Our lives as a video game

I play video games now and then, and lately I've been playing one that I borrowed from a friend. No matter what game I play, they all have the same basics.

In order to win a game the player has to reach multiple goals. They may not know what all of those goals are right up front, and sometimes they do. Sometimes it's a single goal for each level, and sometimes it's the same goal for each level...it's just that the levels get harder and harder. Sometimes there is a "boss", a really hard character, to beat at the end of a level. And sometimes they just have to use your wits and solve problems and find secrets.

When a person start off playing, they learn of a scenario. Sometimes that scenario includes the background to one or more characters, and sometimes it's basically just a story, like the opening to a book. From there, the player has to wander around figuring things out. Some of the puzzles are easy, and some are hard. Some are based in logic, and some are based upon common sense. No matter what they are based upon, they are still puzzles that must be solved. The reward for solving those puzzles can be money in the game, and sometimes the reward is a "key", or otherwise known as a trigger, that allows the player to move past that area to another part of the game.

With the events of today, mentioned in my previous message, I can easily relate to being a character in a video game. I don't want to coin a phrase, but the game we are in is called *life*. We are the main characters. YHWH is the game's Author and Creator. He has programmed certain events to happen. However, in order for those events to happen, other events have to happen first. So, have I lost you yet?

The opening scenario:

As an employee for a satellite installation company, you have recently been injured on the job. This is not the first time you have been injured on this job and decide to leave the company once you are well enough to return to work. As events play out, you realize that the injury will not allow you to do the same type of work as you have been doing, and you will probably never be able to do any work in the future that is similar to the job that you have been doing. Because you live in a small rural farming community, jobs are at a minimum, although there are some jobs to be found. As the head of a family, you must meet certain income requirements. Very few of the local jobs will allow you to meet that requirement. In order for your family to survive, you must maintain a certain level of housing, the previously-mentioned income requirement, and be able to have transportation to and from your new job. The Objectives in your DayTimer have been updated. You can view them at any point in the game to see where you stand.

As the game starts, you are placed in a city square with routes leading to an employment agency, an Internet cafe' (yes, small towns have them, too), your house, the local college, a prison, a farm, a fast food restaurant, and a bus station. As the main character of the game, you have to decide which route to start with, who to talk to along the way as well as at the destination, and what, if any, investigation you will do once you reach your destination.

Every day, each person on this planet, whether they are black, white, green, or polka-dot...whether they are tall, short, young, or old...all have to make choices. Once we make a choice, the very next second in the game is part of the "key" to the next choice that we will come up against. Sometimes the choice is just to get out of bed. Other times it's a little harder, like what to have for lunch. And then there are the really hard choices in life that, at some point in time, we all must face. Do I marry the person standing in front of me? Do I buy this house? Do I jump in front of the guy with a gun before he shoots the little boy, or do I try to talk him into dropping his gun? No matter what choice we make, there are consequences resulting from that choice. Sometimes they are positive, and other times negative. Sometimes the consequence IS the "key" to open a door to get us to the next choice we must face.

In our lives, we have been faced with many choices lately. Some have been very easy to make, and others have not been so easy. Let's go back to the game for a minute so you can try and figure out a clue....

While talking on the phone with a friend about farming and gardening, they happen to mention that they have another friend who just purchased a farm in Tennessee. A few days later you start talking with the person in front of you at the grocery store about taxes. They tell you that they just moved from a state that didn't have any state income taxes. You ask which one, and they say Tennessee. While reading email messages from a list that you belong to, you read that someone is moving to Tennessee because they got a really good deal on a house that they are going to be fixing up and reselling. That afternoon you are talking with another friend who said that a family member is coming out for a week-long visit. You ask where their family is coming from, and your friend replies, "Tennessee."

Do you see any similarities or clues for what "key" you need to find and take note of?

You pull out your DayTimer and make a one-word note on the notepad - Tennessee. You aren't exactly sure what that has to do with anything, but you know that word is important. The following day you are again going through your e-mail messages and read that there is a very important court ruling that is being decided on. As you read, you realize that you don't recognize any of the names mentioned, but then you realize that the location of the hearing is in Nashville, Tennessee. You think back to the note you put in your DayTimer....What does this mean?, you ask yourself.

This is how we started. When my wife and I started putting our heads together and comparing notes, we realized that we had been running into "Tennessee" all over the place. So, as in this hypothetical game, we took note of it. Were we to look for a house there? Were we supposed to just visit someone? Were we to drive through on our next vacation? We didn't know at first. It was only a clue.

So, as I looked for work locally, I quickly realized that I would not find any sustainable jobs except working for the prison nearby. That was also quickly ruled out as an option. So, I started looking for work back in the city where my mom and a few of our friends live. I applied for jobs and posted my resume' in a few places. It was as though I was sending my resume' to myself. I was getting very few views and even fewer responses, which were all negatives. Then something dawned on me. A couple of years ago I had, what I call a "snapshot vision." I only see a small picture, with no explanation. Sometimes I will get one of these, or words during prayer that aren't exactly where I am to go to. For instance, I will get the name of a book and three numbers. It is up to me to put the numbers in the correct order to receive the answer. Anyway, I recalled that I had put a red line originating from Ft. Collins, CO, in a ENE direction towards Chicago, IL. I forget the actual city, or the actual angle, but it was near Chicago. I looked at it and thought, "what if that line was just to show me the angle?" So, I pulled the map out, redrew the line, which had been erased since then, found out the angle and then mirrored it going in an ESE direction. CAN YA GUESS WHERE IT WENT??? That's right, through Tennessee.

From that point, we had questions. WHY Tennessee? WHERE *in* Tennessee? WHAT is there? We already knew people there, so that wasn't one of the questions. It was at that point I started putting feelers out and telling people about this odd thing that I did. If you want to see what my confusion looked like, go rent Close Encounters and look at the dad's face as he's building a mashed potato mountain. Whenever I prayed about it, I would get the same answer, "Wait."

You have made the decision to move to Tennessee. It's a big area. You now must decide what part of the state you will move to and where you will look for employment. While contacting possible employers, you see a pattern emerge. They would prefer you be in the state before they commit to interviewing you. You inquire about phone interviews and receive no response.

Back at your home, your bathroom is in disrepair. You have small projects that you can be doing that will not put stress on your injury. Some are outdoor projects that can only be done when it is warm enough to remain outdoors for awhile. Others are indoor projects that need to be completed when there is a time where you will not be interrupted.

Again, more choices were to be made. We figured out the WHEN part without too much hassle. I have two doctor appointments left, one in mid-March, and the other a little over a week later. At that point, I would be eligible to return to work. Rather than waiting around for them to find me work, which is what happened last time, and also have the Worker's Comp people wondering why I wasn't already back to work the minute I got released, I said that would be a good time to leave. So we made the decision to leave the day after my last doctor's appointment. This gave us a time table to work with. Unfortunately, the weather isn't cooperating very much to allow me to do some staining of a pair of doors. It's turning out where I will almost definitely have to do the staining inside the house rather than outdoors or in the garage.

You have put the move date into the calendar of your DayTimer. That leaves you with a short time to complete your assigned projects, prepare for the moving, and find suitable housing and employment.

Thanks to a friend who has directed you to some possible houses, you have a conversation with a realtor regarding a house that is for sale, but is also available to rent. By the end of the day, she states that if things don't work out for this particular house, she will work to get you into another house that will suit your needs.

This brings us to today. We have been solving problems, making choices, and following the clues. Then today, we had another person join our team - a certain realtor. She is going to be helping us out by looking for other houses that we can rent. On top of it, the house we are hoping to get into, as well as others that she will be showing us (if she has to) are in an area that we hadn't looked at, but has employment that I am suited for, and is apparently an area where a few people are looking at to relocate to, either from out of state or from another part of Tennessee.

Sometimes when you are playing a video game, the goal isn't always to "win". Sometimes the goal is to get you to a point where you meet or talk with someone that will play a vital part in the rest of the game. Sometimes it's to listen to that soft Voice inside of you so you will follow the right directions and make the correct choices. I'm sure we haven't made all of the correct choices during this part of our life. And I'm sure that we have a lot more choices to make before we end up where the Author is pointing us to. But it's the One that the Author has given to us who gives us hints that we have to listen to. He is the One that we ask for guidance and direction to the next destination. When we click on "Pause" for a minute while we go read the Instruction Book for the thousandth time because we kept missing a key word or two, He is the One who points those words out to us so that we can continue on the path in the game to the next problem we need to solve.

And in the end, we hope to hear Author's Voice say,

I am proud of you, My good and faithful servant. You have followed my instructions, and have gone down the path that I set for you, even before you began. You have accomplished the task I set before you.