Modems and the Master

Last Sunday night we entered the National League of Poker's weekly championship.  But after the first half-hour where we lost about 20 percent of our stack, the system froze.  It apparently was the fault of NLOP's server; the game was suspended and resumed later in the evening.

We won several big pots after the resumption, climbing to more than 37,000 chips in 90 minutes.  With about 300 players remaining, we were 55th -- and money now is paid to the top 52 players in the weekly tournament.  But then our screen froze again.  We feared it was one of those stifling McAfee updates -- but after a restart of our computer, our Internet connection refused to work!

While thankfully the "automatic disqualification" rule was suspended for this tournament, the outage cost us half-an-hour of play.  We had another web freeze after returning, went all-in with 8-8 in desperation and lost to a straight.  We finished 96th out of 1,147 players -- but again wondering what might have been.

Another Internet slowdown and outage occurred for us later in the week, deep in a tournament.  Finally we called our Internet provider's tech support line, and it concluded our modem was fading out and dying.  The device lasted five years, which apparently was very good since the usual life of a modem is three to four.

But these frustrations remind us how in this life, nothing lasts forever and few things truly are reliable.  Your best-laid plans can be ruined when things break down, or people let you down.  At those points we're reminded:

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. - Psalm 20:7

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the Lord. - Isaiah 31:1

You may count on a fellow poker player to act in a certain way which benefits you -- only to find he or she makes a very different decision.  You may even be looking for help and success from a candidate, in this U.S. election year.  But the more reliable place to turn is God -- as even Jesus pointed out:

I have much to say in judgment of you.  But he who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from him I tell the world. - John 8:26

Jesus was sent by God the Father 2,000 years ago -- and He'll be sent again to rescue this world from destruction, and bring eternal life to those who accept His salvation (Matthew 24:30-31).  Do you trust God to provide the greatest victory of all?