As many of you may have deduced from getting to know me at training camp, reading my blogs, or stalking me on the interwebs, I am a pretty nerdy individual. It’s fine – I don’t find it to be a derogatory term. In fact, I bask in the glory of everything that comes with being a nerd: the specialized, often fictional vocabulary, the esoteric inside jokes; the callous on my left thumb that comes from rotating an SNES directional pad over and over for hours on end.
But I love it when little bits of these fantasy worlds in which I occasionally live can help me learn something about this complicated, broken, yet fascinating real one into which I was born. And as I was driving home this evening, I was thinking about battle themes.
A common phenomenon in RPG’s is battle music. In my favorite RPG series, Final Fantasy, composer Nobuo Uematsu utilizes leitmotifs, or recurrent themes throughout musical compositions, to strengthen the player’s connection to the fantasy world. Each major character has his or her own musical theme, but common situations also have a theme. Because battle is such a prominent device in RPG’s (by it you gain experience, procure items, and advance the plot), specific battle scenarios have their own leitfmotif.
For example, in Final Fantasy VI, there are three distinct battle themes: one for random battle occurrences; one for boss battles; and one for showdowns with major antagonists. The first is called simply “Battle” (in other games it is called “Fighting” or “Those Who Fight”). If you play the game all the way through, you will have the simple verse and refrain memorized in no time. It is short, punchy, and not too annoying to listen to for hours on end (which might happen when you spend half a day in battle trying to break the curse on the Cursed Shield or getting the Economizer from Brachiasaurs in the Dinosaur Forest).
The second is powerfully epic, driving theme, called “The Decisive Battle.” When you hear its opening, you know that you need to buckle down and get your game face on – here comes a tough boss, often with a secret weakness or wrinkle that makes beating it more difficult. The last and most intense, “The Battle to the Death,” occurs only when you are facing a powerful enemy, an orchestrator of your demise. They are out to get you, and the first time you hear that music, your blood chills, because the dreaded Atma Weapon, or the triplet demigods of dark magic, or the flying fiend Death Gaze, are out to prevent you from saving the world.
“Peter,” you ask, “what in the name of Squaresoft does this have to do with real life?” Well, readers, I’m glad you asked. We are going to do battle, my squad and I. Every World Racer is going out into the nations to battle the principalities of darkness that seek to delay the coming Kingdom of Our Lord. And as I go out into battle, I want to have a battle theme, too.
My everyday battle theme? Phillippians 3:7-12. I press on daily in order to attain that prize which Christ Jesus has for me. Every day, I’m pressing on, leveling up, gaining more wisdom, humility, and faith in the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. I aim to think of this verse every day as I wake up, as I minister, as I teach, as I sit on trains for thirty hours and walk to and fro in one hundred degree heat.
But sometimes I will be faced with more difficult trials – a sickness, a broken down engine, a possessing demon, a violent confrontation. And that is when I turn to my Decisive Battle verse: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. When the circumstances of this world collapse on me and their complexity seeks to convince me of my inadequacy for my calling, I will say, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. When I am weak, then I am strong.”
I am fully anticipating that the Ruler of this World will confront us at some point in our journey. We are trekking to advance the kingdom of the Lord, and if we are doing that, we will not escape the notice of the enemy for long. So when he confronts us, in that battle to the death, we know whose death it is that occurs when the firestorm dies out and the dust settles. Peter tells us in Acts 2:22-24 that our Lord, who gave many signs and miracles to show that he was from God, was killed, but that death could not hold onto him, and as we cling to our Savior, death will not hold onto us either.
These are my battle themes: I press on; in my weakness I am made strong; death cannot hold on to me or my Savior. I pray that I will hear them in my head as clear as loud music through headphones as I battle for the Kingdom.
What are your battle themes?
