A Deck Of Cards

It was quiet that particular day --- the holy day of the week, the "day of rest" for most Christians. The guns, mortars, and land mines for some reason had not been heard.

As the soldier sat down wondering what to do, he got out an old deck of cards and laid them out across his bunk.

Just then his platoon sergeant came in and said, 'Why aren't you with the rest of the platoon?'

The soldier replied, 'I thought I would stay behind and spend some time with the Lord.'

The sergeant said, 'Looks to me like you're just about to play cards.'

The soldier said, 'No, sergeant. You see, since we are not allowed to have Bibles or other spiritual books in this country, I've decided to talk to the Lord by studying this deck of cards.'

The sergeant asked in disbelief, 'How do you propose to do that with a deck of cards?'

'Sergeant, you see the Ace? It reminds me that there is only one God.

The Two represents the two parts of the Bible, the Old and the New Testaments.

The Three represents the Trinity --- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The Four stands for the Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The Five is for the five wise virgins --- there were ten but only five of them were saved because they made the proper preparation before the bridegroom arrived.

The Six is for the six days it took God to create the heaven and the earth.

The Seven is for the Sabbath day when God rested at the end of the creation week.

The Eight is for Noah's family --- he, his wife, their three sons and their wives -- the eight people God spared from the Great Flood that destroyed the Earth.

The Nine is for the lepers that Jesus cleansed. He cleansed ten of their leprosy, but nine never thanked Him.

The Ten represents the Ten Commandments which God handed down to Moses on tablets of stone.

The Jack is represents Satan, one of God's first angels, but who got kicked out of heaven for his sly and wicked ways and is now the "joker of hell".

The Queen stands for the Virgin Mary.

The King stands for Jesus, for the King of all kings.

When I count the dots on all the cards, I come up with 365 total, one for every day of the year.

There are a total of 52 cards in a deck which represent the 52 weeks in a year.

The four suits represent the four seasons: spring, summer, fall and winter.

Each suit has thirteen cards --- there are exactly thirteen weeks in a quarter.

So when I want to talk to God and thank Him, I just pull out this old deck of cards and they remind me of all that I have to be thankful for.'

The sergeant stood there quietly for a long while. Then, with tears in his eyes and an inexplicable longing and pain in his heart, he muttered, 'Soldier, can I borrow that deck of cards?'

Please take time to pray for all of our soldiers who are being sent away, putting their lives on the line fighting.

Author Unknown