God and Poker...

I am often amazed at the things God does, the places He turns up and the situations He changes.

I was in Luton this bank holiday weekend. I decided it was high time I spent some time with my cousin and my childhood friends, so I set off on the coach, leaving Becky to look after the kids for a few days (I did have her blessing, so no need to worry!).

Anyhow, the plan was to go see the carnival on bank holiday monday, but, due to heavy rain and the fact that the main road the procession was meant to walk down was flooded, it was cancelled.

I spent some of the afternoon with my Uncle and Aunt instead and then set off to Jude Smith's house for a friendly game of poker. (There was no cash on the table, only plastic chips! Hmm, maybe next time we could play for real chips, of the potato variety... although they may get a bit cold...)

Anyhow, after a bit of a chat and a rerun of a classic Gladiators Final (Eunice won!) we set up the table for the game. Well, it was more of a wooden trunk thing in the middle of the room, but it was exactly the right size!

No game of poker is complete without whiskey (apparently) so we all had some proper whiskey, Glenfiddich I believe (none of this JD stuff, Jeff would not allow it!) and started playing.

Some time into the game, someone mentioned that the only other thing missing was cigars, so, there was a break in the game while cigars were bought and smoked.

During the break a guitar turned up. I can't remember who got the guitar out, but it ended up on my lap. Someone had an oldish Survivor Songbook out on the table too.

Someone asked me to play an old Matt Redman song. I can't remember which one now, but before I knew what was happening, we were all singing song after song. I was playing Acoustic Guitar, Jeff was playing drums on the guitar case, my new friend Hairy was playing classical guitar, Jude, Kate and Ali were all singing beautiful harmonies.

I could feel God there. He was sitting with us. Singing with us. We finished singing one of the songs. I still can't remember which song it was but when the song ended, no one spoke. There was a silence. A Godly silence and I fell in love with Him all over again.

I love it that He came and sat with us while we played poker, drank whiskey and smoked cigars. I love it that He sang with us as we found ourselves worshipping Him. I love it that He loves us.

What a night!

P.S. I lost the poker game!