I came to tears 3/2/2019 over a John Fogerty song, “Put me in coach.” Laugh if you want now, but you’ll understand when I explain.
I thought of all the years of video gaming I did and became #1 in the world, but almost no tournaments. I trained video games hard all my life since the early 80s, playing them hard, and practicing, like a world champion would in sports. I’m not sure everyone knows the mentality of someone completely driven for one purpose, dedicated, practicing, embodying it. The raw dedication feeds on itself, and you just practice practice practice for this is your passion. I don’t think a lot of people even had my dream in the 80-90s. There were no top tier competitions, people didn’t even think you could make a living on it.
I did get #1 on the ladder in Starcraft and Warcraft 3, and D2 if you count that. I was able to consistently beat the guy who was #2 in the world. I actually identified him as the second-best Starcraft player on Earth. He went to South Korea and won first for several years. His online nick was named Xds’Grr. I did not go to South Korea because I was stuck at college doing the responsible thing, and did not trust the only invitation I received. It appeared to be an email that resembled a spam email for money with lots of zeros. Their currency has about an extra two or three zeros on it. I have no doubts that I would have done exceptionally well had I seized the chance to compete.
Later I was one of the top players of Warcraft 3. I can’t say for sure I was the best like I was in the Starcraft days, but I did have #1,1v1, 2v2 and 3v3 ladder for the East coast out of tens of thousands of players. And our 3v3 ladder went about 200 wins without our first loss which came because my allies were getting bored and started getting complacent. I recruited them into our 3v3 team because I could spot talent along the way.
With Warcraft 3, there were really no tournaments back in 2003. And the ones that were sold out fast. Typically the first 32 people to buy tickets online got in. For a point of comparison, Backstreet boy concerts for tens of thousands of people sell out in 20 seconds. The skill is less your Warcraft skill and more how fast you can buy tickets. Even in the Warcraft 3 beta tournament, Blizzard disqualified me because they changed the time of the tournament an hour in advance without notifying me.
It felt like the tournaments mostly eluded me. So despite training all my life to be the best video gamer I could become, even before it was a widespread thing, I never got a chance to prove myself on staged events or tournaments of the highest available tier. I trained all my life to not get a chance at a world-class, competitive tournament for prizes and recognition. I think of the song lyrics, “Put me in coach! I’m ready to play today.”
On 2/5/2019, I took a possibly career-ending injury when I fell. My right hand is numb and clumsy. I know this is all a part of God’s plan. Instead of a GOAT (Greatest of all time), I tell myself I want to be a SHEEP (Still humble every evening praying). It is possible my right hand will regain full sensation and dexterity over time. It is possible I may not be able to play video games at a world class level again.
I think to myself, “Who trains all their life, is the favorite to win any world championship and does not get a chance to compete?” But then my thoughts turn to evangelism. All our worldly trophies will go to dust! I don’t need to be #1 in the world at video games. It is much better to be a strong evangelist that tells people about God. We want to exalt God’s name. I wanted to get more exposure by obtaining fame again in order to tell more people that God is real. Well, I can have God be known other ways if that is not His will for me. I can evangelize. I can let people know that they’re loved by Jesus. Like a wounded trooper still fights on knowing he won’t see the fullest of life after combat, I can fight on for the faith. Jesus is LORD! Trust in him! God loves us! Let us love others! Amen! I can have a better dream than the one I worked decades for, the lyrics, “Put me in coach. I’m ready to play today”, can represent me putting all my efforts into being an evangelist. I can give up my dreams knowing that God will give me a fresh purpose and help me persevere how He desires. The tens of thousands of hours of training to become a champion video gamer are a small sacrifice compared to the reward for being in His will. It is humbling, but I can do it for God!
Then what brought me to legit gushing tears is the still voice in me, What if it isn’t me saying to God, but God is saying to me,’Put me in coach, I’m ready to play. Today.'” Obviously, God is greater than all and in charge of me, and he doesn’t need my permission to act. When we pray the LORD’s prayer, we do acknowledge this when we say, “God’s will be done.” My try hard self never thought, “I don’t need to stubbornly try hard and fight it all when I should rely on God even more.”
I subscribe to the idea of if you’re in a rowboat drifting out to sea, to row to shore while praying. Maybe I’ve been doing more rowing and not enough praying so I changed my plan for that day. I told God, “You’re the pilot of my life now! Do anything you want in my life! God’s will be done!” Then the whole day I focused on praying for God to be in control. I noticed everything going right like the reverse of frustration. But man, it brought me to tears for several minutes thinking, “What if God has been waiting all this time in our lives to get a chance, and instead of seeking His power, we’ve had him benched.”
Here are two songs to listen to capture the feel of this post:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
And:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Let God act in your life. Put God in play!
PS: I met Victor Nunez (coauthor of FatherSpiritSon.com ) who was #1 on Warcraft at a different time by a single post on TeamLiquid, a chance meeting. And his friendship and companionship are greater than any Earthly trophy or reward. It should be fun to see Jesus in Heaven with Victor and see who’s faith we helped. I know Jesus is real for a fact. Jesus personally sent miracles my way to prove himself and the Bible. Jesus is LORD!
24 Surely you know that many runners take part in a race, but only one of them wins the prize. Run, then, in such a way as to win the prize. 25 Every athlete in training submits to strict discipline, in order to be crowned with a wreath that will not last; but we do it for one that will last forever. 26 That is why I run straight for the finish line; that is why I am like a boxer who does not waste his punches. 27 I harden my body with blows and bring it under complete control, to keep myself from being disqualified after having called others to the contest.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (GNT).
Photo Credit: Gary Larson
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