어릴 적에는 동네 여느 아이들처럼 저도 게임을 즐겼습니다. 특히 겨울철에 즐겼던 게임으로는 딱지치기, 구슬치기, 팽이치기, 자치기, 썰매타기 등이 떠오릅니다. 하지만 요즈음 핫한 오징어게임은 그 시절 듣지도 보지도 못했습니다. 그래도 세상을 사는데 별 어려움이 없었습니다. 하지만 구슬치기, 자치기를 한 덕분에 언젠가 시작할 수도 있는 골프에 대한 두려움은 없습니다. 작은 구슬에 비해서 골프공은 충분히 크다고 생각하기 때문입니다. 그 시절 딱지치기를 하면서 왕딱지를 만들어야 하는데 두꺼운 종이라야 왕딱지의 기능을 제대로 할 수 있습니다. 온 집을 살피다가 벽에 걸린 사과 광주리에 담긴 은행 증서들을 발견하고는 물어보지도 않고 왕딱지를 제작했습니다. 물론 그 당시로는 쓸모가 있으리라고는 생각하지 못했으니 폐지(廢紙)처럼 넣어둔 것이었지요. 그래서 한일협상이 성사되고 그 증서를 찾았을 때는 모두 사라졌다는 것을 확인했습니다. “황금을 보기를 돌같이 하라”는 가 르침을 듣기도 전에 실천한 셈입니다.
우리 학교에 이번 학기 공부를 시작한 부부 선교사님이 계십니다. 베트남에서 20년 이상 사역한 분들인데 서양 선교사님들과 교제하면서 받아들인 문화인지 보드게임을 하자고 몇 차례 요청했습니다. 그것이 노년에 치매예방에도 좋다고 설득하면서 말입니다. 마침내 어제밤에는 네 사람이라야 제대로 할 수 있는 ‘블로커스’라는 게임을 갖고 와서 간단한 설명과 함께 시작했습니다. 첫 판은 선교사님 부부가 1, 2등을 하고 우린 3, 4등을 했습니다. 실전에서 좀 더 익히고 두 번째 게임을 했는데 제가 완판의 승리를 거두었습니다. 그 게임은 땅따먹기와 비슷한 면도 있지만 사실은 정반대입니다. 게임보드에 내가 가진 블럭을 다 사용하고 더 이상 아무 것도 없게 되면 승리하는 것이니까요^^
학력을 비교하면 신학교를 졸업한 나 말고는 다들 명문대학 출신들입니다. 게다가 저는 기하학적 도형에 이해가 느린 문과 계통이니 기도하는 마음으로 임할 수 밖에 없습니다. ㅋㅋ 게임을 하면서 이기기를 위해서 기도한다고요? 하면 왜 안될까요? 범사에 감사할 수 있다면 범사에 기도할 수도 있을 것이라고 생각합니다. 하여간 두 번째 판의 결과는 눈치 빠른 분들이 예상하듯이 1등을 넘어서 패 하나도 손에 남기지 않고 다 사용했습니다. 그날 저녁에 배운 블로커스라는 게임은 땅 따먹기의 반대의미로 생각하면 될 것 같습니다. 땅 따먹기는 누가 넓을 땅을 차지하느냐가 관건입니다. 하지만 이 게임은 골고루 나누어 받은 블럭을 남김 없이 다 게임보드에 꽂아서 손을 털면 이기는 게임입니다. 결국 몇 개가 남았느냐에 따라서 등수가 결정되는 게임이니 시사하는 바가 큽니다.
인생 게임은 누가 손에 많은 것을 획득하느냐에 승패가 달린 것처럼 영끌을 해서라도 시세 차익을 남기는 아파트를 사야 한다고 설득합니다. 하지만 어떤 분은 그렇게까지 말하더군요! 대~한민국에는 부모유산이 2천만원만 넘으면 대개 자녀들이 상속싸움을 한다고 합니다. 게임 보드에 내가 가진 모든 블럭을 내려놓고 빈손이 되듯이, 손에 쥔 재물을 선한 일에 투자하는 성도들이 많이 나오기를 바랍니다. “내가 너희 영혼을 위하여 크게 기뻐함으로 재물을 사용하고 또 내 자신까지 내어주리니”(고후 12:15)라고 고백하는 목사들이 희귀한 시대이긴 하지만 손에 가득 쥔 것으로 성패가 갈리는 것이 아니라, 손에 들어온 것을 주 뜻대로 사용해서 손을 터는 사람이 승리하는 것이 인생게임이 아닐까요?
As a child, like any other kid in the neighborhood, I thoroughly enjoyed playing games. When winter came around, my mind turns especially to memories of playing ddakji (folded paper tiles), marbles, spinning tops, stick-tossing (jachigi), and sledding. Back then, of course, no one had ever heard of the currently sensational Squid Game. Still, we had no trouble living full, joyful lives. Thanks to marbles and jachigi, I have never feared golf—a game I might try my hand at someday. After all, compared to tiny marbles, a golf ball looks plenty big enough! Back in those days, when folded tiles clashed, making a "King Tile" was essential, and only truly thick paper could do the trick. Searching the whole house, I stumbled upon a stack of bank certificates tucked inside an apple basket hung on the wall. Without asking anyone, I eagerly folded them into a mighty King Tile. Naturally, at the time, nobody thought those papers held any value, so they were left there like discarded waste. Years later, when the Korea-Japan normalization treaty was finalized and they went looking for those certificates, every single one had vanished. Without even realizing it, I had put into practice the old Korean proverb, "Look upon gold as mere stones," long before I ever heard it taught.
This semester, a missionary couple joined our graduate school to pursue their studies. Having served in Vietnam for over two decades—perhaps influenced by their fellowship with Western missionaries—they repeatedly suggested that we play board games together, warmly reassuring us that it is wonderful for keeping dementia at bay in one's senior years. Finally, last night, they brought over a game called Blokus, which requires four players to be enjoyed properly, and walked us through a brief explanation before we started. In the first round, the missionary couple took first and second place, while we finished in third and fourth. Having gotten the hang of the real gameplay, we jumped into round two, and to my surprise, I claimed a clean, sweeping victory. While the game shares some surface similarities with traditional territorial land-grabbing games, it is in truth the exact opposite. You win by using up every single block in your hand until your board pieces are completely exhausted and you have nothing left in your hands!^^
Looking strictly at educational credentials, everyone else graduated from prestigious universities, whereas I merely completed theological seminary. On top of that, coming from a humanities background, I am quite slow at grasping geometric shapes, so I had no choice but to play with a prayerful heart. Haha! Praying to win a board game, you ask? Why ever not? If we are called to give thanks in all circumstances, surely we can pray in all circumstances as well. In any case, as those who are sharp might have already guessed, my second game went far beyond merely taking first place: I emptied my entire supply without leaving a single tile behind. The game of Blokus that I learned that evening can really be understood as the exact reverse of land-grabbing. In land-grabbing games, victory belongs to whoever claims the largest territory. But in this game, victory belongs to the one who takes their evenly distributed allotment of blocks, places every last one onto the board, and dusts off their empty hands. In the end, your standing is determined by how few pieces remain in your hand, offering us much food for thought.
Our culture tempts us to believe that the game of life depends entirely on how much we can gather and hoard in our hands, urging people to pull together every penny—even through desperate "soul-borrowing" debt—to buy apartments solely for speculative gains. Someone even remarked sadly that in South Korea today, whenever parents leave behind an inheritance of more than twenty million won, the children almost inevitably end up fighting over it. Just as one wins Blokus by laying down every block onto the game board and becoming empty-handed, my heartfelt prayer is that many believers will arise who invest the wealth in their hands into good and noble deeds. We live in an age where pastors who confess, "I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls" (2 Cor. 12:15), are exceedingly rare. Yet is it not true that the game of life is not determined by how much we grip tightly in our fists, but won by those who use what has come into their hands according to the Lord's will, and in the end, walk away with empty, open hands?
As kind het ek, net soos enige ander kind in die buurt, baie daarvan gehou om speletjies te speel. Veral in die wintermaande dink ek met verlange terug aan speletjies soos ddakji (papiervoukaartjies), albasters, tolle, jachigi (stokkies slaan) en sleetjies ry op die sneeu. Die gewilde Squid Game van vandag was destyds natuurlik ongehoord en ongesiens. En tog het ons die lewe met vreugde en sonder moeite geniet. Danksy al daardie dae van albaster- en stokkiesspeel het ek hoegenaamd geen vrees vir gholf nie—’n sport wat ek dalk eendag nog mag aanpak. Vergeleke met daardie piepklein albasters voel ’n gholfbal immers vir my ruim groot genoeg! In daardie dae, wanneer ons kaartjies gekap het, moes ’n mens ’n reuse-kaartjie, ’n sogenaamde "Koning-kaartjie", maak. Net baie dik papier kon werklik sy man staan. Toe ek eendag die hele huis deursoek, ontdek ek ’n klompie bankbewyse in ’n appelmandjie wat teen die muur gehang het. Sonder om enigiemand te vra, het ek dit dadelik in ’n yslike koningkaartjie opgevou. Destyds het niemand natuurlik gedink dat dit enige waarde sou hê nie, en daarom is dit soos ou snippermandjie-papier daar weggebêre. Jare later, toe die verdrag tussen Korea en Japan onderteken is en hulle na daardie bewyse soek, was alles skoonveld. Sonder om dit selfs te besef, het ek die ou spreekwoord, "Beskou goud asof dit gewone klippe is", reeds uitgeleef lank voordat ek ooit daarvan gehoor het.
By ons universiteit is daar ’n sendelingegpaar wat hierdie semester met hul studies begin het. Hulle het meer as twintig jaar lank in Viëtnam gedien, en moontlik as gevolg van hul jarelange omgang met Westerse sendelinge, het hulle ons by herhaling genooi om bordspel te speel. Hulle het ons met ’n glimlag probeer oortuig dat dit uitstekend is om demensie op ’n mens se ou dag af te weer. Gisteraand het hulle uiteindelik opgedaag met ’n speletjie genaamd Blokus, wat eers werklik tot sy reg kom as daar vier spelers is, en ná ’n kort verduideliking het ons weggespring. In die eerste rondte het die sendelingegpaar die eerste en tweede plek behaal, terwyl ons met die derde en vierde plek tevrede moes wees. Nadat ons die reëls in die praktyk beter bemeester het, het ons ’n tweede pot gespeel, en tot my verbasing het ek ’n volkome oorwinning behaal. Hoewel die speletjie oppervlakkig soos ’n tradisionele grondgrypspeletjie lyk, is dit eintlik presies die teenoorgestelde. Jy wen immers deur al die blokkies wat jy het op die bord te plaas totdat jou hande heeltemal leeg is en jy niks meer oorhet nie!^^
Wat akademiese kwalifikasies betref, kom al die ander van gerekende universiteite af, terwyl ek slegs ’n teologiese kweekskool voltooi het. Boonop is ek as geesteswetenskaplike maar stadig van begrip wanneer dit by geometriese figure kom; daarom kon ek nie anders as om die spel met ’n biddende hart aan te pak nie! Haha! Bid ’n mens dan om ’n bordspeletjie te wen? Wel, waarom dan nie? As ons in alle omstandighede dankbaar kan wees, glo ek dat ons ook in alle dinge kan bid. Hoe dit ook al sy, soos die skerpsinniges sekerlik reeds vermoed het, het die uitslag van die tweede rondte veel verder gegaan as bloot die eerste plek: ek het nie ’n enkele blokkie in my hand oorgehou nie en almal opgebruik. Die Blokus-speletjie wat ek daardie aand geleer het, kan ten beste verstaan word as die teenoorgestelde van grond verower. In grondgrypspeletjies gaan dit daaroor om te kyk wie die grootste stuk grond kan afkamp. Maar in hierdie spel wen die een wat die gelykop verdeelde blokkies tot die heel laaste een op die bord insit en sy hande leeg kan afstof. Aangesien ’n mens se rangorde uiteindelik bepaal word deur hoeveel blokkies jy nog oorhet, hou dit vir ons ’n diep lewensles in.
Die lewenspel probeer ons dikwels wysmaak dat oorwinning afhang van hoeveel ’n mens in jou hande kan saamskraap—dat ’n mens selfs jou siel moet verpand om woonstelle te koop bloot om wins uit prysskommelinge te maak. Iemand het selfs onlangs opgemerk: in Suid-Korea vandag baklei kinders gewoonlik onder mekaar oor erfporsies sodra die ouers se nalatenskap maar net twintig miljoen won oorskry! Net soos ’n mens al jou blokkies op die spelbord neerlê en met leë hande agterbly om te wen, bid ek dat daar baie gelowiges sal opstaan wat die rykdom in hul hande in goeie, edel werke belê. Ons leef weliswaar in ’n tyd waarin leraars wat saam met die apostel kan bely: "Ek sal baie graag alles gee, ja, myself heeltemal gee vir julle siele" (2 Kor. 12:15), baie seldsaam geword het. Maar word die uitslag van die lewenspel werklik bepaal deur hoeveel ons krampagtig in ons vuiste vashou? Is dit nie eerder die een wat dít wat in sy hande beland het volgens die Here se wil gebruik en met leë, oop hande voor Hom staan, wat waarlik die oorwinning behaal nie?