This is the warcry, stories from the battle front about a modern warriors search for Knighthood, stories of an epic loved affair lived out on a raging battle field.

It’s MY IPod!

Thursday, November 6th, 2008

I have a brand new Macbook Pro, I had the older model that I bought just a few weeks before they released the new model. It was a great machine, great specs, great performance. But as the new model came out I got really sad. My machine was still a great machine but not as great as the new one. I called the store and they agreed to replace it and just as a bonus we where going to get the great deal with a free IPod Nano as well.

As this unfolds it turns out it took them two weeks for the macbooks to arrive at the store. And so we are no longer eligeble for the IPod deal. I go to the store disappointed and demand my IPod. The poor fellow in the store try to explain to me that it isn’t that he doesn’t want to give me an IPod, but he can not. I get flustered and in my mind I think I have a right to have a free IPod, after all didn’t everyone else who paid ridiculous amount of money for a mac get one. The Apple representative kindly reminds me that we are allready getting a £400 discount because we are students. I know he is right but I do not want to acknowledge it.

With the same attitude my youngest daughter has when she lies on the floor kicking and screaming to get ice cream just before dinner. I feel had. Why do I never get the good deal? Why do I never win the lottery (but you never play …. THAT’S NOT THE POINT)? I wan’t to scream out: IT’S NOT FAIR!

A quiet voice in my head reminds me of people starving in Africa and homeless people right outside this building of commercialism but the child within screams in outrage and then bargains. Yes, but I am getting a RED IPod that means at least some of the money is given to aids research.

At that outrageously ridiculous argument the card house in my mind crumbles and I let go. I am walking out of the store with a fantastic computer, the best one I have ever owned. Letting go of my silly notion of having my way frees me up to enjoy what I actually have. Letting go of what could have been, lets me just savor what is! Richard Foster calls this the freedom of submission and he states “In the discipline of Submission we are released to drop the matter, forget it. Frankly, most things in life are not nearly as important as we think they are.”1.

  1. Foster, Richard J. The Celebration of Discipline (San Francisco: Harper, 1998) p. 111 [↩]

06.11.2008 Chivalric values, Christian life, Discipline, Patrik, Techspeak, iPod View Comments

Holiness, Holiness is what I long for

Saturday, August 4th, 2007

I found this quote here, and it really spoke to me, it is the core beliefs of Opus Dei,1 Whatever one is to think of Opus Dei this statement rings true to me. This would be how I see holiness, and as I see Knighthood as being a holy warrior this quote illuminates the way to Knighthood.

holiness, ‘being a saint,’ is not just the province of a few spiritual athletes, but is the universal destiny of every Christian. Holiness is not exclusively, or even principally, for priests and nuns. Further, holiness is not something to be achieved in the first place through prayer and spiritual discipline, but rather through the mundane details of everyday work. Holiness thus doesn’t require a change in external circumstances, but a change in attitude, seeing everything anew in the light of one’s supernatural destiny

  1. A Catholic order that has been much questioned because of some of their practices [↩]

04.08.2007 Chivalric values, Christian life, Disciple Knight, Discipline, knightschool, warrior code View Comments

Chivalric virtue #5

Sunday, June 10th, 2007

Here is the next installment of the Chivalric virtues series, this time we are talking about generosity. Maybe in a much broader or deeper sense than what the word is usually assosiated with, but I think this is a core value in chivalry as well as in Christian life….

Please let me know what you think.

10.06.2007 Chivalric values, Christian life, Disciple Knight, Discipline, knightschool, warrior code View Comments

Thoughts on loyalty

Thursday, June 7th, 2007

In our small group yesterday we watched Swing kids to provoke our thoughts on what loyalty is and what it means. The movie is about a group of teenagers who like swing music at the rise of Hitlers reign in germany. And the teenagers have to choose between going with the mainstream and becoming hitler jugend or staying rebels with risk of persecution. They also had to choose between politically correct and family.

As such it is a great movie but it takes the concept of loyalty one step further. Do you stay loyal in your heart and pretend to be part of the world or do you wear your loyalty proudly and shout it from the rooftops?

What kind of Christians are we? Are we the kind of Christians who in the face of possible persecution will wear our colors and shout out our allegience to God like Daniel and his friends in Babylon, like the disciples of Jesus after pentecost or are we scared and powerless in hiding?

I for one will proudly wear my uniform, shout out on the streets that Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords! And I pray that I will not only be loyal to my Faith but I will proudly display my allegience to God in the face of anything and anyone!

07.06.2007 Chivalric values, Christian life, Discipline, Faith, No Fear, knightschool, uniform View Comments

Chivalric virtue #4

Saturday, June 2nd, 2007

Here is the Knightschool talk on Loyalty posted on Youtube for your pleasure!

02.06.2007 Chivalric values, Christian life, Disciple Knight, Discipline, Faith, Schola St. George, knightschool, warrior code Comments Off

Self control, what a glorious idea!

Friday, May 18th, 2007

Tonight I am speaking at Riga 1 – One Way, about Gods calling on your life and how to find out what God wants you to do. And as I go over the subject in my mind I keep coming back to this wonderful thing self control.

Say the word self control to a bunch of teenagers and you will get a bunch of frowns back, it doesn’t quite bounce of the tounge like “Joy” or “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”. No it is a word we clamp down or teeth on and it tightens our jaws. The little ebel that lives in the back of your mind crys out in anguish, and you need only to add the word discipline to finish of the job and send the little rebel on a full scale assault on your mood.

But the fact is that self control is a lovely thing, not only, as I have written in this blog before, does it give us the oportunity to be joyful when the chips are down, to love when we don’t feel like it and to laugh in the face of whatever this world might throw at us. But also, if we are willing to state the obvious and realize that there is not only a forest but also a bunch of trees, we will realize that self control means the control of self.

This means that self control, a fruit of the Spirit, a fruit of Love, gives us back control over our lives. Having before been slaves under sin and this world we humble ourself and bow down in front of the glorious creater of this universe, the big boss. There at the throne we give over control of our lives to God and as we spend time with Him and we walk in the Spirit the fruits of the Spirit will manifest in our lives. One of these manifestations of The Holy Spirit in our lives is the fruit of self control and this is the awesome part. When we surrender our will to God he graciously gives control back to us and we are free to do what we want at any old time.

Self control then means that we actually have free will, we are free to create our own future, to change our stars. Self control means that we can be anything we want to be, do anything we want to do, become anything we want to become. As long as we walk in the Spirit and let our hearts be joined with Gods heart, He will direct our paths and give us our hearts desire! (Psalm 37:4)

Self control, what a great gift, what a glorious thing it is!

18.05.2007 Chivalric values, Christian life, Disciple Knight, Discipline, Faith, Mission, youth work View Comments

Why are we so afraid…

Thursday, May 10th, 2007

Why are we so afraid of solitude? I am now home alone as Hanna and the girls are in Croatia for two and a half weeks. And while I understand my feelings of emptyness and the feeling of purposelessness they are my everything…

I find myself filling the apartment with sounds and lights, wishing that people would come over. All so I would not be alone, the habit of noise and business around me. Time I should now cherish and seek Gods face.  It is so hard to actually settle down and enjoy the silence.

10.05.2007 Discipline, Patrik, contemplation View Comments

The importance of virtue.

Tuesday, April 17th, 2007

In my devotion yeterday I came across a piece of scripture that spoke to me about the Knightly virtues.

16:1 The plans of the heart belong to man,
but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
but the Lord weighs the spirit.
3 Commit your work to the Lord,
and your plans will be established.
4 The Lord has made everything for its purpose,
even the wicked for the day of trouble.
5 Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord;
be assured, he will not go unpunished.
6 By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil.
7 When a man’s ways please the Lord,
he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
8 Better is a little with righteousness
than great revenues with injustice.
9 The heart of man plans his way,
but the Lord establishes his steps.

These verses from Proverbs 16 speaks of the path that we are walking down, sometimes we think we have made the right choice but God will measure your spirit and only by first seeking Gods kingdom (Matt 6:33) we will attain the goals we have set for our selves. What really got me though was verse six. Thinking back on yesterdays post about forgiveness, forgiveness, charity, grace are all the virtues of a true Knight who will strike down the enemy and then help the fellow human of the ground. But to forgive someone does not mean that they have forgotten the wrong done. So how do we put humptey dumptey back together again?

Well here we can let the wisdom of the proverbs guide us.

By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil.

By doing right over and over again, wrongs will be forgotten, by serving, caring, loving and being faithful. By fearing God and staying away from evil only doing good! So in effect Faithfulness, loyalty, generosity will atone for the wrong things we have done.

Today begins my atonement, and even though I might stumble, I will, stay on target, I will be faithful, I will do good, I will serve and love until my time runs out and maybe my iniquity, my missteps will not only be forgiven but also forgotten.

17.04.2007 Bible, Chivalric values, Christian life, Discipline View Comments

Let Love rule… (Spiritual discipline part 4)

Monday, March 19th, 2007

Love, one of the most abused words of the english language, it almost slips of the tounge without thought or emotion needing to back it up. We say I love you almost as easily as we say I love pizza or I love spring. Sometimes we make it a big deal and sometimes we bounce it around like it meant nothing.

We are in desperate need for a new word for Love1, a word that keeps it awe inspiring (God is Love) yet keeps it to an everyday thing (Love your neighbor), because we need acts of Love every day!

So why talk about Love in a series about spiritual discipline? Well first of all if we believe that love is an emotion then love is wild and unpredictable and the capricious mistress of romance litterature. But if we take (what I consider to be) the Christian viewpoint then {{Love is a decision. Therefore Love can be practiced as a dicipline, an art and a path of life.}} Lets take a look at marriage as an expression of Love, if Love was an emotion my marriage would last only as long as I am in a fairly good mood and I am still infatuated with my wife. As the feeling of love fluctuates with my daily form it would be impossible to be a kind and loving husband all the time. Yet we promise in sickness and health, for better or worse. If Love however is a decision then it is the decision made on that glorious wedding day, that stands no matter how I feel at this point in time. Then Love becomes the result of every time that decision has been tested and reaffirmed. Every day beyond the wedding day becomes a witness of our Love, every quarrel solved, every crisis navigated becomes a testament to the Love that we share.

Not only does this make Love deeper and more valuable it also means that we can get better at it, we can train Love. Anyone no matter the personality can become more proficient in Loving God, our neighbors and ourselves.

This is the discipline of Love!

  1. I am capitalizing Love on purpose as God is Love therefore Love is the name of God, So it deserves to be capitalized [↩]

19.03.2007 Christian life, Discipline, Faith View Comments

On discipline … (Spiritual discipline part 3)

Tuesday, March 13th, 2007

Discipline, it is such a sullied word. In todays language it carries a negative tone, a tone of forbidding, joystealing, punishing character.

As a martial artist I have a different view of the word. Through many long years of training I have come to realize that discipline is the only way to master an art. I must discipline myself to power through repetitive exercises in order to excel, I also must discipline myself to work through painful exercises in order to condition my body and spirit for the reality of the fight.

As a soldier of the cross I must do the same, I must discipline myself to prevail in the battle (1 Cor 9:27). It is not something i do grudgingly but something I enjoy (even though it might be hard work or even painful at times) because I know that the rewards are great (Hebrews 12:11).

Discipline also has another meaning to me and it is primarily this meaning I would like to be the focus of this series of articles, namely discipline as an artform or a way among many. In martial arts we talk about the different arts as disciplines and in Schola Saint George we have the different weapon disciplines or artforms.

In the same way the Christian life has different artforms or different paths in which we may experience a deeper relationship with God.

This is the journey I invite you to share with me, exploring the immense depth, width and breadth of God.

13.03.2007 Discipline, Saints View Comments

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