Like me some LEGO Star Wars

This weekend, I did something kind of stupid. I stayed up until 1:30 AM playing LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy. To some of you, that's not such a big deal. To the Father of two pre-schoolers who needed to be at his best for church the next day, it was quite the bad choice.

But, I can't help myself! Once I get started wielding the light-saber, and smashing up the little blocks, I just don't want to stop. I'm not particularly great at it, but as far as video games go, I'm better at this one than most that I play. (Except for Guitar Hero--I ROCK! Or at least the game said I do...)

My favorite way to play is in the "Free Play" mode. That way, I've already made my way through once, and have a chance to go back and use different characters to do different things that I didn't do before. I especially like using my own created character, which is actually really nothing special. I just created Darth Maul from the "newer" versions of the Star Wars Saga. But, lest you get too excited, you can't use a double-sided light-saber like in Episode I. But, it's red, so it's allgood.

I used to stay up late all the time in college, and even now, I can handle the late nights. What was really dumb about the whole thing was more that I was not even considering what Saturday night means in the preparation for worship the following day. Our Pastor says it all the time, that Sunday Morning worship is not just about being in the room, but just as much about preparing our hearts in advance for what God will do there during the worship. So, by staying up until 1:30, focusing on a video game, I very obviously made my choice about what was taking priority in my life this weekend.

Then, to top it all off, one of my boys came to see me at 5:15 on Sunday morning. There was a minor night-time potty incident, and I had to change sheets, and made it back to bed by 5:33, only to have to get up at 6:15 to get ready for church. I'm not saying God made my son pee to teach me a lesson, but I certainly learned one.

I learned another one on Sunday, as well. In spite of how I wasted the previous night, and regardless of how sleepy I thought I was, God showed up on Sunday, and I was incredibly blessed by the worship service. I pray that my worship was pleasing, but God's Mercy and Grace demonstrated to this LEGO-loving video-game-a-holic, was much greater than "the Force" ever could be.