Not so Glamorous

We all have something to fight for. Everyday, every morning, every night. There are some fights that change from day to day. A job for example may be difficult and you have to overcome the daily challenges that you face there. But jobs often change. One fight that we must fight everyday that we are alive is ourselves. Our own sinful natures that rear their heads at the most inconvenient times.

More often than not we simply want to give up that fight; the fight against self. But as a guy I know that us guys always want something to fight for. That can often take shape in odd ways. One of the most notable ways in modern American culture is by playing video games.

"Huh? What?"

Let me explain. The biggest feature of video game advertised to guys my age are the violent/shoot-em-up games. Halo of course is a wonderful example of this. The Doom games a generation before. Space Invaders the generation before that. Lots of shooting, explosions and flying bits of.... stuff. We're fighting off terrorists, aliens, zombies and demons from hell. And when the women in our lives whine and complain about how we are not fulfilling our duties as men we are confused. "We're fighting off armies for you, don't you see? Can't you understand?"

No, they don't. Because we are fighting for the wrong thing. As men, we are wired to fight. But because we are also wired for laziness, we often fight for the wrong thing; the thing that requires a minimal sacrifice from ourselves. Either that or after realizing that we are fighters, we target the wrong thing as the enemy. Instead of trying to fight the sin nature hidden in the deep dark corners of ourselves, we naturally assume that we ourselves could NEVER be the problem and that it must be those around us: the Church, our parents, the boss, the teacher, the Man, God.

It's time we all reprioritized. We want glorious, glamorous battles to fight. Like the dudes in the video games who can take on hoards of enemy monsters and come our unscathed. There in lies the other thing we long for, a fight without pain or sacrifice. I am very sorry, but that is not possible. There is often very little glamour in the battles we fight. Not only that, but there is blood spilt along the trail, there are broken bones and gnashing of teeth.

I say this as much for my benefit as for your's. But one last thing: we do not fight this fight on our own strength. We fight with the fists of God, the wounds of Christ, and the assurance of the Holy Spirit. And the Trinity does NOT grow weary.

JSTT

A more in depth introduction to Max Bemis

"Cousins" by Vampire Weekend

More awesome music for you all!

"Surviving High School" a video game review

This is the 1st of 3 entries on August 1st, 2008. Please check out the other articles as well!

I don't know how many of you out there play mobile or cell phone games, but boy are they addicting! I'm currently with Alltel and they have a cell phone software store called "Axcess" that you can 'access' from your cell phone menu. Anyway, every now and then they have free demos of games that you can play for ten minutes or so. (A way to get around this is to continually play the game instead of exiting it and going back to the menu. Just pause the game, plug your phone in and come back later. If you quit the game will expire, however. Also make sure that your phone is plugged in or the game will eat up all your batteries.)

Oh, right... the review. The game is called "Surviving High School," lame, I know. But the actual game play more than makes up for the title. You start as the new guy in town; you've just transfered to a new school and are having trouble fitting in. (I have only played the demo, so I do not know if you can play as a girl in the full version.)

So, your goals? Win the girl, make the football team and keep your parents, teachers and friends happy. Wouldn't you love to have a chance to re-do high school? It's all virtual, so it should be a breeze to do it right! Right? Course! *rolls eyes*

The best part of the game is that each and every choice you make in the game effects the next one. Screw up on a date? You might not get the chance to go on another one. Do well at practice? You might have a better shot at winning the big game. This is probably one of the best AI systems I have ever seen in a video game; hands down.

So how did my first semester go? Well, I got the school's resident goth to fall head over heels in love with me, kept a B average in History, English and Math, whooped the school's arch rivals, stood up to the school bully and made my dad proud with my football skills! How has YOUR semester been?

Next Week: "Delving into the world of Spore"