It's a question my kids ask me all the time. Every weekend, they ask to play video games with me on the computer, the Switch, or a board game at our table. I love playing games, and games are even more fun to play when I'm playing with people I love.

Daddy, will you play this game with me is such a simple, innocent, and intimate question that I was struck with its profoundness when my friend Mitchell said he uses that question as a filter for his design process. As creative individuals, it’s easy to come up with tons of ideas, but not all of those ideas will necessarily be honoring to God, so he uses the question as a test. If he can't picture God choosing to sit down and play the game with him, then some changes need to be made.

I love this question because it makes me return to little boy Brock. As a boy, things were simple, and talking with God was easy. As an adult, I tend to complicate things by building rules, frameworks, and matrices to filter data and think about the world. My post Allow, Incorporate, Celebrate is a prime example of that. Frameworks like that can be helpful; that one certainly has helped me to process and clarify my thinking. Nevertheless, in the end, it's a simple question from a child to their daddy asking what He thinks about what I'm making.

Daddy, will you play this game with me?