In Exchange:

As you may know, I enjoy video games. There are certain series that I will follow because I know that they usually follow a path of excellence, hence the franchise. Examples you ask? Halo, of course. My love for Halo did not originate with the original Halo: Combat Evolved game, but with bunches mid-90's flagship series Marathon. Being an avid fan of that universe, it brought me great joy to see the parallels found in Halo. But I'm not here to talk Halo today.

The game which brought me to the Exceptionally Bogus gaming store (the real name was changed to indite the guilty) was the latest installation to the Castlevania series. With preplayed games in hand, I went with the alluring promise that I would getting a decent amount of money for them.

No, I was deceived.

You see, the entire pre-played game thing is a gimmick to pay you $.75 for a game that they'll turn around and sell for $15 - 20. I took in 2 games, one a bit older and the other less than a year old. I got .75 for the old on and $2.50 for the other. I knew this was going to happen, yet I blindly agreed to their terms of trade.

It's funny. We want things so badly in life some times that we're willing to get cheated just to get what we think want. How many times have we done something, thinking it would fill a need in our lives, yet we look at the consequences and realize that in exchange for purity or innocence or whatever, we find ourselves dissatisfied with the out come.

No matter how many times we've been robbed or cheated or left with our souls bruised, we still progress, thinking that the next time we'll be smarter. On our own strength, we return with the same swindled feeling. The great thing is that once we figure out that it isn't our own strength, then we're actually getting somewhere.

I've discovered in my journey that in one area of His vastness, God is kind of like that. He lets us make the moves time and time again, watching us cheat ourselves out of knowing His good, pleasing, and perfect will by satisfying the immediate. No matter how many times we've been beating, cheated, broken, tarnished.... He's willing and wants to forget those mistakes and celebrate His redemption, cleansing, love, and forgiveness.

A deep thought over a simple thing as a video game. Until next time, I leave you with the words of Leon Belmont to Dracula's predecessor:



"I'll destroy both you and The Night!"

Long live the adversaries to the night; Long live the Belmont clan...