ones abilities come from within, and not an outward achievement in a fight.  The Chinese general Sun Tsu said best:  "To win without fighting is the Zenith of Power"

Confidence

So where does confidence come in?  I like my belt, and oh yes, it does show some sign of wear, with creases worn in as well.  new belts are a bit stiff and don't stay tied at first.  Similar to a new bible, with the pages stuck together, and maybe not book marked with our study passages in place yet.  If they are used both often and correctly, we should have confidence in what we know, and also what we don't know.
Be confident in the fact that if we train and study properly, there will be fruits for our labors

Another Look at Humility Part 5

Were Not a Door mat! 

 

Humility is the use of ones faculties in their proper place and control to accomplish a desired effect.  Jesus could have crushed anyone he wanted in the Garden of Gethsemane but was sure of his goal.  A skilled fighter coach made a statement at the  fight meeting I attended in September.  He stated that the fighters were not to do certain maneuvers because it was a sport event and not mortal combat. In Karate, there are various philosophies, but one that I have come to understand is the difference between application of power in punches and kicks.  Punching and kicking into the air is completely different than hitting a focus pad, or heavy bag. The air gives really, really easy; heavy 6 foot bags don’t.  Focus pads give a bit, but if you punch out of alignment with your arm it hurts your wrist!  So what happens if you begin to learn how the technique really works, and the difference between sport karate and real life protection arts, or as the late master Taika Oyata stated once in an interview “Shin-jutsu”.  (follow my link at the 3:50 mark where he explains it) The differences are not really obvious until you have a few years under your…. Pardon the pun….. Belt. there are times to hit full blast, there are times to hit partial and then there are times to know when to pull the punches and do no harm! If a martial artist was startled and had became angry because you saw a punch that looked like it was coming directly towards your face come to an abrupt halt, put yourself in his or her shoes.  One can feel a great deal of torque to stop a certain action just shy of hitting someone. It really does take a great deal of control… and for that matter self control to pull a punch.  The same thing applies in the spiritual realm not to have your feathers ruffled!
Let us look now at the Christian.  The real battle field is in between the ears, not out there in the world at large.  St Paul penned it best In Ephesians 6:12 when he said:

“We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and wickedness in high places”

The battle of ideologies in the mind and spirit seem to be much more violent than a physical altercation, mainly due to the fact that these physical altercations come from our members warring within us (James 4:1)
The battle field of the mind is a much more dangerous place, because no one can see the enemy but the person himself! It can be faulty thinking or a true spiritual battle between what we should do and what we (our physical nature) wants to do.
For example, have you ever met someone who annoyed the pants off of you? 

We all have!

Paul also stated in 2 Corinthians 10: 3-5 that we are  “. . . bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” No where does it say this is impossible, although it does not say it is easy either.  Just like the athlete and martial artist it requires WORK!

Humility and the Martial way

One thing I noticed when I studied Tae Kwon Do was the black belts.  I admired they’d “made it”.  When I asked, they would almost say the exact opposite: “No, I haven’t made it, I’m just beginning to learn”

What!?
Is this some type of Zen stuff!?  you are a Black Belt!!

Today let me share three things I have found:

• We are on a journey
• It’s not a sin to be ignorant, but should be one to remain
• We are life-long learners

Christianity is not a destination it is a journey!

Lo and behold, years later I FINALLY understood what they meant!  Earning a black belt is no easy task.  Then you realize that black belt is not a destination, it is only one stop on a JOURNEY!
After my first stop, I understand that we never stop learning; even more so when you go to 1st Dan or higher!
Shouldn’t it be this way in every part of life?  As a Christian I realize that it takes only a moment to become a Christian with the prayer of salvation (Accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior)  but it takes an entire life to become a saint!


I had the opportunity to attend a karate seminar with my teacher Kyoshi Wilcox. The attendees were good old Okinawan Kenpo people.  I met instructors I had heard about and participated in the weapons seminar.

This is when I had to practice what I preach.

It's not a sin to be ignorant (but should be one to remain)

I love the way of the empty hand, but it is necessary to also know the traditional weapons.  This is an area that I know that I am deficient with.  Just as I said earlier in Opportunities, this is a chance to learn and behave as I have been taught.  There I was with lower ranking belts, (sometimes we can learn more from beginners than intermediate levels.  Think: basics are that important!) 
I am a black belt, I should know Kobudo. It was time to get serious as this is a requirement for advancement.  This is also an excellent opportunity because my Sensei is the best Kobudo man in the Mid-West!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License.

We are life long learners

So, here I am, with a bunch of lower ranking belts, and a few looking at me (for direction?) I flatly said I don’t know weapons, then went on not to let the awkward moment result in pride or humiliation welling up.  I know that if I can get the sequence of a kata, I will hone the points down to where they go and learn bunkai as well.  If I passed belt tests, and can teach and speak to 8 classes a week, I can surely do this!

With God’s grace and emptying out pride I learned humbly along with two blue belts and a yellow belt.  Pride has no place in Karate… nor in the church.

Just look at three scriptures:

1. James 4:1-10, but specifically verse 10
2. I Corinthians 10:12 (in context with 9:27-10:13)
3. Proverbs 16:18