A Spiritual Lesson In Video Game Language 10c
Platform: Atari2600
Game: Adventure (Game Clips Are From October 20, 2011)
Topic: Wrong Keys 3: Sweating The Small Stuff (Worry)
Lesson PDF link: Wrong Keys 3
Our Point Of Focus
What do you see here?
This is a scene from the same game as last time.
It's just you (the square) with the white key and the scene is inside the corresponding White Castle. Last time, I was stolen from by the Black Bat and he's just hanging out (he was probably having a big laugh at my expense) with the sword that was sorely needed and stuck in a wall. He won't fish it out of the wall, even though most games he would. I want our readers to know how absolutely cruel this "Black Bat Defense Gambit" pattern was; you can catch the Black Bat, but then he wouldn't trade anything for the sword (to get it out of the wall), you let him go and he just returns to the White Castle's walls and if I brought him back there (after a little bit to "reset" his pattern of trades, it would be to no avail--a bad Black Bat game if I do say so myself.
"What do I do now?", I asked myself. Well, I had several choices and had to choose one.
# a--"Cowardly" I could turn the whole thing off and hope for a better game.
#b "No Plan" I could wander around aimlessly without a plan.
#c "Reckless" Storm the Black Castle knowing that I had a 90% chance of getting eaten by one or both the remaining dragons. It's a given that I had two left (Rhindle the Red Dragon and Yorgle the Yellow Dragon) because I took out Grundle the Green Dragon early before my sword was rudely stolen and not returned.
#d "Sleep On It (Rest)"--This game keeps moving even when long pauses take place, but it was a given that all the remaining bad guys, except the Black Bat, were in the Black Castle guarding the Sacred Chalice.
Let's look at our Bible passages and I'll show what I did.
Bible Study: Matthew 6: 25-34; 11: 25-30
Matthew 6: 25-34
25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you--you of little faith?
31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?' or ‘What shall we drink?' or ‘What shall we wear?'
32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 11: 25-30
25 At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.
27 "All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
The Answer I chose
#d--Sleep It Off (Rest)
This actually was an excruciatingly long game even though the actual disc didn't show it (I use a stand alone hard drive hooked to the TV for this kind of clip--I play while recording). This kind of game takes a lot of thought and sometimes you are in the same room if it's safe for quite a long period of time; I edited those parts and kept the entire game except the long pauses.
Have you ever had to take a risk and not do anything with a situation that's troublesome?
I bet all of us have to do this from time to time. Sometimes waiting is best even though threatened with loss. I've been given a real test in life and it's hard to wait sometimes. As of the time this lesson is written, I am looking for paid work to support God's calling for our ministry life and our physical needs. We don't know where the job will be or the pay, but we know we're safe for now. "The White Castle Experience", as I call it, is something I'm truly slowly learning from--a pattern of "hurry up and wait", meaning be ready like something is happening immediately, then wait for what seems to be a long time in our time table, however, it's not God's time table and this is where faith is to be built up and stored.
Before I fell asleep, I actually prayed for a loving solution to the game among other things. After I slept about 4 or 6 hours, I started the game up again (knowing that everything was the "same but different". I kept the game running all night and let the game go into a sort of "screen saver" mode (even though it's technically not a computer, but a video game system instead). The Black Bat would still be flying in the White Castle walls and the Red and Yellow Dragons were still in the same place. There was a small chance the Black Bat could have moved something, but the way the game had been going, I knew that likely the same ugly pattern would stay the same (but I would be safe). No bad guy can enter a castle even when left open unless you are on the outside of an open gate or go in at the same time as the bad guy. I also know that once inside a castle gate, no bad guy gets in, even though the gate doesn't shut with you inside it (constantly open without physically closed by the key). In other words, I lodged for the night inside the White Castle with the door unlocked and open and was safe by game design. Knowing the game helped me figure out I could lodge and not get eaten even if Rhindle the Red Dragon and/or Yorgle the Yellow Dragon were loose outside the Black Castle. Just imagine the castle or home you're lodged in allowing fresh comfortable air in as you sleep even though danger is just outside. God gave rest to me even though my game was in trouble at the time. I learned a lot that night, meaning not to sweat the small stuff and I have to remember that in my real life too.
The Gaming Solution: This is how the game ended--Watch
As you can see, I tried some of the old tricks that didn't work (because sometimes the Black Bat changes his mind), failing that, I eventually got brave and used my true nemesis in the game (the Black Bat) to fetch the magnet and this changed the Black Bat's pattern. The magnet had to be fetched or the sword would never come out of the White Castles walls. I eventually slayed Rhindle the Red Dragon and Yorgle the Yellow Dragon fled, but was trouble later. I didn't help myself by accidentally burying the sword in a Black Castle wall in the "Gray Dungeon" My original plan was to take the Sacred Chalice to an open area where Yorgle the Yellow Dragon would find it and instinctively guard it, then use the Black Bat to fetch the sword with the magnet, trade, then proceed to try to destroy Yorgle (so he couldn't eat me on my run to home with the Sacred Chalice). I quickly found out that the Bat liked to play with Yorgle, so I used that to my advantage and ran for it, thinking that the Bat was distracting the Yellow Dragon. The game was over finally and I won. I never got eaten once, which was a pleasant surprise.
What have we learned?
It's crazy how a game like this can be such trouble, but a great real life learning experience too. I think that we as humans, make things more complicated than they should be. I'm learning through the writing about this "White Castle Experience" that waiting and patience is sometimes best. In our first lesson, I stated that the White Key symbolizes holiness, righteousness, faith etc. For this lesson, the White Castle echoes those symbols and more. The fruits of holiness, righteousness, faith and might I add prayer, yields rest for the souls who sincerely come to Jesus Christ for it. This is "The White Castle Experience" in its fullest.