Game Review - Evony

Evony is a new game that launched in the spring of this year, and it is still growing. Evony is a massive multiplayer online real time strategy game (MMORTS), which means that the in game clock runs at the same pace as the clock on your computer. To those that know how to dominate the world with the board game Risk, and know how to earn resources like in Settlers of Catan, Evony brings you up to date with technology.

The world is constantly growing, and your city never sleeps. While your offline, your cities continue to be built, and your gold piles up. Your kingdom automatically saves, which is great for those who like to play games at work (there's also a great feature to change the name of your tab or window, so your boss doesn't catch you goofing off). You can build your kingdom in any of the sixteen different states, and then find an alliance or guild for protection from other players. Which brings up another great feature: you dont have to worry about the guy who goes around killing the newbs, because Evony provides you with a 7-day protection when you first start playing.

Game play is simple. When you first open an account with an online game, things can be confusing, so the easiest way to learn is to follow the quests. The quests are designed to get you up and on your feet, usually with a time to spare before your 7-day protection wears off. The rewards to the quests arent small either, they give you more than you would expect, making it easier to build your kingdom. If your familiar with MMORTS, you can quickly build up your city and end the protection early, allowing you to jumping right into battle!

If you want to be ahead of your peers in the world of Evony, you do have the option to spend real cash to get you up and running, however it is not necessary. In fact, many of the rewards to the first quests actually give you money to spend in the game, as well as other items to speed up game play! Items you receive can speed up the completion time of your buildings, cut the time for creating your army, and even teleport your city to a new location.

Never have I seen a game that gives you so much for free! You start out with one city and you can build or conquer up to 9 separate cities. You control your income through taxation, and building up different resources. You can conquer neighboring valleys which will also increase your productions, and increase your wealth. There is a market place to sell or buy goods, an academy to increase the traits of your army, even an warehouse to store your resources in case of an attack.

All in all, Evony dominates the internet when it comes to MMO's. Check it out here, and look me up on server 56.

-Iceman

It Was on Tithe....

Sometimes I feel like I'm beating this topic to death, and I might be, but that doesn't make it any less important. This Sunday, we had a guest speaker come in and talk about marriage, which has absolutely nothing to do with tithe. That is, the sermon itself didnt.

Our lead pastor was there, and he gave the morning prayer, and then accepted the tithes and offerings. Tithes, and offerings, interesting that they always call it tithe and offerings, as if there is a distinction between the two. Make sense really, a tithe is the first fruits of our labor, and offerings is anything else above and beyond that.

So anyway, tithe. Our lead pastor, Lee Cummings, put it like this. God is all powerful, He created all things in this world, He knows all things, and therefore we often think He has everything... but He doesn't. Now I have been going to church most all of my life, but I gotta tell you, I have never heard tithe, put like this.

The only thing that God does not have in this world, is our honor. He doesn't have our honor, because He created us with free will, and we have to choose to honor God. Proverbs 3:9 says "Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops." By giving tithe, you honor God, which is what He desires.

We talk with God in prayer, we worship God in song, we honor God in tithe.

Interesting really, as I write this all out, something else comes to mind, Honor, is defined with respect. Man was created in Gods image, because God desires honor, respect. Above all things, a man desires respect.

The guest speaker put it simply that, a man will do the dumbest things, just to hear his peers tell him he was great for doing it. We dont need to be loved, although its not to say we dont want it, what we need is respect.

The guest speaker made a point saying that Ephesians 5 is Gods flawless plan for marriage, and that most people will agree with the part that their spouse has to do, but often times, will overlook the part that they play. A woman needs unconditional love, because love is her paramount need, and a husband must fill this need, even though it is unnatural to do so. While love is natural to women, it is unnatural for them to fulfill mans paramount need: unconditional respect.

I'm going to end with the story of the Garden of Eden. First and foremost, there are some very important things we need to recognize. Adam was with Eve when she picked and ate the fruit. Adam, the head of the household, did not uphold his duty. Let me explain.

I am going to get picky here, because its in the details that we find Adams responsibility. Genesis 2:15-17 is where God commands Adam not to eat of the tree of wisdom. The important distinction comes in the very next verse, verse 18. "The LORD God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.'" Eve had not been created yet.

It is paramount that we understand this point, God gave His commandment to Adam, and as Adam is the head of the household, he needed to protect his wife, and share God's commandment with Eve. This is where we find the flaw with Adam, and essentially all men: we get lazy, and dont play the active role that we ought to play.

Adam has dominion over all creatures in the Garden, and he may have been there when the serpent was talking to Eve, I'm not sure, but we do know Adam was with Eve when she took the fruit. This is where we find the flaw in Eve. Eve, has an independent streak, as most women do. I want to be cautious here, because it is a very thin line. Ephesians 5 says for wives to submit to their husbands as you would to the Lord, however, the verse directly before that tells both man and woman to submit to each other.

There is a distinction here that we must note, the first verse, Eph 5:21 tells both partners to submit to each other out of reverence for Christ, and the second verse Eph 5:22 tells women to submit to their husbands as to the Lord. I think it is often misunderstood, or maybe taken out of context, because I dont think it means submit to your husbands commands. (Your husband should not be commanding you unless your doing something that is potentially dangerous to your well being.)

So when women are told to submit to their husbands, as they would to the Lord, think about the husbands paramount need: Respect. Think about how Man is created in Gods image, and God paramount desire is for us to honor Him. Its not that wifes must do as their husband commands, because a husband shouldn't be commanding, its that a wife should talk to her husband as if she was showing respect to God.

When you talk to a man, and you do so in a respectful manner, he will listen. When a husband cherishes his wife, she will show him respect. If your in a relationship where a spouse isn't fulfilling their part, the one in the know, gives way first. Its hard, and its difficult, its what Christ did for us. We were in error, we sinned, yet He forgave us before we asked for it. He sacrificed for us, and only after He died, did we acknowledge our own sin.

We will all be held accountable for our sins, men will be held accountable for loving their wives the way that Christ loved the church. Women will be held accountable for submitting to their husbands and they would to the Lord.

"Each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband." -Ephesians 5:33

Walking a different direction

Many of us have a great knowledge about Christ, yet so have a relationship with Him. Too many of us know many aspects of the Christian faith, however they lack transformation.

Sometimes we part ways with our walk with Christ, and we pick up unhealthy actions and/or habits. We move away from the light, and wander in the darkness.

Have you ever been in darkness you can feel? You wander around, stumbling and kicking things. You get hurt. Your eyes try to adjust, but they never really can focus, because its just too dark. Fear can set in if you are in an unfamiliar place.

This isn't a new place, this isn't a rare place to find ourselves, and it doesnt happen only in the physical world. It happens in the spiritual world, we lose sight of Christ, and the path He has for us. We get confused, and try to find the path back on our own. We get angry at Christ, and blame Him for putting us there. We cry out for help, but dont hear the response, because we arent really listening for it.

When we slow down, let our mind and heart rest, we will hear what God is telling us. Seek first the kingdom of God. Seek God's kingdom, seek God's wisdom, seek God's advice first, because He is the one who knows you best. He is the one who understands you most. He is the one who made you.

Have you ever built a model car, and you think you can do it without the directions, and then you glue something into the wrong place. You didnt design it, so you dont know where everything goes. God has designed us, He knew us before our birth. We haven't created ourselves, so why should we know where everything goes?

If we truly believe that God is loving, and cares for us, and we recognize His sacrifice as real, then we can trust in Him, and know that He will aid us. Seek first the kingdom of God, and everything else will eventually fall into place. It may not end up being the 1965 mustang you thought you had, but its going to be something better, something that God has built unique for you.

God has created all things, so God knows how to fix all things when they are broken.