Would You Rather?

Luckily I didn’t have this conversation in person, but it was one that happened to someone else, and then was reiterated to us, as parents, when approached about sending our kids to a weeknight Bible class. Now, I’m not opposed to the class. As I learn more about the couple in charge of leading it, I’m becoming less and less of a fan, but the example used when we replied with, “That night is a Jiu-Jitsu night,” irked me.

The person told us that when they mentioned that that particular night was baseball practice for their son, the church leader told them, “Would you rather have your son get good at baseball or get good at knowing the Bible?” and they posed the question to us, “would you rather have your kids get good a Jiu-Jitsu, or get good at knowing the Bible?” Again, I’m glad the conversation wasn’t a real-time event, as I’m not sure if I could have articulated the apologetics to defend Jiu-Jitsu, but since then my wife and I have talked about it and came up with some points. By the way, our answer to that question is “both”.

1. Jiu-Jitsu isn’t some sport our kids will play for a while and lose interest. It’s not a sport that if you aren’t good enough at a certain age, the opportunities to continue play diminish. Jiu-Jitsu, and martial arts in general, can be a lifetime activity. There’s always room for growth. Always room for life lessons. Could my kids lose interest? Sure. But so far they haven’t. Even when they say they want to try something else, the feeling fades when they realize they’d have to sacrifice Jiu-Jitsu time for it. I’m sure there will come a time that they will want or need to take a season off for one reason or another. But I hope that my continued interest will draw them back.

2. Jiu-Jitsu is full of life lessons. Not to say that you don’t learn lessons from traditional team sports, but there’s just something different about martial arts. There’s something different about Jiu-Jitsu. You can learn all those lessons you learn from a team sport, especially at a gym that focuses on being a team and family as much as ours does. But it’s those lessons you learn when under literal pressure. When your face is being grinded into the mat. Those lessons hit different than when you swing and miss a ball.

3. Jiu-Jitsu is a family matter. This isn’t a sport where we drop our kids off for a couple hours and run errands. We are learning this art together. Hell, our family looks like we’re moving in for the week every time we go to class. So not only is it something that is growing our kids, or ourselves individually. It’s growing our family unit. We will be stronger together because of Jiu-Jitsu. A family that trains together slays together.

Beyond that, we also take advantage of other opportunities to have our kids learn about the Bible. Just because they miss the once a week class, with people I’m becoming less and less a fan of leading it, doesn’t mean we’re predestinating them to hell. They go to Sunday school, they’re at church when we’re at our small group. And probably most importantly, they’re learning the Bible with us in our home.

So would I rather…? I’d rather my kids get good at both.

Thanks for reading.