Extreme Games

By: Larry Jewett

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The lives of many are dedicated to the pursuit of extremes. The biggest car, the biggest house, the highest paying job, the best office - these are all objectives of the up and coming young professional or the moving and shaking middle executive. In their eyes, more is better and much more is much better.

One of the popular sports of the 21st century has been the X Games, which is the shortened version of the Extreme Games. In these contests, participants try to push their skills to the absolute limit with the tricks and performances that will score favor of the judges and onlookers. Millions watch them on television, keeping tabs on their favorite skateboarder or snowboarder. It's about being as extreme as possible. It's the ìsickestî trick that gets the highest score.

While all of these examples may indicate extremes, it's really quite misleading. In truth, we probably cannot comprehend anything of the magnitude that can be considered extreme. The real extreme is in God's hands.

Think about it. We are simply faced with two options in life ñ we can face eternal life, the life of extreme joy, or we can choose extreme damnation, which is spending eternity in Hell.

"The real extreme is in God's hands."

This thought was brought to mind in a most unlikely places. A Christian family in central Florida owns and operates a pair of monster trucks. One of the trucks is called ìGod, Guts, & Glory,î complete with scripture verses including John 3:16 on the tailgate. Truthfully, this truck has been passed over by some promoters because of the obvious message. Undaunted, the family began promoting their own shows a few years, using the trucks as a way to get a message across. Primarily, it had been directed at DARE programs to dissuade drug use. Recently, the stakes were raised.

In Lake City, with the backing of a local church, a free show was presented, featuring monster trucks, 4-wheelers, rock climbers, and more. During the course of the program, the promoter held a radio and a signal from that radio could stop the engine of the truck. He explained that with a simple hand-held radio, he had the ability to stop a 10,000 pound monster truck. An extremely small device could stop an extremely large object. He had a choice. He could stop it or he could let it go.

He stopped the spinning truck. The John 3:16 scripture faced the crowd. It was here that the point of extreme eternity became obvious.

The radio is symbolic of our lives. We have the choice and our choices center on the extreme eternity. We can choose to activate our radio and stop the behavior that is not pleasing to God. We can choose to follow His word and His way and receive the reward of the extreme pleasure of life in His kingdom. It's our hand on the button because God has given us the radio.

Everyone in the crowd had the right to walk away if they didn't want to hear his words. No one did.

For the price of nothing, the cost of show admission, there was an important message. The extreme price had already been paid, in full, for everyone.

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