tuning out

I apologize to whoever is out there for my absence.  I have no specific excuse; I have been distracted.
It is possible to be overwhelmed by the Lord and by life in general.  Seeing life in true reality can be a scary thing, and can tire the mind.

Rather than continue to speak in abstract, let me give you an example.  I was watching BBC news the other night.  It was about the technology craze in South Korea.  Craze is not an accurate word really; perhaps obsession would be a better one.  It has literally taken over the country.  

Some statistics:  there are more than 28,000 gaming parlors in Seoul.  Granted, there are over 10 million people crammed in the city, but these parlors generate over $6 billion annually.  There are five cable television channels devoted to gaming, showing tournaments, techniques, and new games.

There are several deaths attributed to computer gaming in South Korea.  A couple’s four-month-old baby died because the couple was gaming for over ten hours.  I read about two men who died from exhaustion; one playing for fifty hours straight.  I am sure there are more.  

Fifteen million people in South Korea are regular gamers.  There is a new craze taking over the gaming world; it is called Cyworld.  Cyworld is a virtual world.  People create themselves in a virtual room.  They add their spouse, children, and pets.  They then spend money buying virtual furniture, scenery, decorations.  Some people spend hours a day playing in their virtual life; socializing with their real friends in cyberworld.  As of now, 1 in 3 South Koreas has a virtual self.  One woman said that she gets satisfaction in her cyberworld that she cannot get from the real world.

The most fascinating thing about the piece was a segment about an office building in South Korea.  The cameramen zoomed in for a second on a fish tank located in the waiting room of the building.  The fish tank was not an ordinary one however; it was a digital fish tank.  Digital koi were swimming in digital water.

When asked why he spends so much time in the gaming parlor, one man replied, “It’s a unique outlet for personal expression and a rare chance to be different.”   Psychologists call this obsession escapism, detached socializing, and a form of anti-social behavior.  

What my point is…

A cursory glance at the situation in South Korea may find nothing really wrong.  What is the harm in playing games on the computer?  However, I look at the situation and I ask myself, why the need to escape reality?  These games are not Pac-Man® or Donkey Kong®.  These are role-playing games that involve hundreds and thousands of players.  They enter into another dimension and take on the characteristics of their icon.  What’s up with real life for these people?

There is no argument here that this world is tough; sometimes it is downright scary.  I can see why people want to avoid that reality and seep into something distracting.  I have thousands of books that would indicate I have a tendency to do the same thing on occasion.  But if it becomes a consuming passion, something is wrong.  

There is a force in the world that leads people to distraction.  And that force seems to have done its job well, hasn’t it?  Cell phones, plasma televisions with cable, email, I-Pod’s, DVD players in the car, Blackberry.  Do you pay attention to one single thing at a time anymore?  Multi-tasking is a requirement these days.  

But there is one thing that is speaking to your heart in a still, small voice.  There is a light shining beyond the technology that wants your attention.  He will not try to dazzle you with a technological stage show, but He has His ways.  Ever watch a full moon blaze orange across the starry sky?  Ever watch a mother bird lay on her nest waiting for her precious eggs to hatch?  

But even though real life has so much to offer, there is more.  There is actually Someone out there that wants to be your permanent distraction.  If you were to chuck all those metal cords that want to strangle you, you would be able to encounter an amazing God that wants to consume you in a way you never thought possible.  

It’s true.  Imagine playing the most incredible reality game ever.  It is so far beyond that.  Here’s a taste…

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”

“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned he has crossed over from death to life.” –Jesus

And, in a stunning resemblance to the world today,

“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.  He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet upon a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.  He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.”