Randy Suits

Unconventional Teaching Methods

Eve, my sweet wife,

In the 1984 Movie ‘Karate Kid’ an aging apartment maintenance man, Mr. Miyagi, observed one evening as Daniel, son of a tenant in his building escaped from a gang of 4 bullying karate students, intent on beating him within an inch of his life. Realizing the hopelessness of the young teens plight, Miyagi offers to instruct Daniel Son, as Miyagi called him, rudiments of defense which would stop the fear and beatings and restore respect. This would negate any future bullying. Daniel envisioned a grand scheme of training similar to the karate sensei of Cobra Kai Dojo where his tormentors learned and practiced. Mr. Miyagi however used the time proven methods by which he was taught in Okinawa. To Miyagi the various colored belts used to designate increased skill and accomplishment were foolish adornment and he told Daniel, ‘in Okinawa we use rope to hold up pants.’ His teaching methods were simple menial tasks like waxing a car using circular clockwise motion to ‘wax on’ and counter clockwise motion to ‘wax off’. Daniel waxed several antique cars for his sensei Miyagi and then Miyagi had him sand the walkway with same circular clockwise and counter-clockwise motions. Then he had Daniel paint his fence with an up and down stroke which entailed keeping his arm straight and bending his wrist in a ‘hand up and hand down’ repetition. Frustration built in Daniel for he began to think that he was a slave to his sensei. When he expressed his great displeasure to Miyagi, the old man explained that while doing these menial chores he was learning defensive blocks through muscle memory. But Miyagi taught young Daniel the most important lesson of balance in life. His martial arts training was about training the mind and spirit as well as the body. Julius Caesar sent word back from Egypt, “We have found the enemy and it is us.” Daniel learned that far greater than the threat of his 4 attackers was the natural spirit within himself which always rose up in resistance to God his creator and constantly suppressed his Godly desires to serve and please God in peace, wisdom, truth and understanding. The story is about the development of the complete person of Daniel by the repetitive practice and competitive activity. Miyagi taught Daniel that the secret to Karate lies in the mind and heart, not in the hands and feet.  God teaches his people the same way. Isaiah 54:13 says ‘All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace’. In John 6:45 Jesus says ,”They shall be taught of God”. Everyone who has heard of the Father and learned from Him comes to me”. Notice that Jesus says, “heard the words of the Father and LEARNED from Him”. Daniel sought Mr Miyagi to learn karate, but Miyagi taught him priceless lessons in life. It was impossible to be taught by his mentor without being influenced and conformed to those values which enabled him to achieve what Daniel thought to be his greatest need, to fight off his attackers. The secret of this unlikely relationship is that Miyagi taught him self defense while simultaneously teaching him to subdue and conquer himself. We can only influence others when we control and conquer ourselves. We are born selfish with the ‘me first’ syndrome. We can only overcome this by learning of the Most High God. He trains us where we are. Moses on the back side of the desert, Joseph as a slave of Potiphar and in the dungeon after false accusation, David tending sheep and Jesus, the Son of God, being taught by his Holy Father instead of the recognized religious authorities and teachers of men are just a few well known examples of the Most High God teaching and training his children by using the every day occurrences and tragedies of life to enable us to learn eternal truths, principles and laws which make us more like our maker. God is the greatest teacher. The natural man calls Gods instruction ‘unconventional teaching methods’ but it is the true way of God to walk and talk with us in our daily life making the mundane events of our days thrilling and alive with joy and knowledge.

I love you my Kochana, we learn together as our God instructs us daily, Kochany