Video games entered American homes in the early 1970s.

One of the first video games I recall playing was Alpiner. With the skillful maneuvering of the keyboard arrow keys, we tried to safely climb six of the tallest mountains of the world, dodging avalanches, falling bird eggs, annoyed rattlesnakes, skunks, bears and even Yeti skiers!

Regardless of what trouble was in view or how often it kept appearing, we had to keep climbing “upward and onward” as the game would say. There was no other way to win, no secret passages, no short-cuts, no way to reach the goal, but carefully clicking those keyboard arrows.

Perhaps our Christian lives are a bit like Alpiner.

We have one goal, one duty, one path, upward, after Jesus and His excellent climbing skills. We, ourselves, are limited on how to avoid disaster. Sometimes it hurls at us and knocks us down. But then we get back up (if not on this earth, then in heaven). Though there’s no quick way to win, we do have access to the game designer Himself.

Whether the mountains we climb are wrought with danger or are full of flowers, our duty is still the same. Seek Him in the hard times and in the good. Upward and onward! Your spiritual muscles are getting stronger.