“Balloon battle” mode turns the competitive races of Mario Kart into an entirely different game, with each participant starting the match with a limited number of balloons that are depleted when an attack is landed by one of the other competitors. Each player’s health status is represented by the quantity of balloons that they are currently carrying, and running out of your balloons means game over. Due to the cutthroat nature of these matches, a player who is down to their very last balloon will not find much mercy from the other players… as a matter of fact, they may even be targeted for elimination because they are already weakened and vulnerable.

In our real world, how much differently would we treat each other if we could actually see how many “balloons” each of us are carrying… and who is desperately trying to hold on to their last one? Every day we run into people who are down to their final balloon… we just can’t see that with our physical eyes. And in our blindness, we can often be guilty of being inconsiderate, short, or simply unmerciful to those who are at the end of their rope and clinging to one last thread of hope. In this merciless rat race, let’s be the ones who choose mercy and show His love and grace to every soul we encounter today as if they were on their final balloon… because most of us are. 

“For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.” Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, “Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?” And the King will answer and say to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” Matthew 25:35-40

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