What’s the “weekly mettle maker?”
Training ideas and info supporting Heritage Arts’ programs — Heritage Self-Defense, Wildwood outdoor skills, Heritage Fitness, and Heritage Spirit.
Yesterday we tabled at Glen Allen Day 2022 and promoted Heritage Arts! Sweet photo set above. The event was a huge success. We gave away tons of flyers promoting the self-defense club, and some freebies like the one on the left entitled, “How to Get Fit with a Deck of Cards.” Not excactly in the vein of ‘old-school training” but if it helps you overcome boredom — which is a real killer! — get froggy, print it out, tack it to your wall, and hop to it.
We took donations in exchange for pricier stuff like books and tshirts (you can order t-shirts by clicking HERE.) and made our “let’s partner!” sales pitch to many other organizations.
The most popular things on our table were the free rosaries. We gave away two dozen rosaries with instructions, many of them to young people and children, and several adults told me that they were inspired to reconnect with our Holy Mother.
Mettle Maker #324
Self-defense — You need more than one option for getting out of a Double Collar Tie or Thai Plum. Obviously you can cram your way out of a weak/newbie tie-up. And against a stronger tie, you can also strike your way out if you act fast! But you can also swim your way out. Watch the video on the left for two swimming options. Want more self-defense training tips? How about an full-blown curriculum? Come out the club here in Richmond VA or sign up for our free distance learning program here.
Click here to sign up for DAILY MOTIVATIONAL text messages!
...
Click here to sign up for DAILY MOTIVATIONAL text messages! ...
Wildwood and Fitness combo — Glove Pop Quiz. Gloves dramatically change the dynamics of chores and activities. And if you can’t do it with gloves on, you can’t do it. What if it's 15 degrees outside and you have to self-rescue? What if you happen to have gloves on when disaster strikes, and there’s no time to remove them before you act? Put your gloves on. Then (a) lash two things together with a proper trucker’s hitch, (b) climb and descend a rope (or hang for 30 seconds if you can’t climb), (c) get out your pocket knife, open it, and put it back all with one hand, and (d) do one Pull-up (or Chin-ups or dead hang for 1 minute depending on your fitness level).
Take 2 points for each one you complete successfully, 1 point for each one you attempt, and zero points if you just sit on the sofa.
8 points = A
7 = A-
6 = B
5 = B-
4 = C
3 or less = FAIL (If you didn’t get at least 4 points, that means there was something you didn’t even attempt, and if you don’t try, you always fail.)
Want more fitness drills? Want to learn more about nature appreciation and survival? Sign up for one of our free distance learning programs.
Homily for the 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Oct. 9th, 2022 – Archdeacon Mitch
Readings: 2 Kgs 5:14-17, Ps 98:1, 2-3, 3-4, 2 Tm 2:8-13, Lk 17:11-19
2 Kings 5:14-17 World English Bible
14 Then went he down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. 15 He returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him; and he said, “See now, I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. Now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.”
16 But he said, “As Yahweh lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none.”
He urged him to take it; but he refused. 17 Naaman said, “If not, then, please let two mules’ load of earth be given to your servant; for your servant will from now on offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice to other gods, but to Yahweh.
Wow, what a story! Naaman, a great general of the Syrian army has leprosy. More than likely this is psoriasis or eczema not leprosy – there’s little evidence for leprosy being prevalent in that area at that time. And a little slave girl from Israel working in the court of the king suggests he might be healed by Elisha. This little girl embodies the reality that very small but very potent ideas are able to infiltrate the halls of political power. They seem innocent and inconsequential, but they have incredible implications. She suggests this tiny idea called faith. It seems so innocent, doesn’t it? Just try. Ask the prophet, do what he says, and see what happens.
So the king tells Naaman to take some gifts to Elisha and give it a shot. Can’t hurt, right? So Naaman does, and Elisha tells him to do a simple thing – dip yourself seven times in the Jordan river. Ridiculous. So simple! And Naaman gets steaming mad. He says the water in the Jordan is just like any other river! He says he could’ve stayed home and taken a dunk, this is baloney!
We Christians see this all the time, up and down the centuries, from people question the reality of our faith. They can’t bring themselves to hear the message of a little child who says, “have a little faith.” To modern people, scientists, and academics, it seems too simple, too basic, too infantile to possibly work. They say Christian myths are no different than the Greek myths, the Norse myths, the Hindu, Mayan, African, or the Aboriginal myths. Theys say that you can’t be healed by dipping yourself in a river.
Naaman’s servants set him straight. They suggest that if Elisha’s instructions had been costly and extravagant he would’ve played along. So if it’s easy, why not try it? And I’m saying the same thing they are saying, the same thing as the little girl.
This simple idea called “faith,” this tiny, unassuming Judeo-Christian innovation, transforms everything. It heals the spirit, it heals bodies, relationships, and even nations. An alcoholic named Bill Wilson’s message of faith spawned Alcoholics Anonymous, the most effective anti-addiction treatment plan ever devised, and its faith-based methods have healed millions of addicts. When the people of Poland listened to the messages of Pope John Paul II and to those of Fr. Jerzy Popiełuszko who was martyred for peace in the 1980s, the sickness of communism was healed in that country and across Eastern Europe. When Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached to America and we listened, the wounds of segregation, fear, and hatred began to heal. Twelve consecutive U.S. Presidents met privately to listen to the words of pastor Billy Graham, and we have no idea how many of them headed his words and bathed in the Jordan!
And yet, despite this evidence and much, much more, many people refuse to dip themselves in the river Jordan, to be baptized and transformed by faith – not blind belief uninformed by evidence – but by faith born of trust.
The messages of Naaman’s remarkable story are many and manifold. Fellow Christians, let us not make the mistake that Naaman made. After he his conversion, he thought that the secret of his healing was in the place, the soil, the nation, the conditions, and he tried to carry it with him wherever he went. Let’s not cling to our pre-conversion thinking and carry with us two mule-loads of baggage.
And to those who are not Christians who can hear my voice: listen to the advice of a little girl and heed two thousand years of evidence. Trust in the Lord. Dip yourself in the Jordan River. Be baptized and be healed.