WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED...

JANUARY 9
Last week, we welcomed all of our new teammates to the club!
And, with the help of Christian, Rachel and Kevin, we reviewed some of our first lessons.

Christian told us about peace. As martial artists, we must never use what we learn in class for violence. We always need to find a peaceful way out of conflict - just like Jesus when he was arrested.

Rachel told us about respect. As martial artists, we need to be respectful - just like Samuel. As martial artists, we show respect by:
  • listening to our parents and teachers
  • doing what we are asked to do without complaining
  • being kind and polite to everyone

Kevin told us about the importance of having a firm foundation in kung-fu and in our life. In kung-fu, our stance is our firm foundation and it gives us strength and stability and ensures we do not get pushed over. Jesus and his teachings give us a firm foundation in our lives and with him and his teachings, we will always have strength and stability in our life.

We also reviewed that a good martial artist demonstrates love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are also the fruit of the Spirit which grow within us as we grow our relationship with Jesus and learn and practice his teachings.

DECEMBER 19
We learned that there are some pieces of the Christmas story that are the opposite of what we might have expected but this is what makes them perfect
  • Instead of staying in heaven, God sent his Son, Jesus, to earth to live among us as a man
  • Instead of showing up as a rich and famous king, he was born to Mary and Joseph who were common and not at all famous
  • Instead of being born in a palace, mansion, or even a nice house surrounded by friends or family, Jesus was born in a stable and slept in a manger
  • Instead of being born with riches and fame, Jesus chose to be common (even poor, some might say), to live among the poor, and to serve the poor and those no one else wanted anything to do with
Even though all of these things seem strange, they are perfect because
  • God sent His Son to teach us how to live out the teachings of the Bible (to be the perfect teammate and role model)
  • It shows that what is important to God is not wealth, fame or money - that He loves the poor and sent His Son to love and to serve them
  • God loves us so much that He sent His one and only Son to earth to live with us

This video challenges us to ask ourselves "Why would God come to earth as a man?" with a really awesome answer.....

This is a really amazing video which offers the history and context of the Christmas story

This song gets us to ask ourselves what other king would show us love like God did when He sent His Son...

A neat video telling the Christmas story through Facebook.....

A Christmas song talking about God's gift to us - His Son
DECEMBER 12
We learned the reason for gifts is to show someone that we care about them and to make them happy.
BUT
We learned that gifts don't always have to cost anything -- it is the small things we do for others  throughout the whole year, not just at Christmas, that can make them happy. This can be little things like:
  • helping with the dishes
  • holding the door open for someone
  • writing a nice letter to tell someone you care about them

We also learned that we can share our talents with other people and this can make them happy.
We heard about the story of Aaron (the Little Drummer Boy), who was very talented at drumming, who played his drum for Jesus when he had no other gifts to bring - and in the story, Jesus smiles.

Jesus likes it when we share our talents and when we do little things to show people we care for them.

We also learned that God gave us the greatest gift ever -- Jesus!

A special thanks to our Worship Team for sharing their musical talents with us!
If you would like to hear them play again, you can catch them every Sunday at the Salvation Army at 10:30a.m.

A really catchy song about how God gave us the best gift ever - Jesus!

A video talking about how to use and grow your talents

A video talking about how to celebrate Christmas by keeping it simple - and spending it how Jesus would have wanted it

DECEMBER 5
Laoshi Catherine offered us a very special lesson on generosity.
She told us the story of when Zacchaeus met Jesus and of the generosity of both of them:
  • Zacchaeus was a short man that no one liked - he was a tax collector who often stole money from people
  • One day, Zacchaeus heard Jesus was in town and wanted to see Jesus- but Zacchaeus was too short to see over the crowds and had to climb a tree to see Jesus
  • Jesus called Zacchaeus down from the tree and told him he was coming to his house
  • After meeting Jesus, Zacchaeus had a complete change of heart - he gave half of his money away and paid back everyone he stole from at four times the amount he had taken in the first place

Because Jesus showed generosity and love to Zacchaeus, a man that everyone else hated, Zacchaeus' heart was transformed and in return, Zacchaeus showed generosity to others

We should also strive to show generosity to others both inside and outside of our club

An interesting video which speaks to why generosity is important

NOVEMBER 28
Last week, we learned that even though we normally think of kung-fu as an individual sport, it should also be thought about as a team sport...when we come together during classes and train together, we are actually one giant team. Coming together as a team can be really great because:
  • our teammates can help us with really big tasks
  • we can help encourage each other
  • we can be good role models for each other
  • we can learn new things together and learn new things from each other
The same is true of our journey in faith.

And, just like we can be part of a team in kung-fu, we can also come together as a team in our faith - a church is a good example of a giant team!

The Bible talks about being part of a team -- when people work as a team, they can help each other and offer each other strength.

An article on being a good teammate - Being part of a team means not only working hard individually, but more importantly, placing the needs of the team ahead of your own individual needs as well as being supportive at all times...

"It's no good to be alone" - the words of this song capture how important it is to be part of a team

NOVEMBER 21
Laoshi Deb offered a very special presentation!

Laoshi Deb told us the story of Abigail, David, and Nabal which shows how a "gentle word can turn away anger" (see Proverbs 15:1)

In this story:
  • Nabal is very rude to David and his men
  • David becomes angry with how rude and mean Nabal was and wants to harm Nabal and his men
  • Abigail, Nabal's wife, finds out that David wants to harm Nabal and his men and uses kind and gentle words to encourage David to forgive Nabal and not bring anyone harm
Abigail is a good example of a peacemaker who uses gentle words to diffuse anger

We also learned that as martial artists, we need to use gentle words instead of harsh words (which can lead to anger).


This is a short little article on the qualities of a peacemaker and why it is worth being one.

This article is a tool to help study the story of Abigail and how she uses the wisdom of Proverbs 15:1 to diffuse anger with gentle words.

NOVEMBER 14
We learned that our uniforms give us power!
We are now ambassadors for the club so our actions reflect on our classmates and the club
BUT
This is a huge responsibility

So, if our actions reflect on our classmates and the club, we need to represent the club well and show everyone love and kindness (even if we don't think we need to or should have to)

The Bible also tells us that Christians are ambassadors for Christ 
This means that we need to represent Christ well in our daily lives and show love and kindness to everyone

A powerful song about being letting our actions reflect Christ
NOVEMBER 7
We learned that even though things don't always go as we plan, we can find joy in all circumstances.

We learned about the Apostle Paul who is a good example of someone able to find and show joy in his circumstances. Even though Paul was put in prison for telling people about Jesus
  • he was able to tell the guards about Jesus and the amazing love that Jesus has for each of us
  • and, he was able to inspire others to be bold and spread the good news about Jesus
Instead of being upset or angry that he was in prison, Paul looked for what was good about the situation. Also, because Paul was joyful in his circumstances, he was an inspiration to others.

This song talks about how God is with us - always - and always has a plan for us which allows us to have joy in our circumstances
OCTOBER 31
We had a fun class where we
  • reviewed our techniques and had a very special seasonal lesson
OCTOBER 24
We talked about:
  • making time to practice

This includes:
  • making time for martial arts
  • making time to read and study the Bible
Reading and studying the Bible helps us grow our relationship with Jesus. We also grow our relationship through prayer.
OCTOBER 17
We learned about the importance of a firm foundation in kung-fu and in life.

In kung-fu, having a firm foundation (a strong stance) allows us to: 
  • move quickly
  • move with purpose
  • have strength
  • have stability

In life, having a firm foundation (on Jesus' teachings) allow us to:
  • make decisions quickly, especially in tough situations
  • tell right from wrong
  • have confidence when we do make decisions that they were the right one

We can build our firm foundation by: 
  • reading the Bible
  • practicing Jesus' teachings in everyday living
  • asking for help if we need it
Here's a short video reviewing the parable of the wise and foolish builder and the parable's historical relevance.
Here is a really great song about our Firm Foundation
OCTOBER 10
We learned about the most important quality that Sifus used to look for in a student before deciding to train them: respect

An example of respect is found in the story of Samuel and Eli.
Samuel showed great respect to his teacher, Eli.
He showed respect by:
  • listening to his teacher
  • doing what he was told (without complaint)
  • and remaining kind and polite
You can learn more about Samuel by reading 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel in the Bible.

Below is an article on how to learn to show respect and how to teach respect to children.

OCTOBER 3

We learned about:
  • the meaning of our bow
  • how to respond to those who have wronged us (in martial arts and in our daily living)

Martial artists do not encourage violence. 
  • They use the bow as a way of offering peace over war. 
  • Martial artists hope to solve conflict peacefully and hope never to use martial arts outside of the club.

One of the fruit of the Spirit is peace. 
  • Jesus is a living example of how to be peaceful and shows us an example of peace: When a mob came to arrest him, he responded to them peacefully, encouraged the disciples to do the same, and even healed a man's ear.
We should also deal with conflict peacefully by being quick to apologize, removing ourselves from the situation, and offering forgiveness.

In our lesson, we talked about showing peace to others. The Bible also talks about having peace and contentment in any circumstances, even when life gets tough. Here is an article that talks about Biblical peace and offers examples.

SEPTEMBER 26

We learned about:
  • the program
  • the expectations we have of ourselves as martial artists and/or Christians

As we work toward our black belts (which everyone can obtain if they work hard and don't give up),
we are going to learn how to be respectful, kind, and peaceful.
The Bible teaches us how to grow these qualities.

Below is a video of Joyce Meyer introducing the fruit of the Spirit and also speaking about Spiritual gifts.
Listen to Sifu Alan's favourite radio station
Thank-you, Jeneice for your beautiful drawing!

You are a creative and gifted artist and we are honoured to showcase your picture!

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