Kung Fu Fighting

Well, I have entered once again into the realm of martial arts. As a second grader, I took karate lessons with my dad and brother. After a few weeks, I realized that sparring would not happen for a while. I had to learn the fundamentals. My eyes could not be averted though from the amazing fighting that was going on just four mats over. I got out of karate by offering my parents the lame excuse, "My feet hurt too much." Now at the age of 30, I am starting over for the sake of ministry. I have a group of older teen boys that I thought would be interested in learning karate. Each of us can go to this karate shop, which is a ministry of a local church, for the low cost of $5/person per month. They expressed interest. I took three of them the first time. They loved it. The next week, one of them returned. The following week, one again. What I have found is that these few hours is time for this guy to get the attention that he deserves. Sarah and I talk often in our household about how good kids get less attention than those who get into trouble. Since the numbers have dwindled to the two of us, he has shared more of his great personality that is often unnoticed behind his quiet ways. He is not a Christian--yet. After the karate workout, we share about what was tough and neat from the class. We learn self-defense techniques. The instructors pray and are very evangelistic. Through this and Bible studies with this guy, I invite him to be a follower of Christ. And little does he know, that the discipline to learn karate is a taste of the discipline one needs to follow Christ.