God Hates Nintendo

Okay, made you look. But I am not entirely kidding. Read on:
_______________________________________________
Like a dog that returns to its vomit
Is a fool who repeats his folly.
Prov 26:11 (NASB)

I have a confession to make, and since I am not Catholic (although so ironically named after a pope), you; my friends, will have to do. Confession is good for the soul, and I make this confession publicly because I hope that it may help someone else out there.

Over the past few days, God has revealed something to me. I am an idiot. Okay, no big revelation right? Oh, JP, don't be so hard on yourself! Well, just wait...

About four years ago, a friend of mine gave me the demo for an video game; the sort of game that is VERY time consuming. Like any game, when you get good at it, you find yourself immersed in it for HOURS without even realizing how much time has passed. The first time I played it was for eight hours, seriously. Well, this game became a refuge for me during some tough times in school and at our last ministry where things did not go so well. Then, for the longest time I did not have any time to play. So then, we move to our new town where things are either jumpin' with funerals, visits, conferences, meetings, dinners, etc. OR they are as they have been the last five weeks, utterly sleepy (which is not always bad). Well, I got to wasting time when there was down time, and about six months ago I posted that I was giving up gaming for awhile, that was the day I broke the first copy of the CD-Rom game I referred to above. Yes, I said the 'first' copy...

Let's stroll down memory lane...

Growing up, I had a very serious heart condition which was exacerbated by my mother's vicarious hypocondriactic tendencies as well as her bi-polar fueled need for attention (there is a clinical name for this called Munchausen by Proxy). What this meant for me was that for most of my life I was stuck inside. No sports, no running around outside on hot days eating ppopsicles. I was sort of like the kid from The Secret Garden, able to do things but not permitted. There aren't many things to do when you are nine and stuck inside, so my mom bought me a Nintendo, Zapper, Track & Field Pad, and all. It took me about twenty minutes to realize that it was the coolest thing I had ever seen. Over the years, I have been what most would consider an "avid" gamer (you could easliy measure the tie I have wasted playing video games in years.) So what does that have to do with my confession?

Today I broke my second copy. Yes. God has a flat spot on his forehead from where he strikes it with the plam of his hand while he watches me do dumb stuff like that. Last week I scored a copy of that game on eBay, it came in the mail yesterday and in the last 24 hours, when I should have been reading, or sleeping, or praying, or spending time with my wife and children, I was holed up with my popcorn and my flikcering LCD screen logging five hours on that game, hiding out in an alternate reality where I am God. Where people live or die at my command, where nations rise and fall at my whim, and where absolutely nothing of spiritual or filial value is engendered whatsover. So... where does that leave me now?

Well, it probably sounds dumb to some of you, but I was addicted to that game. (BTW, James Dobson defines an addiction as any behavior that controls you, so there are lots of possible addictions, e-mail, eating, shopping, sex...) Point of fact, I may be addicted to video games period. "There was a time when I thought as a child.... now I have put childish things away." You know, the average age of a gamer in the US is 32 years old. What that tells me is that they got us young, and some of us have been hooked on it like a drug for our whole lives. There are better things that I could do now, and there were things that I missed then. I am going to grow up, its time. I have a life to live, I have a family to raise, a church to lead and I don't have time to screw around while people are lost and their lives are falling apart. God gave me a minstry, it is time for me to take it to the next level and gaming does not fit in to that.

I take responsibility for my actions then and now, I am the fool that returned to my vomit.

Mmmmm, mmmm, good....

Rev.