In 1986 I was four years old. That same year Nintendo released a little game for it’s Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) called Metroid. Something different than what had been done before, it was a side-scrolling game like Super Mario Bros. but the player also collected various items to enhance Samus Aran: an inter-galactic bounty hunter that roamed this non-linear world (akin to the Legend of Zelda). Due to the game’s vastness, it also included a password feature like the Mega Man games. I was finally introduced to it a few years after it’s release and spent hours working to saves Planet Zebes from the Mother Brain and her dreaded Metroids; something similar to a “face-hugger” from Alien. The greatest shocker to the original came during the game’s end credits, when you realized that Samus was a woman. Samus Aran was the first real video game heroine. Since that time, Metroid has gone on to become an impressive franchise of it’s own, spawning numerous sequels over various Nintendo gaming systems; all of which I own or had played heavily, as Metroid is my favorite video game franchise behind The Legend of Zelda. Metroid almost became a major motion picture that would have been directed by John Woo.
Sometimes I get nostalgic for first generation versions of games like Metroid, Mega Man, and The Legend of Zelda; ok, more than sometimes. Recently, I found a few videos on YouTube of “speed runs” though the original Metroid and Metroid II: The Return of Samus: incredible play-through of these games in record times. As I watched both of these – and yes I watched both in their entirety – not only did the memories return from when I was nine years old, but a I marveled at the perfection of the game-play. The amount of time someone would have to play the game to know it so well, where very item is hidden and the optimum method and order to collect them. The daredevil risks taken in the game for the sake of that record time: taking certain hits on purpose and rushing in to certain areas – seemingly unprepared – long before one should but emerging victorious precisely because you know the material, obstacles, and terrain so well. That’s preparation.
My mentor, teacher, and dear friend Ken Rudolph often preaches a sermon about David’s Mighty Men each summer at Lake Ann Camp. In the sermon he talks of how these men where men of practice, men of preparation; they knew their craft and knew it well, for this small band could have conquered entire nations by themselves; they were King David’s “Special Forces”. These guys took huge risks, like breaking into enemy territory just to get King David water from the well of Bethlehem, his home town, but they were prepared. These guys were like the Bible’s version of The Expendables.
I think that faith in Christ works this way too: the more you know of Him, the more you see Him do, the more miracles – great and small – that you experience, the more your faith is built up. The more your faith is built up and strengthened, the more you trust Him with the life He’s given you (yes, it is a weird paradox). The more your faith is built and you embrace the greater Freedom of trusting Him, the more you can help others by loaning that faith out to others to build them up; Revelation 12:11 in real-life. The more your faith in Him is built and the more you can trust Him, the greater risks you can take and step out all the more into the destiny He has for you; Ephesians 2:10 in real-life. It sounds a lot like the journey of Samus Aran in Metroid and Link in The Legend of Zelda.
Right now, my risk is spending $500+ to go to Nashville, TN on September 21, 2012 for The Quitter Conference lead by Jon Acuff – not knowing a thing about what my future will look like after early November. The board is set and the pieces are moving towards that day.
Are you prepared to step out? What do you need to risk?
The Adventures of Aaron and the FENX 4.x 