Multiple Main Events

For many poker players, today is one of the biggest days of the year. The World Series of Poker's "Main Event" begins in Las Vegas - the most prestigious tournament, with perhaps the biggest top prize at stake.

No, we're not entering the Main Event again this year. Our schedule does not allow us to play - not to mention the $10,000 buy-in, which is a bit over our budget.

Instead, we want to ask a question. What would you say are the biggest "Main Events" in history? Not in poker - but in general?

We don't think they're moments on a military battlefield, or from a court bench. We think they're bigger than that.  For starters....

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. - Genesis 1:1

Now this event was big. Without God creating these things, where could humans live?

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. - Genesis 1:27

Without that main event, you would not exist. And while there may be famous portraits of poker-playing dogs, we can't name any animals who actually play - much less write blogs about it.

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife, But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son And he gave him the name Jesus. - Matthew 1:24-25

The birth of Jesus was another main event - because God brought His Son Jesus into the world, that we might have eternal life (John 3:16).

When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. - John 19:30

Jesus came, and then He died. Why is that a main event? Because of what happened shortly thereafter:

For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! - Romans 5:10

Jesus was resurrected from the dead (Romans 8:11), giving us hope of being resurrected as well. In fact, that's the next big main event - one that many believers long to see:

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. - I Thessalonians  4:16-17

The return of Jesus is the next "Main Event" of history - and it offers a reward for far more than the "top ten percent" of all players.

If you have doubts about any of these events, we invite you to review them carefully. Then ask yourself: are you looking forward to the main events that really matters?