A Martial Artist Looks at Ephesians 3:14-21, Part 3

Ephesians 3:17b
May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love.

One of the first things a new karate-ka must work on is stance and footwork. Stance is how you stand – which way do your feet point, how far apart are they, where are your knees and hips? You must learn and think about these things in a variety of different stances. Next comes footwork – moving in those stances. Moving adds "which direction" and "how far" to these questions. And which stance is appropriate for each circumstance?

Stance is very important for a number of reasons. A proper stance allows you to move quickly and easily, be strong and stable, punch and kick with power, and throw or fall with ease. Everything starts with a good stance.

Stability begins at the ground. When you are looking for stability, when you do not want to be knocked over, you sink. You lower your center of gravity, bend your knees, sink your body down. You root yourself to the ground. The stronger and more flexible your legs are and the more you have trained, the lower you can sink and the more stable you can become. Power also begins at the ground. If you try to punch or kick without a good stable stance, you are the one that will lose your balance and fall. The power comes from the ground, up through your foot, leg and hip, and then goes out into your opponent.

This is how the Christian life works as well. You sink your roots down into God. You learn to do this just as you do with karate - with practice. You pray and study the Bible. These are your roots. You learn to draw your stability and strength from these roots as you sink them deep into God’s love. As you spend more time with God, your roots grow deeper and deeper, and you become stronger and more stable. Our spiritual power flows from our roots that we sink into God. The deeper those roots go, the stronger and more stable we become.

Archimedes said, "Give me a place to stand and I will move the world."

Stand firm, sink your roots deep. Not only physically, but spiritually as well.


Rebecca A Givens