14. The Game of Life: What's Your Next Move?

Have you ever viewed life as a game? This episode explores how our favorite childhood board games like Battleship, Candy Land, and Monopoly reflect our life's journey. 

In life, as in a game, we sometimes make a fortunate move and other times, ose a lot of ground. The conversation also parallels how we can view our faith as a game. We learn why keeping your eye on the 'end game' is crucial, and we stress the importance of trusting God's plan. 

We discover how to enrich our lives through faith-based principles. Whether we're navigating the start or the end of our careers, the choices are provided by God, empowering us to make decisions. 

Sometimes, life seems like a continuous waiting game, but this episode encourages you to deepen your relationship with God so you can involve Him as you contemplate your next move. 

00:00 Introduction: Life as a Game
00:55 The Game of Life and Faith
01:15 Life's Games: Candy Land, Careers, and Monopoly
04:55 The Waiting Game and God's Plan
05:58 Faith Perspective: Trusting God's Plan
07:40 Personal Journey: From Worldly Success to Faith
09:43 The True End Game: Spiritual Abundance
13:21 Conclusion: Your Next Move in Faith

Scriptures referenced: 
The Fruit of the Spirit - Galatians 5:22-23
The Great Commission - Matthew 28:19-20

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Have you ever thought about lifein terms of a game?
Recently, I gave a talk atToastmasters and I gave the
analogy of how life is like agame.
And I used lots of differentexamples of games that we maybe
have played as children or asadults.
And it was kind of funny becauseI purposefully tried to tone

(00:22):
down my faith aspect.
When I speak in Toastmasters, Ialmost always bring faith into
the message.
And I was trying to just make itmore, open to anybody,
regardless of which positionthey might be coming from.
And it was kind of ironicbecause I got to the end of the
speech and my evaluator, enjoyedmy speech.

(00:43):
And they challenged me to goback and give the speech in
terms of faith and whether ornot I could do that same analogy
as faith being a game.
And that's what I'm going to dowith you here today.
I am going to turn my life as agame.
Into faith as a game.
Be sure to stick around to theend for why I think it's really

(01:06):
important that we keep focusedon the end game.
Both in life and in faith.
I look forward to seeing youthere.
If you think of life in terms ofa game.
A lot of different games come tomind for me.
Uh, today literally is November5th, 2024, and it's election

(01:26):
day.
And as we have been gearing upfor this day.
Anybody that's listening to thisknows that it's felt like a
battlefield.
Life in general sometimes feelsa little bit like battleship.
Remember the game where we wouldput our ships.
We each had our little gameboard and we would put our ships
where we could maybe avoidgetting hit straight on.

(01:48):
But then when we get into theplay.
We're trying to strike the otherperson ships.
And so.
Um, life in general, a lot oftimes feels like battleship.
But in this election season,Let's face it.
It's, it's more like Game ofThrones.
Everybody is in fighting to, tothe end for their empire to win

(02:09):
and it gets kind of bloodysometimes.
I'm pretty sure everybody I knowis looking for the end of this
season.
But the reality is I almostwaited to record after we knew
the outcome It really doesn'tmatter because half of the
people are going to bedevastated that their person
didn't win.
And I'm going to talk about thatat the end and why I think it

(02:33):
maybe matters less than we thinkit does, but let's jump into
this game of life idea first.
When you think about it.
And we're when we're kids, weall learned to play candy land.
And we don't really think aboutstrategy so much.
It's you pull a card, you movetwo red spots or you move one
red spot or you hit the candycane.

(02:55):
And sometimes you move forward alot of squares and other times
you may have to go backwards alot of squares.
But it's just fun and it'slively and we're focused on who
gets the most candy.
As we grow, we start playingother games.
We play career.
Remember when you're in highschool in college, and if you're

(03:15):
listening to this, you'veprobably played the game of
career because you're, you wouldhave been around in that era.
And we're so focused on whatwe're going to do with our lives
and how we're going to use ourgifts and talents.
And how are we going to make themost money?
Right.
That's that's just part of life.
And we jump into, you know,sometimes we are very direct and

(03:36):
very driven and we go ahead andcan create this fascinating
career.
And other times, life kind ofcarries us along and we really
never do step into that careerthat we had our heart set on.
Or maybe it's like the game ofmonopoly which sections do we
land on?
Do we make enough money to buythe, the homes, the businesses,

(03:59):
sometimes we get thrown intojail.
Hopefully not very often.
Sometimes we pass, go andcollect our, our wages.
Other times we lose our job andwe don't, but there's always
something, things are alwaysmoving and there's always
somebody that's doing betterthan we are.
And there's always somebodythat's doing worse than we are,
unless we're the one that'slosing badly.
Right.
And at all times, when you thinkabout it, the game of life is

(04:20):
really aptly named because youknow, a lot of times it's just
the game of chance, you know,when we roll the dice, how many
places do we get to move?
Even as adults.
So many times our lives is a lotlike candy land.
Sometimes we, as I mentionedbefore, we move forward a lot,
sometimes it's just one painfulstep at a time.

(04:41):
And sometimes we hit that cardand we go all the way back to
the beginning of the game.
And it feels like we reallylost.
But again, it can turn soquickly and we can move right
back to the front of the game inno time at all.
What I have found is One of thegames that we're almost always
playing is the waiting game.
We're always waiting for thatnext big thing to happen in our

(05:02):
lives.
As kids it's waiting to get togo play outside or it's waiting
for school to get over so that Ican go home and have a snack, or
you're waiting to graduate fromhigh school and then you're
waiting to graduate from collegeand then you're waiting to get
married and you're waiting tohave a family and get that best
job and all of the things, we'reconstantly waiting.

(05:25):
When things don't come together,it really feels like a waiting
game.
So that's kind of where as Igave this talk and I talked
about the waiting game.
I just encouraged the people toreally think about what God
placed on our hearts.
And to be patient and tocontinue to take those next
steps, keep continue to putourselves out there to go after

(05:46):
our, our, our life's dreams andthat we can have peace and
fulfillment.
If we take so much emphasis offof the things that we think
really matter and focus on thethings that really do matter.
So that's kind of where I endedthe talk at Toastmasters, but
then when I got to thinkingabout this challenge of making
it based on faith I really gotto thinking.

(06:08):
And so many of the things I'vetalked about are still true.
I mean, we're trying to juggleall of those things that are
happening.
But when we're looking at itfrom a faith perspective, a lot
of those things and I couldn'tfind a game that was called
this, but a lot of those thingsare really a game of opposites.
Everything that the world tellsus we should be doing to win.

(06:32):
When we really look at it fromGod's perspective to win is the
opposite of what the world tellsus is to win.
It occurred to me that whenwe're playing this game of
faith, if you will.
We really need to be thinkingabout how much do we trust God.
Are we willing to put thosethings in his hands and let go
of the outcome?

(06:53):
When things don't go the waythat we think that they should
do we go and try and fix itourselves.
Do we get the self-help books?
Do we try and make ourselvessmarter?
Do we get more educated onthings trying to make something
happened or do we turn to Godand ask him what he wants for
us?
Sometimes that means that we buythe books and take the course

(07:15):
and do all the things to getmore educated to follow where he
leads.
But other times it means justtaking a step back and being
content with what we have and,and really just finding
fulfillment in our relationshipwith him.
It's hard.
It's really hard to do thatsometimes.
But when we do that, our livescan be so much richer.

(07:38):
I was telling some friends theother day.
I thought it was kind ofinteresting when I first got my
coaching certificate and I'll behonest.
This was when I was reallystriving.
I had retired.
I had gotten my health coachcertification.
Then I went on to get a lifecoach certification and my
masters certification andcoaching and all these things.

(07:59):
And I was trying so hard.
To be financially successfulthat I lost sight of what it
would be to be successful inGod's eyes.
What he really wanted was for meto trust him.
And he took me down some bumpyroads to help me get to the
point where I realized that Iwas playing the wrong game.
I was playing the game of lifefrom the worldview perspective

(08:22):
and not his, but it was kind ofironic because I had hired a
faith based coach because Irealized that it wasn't really
health coaching.
It was more that life thing.
And I remember talking to herand I had come up with, I called
myself a life enrichment coach.
What did that mean?
Well, it meant that I could helppeople live a richer life.

(08:43):
But again, I was focused ontrying all the different things
and nothing really worked.
So I left that, that title, ifyou will, and moved on and I've
had a hundred differentiterations, I swear, who do I
serve?
What do I do?
What does it look like?
What's my brand, all of thethings.
And I was thinking about it theother day.

(09:03):
And now that I, I am reallyfocused on retirement coaching
and helping people finish well,finish their careers well, so
they can be proud of the legacythat they leave when they leave
their career.
But then even be proud of whothey've become after retirement
and living in this best season.

(09:23):
And I realized that I truly am alife enrichment coach.
I'm helping people follow God'swill for them in their lives so
that their lives can be so muchricher, not the abundance that
so many people will tell youthat we will get, if we follow
God, if we just do what he says,we're going to be rich beyond
all measure.
And that's not what the Biblesays.

(09:44):
Money's not evil.
But it's not the end game.
the end game while we're here onearth is to have the abundance
that God gives us.
And that's the fruit of thespirit.
Those are, love.
Joy, peace patience kindness.
Goodness.
Faithfulness.
Gentleness.

(10:05):
And self-control, I'm going torun through those one more time.
Love.
Joy peace.
Kindness.
Faithfulness goodnessgentleness.
Self-control.
patience All of those things arereally what helps us have an
abundant life.
And that's what God wants forus.
You see winning the game.

(10:27):
Isn't who has the most toys orthe biggest bank account or the,
the highest level position intheir organization.
Winning the game is spendingeternity in heaven with God.
Now.
We have a commission.
God gave us a commission and hecalled us to go out and bring as

(10:48):
many people with us.
To that end game.
Not.
So we get to heaven.
Because we already have thatpromise.
We already have received thatgift of salvation because Jesus
died for our sins and we believethat we've repented of our sins.
We believe that.
We don't do it so that we canget more points along the way

(11:09):
that we can get more cards inour pile or whatever game you
want to equate this to.
We do it because we want thosethat we care about to have
salvation too and honestly, partof that game is not just
bringing along the people thatwe really care about and we
really love, and that are easyto love.

(11:29):
We want everyone to know about.
The gift that we have this giftof faith, and we want to share
it with even those who may be onthe opposite side of the
election today.
And every day, every year,whenever it is.
We want those people to knowthat God loves them.
We all believe that we are onthe right, that we've got it

(11:52):
figured out, and in the rest ofthose people don't get it, but
we don't really always know.
We know that God loves the life.
And he wants us to love ourneighbor.
And he wants us to alwayscontinue to grow and do better.
But we're going to stumble.
We're going to hit that card andgo all the way to the bottom of
the pile, but we don't getdepressed when that happens.

(12:14):
We get up, we brush ourselvesoff.
And we draw the next card and wekeep moving on.
And that truly is how we winthis game of faith.
We never give up.
We always trust God and we keeploving.
I keep sharing.
And we keep.
Just getting to know him betterand better every day.

(12:36):
So.
When we think about life and thepeople in our life, I just hope
that we can keep it light.
Sometimes we can.
We can strip off all theconversation about faith.
And still share the message.
But there are times when it'sappropriate to bring faith into
it.
And we need to have thosehonest, open conversations.

(12:56):
We need to have conversationsabout truth and love.
So I hope this helps you thinkabout your faith.
Your faith journey.
I have a whole book about thejourney of faith, A Different
View, that's really what it'sabout.
And one of these days I'll talkabout that journey and how we're
in different places and how, aswe move through that, our, our
perspective changes and ourfocus changes.

(13:18):
I look forward to sharing thatwith you sometime.
But today, what I really wantyou to do is just think about
what's your next move.
What can you do to help you getto know God better to, to
appreciate him more.
Um, just reading the Bible isn'tenough.
That's important.

(13:39):
It's essential that we're in theword so that we know the rules
of the game of his game.
But what he really wants is tohave a personal relationship
with you.
And that's when we walk withhim, we pray to him.
Constantly we give thanks forall the things he's given us in
our lives.
And we just wait and listen forwhat he has to say.

(14:01):
He'll tell us what the next moveis.
So I just want to leave youtoday with that question.
What's your next move?
I would love to know what thatis.
Send me an email or drop me acomment in the comment sections,
whether you're watching this asa video or listening to the
podcast.
I just want to thank you so muchfor stopping by today.

(14:21):
I don't want you to take this,that it's light, um, this game
of life, this game of faith,because.
We can have fun and God wants usto have fun, but this is really
serious stuff.
If we don't get this.
We miss out on a life ofeternity with him.
And if our loved ones don't getthis, they do too.

(14:42):
So.
I hope that this has youthinking about eternity and, and
where you will spend yours.
I look forward to seeing youback here in a couple of weeks.
And in the meantime, I hope thatyou will engage your faith.
I hope you will live your moreand that you will enjoy the
benefits of CourageousRetirement.