I remember when I was coaching football, we would have to work fundraisers for the league. Every Saturday night we would rotate working down at the bingo hall. I remember that I really didn’t like going there because the room was filled with smoke and I could barely breathe.
It was real funny to watch how intense the people got towards the end of the game. The anticipation was crazy…and all of a sudden you would hear “BINGO!” There would be a big sigh that traveled through the room, a few moments of chatter and boom…the next game would start.
Have you ever thought of Bingo and Life? I mean in some ways they are very similar. In bingo your given a card filled with numbers and you are given a dabber to cover the numbers when you hear them called. The key is to listen to the caller so you won’t miss your number. Once you have completed a row ‘BINGO” the game is over. But your not the only one with a card, the whole room is filled with people that have cards too. No two cards are the same but everyone is hoping to win. If someone gets bingo before you, they win the prize and the process starts all over again.
You can go to bingo every night for years and never win, but someday when you least expect it “BINGO!” you win.
This reminds me of something that I read;
You made my life short, so brief that the time means nothing to you. “Human life is but a breath, Psalm 39:5
We disappear like a breath; we last no longer than a faint shadow. Psalm 144:4
You see, like the Bingo game we don’t know when our number is going to be called, the game can end at anytime. You can be sitting with someone and in an instant “BINGO” game over, there number is called. One minute they’re playing the game just like you and the next moment they are going up to receive their due.
In life we are given a plan (like the bingo card) and in that plan there’s a journey filled with instructions from the caller (God). Like in bingo we must hear the instructions of the caller so we can have an opportunity to complete the card. God gives us work to do while we are here on earth and we must hear his instructions so we can know what to do. And we never know when God will call us to receive our due.
You see at some point the games over and hopefully by that time we can say;
I have brought glory to you here on earth by doing everything you gave me to do. John 17:4
Every day we live gives us less time to live… so what are we going to do with it?
Just a thought…