There is a repeating trend that occurs among the internet population that I just don’t understand. Basically it goes like this: little known thing is seen as awesome by the few people that know about it, some big shot exec somewhere runs across it, shows it to the rest of the world which immediately loves it, and suddenly there’s a huge backlash among the original community against it. We can see this happening RIGHT now with Michael Cera. (And the execs are capitalizing on it even, below is a trailer for Scott Pilgrim that shows him getting punched, repeatedly. I guess this is what the people want now…)

While I’m not really a fan of his movies, I don’t think Michael Cera deserves the animosity, and I find this kind of backlash to be strange. I’m the type of person that’s loyal almost to a fault to the things and people that I admire. They’d have to go pretty far to lose my support, but they can lose it.

God, however, is not unstable like the people that rage against the things that they once loved, and His loyalty to His creation (that’s us) is as infinite as He is. He will not give up on us, no matter how far we stray.

The Psalmist tells us of His never ending quality:

Psalm 102:25-27

Of old You laid the foundation of the earth,
And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
They will perish, but You will endure;
Yes, they will all grow old like a garment;
Like a cloak You will change them,
And they will be changed.
But You are the same,
And Your years will have no end.

The term constant is used in mathematics and physics to define something as unchanging. It’s the exact opposite of variable. God and His word are the only constants in this world.

Just as in Lost, Daniel Faraday needed a constant to keep him grounded in his correct time line, we need a constant to keep us grounded in reality. When the world around us changes what’s good and bad, when friends decide to abandon us for other friends or interests, God is there.

If we feel God has abandoned us, it’s time to examine our lives. God does not move away from us, we separate ourselves from Him with sin. Consider Job, who lost all his possessions, children, and health, and then had his wife advise him to curse God and die. To top it all off, his friends stopped by to tell him how horrible he must have been because of all the things that’s happened to him. After all that, Job still remained faithful to God. He knew that God would never abandon him.

God will never abandon you.

So I ask you, who is YOUR constant?

If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be God is my constant.

As a self-proclaimed Christian geek, technology is not the only part of the geek label. As a matter of fact, the technology aspect is more of a side-effect of my true interest: Gaming. I enjoy playing all sorts of games: video games, mind games (kidding!), card games, board games, table-top games, pen and paper games, etc. And I know that there are a LOT of games that I haven’t had a chance to try, and some that when I do play, I just don’t grokk them. But I’m not afraid to try new games to see what they’re like. The hardest part is the expense in buying a game just to try it.

That said, this post is really intended to discuss one of my favorite games that I currently play: Dungeons and Dragons.

Now I know that this game has had a lot of bad press (warning, large image) in its day. The negative imagery most people have ranges from ‘A game only for pimply-faced mouth-breathing 12 year olds’ to it being ‘Intro to Satanism and Witchcraft 101.’ Or, even more outrageous of a claim: it’s the cause of murders and suicides world-wide.

In truth, there are several well known people that play. I’m not saying that they are model citizens, but they seem to be somewhat well adjusted and they are definitely not pimply-faced mouth-breathing 12 year olds.

As for the Intro to Satanism and murder-suicide bit, well, it is what you make of it.

The game is of the pen and paper variety, meaning that it requires a pen and paper to play. (Or for those who like the tech advancements, you can use a computer as well.) These games reside primarily in the imagination and use paper to keep track of the rules and statuses of the characters and dice to help add a sense of danger for the character. They are played cooperatively against the imaginary world the Game Master has created (sometimes with the help of the players.)

Ultimately, however, if you boil the game down to its core mechanic it’s this: rolling a specific die to see if your random number plus bonuses are better than a predetermined target number. I know it sounds terribly boring, and it can be with the wrong mix of players. The fun comes in when you’re gathered around a table with friends who are working together to weave an intricate story that’s less about magic and fighting, and more about the interactions between characters from far-off worlds and civilizations.

Think of the game as Cops and Robbers or Cowboys and Indians (I suppose the PC way of putting that would be Cowboys and Native Americans) with rules to determine exactly who gets shot at a stand-off.

There are many different types of these games, some deal with superheroes, some with army and military strategies, some with spaceships and lightsabres. The differences reside mainly in the rules and the fluff: “Your med-kit helps your character recover from its injuries from the bullet wound.” Vs. “Your healing spell helps your character recover from its injuries from the sword cut.”)

Since these games are limited only to the players imaginations, which would affect the players’ descriptions of their characters’ actions, they can become either extremely dark and gory or light and funny. They don’t inherently demand worship of any god or demon, nor do they have any magic in them beyond mild descriptions such as “Bolts of light leap from my character’s fingertips as he casts Magic Missile.” Also I really have never found anything in it that would cause me to become homicidal. However, I suppose that anything can be made into a religion. And people can find anything to kill and die over.

If you are looking to play any of these types of games, I’d highly recommend sitting in and watching to make sure that they mesh with your desired play style before actually joining in. That way, if they take it a little too seriously, you can bail without any hurt feelings on either side. But don’t give up on the game just because the group you found doesn’t fit. All those words above this are basically trying to explain that the game varies wildly from one group to another and that the group itself is what makes the difference between an enjoyable experience, and something akin to fingernails on a chalkboard.

The group I GM for is composed of Christian men. (And one lady, if she ever got around to joining us.) We get together once or twice a month to goof off and act silly while I attempt to provide some semblance of story telling. It’s great fellowship and we’ve grown closer since we’ve started.

I am a Christian foremost. I am a geek second. I’m also a certified Dungeon Master. I look forward to telling you about some of our adventures soon!

I gave this lesson last night (Wednesday August 11th, 2010.) It focuses on Acts 4. This time I managed to get a recording, so I’ve attached that. With this lesson I attempted to use notes that are more in an outline format rather than writing everything down, so the transcription isn’t going to be exact. I’m trying to push myself to improve, and even though I might’ve taken a step backwards in delivery (lots of uhms and ahs) I feel that I myself have improved on being able to improvise a bit more rather than having it all scripted.

Again, thank you to all the members of the congregation and all your kind words. I really appreciate it!

Click for the transcript...

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The other day I posted a link to my friend’s blog “The Sundry Blogger” That apparently is his secondary, secular blog. He has another called Pop Goes the Preacher which seems to be similar to my efforts here (if not a bit more focused.) The premise is that since Jesus used parables – stories about the culture in that time – to teach heavenly concepts, we can, and probably should do the same. And that is what Brent tries to do on his blog.

I must admit, however, that he has far surpassed me on the DiscipleGeek meter with his latest blog entry: The Worship of the Cybermen by combining Doctor Who with the Bible. I am definitely impressed and felt the need to give him the props he deserves.

:: Pop Goes the Preacher ::

This is the blog of a friend of mine from college. I’ve always admired his dedication to the faith, as well as his knowledge of the Bible. He is currently undergoing chemo treatments to battle colon cancer. Despite the toll these treatments are taking on him, he retains a positive outlook and upbeat attitude. He also keeps his blog updated regularly, which, obviously, is something I still struggle to do.

Please remember to keep him in your prayers as he fights this disease.

::The Sundry Blogger::