Had three interesting conversations with my sensei this week:
One where I told him my brown belt exam date of April 14th was coming up way too soon and that I wasn’t prepared. He turned around and asked, “Okay, when do you want to take it?” I was thinking maybe April 28th. Instead, he suggested May 26th. Shocking. After all that egging on and pushiness, he gives me an extra month. Okay, now I am without excuse. Doh.
Then we had a conversation where he was “reminding” me about the benefits of being a brown belt, namely that I would then have yet another class session opened up for me. But it’s always been on Sunday mornings, 10-12 noon. “Even if I get my brown belt, Sunday mornings are already taken, Prof,” I said, bracing myself inside. “What?! What do you have Sunday morning?” he shot back, just as I expected. I had been dreading this moment for a long, long time. I was certain that he was about to say something to confirm that the study of jujitsu and worshipping God were diametrically opposed, given some of his lectures in the past. Determined not to back down, I told him why Sunday mornings, 10-12 noon was not an option for me. “Church, Prof.” (Oh boy, here it comes.) “Oh, well, that’s a good reason,” he said without a hint of sarcasm. (Shocking!) “We’ll have to meet with all the brown belts and black belts to see what other times we can meet.” (Doubly shocking!) Wow, again I was left speechless.
Man, he is really good at disarming me, huh? The jujitsu doesn’t need to be physical to be effective.
Oh yeah, conversation #3 was me asking him to confirm whether or not it is appropriate for me to claim that I am certified now in massage, since people are always asking me about that. Answer: Yes, for what it’s worth, I have completed over 150 hours of training and I am officially certified in Seifukujitsu (Traditional Japanese Restorative Massage) by The Kodenkan Institute in Redwood City, California. =]
See why dread? God is bigger than all that. As long as you take a stand in a God-honoring way, God will back you up, and even if it costs you, it is worth it.
oooh, massage! i’ve never gotten a real massage… like, from somebody who’s certified and everything! i trade massaes with people. just recently, i realized that i mostly trade massages with the opposite gender, and i also realized just how awkward and uh… awkward it can get. that’s what i get for not paying for a professional, huh? good luck on the brown belt test! (=
Yay…that’s really awesome. It’s always good to be upfront about your faith rather than worrying about ramifications of expressing it… =)
You should come visit gymnastics class sometime. You can practice your cartwheel. It’s really fun!