Red Flags, Video Games, and the Gospel

For years, with a handful of people, I helped run a successful Christian video game group on Facebook. I learned several things through that time (these two things being a primary standout):

  • Be careful who you partner with. Make sure that they have the same vision, work ethic, goals, etc.
  • When games become more important than the Gospel, something is wrong.

Our group was a place where struggling Christians/non-Christians could ask, “Can I play video games at all?” Or even, “Can I play such-n-such game?”

And to answer the questions above real quick:

  • Yes, Christians can play video games. Welcome to the party! If you think the answer is no though, there are tons of other hobbies available.
  • First, are you old enough? What are your parents telling you? If you are older, what about the game gives you pause? Is it because you don’t normally play in Hell with a zombie sawblade of doom? Joking aside, figure out why the game gives you pause. If it’s related to a sin that you are struggling with, don’t play it. Simple as that.

The danger is that it went from asking questions to more of a whispered, “You should play this because there are tons of other Christians, in this group, that have played it”. Forget Jesus. Any sort of conviction. Forget that sin you struggle with that this game will ultimately amplify. Just do it. It will be fun.

Yes, you can use video games to reach those who haven’t heard the Gospel. It is when the Gospel, the Good News, begins to be replaced with more of your particular hobby than Christ that the red flags go up.

The Great Hunt: Book 2 of the Wheel of Time – A Quick Review

I finished The Great Hunt: Book 2 of the Wheel of Time this morning.

I liked it.

Robert Jordan, the book’s author, is one of those authors where a bunch of “whatever stuff” plays out over the first four hundred and twenty pages of the book. The last forty pages however, stuff is going down! (I will note that the same thing happened with the first book in the series.)

  • Magic users walking around on leashes held by other magic users (WHAT THE HECK!) – CHECK
  • Friends revealing themselves as darkfriends – CHECK
  • Rand al’Thor battling with the Dark Lord himself – CHECK
  • Rand al’Thor not really defeating said Dark Lord (there are 12 more books) – CHECK
  • Swept up in Robert Jordan’s narrative of the ages and time – CHECK

The Great Hunt improves upon the foundation laid in The Eye of the World in almost every way. Although the reader might know where this particular leg of the journey ends (the book tells you… multiple times), the way the story plays out and its conclusion will keep the reader guessing.

I enjoyed my experience with The Great Hunt. I’m going to take a breather, read some shorter books, before diving into the next book.

Adoption: Life in the In-Between

The Hall Family has been living in the in-between, the “we could be adding to our family soon… or not”, for the past 3 years now. To say that my heart is indifferent, or even calloused, is an understatement. I’m tired of the process of:

  • The caseworker sends us an email with a child’s picture and description of what they are like / what the child needs in a family.
  • We are then asked if we want to put in our home study for said child. I’m going to say, that my wife and I usually (there has been a child or two that would not have been a good fit for our family) say yes, sign us up!
  • And then, we wait. Sometimes hearing something to the effect of, “Sorry, you’re family wasn’t a good fit” or… just silence… nothing.

We have been anticipating, wanting, and waiting for a child for a long time now. Often wondering if our desire to have more children, our dream really, somehow needs to be put to rest. Maybe we just need to give up the adoption process. Throw in the towel. Focus on parenting our one.

Tab and I are really good parents. We want our family to grow.

Wyatt wants our family to grow so that Tab and I are not following him to college, to his first home, etc. Or so we tell him. 🙂

For now, we live in the in-between.

I’ve Had Trouble Getting Into The Wheel of Time… Until Now

Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series is a book series I have never been able to get into. The wheel turns and I will pick of the first book, read a few chapters, and then I manage to read something else. The first book, the first dabbling into Jordan’s world, feels too much like a The Lord of the Rings wannabe. Or at least that is what the Amazon reviews tell me.

What the online reviews have failed to mention is that Jordan is an excellent author. His world contains just enough uncertainty, just enough unfamiliarity, that one can feel the sinister machinations unfold. I find myself questioning different characters and their motives. I also find the magic system intriguing.

I am currently on page 248, 32% into finishing The Wheel of Time: The Eye of the World. I am loving what I am reading so far. Robert Jordan’s chapter length is long enough to feel like I have accomplished something, by reading a single chapter (or two), before bed.

The wheel keeps turning… and I keep reading on.

Question: What book series has been hard for you to get into?

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