My family and I LOVE Mario Kart, or should I say, we are ADDICTED to it. I’m not sure who to blame for the addiction but I do have to admit that I played this game quite often when it first came out on the Nintendo 64. Remember that one? I still remember my Commodore 64 computer with the floppy disks, but that’s another story.

My son, Ethan, who is 4, is actually really good at this game. Sarah, my wife, is stuck with two guys (kids) who always seem to team up on her each race. Secretly, I believe she is wishing that our next child will be a girl. But, we all know that boys rule!

As a Pastor, it’s in my blood to try to find some sort of meaning in just about anything and come up with a sermon that will bring that point across. Since I am between churches right now, this blog will have to serve as my platform.

Life is a lot like the Mario Kart world. First, you get to pick which car you drive and you can choose which character you will be. Second, you can pick your own teammates and even decide which course you will drive. What you don’t get to choose though is what happens to you along the way. Now, for some of you that haven’t played Mario Kart this blog will leave you scratching your head, or perhaps cause you to go out, buy a Wii and Mario Kart. If that happens, I should get some sort of royalty. But, for those of you that play the game, you’ll know what I mean.

You see, when you start this race you are pretty much even. No one has any unfair advantage and everyone has to fend for themselves (unless you do team racing). Each track is unique, just like the seasons of life. Some tracks are easy, some tracks are challenging, and some tracks are quite difficult. Each track offers its own set of challenges and you have to choose carefully how you navigate each one. At times, it can become so overwhelming that you simply choose to quit. What makes it worse is that you can acquire non-lethal weapons throughout the game. If you are in first place you can bet that you’ll probably end up with a harmless banana peel that you can leave for someone to slip on or if you are near the end of the pack you might get the bullet which will immediately transport you closer to the front. There are green turtle shells that you can use to ricochet off of targets, or the red turtle shells that seeks out its targets. You can use the mushrooms for turbo power, the lightening bolt to zap your opponents and make them shrink, or you can send the dreaded blue turtle shell to the front of the pack and take out the leader. It’s a fast paced game, full of obstacles, fun and frustration.

Yes, it is a Mario Kart world. Life can be that way some days, can’t it? You can start this journey off on the right foot and have everything going for you and in an instant you get hit from behind, spun around, zapped, or squished. It’s at that moment that you have to decide if you wan to continue racing or if you want to quit. There are no guarantees in the Mario Kart game that you will win if you keep racing, in fact, you will get hit, spun, zapped, and squished a few more times, but I can guarantee you that if you don’t quit in life you will be a winner (Just like Derek Redmond at the 92′ Olympics)

Everyone of us are either on an easy track, a challenging track, or on a difficult track, and throughout this journey we will take a ride on all three.

But, God give us a hope, a plan, and a future in Jeremiah 29:11. He tells us we are no longer condemned in Romans 8:12, He gives us eternal life in John 3:16, He tells us to give Him ALL of our burdens in Psalms 55:22, and Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

It’s a Mario Kart world, how will you finish?