Mark Twain described one of his characters as “having the quiet confidence of a Christian with four aces.”

My brother sent around this quote to the family email chain, and it elicited the following response from me. I rather enjoyed writing this so I do hope you enjoy reading it if you choose to do so.

Funny, very funny. The four Gospels come to mind as does the representation of total power in the 4 aces. Total power, like Neo in the Matrix or something. That would be Christ. The Christian holds all the aces because even when he loses he still wins because he has declared war on every sinful aspect of himself. Indeed even if he suffers as an innocent this is still for the glory of God, and the ultimate good of the sinner and sinners in general. In one sense, perhaps the most important sense, it is impossible for the Christian to be dealt any hand that is not metaphorically speaking 4 aces. The worst thing we can do is to fail to play our hand however bad it might seem to us or however bad it might seem to turn out for us. Because that would be like walking away from the table when you are holding four aces even if what you see is the worst possible hand.

Check out my blog at Annunciationblog.wordpress.com. This is my attempt not to walk away from the table for whatever it is worth, not that what it is worth or isn’t worth even matters one iota. The point is to obey God and let him sort out the rest because it won’t be long now before we are all moldering in the ground, ashes to ashes and dust to dust.

Now then! Enjoy if you are so inclined. I highly recommend the Humor section with its many entries even though some have expressed concern, not so much with the fact the guy shakes his butt, but with how very good he clearly is at shaking his butt. That just doesn’t seem masculine, expert butt shaking and all that. ROFL. Others have expressed concern with the excessive solemnity of the website that seems to radically contradict with the content of the humor section. But, butt shaking be damned…I have a firm belief that God is the best comedian we will ever meet and that, against Aquinas, ROFLing is fine when done in moderation, say, only three to four times a day as opposed to seven to ten times a day.

Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back. His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’

The moral of the story? Play your hand in the grand poker game of life, win or lose, no matter what you have been dealt, or else. And I didn’t say that. I’m just reprinting what He said. I’m at least going to put his money in the bank! After all, “he reaps where he does not sow and gathers where he does not scatter.” That should make us afraid, but in a good way; it should inspire us, fill us with wonder, and urge us on to fulfill his plans and his commands no matter how little it may seem we have been given at times. Because the point is not what we assess to be worth something, but rather, the fact that he is all-powerful, beyond us, so high above us, yet here with us, next to us, in us and about us, to give us his glory, his victory, his death, and thus:

HIS LIFE.