Self confidence

I found myself in class recently working with a younger man who was a brown belt.  And although I'm about 17 years his senior in age, a creeping feeling came into my mind:

Is he having a problem with the kick because he watched me?

Am I doing it wrong and he is following me?

Most of this came from my last black belt test for 2nd dan.  I was succinctly warned by one of the masters that I had to be extra careful, because people will pay attention to me as a senior belt.

What followed was something that plagued me since I was promoted to black belt.

I don't feel like I have arrived

Years ago, when I studied Tae Kwon Do, I would meet black belts and comment how much they must know, and how impressed I was.  I did this in a manner of humility and not "sucking up".  To be honest I don't remember the exact words but they would always come back with the statement:

 A black belt means you are just beginning to learn

I always thought to my self the following  "What kind of mystic Eastern crap is that!?"  years later I finally understood it, because I was now walking in their shoes!  I gave it about 3 years of thought and then decided to go to my Sensei (Kyoshi Wilcox).  I explained this concern with him. He looked at me and said, "You know what you call that!?"  He then leaned towards with wild eyes (quite the norm for him) and said "You call it NORMAL"

We all go through stages in life where, perhaps we feel less than adequate or wonder what others are thinking.  To a degree this is normal.  He later shared with me that to feel like you have arrived or, you are owed something is abnormal and bad.  Heres a few Biblical examples:


We read that Moses fled Egypt for killing a man and lived for 40 years in exile.  Keep in mind that he was trained as a Prince; the heir apparent of Pharaoh.  Moses was a statesman, General and scholar!  but he didn't have humility  "Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall"  The prophet Amos was a shepherd and tree trimmer, not well suited and trained by the standards of those days, but he spoke of what he knew and was effective enough to be called and recorded in scripture.  True, they had the call of God on them and obeyed, but notice what God did!  never discount your learning and abilities to be used some day!



 The martial arts is about growth and development, much like Christianity and life in general; it is a journey not a destination! It only stands to reason that we should be careful how we step because there are always people above and below you and some will undoubtedly look at how you step.

So, where does my title come in?

The best way to explain it is by telling you a story back from 1991 when I was in the Army.  I went to the U.S. Army Air Assault school where I learned about sling loading equipment from the bottom of a helicopter and how to rapel.  The instructors would tell us horror stories about not having the rapel seat tight and even a soldier who was severely injured when the rope was caught in between his leg and one of his . . .  uh never mind, but you get the point.  As a bunch of young men we were now scared silly about losing part of our manliness.  This is when I received a bit of sage wisdom I have not forgotten since.  the instructor said:

At some point, you have to have faith in your equipment

And so it is with our training.  if you attend a reputable school that has a good mix of tradition and common sense training, you may not get everything 100% correct all of the time, but you will understand the concepts to make things work and still be a good example to all. In martial arts, we wear belts as a sign of rank.  In the Army, schools are represented by badges worn, but in the church our hard fought tests are shown by our character and spirit and only sometimes by a position or calling in the church.

Incidentally, we were doing inside and outside crescent kicks, and the rhythm was a bit odd.

Overall, you .must have faith in your equipment (training). and let your good actions speak louder than words

Sincerely 

Your Brother in Christ

And  Senpai in Karate 

先輩

The Biblical Church Part 5: Order and Music

POTENTIAL RED HERRING POST:

An increasing trend that I see in modern churches is a rapid shift from traditional music to more contemporary music.  Some of this can be blamed on the culture was that was fought in the 1960’s.  I really do believe that the Good guys lost.  It seems that in modern music we have went from songs with played by talented musicians who had real talent to gimmicks in the 1980’s, when the music became synthesized and electronic.  From this we went to rap, which is only rhythm and rhyme. Ii cannot see how a person is gifted or talented if they can make rhymes with vulgar words which attack society and demoralize women.  Even the Rock stars of the 60’s were considered controversial at their time, starting with Elvis Presley.  But what at first, may seem like a slow progression towards change has become a rapid down-hill slide.  Maybe I’m getting older and don’t see some of the new music properly, but any time that music takes a sudden turn and the entire culture secular and sacred sounds alike, there must be a problem.  Twenty five years ago, I really liked the band U2 and had a few of their albums.  But a funny thing happened.  I walked into a church service and couldn’t’ tell the difference! 

Compare these:

 The liberty of choruses in church music is a fine idea, but if we become too heavily weighted towards one type of music, is it really edifying to the Holy Spirit?  Most music I hear in churches today sounds too close to secular songs in rhythm and lyrics save a few mentions to Jesus and God.   Take for instance the post where I mentioned a stogy church service, is it too traditional?  Well, is a rock stage, theater seats and concert smoke and lights edifying to the Holy Spirit?

There should be a difference and there should be a balance! 

I’m asking everyone to really look and judge what’s right before your conscience and God!  This (personally) is one of my major problems with the modern church:  The worship is becoming something unrecognizable from the secular!  And I see older people leaving churches because of spiritual alienation!

But I digress

A biblical church, no matter what culture, outreach or country it is in should have that “heart” that’s felt in service.  Some would call it “soul”.  But what I really mean is that the sincerity of the people should reach God, and those in attendance, whether they be old-timers, the young, or the hypocrite can feel the very presence of God in the service and acknowledge God is there. I received a great blessing a few months back when I attended a service that was bi-lingual.  The song service was in English and Spanish, and to be honest, the choruses were a lot more moving in Spanish!

Gentle reader; please consider what I have written while attending church this Sunday.

Then compare it to this:  (Because I want to be fair)

 

Sincerely 

Your Brother in Christ

And  Senpai in Karate 

先輩

Voices in My Head

I have always liked the sneaky, devious types of senses of humor.  If a joke is thoughtful or playful, it is more pleasing, at least to me.  Having said this, I have always thought of a joke I wanted to play on a doctor, if I ever took a psychiatric evaluation:

DOCTOR:  "Do you ever hear voices in your head?"

ME:  "Yes.  All the time......  It's called my conscience!"

I told this to a colleague at work one time. His response was "How do you know that isn't the right answer?"
The only thing worse than having a devious sense of humor is being bested by another person with a similar sense of humor!

However, the point to be made here is that we all have an inner voice that speaks to us called the conscience.  It is a magnificent work of God.  It is our moral compass; that can keep us out of trouble and woe.  We find that everyone has a conscience and holds us accountable to right and wrong (Romans 2:11-15   
Our conscience is precious and will guide us to right, provided we don't damage it  1 Timothy 4:1-2. 
Think about it.  That inner voice that tells us in the middle of a conversation "Don't say that..."   or "Watch what you're looking at"  ". . . don't eat that it's bad for you. . ."  The conscience is great for keeping us out of all sorts of trouble.  Think about a possible argument that can easily escalate into a physical fight.  Where is the tipping point?  (Proverbs 17:14 )   We will usually feel an inner check to tell us to walk away, change the tone or shut up before that tipping point.  It is hard to follow when tensions are flared, and once beyond that point, we may not be able to go back from the results that follow (compare Proverbs 17: 14 to Proverbs 15:1).  But all along, the conscience was there. 

I find it amazing that in the studies of the Martial arts we find an interesting adage by the Chinese general Sun Tzu:  “The supremeart of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”   Compare Proverbs 17:14 and 18:19 “ A brother offended is harder to be won than astrong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.” ). Conflicts will come and go, but is it necessary to escalate an argument to force?  Oh how many times did well intentioned disputes become more than what they should have been!  A question arises: What caused the fight?  Was it the tongue or the brain?  Or, more to the point the pride?  (James 1:26  Proverbs 13:10)  If we look at James chapter 1 and Romans chapter 2 in context, they both mention the order and rules of religion and God.  If applied properly, the escalation of hostilities will diminish!





Perhaps this is the best thought for the weekend!
 

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!