I'm All In

Las Vegas-



The room is dark, and smokey. There are hundreds of people watching, the drinks are flowing but still the room is quiet. The only light in the room is above your head and that's dim because of your sunglasses. Your elbows on the green felt, sweat beading on your for head, the inside brim or your visor is soaked with the sweat of nervousness. Three people left out of at least 300. It's been a long, stressful day, but you made it to the last table, with three of you left. Your friends and family said you wouldn't ever make it this far in the Texas Hold- Em world series. You throw in the big blind and the dealer starts to deal. You look at your cards and see pocket aces. You hold in your excitement not to show the chip leader across the table who has been after the rookie all night. Stone faced you start the first round of betting, the guy to your left folds right out of the gate. The chip leader looks at you and calls, "shoot!" you can't help but think he also has something good. Here comes the flop, three spades, but wait the last one is an ace. Now you have three aces, but who knows what he has, lets see how he bets. He raises big, now this is either your chance to make a name for yourself or he knows he has the flush. What do you do, this could be your chance to double up and become the chip leader, and the way you've been playing all day that would almost seal the deal, you could control the rest of the game from here on out. What do you do? See if the next two cards come out and he gets the flush, but your stuck with three aces you lose and your out all that time and money. This is where the choice gets tough.



What if you knew that one of those cards was going to be an ace? What if the dealer promised and showed you the next two cards? In fact he showed everyone but you were the only one to see. Would you fold, or go all in? 4th down and 3, 45 seconds left in the fourth quarter down by six, your on the 18 yard line what do you do? Well what if you knew without a doubt that the linebackers were going to go into pass coverage and the left end was without a doubt going to trip at the snap and leave a huge gap to run through? Would you go for it? I would.



In fact I did, not the poker thing or the football thing, but the God thing. You know God calls us all to do His work, to minister to other people, serving the Lord. He tells us what He wants us to do, and gives us all the tools to do it. Our skills, our gifts, our passions. He allows us to go through junk so that we can come through stronger and wiser on the other side, to give us a testimony for the things that He has done for us. A way to communicate His greatness to others through personal experience. James 1:2-4 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." God allows us to go through these things that we may be better equipped to do His work. Have you ever noticed that every time you go through something and come out the other side there is usually someone waiting that is about to go through the same thing, or something very similar? Think about it, do you think that is just by chance? No, it's God giving you the opportunity to do His work by using the tool He just gave you! Isn't that cool! He puts people in front of us all the time who need some help getting through something that we have already gone through, but we have to say yes. How many times are you with a group of believers maybe at church service, or midweek bible study, or perhaps an e mail sent to all the members of your church, from the pastor, or someone asking for help? Now, how many times have you not responded or held your mouth shut, because you were scared that you would have to devote time or money to this person. Or afraid to leave your comfort zone, and be in a strange place away from family or friends with a big job in front of you that your afraid you can't do. Well, your probably right, but if God is the one who puts this stuff in front of you and you accept His work than you shouldn't worry, because you aren't the one who will be doing the work really it's the Spirit in you. So, don't say no, especially because of fear, because I promise you that God wouldn't put anything in front of you that you can't handle, and He will give you the strength as long as you ask for it. He will provide everything for you to do the things according to His will and that's all that matters anyway, His will.

So, push all your chips to the center of the table, sit back take off your shades and let the dealer deal out the winning ace, because you know it's a sure thing. Make the call to the quarter back to hand it to the running back, tell him to run left and jump over the left end, take off your head phones and prepare for the bucket of Gatorade and ice, because it's a sure thing. Say yes to God and all His works, because He is always a sure thing and He'll make sure you get the ace or the three yards you need to finish His perfect will.