“Mom, if your son died saving the entire world, would you be surprised?”
I have to admit – I didn’t expect this sort of depth from my 9 year old. But then again, we’d just been talking about spiritual things during our Bible time in homeschool, so maybe his thoughts were still on divine amazing things.
“Well,” I said, “If knew that was what he was sent to do, then I wouldn’t be surprised, although I’d be a little sad. But if I didn’t know, then I’d be surprised. But God knew – and that’s why he sent Jesus, so I think he was both happy and sad.”
My son paused, pursed his lips a second and then said, “Well, I guess you’re right, but actually I was talking about Jax, my video game with Elo Boosting, and I want to learn the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive ranking system.”
Oh. Evidently, from the explanation that followed, Jak (who’s been turned into a sort of ferret by the Black Eko – more on that later) saves the world. So, I had to do a little research on Jak, sorta to see if he was the right ah, jackrabbit/ferret/quasi-human, to save the world. (One might ask the same question about Jack Bauer).
Jak is supposed to defeat two evil people – and “De-evilize” the people (I’d like to de-evilize a few people in my life!). Mostly it’s about defeating these two people who are crazy using your special powers. And you have to find the hidden powers, called Ekos. But to get to the hidden powers you have to do things like go through hot lava. Or defeat giant plant monsters.
Personally, I think this has potential for life application. Like de-evilizing the crazy people in my life. (Ever been involved in a church building project?) And defeating the giant plant monsters sounds a little like what I do in my fridge to find the mayonnaise (I curse the day I got a side-by-side – where was my guardian angel when I needed him to slap me up side the head saying, “you’ll never fit a lasagna pan in there!). Evidently, Jak’s special powers also have special applications. Blue Eko hovers in the air, like electricity and makes it so you can run fast, and you turn blue. Okay, I’ve been there. Ever had the phone ring while you’re in the shower?
And Yellow Eko makes it so you can shoot stuff. Like lasers from my eyes when I hear my husband agreeing to be on yet another committee at church.
Green Eko is for healing — I agree. I know for a fact that green M & Ms have mystical powers. But I’m also seeing a convincing argument for eating your broccoli. Red Eko makes your attack stronger. I get that. Don’t mess with me when I have Red Eko or someone is going to get hurt. And, appropriately, Black Eko is No Good Very Bad Eko.
So, Jak has life applications and I’ve decided that it’s okay if Jak saves the world. And if, after he saves the world, he makes my kid wonder about his own future, and perhaps the One who really saved the world, that’s a good thing.
If Noah does save the world, I won’t be surprised. I just hope he has a lot of that Green Eko in his system.