bite sized: seasons

Hey loggers, welcome back to another bite sized episode of the Backlog Breakdown. But you know where you are, right? You clicked on your podcast catcher, you opened this up on YouTube. You, you probably know better than I do where we are. Hopefully that's not the case. Hopefully I know where I'm, I know where I'm at. I am, I'm in a episode of bite sized episode of the Backlog Breakdown. So welcome. Thanks for joining me this this morning, this afternoon, this evening, this late, late night. Maybe you're in the middle of a nice little gaming sesh yourself, turning on a podcast. This one's going to be a short one because like I've said, this is bite sized and on bite sized episodes we have some not fully formed thoughts, but maybe some, some budding seedlings of a thought to share with you and hopefully it can be an encouragement. You know, here at the Backlog Breakdown we want to equip and encourage the church to play wisely and well. So playing is a good thing. It's a good gift from God. But we want to do it in a way that's wise. We want to do it in a way that honors the God who's given us the ability to play and to recreate that. Not all life is work. A good, a good chunk of life is work. We were created to work, but we also have these rhythms of rest that we want to be a part of as well. And that's what I want to talk about today. You know, I just went on a bit of a vacation in that we went back to Texas for a couple weeks to visit family and we had a fantastic time while we were down in Texas. And by the time that we came, came back up to where I live in Iowa, we, a snowstorm had blown in and there was already 8 or so inches of snow on the ground when we drove back in. And so we are feeling the winter weather already. There was, there was a morning where temperatures with wind chill dropped down to minus 20. So that was fun. We were not actually, we were driving in during that time. So I didn't personally experience it. But I'm saying that winter is not coming, but winter is actually here. And that has me thinking about a number of different things that I would like to share with you hopefully again to encourage you, equip you to play wisely and well. So with winter being here, living where I do now, as opposed to where I did in Texas, one of the, one of the main differences is that we actually have seasons here. We have four distinct Seasons throughout the year. And it just impresses upon me that there are different things that you have to do during each season, but also life just feels a bit different during each season. And to take stock of where you are in life.

Depending on the season that you are in, that can help you to align your life or maybe even just your expectations. I know it's been very helpful for me in order to do that. So like I said, we have, we want to accomplish the work that God has given us to do. We also want to be able to rest and spend some, some free time enjoying the good things that God has given us, which may or may not include video games depending on your areas of responsibility in your life. And there are certain limitations that are placed upon us with different seasons of life. So in the more literal form of the word season, look, as the year winds down here, at least in North America where I am, the days are shorter. And so I have to take into account we are going to be spending more time inside just as a family, as people, because it's colder outside and it's going to get darker a lot earlier. And so if I take these things into account as I try and plan out my days, it actually helps me to set the expectations that I have for myself and for other people. And it's, it's very helpful because then I'm not frustrated or as, as the term in the scripture is that I'm not kicking against the goads in against the natural limitations that, that are placed upon me just because of the way that the world works. And I think some of that is true not only with, with the more literal seasons of the year, but also within the season that you might be in, in life. Okay. Nate and I are both dads, so that limits the time that we can spend playing video games. In some ways it can encourage it playing with our children or our wives, but in other ways it limits us because we have more responsibility on our plates. Maybe you're going through something. Maybe there's something that's happened in your life, or maybe responsibilities are increasing for you, or perhaps, I don't know, there's going to be a day when me and my wife are empty nesters. Maybe I'll have more free time. Whether I choose to spend that on video games or whether I choose to spend that on other things. That remains to be seen because that is still a far way off but recognizing the season of life. In fact, I would encourage you, as you're listening to this, to take a moment just to take Stock of where you are in life, where God has you, where he has placed you, and think through your responsibilities and how you ought to fulfill those responsibilities. And therefore, what is a realistic amount of time that you can.

Just set aside for entertainment? Because that's at the end of the day, that's kind of what video games are. Yes, it's a form of rest, a form of recreation. I would put it in that category. But ultimately it is entertainment which can, you know, be more or less in that scale of true recreation. There are probably hobbies that pay more dividends than video games. However, video games have, you know, for some of us who really enjoy them, I particularly enjoy the stories that they tell, the things that they touch on there and the challenge, the way that you use your mind while you're actually playing. So I would slot it in above most movies and TV in terms of entertainment. I think it's a little bit better because it's interactive. There are some very impactful movies and TV shows that I've seen that I think pay more dividends. Anyways, I'm getting kind of granular here, but taking stock of where you may be in life, where God has you will help you to think through. Okay, so how much can I reasonably, reasonably expect to play in this next season of life? And then that helps so that you're not quite. So you don't have the same expectations of maybe a YouTuber that you watch who plays video games for a living, who's knocking out, you know, 30 hour games every other week, or in the case of, you know, streamers, maybe every, you know, a couple of those every week. Which is just absolutely crazy based on my current experience like that. That would never be me, even though, hey, I've got this podcast, right? So I should be doing that. No, no, I have other responsibilities. I have things going on and, and so I don't put high expectations on the amount of time that I'm able to play. And I would encourage you to do that, that same thing so you don't have outsized expectations because that can tend to create a sense of entitlement that if I'm not able to play as much as I want to play, then then I get upset and that's not cool. Especially when you recognize, hey, God has you in the season that you're in for a purpose and I want to accomplish that purpose. Of course, talking about seasons, thinking about these things, it brings up Ecclesiastes 3 in my mind. So I'd like to read the first few verses of Ecclesiastes 3 that kind of stick out. It says, for everything there's a season and a time for every matter under the sun. A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up what's planted, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, A time to seek and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away, a time to tear and a time to sow, A time to keep silence and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. So God has created these different seasons in your life? In my life. And it would be, I think, in order to be faithful, we ought to think about the season that we're in and identify it and try to live according to the way that God has us in our lives, each of us. So that's my encouragement for you today before I go. Part of actually, this is where the kernel of this came from, in addition to the winter weather blowing in, is that I think we are in a particularly unique season. And yes, I say that it rolls around every single year. But as this is being released, we are in this time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So we've just come off the celebration of thanks, where we recognize the blessings in our life, what God has has bountifully given us in our lives, the harvest time, where we get to enjoy the good gifts that God has given us and recognize those and be thankful for those, one to another and before God. And also we're now anticipating the celebration of Christmas of God incarnate God with us, Emmanuel Jesus, who came to seek and save the lost, who took on flesh, who condescended and took on flesh to be with us, to live a life perfect before God and to take our sins upon himself and to powerfully resurrect after his crucifixion and ascend to the right hand of the Father. And we get to in this time, we have hearts of thankfulness and we get to look forward to it is this time of Advent where we look forward to the coming of Christ. Obviously, for us today, Christ has already come, but we get to look forward to his second coming as well and remind ourselves of these things. And I think that's just.

Again, I would give you an encouragement to take a moment and recognize those things with hearts full of thankfulness with maybe the the bounty that you've gotten on Black Friday. I know I picked up a few games as well and also looking forward to that gift of what God has done for his people, the love that he has poured out upon us to strengthen us and to accomplish his mission. May those things encourage you as you walk your pilgrim path on the way home. Yeah, hopefully this has been an encouragement. I know it's it's about video games. It's also a little not about video games, but hopefully this will help as you think through these things. The help you to play better, to play well, to play in such a way that God is glorified in your play and to seek, to seek, to play for glory, but to play for God's glory. Hopefully that's helpful to you and we'll see you on the next full episode next week of the Backlog Breakdown. So till then, loggers keep beating down your backlogs and we'll keep breaking down the benefits.