Sunday, August 20, 2006

Even what you think is small can grow and be huge

During my "Christian Lite" days, henceforth called "My Stupid Period" or MSP for short, I played an online shooter game called Soldier of Fortune 2, SOF2 for short. My name in the game and all games was/is Forrest Gibb. That name came about in 1997. Gump was big and Gib was slang for blowing someone to pieces in the game Quake, which was also big in 1997. It so happens I was pretty good at SOF2. I was asked to join a clan that was in a competitive league. For those not in the know, its like a bowling league only online and without actual physical movement and much less social interaction and we don't bowl we shoot the opposite team and steal there flag......ok its not like a bowling league but some what similar in idea.

Anyway, the clan (-Bt- was our tag which meant Battle torn....quit snickering) I was in wasn't well organized but we won a couple of matches and when we lost a couple, people started to not show up for matches and well, we never really practiced either. We were scheduled to play this clan called O.Z. and the week leading up to the match I would play on their server to scout them out but I would change my name. This one time I went in there with a real stupid name like ButtSnifter or something along those lines and was told to change my name our be kicked from the server. I was taken aback at first because a.) I didn't think ButtSnifter was that offensive, just funny and b.) I was surprised they even cared because most servers I went on everybody swore like drunken sailors on shore leave with E.D.(you will get that joke in the near future). So I changed my name to something else because I respected the fact that they conducted themselves in a manor that mature adults did in Real Life.

Well, match day comes and I was the only player to show up from our team. So I played there that night and liked it alot and left my clan the next day and applied for membership to O.Z. and was accepted. We had several really great players and we were organized and practiced. O.Z. eventually made it into the top 5 in the country in this league. We also had something called TeamSpeak which is a program that lets us talk to each other while playing. Very advantageous during matches. I soon found out all clans had it except for -Bt-. Anyway, a few of our players had very salty language while on Teamspeak, even occasionally me.(remember this is MSP) The leader of the clan told all of us that a member was tired of the language and felt it hindered us in competitions and asked that it be toned down. We all agreed it hindered us and we would tone it down. That same night I had technical problems with my game and one of the clan members offered to help me and pulled me into a private chat room on Teamspeak. Now I was still relatively new to the clan and didn't really know this person that well. So naturally I tried to make macho small talk with him. I wanted to fit in so I said something along the lines of "Can you believe someone had a problem with all the swearing on Teamspeak?" To which he said "Uh, yeah, that would be me." So of course I said "That is so cool." So apropos for My Stupid Period.

I told you all this because that person without even knowing it planted a seed. That seed was one person standing up for what he believed in even in a stupid online game. That seed started to grow in my mind. I didn't have to fit in! I have a core set of beliefs and I should stick to them and maybe one day someone will have as much respect for me as I did (still do) for that guy.

That guy I call my brother now. His name is Alan. And even though I have never seen his face, I have seen enough of his heart to know that he is my brother in the Lord and that Alan has my back and I have his.

No comments: