Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start

Now I know that some of you (if there are any of you that still read my blog) probably have no idea what I am talking about if I say "up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start." You are probably thinking that my absence from the blogging world has made me mad and I am talking some kind of crazy code. Well I am--not crazy, but talking some kind of code. In fact, I am talking about the greatest video game code the gaming industry has ever known.

For those of you who were with me from the beginning, you definitely know what I am talking about. I speak of the 99 lives code for Contra. Contra was video game about... well I don't really know except that you were a military operative with an unbelievable arsenal-- my favorite was the spread canon (gamers out there come on, raise the fist, that's what I'm talking about!)and a mission to take out the bad guy and everyone who stood in your way.

I am not here to talk about the game as much as I am here to talk about the code. This code, although great, took some skill to input. It wasn't like you could just put it in whenever you wanted, you had to input it at exactly the right time or you would have to try again. This perfect moment was right after the game was turned on, more over right after the Konami logo (the game manufacturer) would appear. So picture me a little kid sitting in front of this game hastily trying to input the controls on a 5" by 1 1/2" piece of plastic with sweaty, chubby thumbs all before the Konami logo disappeared. After about the tenth time through this horrific cycle I heard a "ching" come from the screen. That "ching" meant that I had completed the code in the proper sequence in time and I was now rewarded with 99 lives to use as I pleased.

For those of you who are still thinking that this is way over your head, those 99 lives allowed me to be rather careless in my game playing. That was because there was no real consequence for death after the code was entered correctly. I could run my character headlong into a battalion of troops with nothing but a spoon for a weapon. I would die, but my hero would appear right where he fell ready to do battle again.

Some might think that playing Contra with the gift of the code is great and perfectly OK, and some might think that it is cheating. The thing of it is that I am not here to say yes or no to either. The code was given to scrupulous gamers as gift. Some gamers decided to use this gift and others didn't. The criminal thing about the code was the difference in the way I played the game after I had input the code.

This I feel is the same way that I go about my life under the saving gift of God's grace. I have more than "99 lives"--I have eternal life but I still go recklessly through life just expecting to reappear like my Contra counterpart. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9:24

"Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one
receives the prize. Run in such a way that you may win."

He is saying that we have to play, run, and live with intent. It is not an attitude of anything I do is OK because I have the code. We are to understand, using the game analogy, that even though we have the lives to spare we are to play as to win with the four that we were originally given. Paul continues in verse 26

"Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a
way, as not beating the air."

God has given us the greatest code, in the saving grace of His son Jesus Christ. This unlike the classic Contra code, is very real, and we should not live as if we were playing Contra.

God Bless, as usual comments are welcome

Peace Out Two Fingers

Shaun