Author: jason

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Review: Redline Jiu-Jitsu Academy

Review: Redline Jiu-Jitsu Academy

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I have been involved with martial arts (karate, specifically) for decades, since I was about 9 or 10, I think, and I have loved it. One thing I’ve learned, though, is that there’s more to self defense than punches and kicks. This became breathtakingly clear to me at my most recent belt test where, once the ring judge yelled “FIGHT!”, all I could see was the dojo ceiling, spinning, and the next thing I knew I was being choked and desperately trying to find something to tap on. 🙂 To quote my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu coach (more on him later), “It’s not great.”

With that point perfectly made, I started looking for a way to fix my ground game, as we say, so I asked the guy who did the choking, and he suggested two schools to me, one of which was Redline, saying “Ty Gay is the real deal.” After some procrastination, last November I signed up for the two-week trial, and haven’t stopped since. What I’d like to do here is offer my take on the academy to someone else who might be looking.

tl;dr: It’s awesome and you should join.

…

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Jesus, Strong and Kind

Jesus, Strong and Kind

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I recently came across a band that, while new to me, has been around for several years now. It is, for lack of a better term, a “church band” from Australia. While there’s some good music but questionable doctrine coming some places Down Under, I’ve been really impressed with this group. Their goal isn’t to crank out as much new music as possible (which is not to say that that is others’ goal), they want to produce good music with good theology and doctrine, and I think they’ve been largely successful.

Take their song, “Jesus, Strong and Kind.” I don’t want to ruin it by talking to much about the song, but, rather, I’d like to let the song speak for itself. I do, though, want to call out two parts. The first is the chorus:

For the Lord is good and faithful
He will keep us day and night
We can always run to Jesus
Jesus, strong and kind

What a beautiful lyric. What makes it even better, I think, is how the verses set that up:

Verse 1
Jesus said that if I thirst
I should come to him
…

Verse 2
Jesus said if I am weak
I should come to him
…

Verse 3
Jesus said that if I fear
I should come to him
…

Verse 4
Jesus said if I am lost
He will come to me
…

Did you catch that?

  • I should come to Him
  • I should come to Him
  • I should come to Him
  • He will come to me.

What an amazing, succinct Gospel presentation. If we’re lost, and we all are born that way, He will come to us, and as that verse goes on to say:

And he showed me on that cross
He will come to me


For the Lord is good and faithful
He will keep us day and night
We can always run to Jesus
Jesus, strong and kind

Listen to the song here:

A New Year for New Beginnings

A New Year for New Beginnings

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At times in the past, I have been pretty dismissive of New Year’s Resolutions. Why resolve to do something you know you’re not going to do, right? With that attitude, of course, it’s no wonder they never work out. As I’ve gotten older, though, I’m finding more value — and wisdom — in making resolutions.

The best argument, I think, is that without goals, it’s really hard to make measurable progress. Additionally, if you’re not striving toward something, you just end up… somewhere. It makes sense, then, to be specific about what you hope to achieve. You may miss the mark ultimately, but having a mark in the first place sets you up for success.

Another important aspect of these resolutions is the demarcation of a clean start. I’m a big fan of “I haven’t done foo in so many months” or “I’ve done foo every day for this many months”. I find it helpful to apply that logic to improving myself. Have a bad habit you want to break? A habit you’d like to form? A sin you’d like to break free from? January 1, while it may be some arbitrary line in the sky, offers a great starting line for whatever effort you choose for yourself.

It’s a new day and a new year. Clean your slate, state your intentions, and get to work.

Regardless of what you resolve to do, or whether you make specific plans or not, I hope this year is a good one for you and that the Lord shows you grace and favor.

Twenty Years of Favor

Twenty Years of Favor

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Proverbs 18:22 tells us that “[h]e who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord.” This is as true today as it was thousands of years ago, and as it was 20 years ago, the day Angela and I were married.

It is hard to put into words what this amazing woman means to me. Because of her, I have a warm, beautiful home. Because of her, I have two amazing sons of whom I could not be more proud or love more deeply. Because of her, I’m a better man – and a better follower of Christ – than I was then, or, I think, would be without her. I owe everything I am to her, and to the God of ours that sent her to me.

To Angela, my beloved, happy 20th anniversary. May God grant us 40 more.

Home Video Advice

Home Video Advice

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It’s Father’s Day weekend, and I find myself home alone, doing some backup maintenance on our home videos. I’m loving watching some of these old videos, some almost 17 years old. It’s beyond description getting to see the faces of family that are no longer with us — my Dad, Angela’s grandparents — and to get to hear their voices again. These videos are priceless to me. I wish we had more, especially of my Dad, so let me pass on this advice:

When you’re at a family gathering (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, birthdays, whatever) and you find yourself taking videos, make sure you get “the crowd”. There may be someone blowing out candles or opening a present, but scan the room. Get video of parents, grandparents, great grandparents, cousins, nephews, nieces, friends, party crashers. Get them speaking. One way or another, there’s going to come a day when you won’t be able to see those people again. You’re going to want see them — you’re going to want to hear their voices — and those videos are going to be the closest you’re going to get to speaking to that person again on this earth. Trust me. You’ll be glad you “wasted” the space.

Marcion and Getting Unhitched from the Old Testament

Marcion and Getting Unhitched from the Old Testament

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This sure does sound familiar. It seems a lot of people today refuse to believe the God of the Old Testament, but refusing to believe doesn’t it make it not so. What’s old may be new again, but it’s still wrong. 🙂

Great post by DeYoung. Go read the whole thing.

Marcion’s theological errors (and there were many) came from one main root: he refused to believe that the God of the Old Testament was the same as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Marcion simply could not believe in a God full of wrath and justice. So he threw away the Old Testament and took for his Bible a truncated version of Luke’s Gospel and selectively edited versions of Paul’s epistles. When all the cutting and pasting was finished, Marcion had the Christianity he wanted: a God of goodness and nothing else; a message of inspiring moral uplift; a Bible that does away with the uncomfortable bits about God’s wrath and hell. Marcionism was antinomian, idealistic about human potential, and skittish about dogma and rules.

Source: Marcion and Getting Unhitched from the Old Testament

New Blog Site

New Blog Site

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It’s been a really long time since my last post. I have a new site, and new momentum to get back into “regular” blogging. Here’s hoping. 😛

The violence of football

The violence of football

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In a recent interview with The New Republic, President Obama decried the violence of football, saying, “I’m a big football fan, but I have to tell you if I had a son, I’d have to think long and hard before I let him play football. And I think that those of us who love the sport are going to have to wrestle with the fact that it will probably change gradually to try to reduce some of the violence.”

So let me summarize: Boys playing football? Maybe not. Women in combat. No problem.