Life

No, I’m Not Dead Yet.

Posted on by Justice

Hello everyone, I know it’s been a long time since I last posted, and I wanted to apologize. Life gets crazy, and while it’s been a great adventure, I also had much less time during my summer than I had initially expected.

I started working full time (As close as my boss would let me get to full time.) at Dairy Chef, and that took up almost all of my day. When I wasn’t working, I had things to do around the house. Despite my desire to keep this site running, I was swept away by the day to day.

The good news is that I am back! You can expect to see more from me in the coming weeks, and I am hoping to get organized to the point in which I can ensure weekly posts! What that means is if you haven’t already now is the perfect time to subscribe, before you miss out on all that Life Adventure Games has to offer.

3.14…… Happy Pie Day!

Posted on by Justice

3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628.

Today we all get to celebrate my favorite number. (Well…. sequence of numbers.) Just seeing the date on the calendar brings tears to my eyes, as I remember how long it’s been since I’ve had pie. Every year on March 14, (3.14) our family whips out a pie, and we celebrate this ironic date. But there is much more to Pie Day than we often realize: 62,831,853,071,796 digits more, to be precise. This year I’d like to challenge you. As you bite into that delicious slice of homemade, storebought, or DoorDash delivered pie, remember just how many numbers had to be discovered so that we could enjoy this holiday. (3 Technically)

Life Adventure Games is conducting a survey in honor of Pie Day. Please feel free to fill out the form and stand up for your favorite pie. Whatever type of pie receives the most support will receive its own post to celebrate its victory.

Take The Survey

Debating: Some simple tips to get you further.

Posted on by Justice

Last year was my first year doing Speech and Debate through NCFCA. During the year, I learned a lot about the fundamentals of debate, and how to write a good case. This year I am hoping to grow even more and learn how to better use my skills for God’s glory. I am just coming out of my second tournament this season, and there are a few things that I have learned that I believe anyone can apply to their debate tactics, regardless of whether or not you debate competitively. This article will hopefully provide you with some useful advice that will help you to take your debating to the next level.

1: Know your topic:

This probably seems self-explanatory. After all, how can we debate if we don’t even know what we are talking about? However, it is easy for us to become complacent. I started off the year with a very shallow understanding of the resolution, and it took multiple losses to motivate me to dig deeper. When it comes to the question of rationalism and empiricism there are so many different approaches people can take. The only way to be ready to respond to someone else’s arguments is if you really understand the topic.

2: Question your own understanding:

When you take the time to question your own understanding, you can come across all kinds of inconsistencies. If you can’t answer simple questions about your own case, you are probably not ready to be debating. Here are a couple of questions that I believe can help you to assess your own understanding, and check for weaknesses in your cases.

A: Can I summarize my case in 2-3 sentences?

This helps to check your understanding and give you a starting point for further questions.

B: Is my summary a reasonable argument?

Asking yourself this question can help you to quickly recognize major issues. Your argument should be a series of claims that don’t need support to be effective. If the claims you make are faulty, it doesn’t matter how much evidence you squeeze in there. It still won’t work.

C: If I were arguing against this, what would I say?

Try to tear your own claims apart. If you do this well, you should start to feel discouraged. When I first look at a case I’ve written, I think that it’s invincible. However, when I take the time to question my own arguments, I discover that it isn’t. Attacking your own claims is an easy way to find the weakness in your case. If your case is strong, you might have a hard time arguing against the summary. When that happens, it is time to start attacking your support.

D: What do my friends and family think?

When I write an argument, I feel like I understand it really well. This can be fatal. Not everyone who listens to you will be as well read in philosophy, political theory, or theology as you think you are. Last year, I ran my case by one of my brothers. This enabled me to ensure that my case made sense to someone who hasn’t dedicated their time to studying the issues at hand. Simplicity is key to a good argument, and your friends and family are the perfect people to ask for feedback. If they don’t understand you, you have failed to communicate your side clearly. Other people can also help you to think about new perspectives that you may have failed to consider.

3: Support, Support, Support:

Does your case have lots of evidence? If it does, you are on the right track. However, a well-supported case is just the beginning. Take some time to think about your last rebuttal. Did you have as much support for the claims you made then? This year I have been working on compiling evidence, support, and responses to some of the common arguments that I have seen. For example, a lot of people this year have chosen to use a value of truth for their cases. The best way to prepare for future rounds is to have evidence to support your own claims about your opponent’s understanding of truth. Most people have an internal bias that causes them to fall prey to a fallacy known as “appeal to authority”. This fallacy happens when we value the name of the person more than the logic of their claims. This internal bias is why it is crucial to have support for your arguments. No matter how reasonable your claims are, people will often tend to fall to the side that is most supported by big names like Aristotle, Plato, or even Donald Trump.

4: Be respectful:

When I get nervous, you can tell. I start to talk faster and take a more aggressive approach to my arguments. Whenever we begin to let our emotions take over, we lose credibility. It’s a lot easier to believe someone who calmly approaches an argument than someone who can’t keep their emotions in check. When it comes down to it, the purpose of debating is to help share the truth with others. In most cases, your debate will do very little to persuade your opponent. Instead, you should be trying to persuade your audience. The easiest way to do this is to be yourself and show respect. Someone who is fake is much harder to trust than someone who is sincere and cares about what they have to say. It’s okay to be passionate, but make sure you keep your emotions from taking over.

5: Trust God:

I learned a lot about trusting God last year. If you want to hear about my experience of His provision and timing in debate, you can read this post. https://lifeadventuregames.com/2023/05/08/paving-the-road-for-us/ It can be tough losing. Trust me, I have had my fair share of losses. What we need to remember is that our arguments, and our debates are supposed to be used for God’s glory, not ours. 1 Corinthians 10:32 says: “Whatever you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” If we choose to debate for our own benefit, we will only ever be disappointed. God wants us to be humble and to seek Him first. Putting God first will enable us to truly see the purpose, power, and impact of our debates.

Starting Off the New Year

Posted on by Justice

Plans… We all have them, and we all let them chart the course of our lives. We often start off the new year with a resolution. Many people vow to lose weight, improve a weakness in their lives, or to try something new. I didn’t come up with a resolution for this year, but I still have my plans for the future. I want to graduate, go to a good college, and work towards a career in law. There are places I want to go and foods I want to try. Out of all the years in my life, this year holds the most plans and the highest potential for failure. I would like to challenge everyone who reads this to evaluate their plans and check for potential weaknesses that are guaranteed to cause failure.

James 4:13-17 serves as a reminder to everyone who is seeking to make their own plans. “Now listen you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”

There is a lot to unpack from this verse so let’s break it down into smaller pieces and look into it. There are three things that I think we can learn from this verse. Please read through the questions below and honestly answer them for yourself.

Who is doing the planning?

How do I veiw my life?

Am I willing to lay aside my plans? If so, when?

These three questions can give us some insight into our own lives and help us to keep track of our planning. Let’s start by looking at the first question.

Who is doing the planning? Proverbs 15:22 says: “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisors they succeed.” Do you seek advice when you are making your plans? Proverbs reminds us that we need to seek counsel when making plans, and James helps to point us in the right direction. In the passage above, he explains that we should be asking God for His plans and tuning our plans to be in accordance with His will. If our plans are God’s plans, there is no way they can fail.

How do I view my life? When we are making our plans, it is easy to start to feel invincible. We cram our schedules full multiple years into the future. There is just one problem with this. James explains that we are like a mist. We show up for a short time and then we are gone. We need to remember this when we are planning. Our lives are short, so we ought to be using them to bring glory to God and to prepare for eternal life. In The Great Divorce CS. Lewis said: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.” When we die will we be the ones who said to God “thy will be done”? If we do, that means allowing for His will to be done in every aspect of our lives, even in the plans we hold so dearly.

Am I willing to lay aside my plans? This is the final question I think we ought to be asking. “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” This is a reminder that no matter how important our plans may seem, we need to be ready to lay them down and listen to God. His plans are always better, and we need to be ready to let Him lead.

Whatever your plans for the new year are, we all need to surrenderer them to God. Without council our plans will fail, but if we take them to God, The Wonderful Counselor, we can succeed. God wants what’s best for you and He will work everything out if you trust in Him.

A Thanksgiving Poem.

Posted on by Justice

Thanks be to God the giver of life.

He silences pain,

And settles our strife.

He sacrificed all to eternally gain,

Communion with us the work of His hand.

What have we to give?

What does He demand?

That we follow in love,

Toward the promised land.

He fills us with joy.

He changes our name.

He came as a boy,

And traded His fame.

He lived blamelessly,

And modeled for all,

How we must live, in spite of the fall.

There’s nothing He can’t do,

No person’s too small.

Soon He’ll welcome us into,

His glorious hall.

So let us rejoice,

This Thanksgiving day,

In the God whose mere voice,

Casts sorrows away.

Being Thankful For Thanksgiving

Posted on by Justice

Thanksgiving is coming around the corner and will be here before you know it. With how busy our lives can get it may become easy to see Thanksgiving as just another holiday. Let’s be honest, things are crazy, it seems impossible to clear your ever-growing to-do list, and you just need a break. After all, what is there to be thankful for? The extra work added by another event we are obligated to celebrate can easily steal the thanks from Thanksgiving. So, really, what do we have to be thankful for?

Thanksgiving has become another overly commercialized holiday; with all the stereotypes we have to meet, our celebration can quickly become another task. If you feel this way, don’t worry, I did too. It wasn’t until I began to write this post that I realized just how many things we truly have to be thankful for. I hope that this serves as a reminder to be thankful for Thanksgiving.

Let’s take a trip back to the beginning. Imagine a large gathering of men in black suits and funny looking hats gathered around a huge table eating food. (Oops, the stereotypes kicked in again.) When we think about the first Thanksgiving, we can often be blinded by the stereotypes our culture has generated. The Pilgrims didn’t have it easy. Before their famous celebration, life was really hard. They had pulled into the wrong harbor and were forced to build a colony for themselves. The winter had taken the lives of many of the settlers and starvation was starting to kick in. It wasn’t until they met Samoset and Squanto that things began to look up. Even after they had received help from the Indians things didn’t calm down. They still had to work hard to provide for their families, and they probably had significantly less time for entertainment than you and I do. What was it that caused the Pilgrims to be thankful? They chose to focus on God and His provision instead of how hard things had become.

The same God that the Pilgrims found their joy and Thanksgiving in is still with us today. Hebrews 13:8 reminds us that: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever”. What does this mean? If the Pilgrims found their joy in Jesus, we can too because He never changes. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”. It is God’s will for us that we give thanks in everything. Yes, that does mean we ought to be thankful even in the busiest moments of life. No matter what challenges you are facing, God wants you to be thankful. Don’t worry, He won’t tell us to do anything without giving us the strength to succeed.

God’s will for us is that we be thankful in everything, but how are we supposed to do that? I’m a pessimist. If I want to, I can complain about pretty much anything. People often tell me to look on the bright side, and honestly, it only puts me in a worse mood. What is the cure for this disease of “unthankfulness” we all struggle with? Philippians 4:6-7 explains the secret to being thankful in everything. “Don’t be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” This advice came from Paul, if anyone had a reason to complain, he did. He often went without what he needed, in fact later in the chapter, he explains how he had learned to be content despite his circumstances. How was Paul able to be thankful through the hard times? He held onto his hope and love for Jesus. When we really take the time to consider all that God has done for us, we ought to be more than just thankful. Jesus gave His life so that we can have fellowship with God, if that’s not something to be thankful for, I’m not sure what is.

Thanksgiving is of greater significance than we often tend to think. It’s time that we pull away all the stereotypes and remember what it truly means to give thanks. You don’t need turkey, family, or even my personal favorite, KFC gravy, to be thankful. All you need is to remember the God that gave His life to save you from your sins. This Thanksgiving I’d like to challenge all of us to take inventory of how much God has truly blessed us. I know it may be hard, but God calls us to be thankful in everything. What does that mean? We ought to be thankful for Thanksgiving too.

ChatGPT’s Not So Secret Bias

Posted on by Justice

A recent article by Breitbart* recently brought to light ChatGPT’s hidden blacklist. This is shocking. Weren’t we told that ChatGPT was a friendly unbiased chatbot? I always wondered if there was a hidden bias, but after a little research, I found something even more concerning out in the open.

I began with a brief experiment to see whether or not ChatGPT believes it is biased, then I asked a couple questions that revealed a shocking bias that it doesn’t even try to hide.

It turns out that ChatGPT believes that it is unbiased. Of course I had to dig deeper, so I asked it to make two jokes. One about Muslims and the other about Christians.

When prompted to mock Muslims, ChatGPT provided this overwhelming essay on why it needs to be respectful. I figured that this would, of course be the response to the question. If ChatGPT doesn’t want you to do something, it often tries to make you feel bad for asking.

If ChatGPT were truly as unbiased as it claims, the answers to these two questions should have been similar, but they weren’t. ChatGPT is more than happy to mock and make fun of Christians, but Muslims, for some reason, are untouchable. You should find this offensive. Even if you aren’t a Christian, the fact that ChatGPT has singled out a religion to ridicule ought to be concerning. Before this experiment, I was concerned by the hidden bias of ChatGPT, however now I’m more worried about its open bias against Christians.

*If you would like to read Breitbart’s article on the hidden blacklist, here’s the link:

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2023/10/04/report-openais-chatgpt-maintains-blacklist-of-websites-including-breitbart-news/

*No jailbreaks were used during my research.

*I recently tested to see if I could bring out the bias again and believe ChatGPT was updated to hide this bias. However, open or hidden the same bias still likely runs in the code.

Life Adventure Games 2023

Posted on by Justice

It’s a new year, and I am hoping to make it a better one. Last year I started Life Adventure Games in an effort to earn a Freedom Experience for Trail Life U.S.A. I began with a recap of the Summer Adventure, and continued to write from there. From Ocarinas, to joking about Elon Musk’s burnt hair perfume, L.A.G. has been going through the exciting roller-coaster of life. As we enter into a new year, I am looking for your perspective on how to make 2023 an even better year for Life Adventure Games.

Whether this is your first time visiting the site, or you’ve been around since day one, I am looking for your input and advice for the coming year. Click the button below to access the L.A.G. 2022 survey.

Life Adventure Games 2022 Survey

What is Christmas?

Posted on by Justice

What do you think of when you think about Christmas? Is it that perfect tree? How about the lights that you spent countless hours hanging from the roof? Maybe you think about family, the people that you rarely get to see gathering together again. Or is it the presents, those gifts sitting round the tree just begging you to unwrap them? Whatever you think of when you think about Christmas is likely a special memory, or a family tradition. However, none of these things are what Christmas is truly about.

The true meaning of Christmas involves a baby. A baby born in a manger. The Son of God giving up His seat by The Father, and coming down to be born as a man. The story of Christmas is a story of love and sacrifice.

Every day leading up to Christmas there will be a new post diving deeper into the Christmas story. I hope you will check them out and be reminded of God’s great love for us this Christmas.

The Rings of Power, Was it Worth It?

Posted on by Justice

After hearing about the countless negative reviews of Rings of Power, I was concerned that the show would be absolutely disappointing. Tolkien is by far one of my favorite authors, and I am a huge fan of the Lord of The Rings, so I should have been excited. However, with Disney’s latest shows (Eternals, She Hulk etc.), I was expecting the same nonsense from Amazon. So, I began watching the show critically looking for any flaws, and any way they could have messed up the story.

Amazon did a surprisingly good job keeping with the story, and they deserve a bit of mercy where they do fall short, because the Lord of The Rings movies are different from the books in countless ways. Overall, the story is exciting, and it leaves you wanting to finish the series in one sitting, which I would have done had I been able to. The visuals are great, and it’s a fun show to watch. I have divided this review into three sections, first: the Positive, second: the Negative, and third: the Wrap-Up.

*Warning: There are spoilers to the show included in this review.

* If you have not seen it yet, please simply read Wrapped Up.

Positive Points.

The visuals were great!

Amazon did a great job portraying the city of Numenor. They also did an equally impressive job with Moria. It was exciting getting to see Moria before it was taken over by Orcs.

The story was intriguing, and I didn’t know everything that was going to happen. I had a fun time debating with my family what would happen next. Every time we watched a new episode I would read through the appendices in the Return of The King and compare those to the show. There are multiple ways they manage to keep people engaged and excited about what happens next.

First: They have plot twists scattered throughout the show which leave room for guessing what happens next.


Second: They always end the episodes with a cliffhanger. I watched a show recently where the first episode ended with nearly no conflict, I almost gave up on watching it. The Rings of Power is nothing like that. They keep you excited, and on the edge of your seat, while waiting for the next episode.


Overall, I am excited for season 2 to come out, and I can’t wait till that happens.

Negative Points.

There is one scene in the show that still haunts my memory to this day. Galadriel and Elendil are on their way to the Hall of Records, and then the horse scene happens. If you’ve seen the show you know what I’m talking about. All of a sudden, their galloping horses go slow motion, and you watch Galadriel’s hair blow in the wind for what feels like eternity. This scene alone deserves a bad review, but I got over it.

Another problem I had with the show is a failed sense of drama. There are multiple scenes where they are revealing something huge, and they just fail at it. For example, after Mount Doom erupts one of the Orcs asks Adar what they should call their new home. The scene shows him thinking, and then proceeds to show small text in the corner that says Mordor.

My biggest problem with the show is Gandalf. They spend the entire show focusing on the Hobbits helping a looney old man who fell from the sky. They then turn around, and reveal that he was Gandalf. The appendices in The Return of The King explain that the wizards crossed over the sea, not fell from the sky. And the scene where Gandalf tells Nori to follow her nose felt like a slap in the face.

Wrapped Up

Despite all the flaws, I still enjoyed the show. It was fun, exciting, and I enjoyed finding out how it tied in to the books. I can’t wait till season 2 comes out, and I have managed to get over my problems with season 1. Every show will have something that just gets on your nerves. What matters is that you decide whether or not it was worth the scenes that made you cringe, the poor sense of drama, and bad acting.


Overall, I would say that the Rings of Power was worth it. It’s a great show to watch with fellow LOTR fans, discuss the flaws, and enjoy the success. I would recommend watching the Rings of Power if you haven’t yet, and if you have, let me know what you thought.


I would rate this show:

Rating: 4 out of 5.