Deal 'em Again

After I finished the Man in the Window about playing Euchre and playing the hand you were dealt, almost immediately another leadership thought sprang to my mind.    When you're playing Euchre with friends it's amazing how twisted the conversation becomes when you are on a men's weekend away.  Playfully you begin to tease your opponents about how bad they are, or about how great your card playing skill is.  You get dealt a great hand and take all the tricks and we're quick to take the credit.  We make gloating comments like this: "Give up now, you can't play with us." "Watch the master at work." "How are you guys ever gonna stop us?" "Do you guys want some lessons?" When you are playing for fun with friends, the digs and jabs are a part of the game and we laugh them off.  You see most of the time, we remember it's not the skill of the player that leads to landslide wins, it's in the deal of the cards.  Sure you have to play the hand you are dealt well, but the landslide win is often out of your control.  Put four equally good players at the table and the wins will be determined by how the cards are dealt.   Sometimes we forget that it in our ministries.  We're too quick to take the credit.  Too brag on our own abilities, our own efforts, our own work.  But it is God who is in control of the situations.  He is the deal of the cards.  He calls us to be faithful, the results are HIS not ours.  Faithfully fulfilling the call is what is required.  He brings the results so if we're going to brag, let's brag on HIM.   Paul said it this way, "Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord."  1 Corinthians 1:31   Lord, make me a boaster, a boaster of all that You do and never of what I may think is my doing.   Amen!

Bruce D. Rzengota
Norwalk Alliance Church

Prayer is not preparation for the battle, it is the battle.