"All In"

I was asked to lead the Call To Worship at our worship gathering this week.. And because it has been on my mind all week I feel the need to share it here.

I have this funky black and gold plastic poker trophy hanging out on my bookcase. Usually something this ugly would be tucked away in the back of my closet only to be noticed when it comes time to move.

But I love this trophy, for a couple of reasons... mainly because there are several boys in my life that I can feel superior to, having beat them at my first ever poker tournament. And because I love that Learning to play Texas Hold 'Em has taught me (my favorite "move") about "all in" .

If you are an average no-poker knowledge individual "all in" simply means you place all your bets on the table, thus forcing all the other players to meet your wager or back out. Depending on the cards this is a huge risk...If you lose, you lose everything. But if you win...well, you win a great deal.

I've been thinking about this in regards to life in community; Life with each other in the body of Christ. And all I can think is that I wan t to place all my bets on the table. i wan to be "all in".

Often i feel defeated by life, by racing against a clock, by the knowledge that a lot of the time I live a with just a chip or two on the table, rationing my love and joy and compassion, because those things are linked with rationing energy.

But I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm only cheating myself. And cheating those around me. Because life is not entirely like poker. I don't lose if you live in Abundant Life. And I don't win if I'm not willing to risk everything to live in abundant life either....in fact, I think that if I were all in and you were all in...everything we have grows exponentially.

exponential?? yeah,I want that.