You know the way you get hooked on some things that you never really meant to become involved in. Maybe it's a soap on television, a movie, a good book, even a news story or a sporting game. I recall, just a few years back being glued to the television, watching the OJ Simpson trial and all that led up to it and staring open-mouthed as the verdict was announced. The same went for the trial of the young English nanny, Louise Woodward, some time later. It was riveting television and I guess real life has that effect on all of us, when it is beamed into our homes and we become the 'fly on the wall'. But a video game? Well that's just a bit different, don't you think? Especially when one has reached the age where his first experience of this new form of entertainment was two paddles trying to 'bat' a dot of light back and forth, in a game inappropriately called 'tennis'.But I was definitely hooked on Zelda, though the use of the past tense suggests that I have left it all behind, which may not be essentially the whole truth. It just wasn't like other games eldest son had. The James Bond one, Mario, Formula One, they were all great fun but I just seemed to get motion sickness every time I played them. It was worse than sitting in the back of a bus and trying to read a magazine. Zelda was different. It was more of a strategy game, a life adventure almost, as you guided the young Link through a series of tasks, defeating some rather fierce enemies along the way and also seeing him reach adulthood and helping him to become equipped with a whole variety of weapons, potions and protection that allowed him to travel that little bit further through the kingdom of Hyrule. Of course, what really helped was a book son had that we appropriately called the 'cheat book' but was in effect a guide through each stage that helped you know where to go, how to collect bonuses and also how to defeat the enemies. In the end I never finished the game but it wasn't for lack of effort and if I can dig it out again, I'll maybe give it another rattle.
But there are two things I remember about the game. First,the little pink bottle of potion that automatically restored you to life when you were destroyed by an enemy. It always made me think of that wonderful verse in Psalm 23 which says, 'He leads me beside still waters, He restores my soul' or as the New Living translation puts it, 'He renews my strength.' How wonderful to know that God is ever present with us, just waiting to have us rest and be restored in His care.
But the reason I didn't finish the game was because I reached a stage where the young hero, Link, had to become a child again to complete the next level and I just couldn't adjust to that scenario, especially since I had lost the guide book. Yet doesn't Jesus tell His disciples in Matthew 18, 'unless you turn from your sins and become as little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.' it really is that simple. Childlike faith and our guide book, the Bible. Then there is no enemy we cannot defeat. Don't give up. Let Him restore you and go forward in His strength.
