Scared off my game

As we drove to a poker tournament tonight, two ideas were bouncing in our head -- fear and fleeing. The Bible seems to be against the former, and in favor of the latter. Yet some would say we wound up doing both.

We walked down the strip mall sidewalk toward the door of Soho Bar and Grill. "You coming in?" a man at the door asked.

We were, so we correctly guessed what that meant. We pulled out our wallet, to show a legal ID. "Sweet," the man said.

"NO! You can't play tonight! You can't play tonight!" Someone from behind reached around and grabbed us.

"OK, I'll leave." We did a 180-degree turn and walked the other way -- away from the door of Soho, never stepping inside.

"Come back," a voice behind us said -- the voice of the man who had grabbed us. "I was kidding. Please stop!"

We didn't. The voice sounded familiar, as a man who plays with us often. But without even turning around to see who was talking, we went directly to the car, pulled out and drove home -- not stopping until we reached home to post this.

It's a sad truth that most free poker tournaments take place in bars and nightclubs. Our city has had several shootings at bars in the last couple of years, including places which have poker nights. (Admittedly, the attacks came well after the poker ended.)

It's also a fact that Halloween is approaching -- an annual event which plays on people's fears. It's an event we personally avoid as much as possible, because we don't consider it a Christian thing to do.

Put those two pieces of evidence together, and you might understand why we reacted as we did tonight. If we don't feel safe entering a place to play poker, we're not addicted to the game enough to go in and risk trouble.

We don't have to go out and drive across town for poker nights, after all. We can play online, in the safety of our computer room. It's obviously not the same, but we can.

"Deliver me, O Lord, from thine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me," says Psalm 143:7 in the King James Version. On the other hand, I John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love.... He that fears is not made perfect in love."

How do we balance these two things? We're not sure if we did it the right way tonight or not. Your comments are welcome about it.

But come to think of it, many a chip stack has been lost by the poker player who boldly went all-in with what he thought was a good hand -- only to find his opponent across the table had one even better. It's the stuff of poetry....

He who should have folded and fled
Pushed and went all-in instead --
Only to wind up drawing dead.