The grass really is greener, so you kids get off my lawn

Listen well to me my friends, for I have a tale to tell. No love ballad this, but a lament. You will never again hear a story of such yearning or of a love this keen; so attend to me. I will tell you of a time long ago in a magical place....

Malibu Speed Zone. It had a go-kart track and a putt-putt course and best of all, an arcade. Not just any arcade, but on Saturdays, you could pay $10 a person and play unlimited games for 2 hours. I will say it again for emphasis: UNLIMITED GAMES. My father (the greatest man evah) would take me in, pay my fee and then I would run rampant. Every machine had credits on it,and all you had to do was press start. Want to play Dragon's Lair? Just push start. Want to play Neo-Geo's Fatal Fury? Push Start. Virtua Fighter (POLYGONS!)? Revolution X (Aerosmith's game)? The Simpsons? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? X-Men? Street-Fighter 2 Turbo? Daytona USA? Tekken? Gauntlet? All these and more for FREE (free for me, thank you dad).

If by random happenstance, you ran out of credits, and the dreaded countdown started, all you had to do was yell, scream really(I mean, it IS counting down and you don't want to have to start over and you have been playing for like 5 minutes and if your game ends that weird smelling older kid with acne and braces is going to make you move....) and some world-weary 15 year old with a broken soul would come over with a key on a chain to open the metal door where the quarters go in and give you more credits, thus allowing you to continue your quest.

Those were the best Saturdays I have ever had (sorry dear). I tore those machines up. I guarantee you that they never made any money off of me or my father. I like to imagine that the sweaty, balding, lives-in-the-back-office manager weeping as he totals up the days receipts.

One time, I even brought friends. The four of us wrecked so much pixelated havoc that it was likened unto Ragnarok. There was no maiden unrescued, no fight not fought, no alien not repulsed. It was amazing. They even sold candy. (Poprocks!)

My sons will never know such beauty. They will never have an experience like that. They will never hold a disturbingly warm and slightly damp joystick in one hand and feverishly pound buttons with the other while screaming at their friend to please, for the love that is all holy! Cover your side of the screen, I'm tired of getting hit just because you can't protect the flank properly. PUT YOUR INHALER DOWN YOU CAN BREATHE WHEN WE WIN!!

Sure, there are still arcade games and arcades, but the environment is completely different. For one, arcade games now are crazy expensive, most dedicated places are skewed for 'adults' and include way to many 'prize games'. Also, I'm pretty sure no one understands quarter etiquette any more. And good luck finding a package like that. That would be like finding a super-model who wants to DM your 3.5 D&D campaign (she doesn't like 4e) and who has an indepth understanding of the Pre-Crisis DC Universe. AND wants to date you and doesn't mind that you live in your mother's basement (it's cost effective and endearing).

I know video games today are better than they were back then. I grew up with games. The very first one I played was Pong with my dad on our Atari 2600. I have seen and played hundreds (maybe thousands?) of games. And the games today are so much better now. I'm not even just talking about the graphics. It's really everything. We recently let my son pick out a PS1 game to download on the PS3, and it looked like a monkey was the art director and then smeared vaseline on my TV. Total crap. And the controls! It was like they didn't even HAVE a physics engine!

But those Saturday mornings at Malibu Speed Zone, nothing will ever beat that.

Simon, Shuster and Keats

When I was in college, I took an English course during the summer of 2004 and as a consequence spent most of June, July and August reading. More than anything else I read that summer Keats' poem "Ode to a Grecian Urn" has stuck with me. Specifically the line "Beauty is truth, truth beauty". I remember reading those words and experiencing this rush of recognition, of overwhelming validity. Things that are beautiful are true and truth is beautiful. Since that time, I have seen this played out in front of me, over and over again.

As a Christ-follower, I see God and His influence everywhere. Anything that's true and beautiful is a reflection of Him, of His character. I see God in the way a father patiently teaches a child, the way a mother soothes a wound. In the natural world around me. I'm not being heretical or saying God is in all things, I'm saying that the reason we know beauty and goodness exist is because God is good and exudes beauty. True beauty and truth is a reflection of Him and has it's basis in Him.

This strikes me most when I see it in literature, movies, and songs. Especially when it isn't the author's intent. For example, there is a Superman story called 'Last Son' written by Geoff Johns. You can read a synopsis of it here or you can buy it here. Basically, Superman and Lois can't have kids (because he's an alien, not human) and he and Lois find a Kryptonian boy whom they adopt and call Chris. Then some bad guys come and there is some fighting and they send all the bad guys back to the Phantom Zone through a portal. But the portal won't close, because the portal is staying open for Chris. In order to save the world, Chris has to fly back into this horrible alternate dimension filled with bad guys. Superman begs him not to go, but Chris does, because he's Superman's son, and that's what Superman would do. I see Christ's sacrifice on the cross. Maybe I'm crazy.

I've been listening to Mumford & Sons a lot recently and: 1) they are good and 2) I hear God in these songs. I'm not saying they are Christians, or that you should buy their album. One of their songs has the f-bomb in it. That could be cause they are British, or it could be because they are they are jerks and d-bags. I don't know anything about that. But read these lyrics:

"Love that will not betray you, dismay or enslave you, It will set you free. Be more like the man you were made to be. There is a design, an alignment to cry, at my heart you see, the beauty of love as it was made to be." -Sigh No More

"I will hold on hope and I won't let you choke on the noose around your neck. And I'll find strength in pain and I will change my ways I'll know my name as it's called again... Now let me at the truth which will refresh my broken mind. So tie me to a post and block my ears, I can see widows and orphans through my tears, I know my call despite my faults and despite my growing fears. So come out of your cave walking on your hands and see the world hanging upside down, you can understand dependence when you know the maker's hand. Cause I need freedom now, and I need to know how to live my life as it's meant to be." - The Cave

"In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die. Where you invest your love, you invest your life. Awake my soul, awake my soul, awake my soul. You were made to meet your maker." - Awake Your Soul

"Corrupted by the simple sniff of riches blow, I know you have felt much more love than you've shown, and I'm on my knees and the water creeps to my chest. I begged you to hear me, there's more than flesh and bones. Let the dead bury the dead, they will come out in droves. But take the spade from my hands and fill in the holes."-Thistle and Weeds

If you seek God, you will find Him. If you know His voice, you'll hear His cry. If you know His story, you will see it played out around you. As a picture is not a person, these things are not Him. Just flickering shades, pale imitations of the true immeasurable person of God. Who loves you and died for you. So that you may know Him and make Him known.