Episode Two > I understand the final episodes of the Cobra Kai series will be available tomorrow, so I have time for one more article before I find out how they are ending this series. I gave my opinion as to what would be my ending-of-choice if it were up to me. I look forward to seeing how my thoughts compare to theirs. And this article piggy backs off my Episode one.

Again, my idea of martial arts is Kung Fu, David Carradine, wondering through the desert, needing very little, looking for no trouble, but if someone needs help, he’s the guy you want. I see Mr. Miyagi a lot the same way. His teachings also were learning the ways of peacefulness and inner beauty. He was living small and peaceful, minding his own business, but when he sees Daniel LaRusso being terribly bullied by a gang of guys, he realizes something must be done. Daniel LaRusso invaded his life like a human tidal wave of disruption. But Mr. Miyagi rose to the occasion.

This gang of young guys was part of the other kind of Karate. The type teaching force and violence. They are full of pride and arrogance. They are known as Cobra Kai. The ways of Miyagi and the ways of Cobra Kai are like oil and water, natural enemies, and who will win? Which teacher actually has the truth, the right answers, and should be listened to? Which teacher is taking their money while filling their soul with hate?

So, Mr. Miyagi takes LaRusso under his wing and tries to teach him the peaceful ways of his form of martial arts. His training becomes known as Miyagi-do. He teaches Daniel the excellent way, but there seems to be no way to avoid entering a tournament and facing his foes. Compromises are made on the way, but Miyagi never ceases to teach the better way. Daniel becomes a disciple of the Miyagi-do way, and loves his Sensei/Mentor.

Cobra Kai ends up in a surprising defeat! This infuriates Kreese. And poor Johnny is now damaged in his soul forever, it would seem. Because where the movie ends and the series picks up, there has been forty years pass! We find LaRusso a very successful man with a wife and kids, and we find Johnny barely existing, living in low rent, drinking heavily, divorced, and a son he barely knows. He relives that defeat to LaRusso almost every day.

How can we know when we have a damaged soul? And how do we keep a damaged soul from ruining our whole life? LaRusso had a better teacher and learned better things. He’s moved on and has a well-adjusted life, but Johnny, he’s damaged goods and it’s plain to see. Do we recognize our own damage? Have we healed from them?

What will happen if these two cross paths again? That is season one. And really it has grown into six seasons now, as all these people, even the bad guy Kreese has crossed paths again. But when LaRusso and Johnny meet? Oh my! The emotional damages surface very quickly! With Johnny, it’s the moment he sees LaRusso! But not so much with LaRusso.

LaRusso’s damage does not show up so much until… until he sees Johnny starting up another Cobra Kai dojo! Oh no! Now Daniel LaRusso is reacting! And perhaps with good cause. All those horrible memories flood back in LaRusso’s mind as he sees that Cobra Kai emblem again!

Johnny is just reacting. He has no good reason. He feels cheated and it’s all LaRusso’s fault. It’s connected to the damaged soul he still lives with. But LaRusso tells his wife, I can’t let another Cobra Kia Sensei mislead another bunch of kids! His eyes are big and he’s on fire! He’s now a man on a mission to save kids! What can he do about it? He’s serious and his wife can see this. She’s surprised how much this is affecting him. She hopes he will get over it, but he does not! He cannot! For him this is like the worst thing that could ever happen! The world is coming to an end if he does not do something!

And so it all begins. A chain reaction of events like one domino striking the next. In all this, Daniel is trying to teach the Miyagi-do way. He even starts a Miyagi-do dojo at his house. But the ways of Cobra Kai are back in action. Hate, fear, bullying, and emotions keep overrunning Daniel’s teaching. People get hurt time and again. They seem to learn for a little while, but then fall right back into pride and violence. And the whole while Sensei Kreece keeps stoking the flames.

Daniel and the Miyagi way have been up and down like a yo-yo through this whole series. Johnny has been a yo-yo too, as Kreese took over and Johnny realized LaRusso has the better way, but Johnny just can’t seem to completely embrace it. Many times he causes as much trouble as Kreece! But LaRusso keeps trying, and now, this horrible tournament has happened and a young man even died. What happens now? That’s what these final episodes are supposed to show.

Most of my life I have felt like Daniel LaRusso. Christianity is a way of life. But not usually the popular choice. Jesus and His Holy Spirit are my sensei. They teach a peaceful way of life. I’ve tried to teach that same way but so often we are ignored for the sparkly things of this world that shine brighter. Perhaps I enjoy these shows so much because, one, they take me back to my youth! I grew up with this stuff. I was young when Daniel and Johnny were young. Now we’re all old! I feel connected to these guys.

But two…as I watch LaRusso trying to save the kids, trying to teach a better way, having the right answers, and yet so often failing. And now, ultimate failure. The tournament literally turned into a war zone! And a young man dies a violent death. The way of Miyagi-do and the way of Cobra Kai, and it seems Cobra Kai wins in this world.

I identify with Miyagi-do. I have often considered Churches and small group meetings as like a Holy Spirit dojo. We’re being trained to fight a demonic enemy, a spiritual battlefield, the enemy of souls. Our fight has eternal results, not temporary. It’s important! It’s the most important battle! Because of its eternal repercussions. And yet, so often ignored, so often misunderstood, until something really bad happens and we try to pick up all the broken pieces. Why does it have to come to that before people will listen?

I suspect we all have our own wounds and damages. There are no perfect parents and this world is not a perfect place. There is no perfection or utopia here on earth. Every one of us have flaws and damages, but can we learn to choose the higher way in spite of those things? God says we can, with His help. That is what I teach. That is what is in the book I wrote. That is what I will always strive to teach no matter if anyone seems to “get it” or not.

The writers of Star Wars really messed up when Luke quit. When he threw his Light Sabre over his shoulder and into the sea as if it were a meaningless piece of junk! They did wrong. And people did not like it. I want to see LaRusso and Miyagi-do rises up out of the chaos and darkness as the light it needs to be. LaRusso still has the right answers. We can never give up on the right answers. We soon shall see. Tomorrow?