As I sit here writing this entry, it occurs to me that this past year was a year filled with silence. I don’t mean that I went through the whole year without doing very much – it was actually very busy for me, and it doesn’t look like this year will be any different – but I spent very little time reflecting and expressing myself, whether it was through my writing or other artistic and spiritual avenues. Whether that has to do with video games, popular culture, my Christian faith, or other events in my life, the words and images just never could come out. Silence was in the air. 

I’ve been struggling to think what I could do as far as building this site to the way I want it to be to make the most impact. How I want to continue to grow as a writer, which has been my dream for as long as I can remember. Dreams are powerful; sometimes they shift and change, but they always hold a deep anchor in our hearts. Writing stories and expressing myself through writing has always been a long-held dream of mine; once the words start to come, I have a hard time making myself stop. I also know that writing is impactful and can be powerful. The question I have to ask myself is this year, can I work on continuing to make an impact?

I created Hope, Play, and Love in the hopes of sharing my passion for popular culture, especially video games, through a Christian perspective. I remember growing up feeling isolated because the passions and interests I had didn’t not mesh with those of my peers. It is an incredibly isolating experience, one that can negatively impact someone’s relationships and experiences with the church. It doesn’t help that a lot of Christian media and pundits have demonized popular culture in all of its aspects, seeing no value in it and warning people of faith to stay far away from these worldly passions. I had wonderful experiences playing video games growing up, though, and they even sometimes helped plant questions in my mind that are worth pondering about. By no means should these things guide how we live our lives, but that does not mean they have no value. 

As a teacher, I’m always thinking of strategies and items I can share with my students that will help them develop their skills, and a lot of times I turn to games that I believe will make the biggest impact. They’re fun, so students don’t feel like they’re wasting their time with a chore, and they’re also challenged by the objectives the games offer them. For Christians, games have the opportunity to challenge ideas, to think critically about one’s beliefs on something, pray to God for guidance on the issue, and then have a deeper understanding that can strengthen belief, not diminish it. 

Technology and entertainment often feel like total bombardment. For parents and teachers who may be less tech-savvy, this can be overwhelming. With the pandemic continuing to loom over us, technology has become an integral part of many peoples’ lives, and it’s certainly not going away anytime soon. Yet, a lot of families don’t know what to do with technology. You have to live with it, but what’s the healthiest way to use it that will cause the least damage? Can technology actually help build family relationships and meaningful moments?

Many young families my age who may have grown up with video games, television, and films have struck a kind of balance with technology, but for many it remains an ongoing burden. Children stay up late long past what they are supposed to, eyes glared at a screen watching the latest video or streaming the latest game. It can impact their schooling and their relationships during the day if it is not managed correctly and early on. 

This year, my hope is to help give you guidance on ways you can use video games and other forms of entertainment safely and effectively to help instill deeper values in your children, instead of seeing them as a means to just waste time. That’s not to say these things cannot just be entertainment – the whole point of video games, films, and television is just as much to have fun as anything else. As the Bible instructs that we should have wisdom in how we live our lives, we should think about how we can live wisely alongside technology and the temptations they may offer us in this century. 

There are also many games that I have yet to play or need to go back and complete that have been sitting on my shelf collecting dust. I hardly have time to play something new thanks to using my energy for both work and studying for graduate school. What I would also like to offer this year on this site are article reviews of lessons from these games that I’ve learned that you can pass along to your friends and loved ones who may be interested about games. There can be a lot we can learn from many video games, if we take the time to reflect on them. I intend to do just that here on this site for you this year.

My deepest thanks, and here is to a great 2022! Happy New Year!