Whole Armor Family

As we’ve been working on our new website one of our tasks has been gathering profiles from each of our Black Belts. A few you’ve seen posted on Facebook, and soon you’ll be able to access all of them by clicking on their photos here on the website.

As their teacher it has been pretty amazing to read through all these profiles and see the comments they have made, and also pretty humbling to see the life changes in these folks across the years.

And speaking of years, another thing that struck me is “time.” As I look through these testimonies I see students that have been with our school for 7 years, 12 years, 14, 16, 18, 22, even 23 years! Wow – some have been training with us for the majority of their lives!

One word that seems to pop up in these profiles over and over again, is “family.” Most if not all of our Black Belts students really do consider Whole Armor Martial Arts to be part of their family. And what an honor that is, to think that what we do can have such an impact on peoples lives that we become part of who they are. And ya know as with any family there are good times and bad times, and you can bet that we’ve walked through both with a lot of these Black Belts across the years too. But that’s what families do.

Its important to remember that you don’t have to be a Black Belt to be part of the Whole Armor family either, every student is part of “us” too. And often that goes way beyond the classroom and way beyond enrollment. Just last week I ran into a former student who seemed to need some help and I was so blessed to have the opportunity to sit down and spend some time sharing some scripture and God’s Truth to help get things in proper focus and back on the right path.

I guess the whole point of all this is to say that Whole Armor Martial Arts is a lot more than just learning to punch and kick and defend yourself. Of course don’t get me wrong, you will learn that very well! But along with that, you will find a family. A group of folks who also want to learn to punch and kick and defend themselves, but also care about each other and want to invest in you and your spiritual well being as we dive into God’s Word week in and week out at every class.

And that’s the reason so many of our Black Belts have been with us for so very long. (cuz it sure isn’t me!!  🙂