Infinite Gauntlet

Not the best picture above, and that's probably because it was taken with this laptop computer!  But still, here's the view we have through the window when we watch Madison practicing at Edge ATA Martial Arts here.  I have a tendency to want to say "Karate," when in fact it is Taekwondo, or the more generic term here:  martial arts.  Of course, when I think of "arts," I think of paintings and sculptures and not beating someone to a pulp.  But there is an artistry to all of this, as evidenced by Madison's movements and positioning.  We've gone from using French terms with ballet positions, to Korean words with Taekwondo.

Meanwhile, Mommy and Daddy sit out in the lobby area, talking with other KidPak parents.  There are lots of them here, waiting for their kids inside.  Today, Madison took a bit of a test with her instructors, and she passed, learning all the postures and strikes that she needed to.  Thus accomplished, the instructor put a strip of tape on her belt, signifying that she's one step closer to moving up to a newer belt.  I'm not sure how many stripes go here, but it's a black stripe on an orange belt - yes, she's a tiger.

Today Madison was learning about democracies and autocracies in class.  The latter is a nice way of saying "dictatorships," "regimes," or "oppressed countries."  That used to be a pretty universally shared opinion, although Communism seems to be back in style in a way.  Not sure where that came from, but there are more than a few candidates that are open about their socialism or communism, and it doesn't seem to be a problem.  Whereas before, that would be something like poison.  Which it in fact is.  Education is important.

Anyway, today was a day to work on the new skits and a few devotional entries.  Daddy sat in Hoth, that is to say I was working on stage for a bit, with all the snow planet around me.  A change of atmosphere helps sometime with the creative juices, although I suspect any lack of creativity was due to the sniffles and sinus trouble and medication.  Yep, that's right:  school season is here, and therefore we're all dealing with this illness or that ailment.

It was a rather routine night here as you can see.  We sat down and watched some more episodes of "Rebels," and there was also time for piano practice as well.  Mommy made a delicious salmon dinner for us, although Madison prefers the pizza.   And soon after we were finishing up "The Carnivorous Carnival," about to head into new territory with our reading of the "Unfortunate Events" series.  We said our prayers, did the zerberts - and of course Madison is always still hiding from us when we come up to say goodnight.  This tradition has not died - it's been going on since the beginning of school or longer, where we come upstairs and Madison is hiding somewhere, ready to jump out and say "Boo!"  Sometimes there are decoys, and sometimes she's hiding in a hamper or behind something very small.  It's been different each night, of course, whereas before it was always in the same spot generally, which was always funny pretending to be surprised!

It was a normal night though, and you'll excuse me as I'm sneezing and sniffing here.  Time to take some night time medication, and time to say goodnight!  But before I do that, here's a devotional entry, and maybe a long-sought-after answer about the original game of Gauntlet, the one you found in arcades. It's a fun memory, a true story, and perhaps a tiny point to it as well:

“So don’t worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Galatians 6:9 NIRV

     Some time ago there was a game called Gauntlet in the arcades.  It was a simple concept:  four people could play at a time, all part of a team that had to fight off bad guys, find food and treasure, and get through a maze. When they got through that maze, the reward was this:  another maze.
     This sets up a true story from my college days, when a few of us set out to discover just how many levels there were in this game.  It just kept going, and surely there was an end to it, right?
     One day, destiny called!  Somehow the folks in charge of the arcade made a mistake with the way they set up Gauntlet. The game was arranged in a way that we could get unlimited lives, without putting any quarters in it at all. Yes!  Free gaming!
     This was our chance to answer an important question:  does Gauntlet have an ending?  Our team of adventurers had a plan:  when not in class, we would take shifts in playing this game.
     For hours and hours and hours, there’d be teams of us playing this game, one maze after another, all day long.  But the hour grew late.  Would we endure to the end?
     “Wizard needs food badly,” that game’s voice called out.  We had to go home.  But what about Gauntlet?  Overnight, we knew that the characters slowly died without food.
     That’s when we came up with a plan:  we pressed the buttons that made it seem like we were putting in a whole lot of quarters. Yes!  Now all the characters were full of life, and hopefully they’d survive overnight.  After a fretful night of sleep, we all raced back to the college arcade that morning, in desperate hopes that our characters were still alive in that maze.
      And yes, indeed, there was much rejoicing!  They all did, and yes the marathon continued into the second day.  And after that, the third day.  Yes, we played this game day after day like this, shifts of people playing maze after maze, a team working together with purpose. We were moving on and on and on, wondering if the arcade game Gauntlet has an actual end.  Level 500 was approaching – would this be the end of the game?
      No. And hopefully I’m saving you some time if you ever try such an exploit!  After a week of keeping the hope alive that we’d get to the end of this game, we found our answer:  this game has no end.
     And that brings us to the bottom of this page, and hopefully a point, which is this:  life is really about the journey, and not just the destination.  Sure, we didn’t quite end up exactly where we thought we would. But we had a great time getting there.
     Don’t be so concerned about where you’re going that you miss out on where you are now.  Jesus told us not to worry about tomorrow.  He’s got it taken care of.  Live for him each day, and fight the good fight of faith so that together we can live with Him in the place that truly has no end:  heaven.