A Deck of 52 Cards

You may never look at a deck of cards the same way again. (Reformatted and slightly modified from an email I received as “forwarded” April 2, 2010; originating author unknown.) It was a quiet day, the guns and the mortars, and land mines, for some reason hadn’t been heard. The young soldier knew it was Sunday, the holiest day of the week. As he was sitting there, he got out an old deck of cards and laid them out across his bunk. Just then an Army Sergeant came in and said why aren’t you with the rest of the platoon?” The soldier replied, “I thought I’d spend some time with the Lord.” The Sergeant said, “It looks to me like you’re going to play cards.” The soldier said, “No, sir. You see, since we’re 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 will you do that?” The young soldier proceeded to explain: “You see the Ace, Sergeant? It reminds me that there’s only One God. “The Two represents the Two Parts of the Bible, the Old and New Testaments. “The Three represents the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. “The Four stands for the Four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. “The Five is for the five Virgins – there were ten- but only five of them were glorified. “The Six is for the six days God took to create the Heavens and the Earth. “The Seven is for the day God rested after His Creation, and seeing all that He had made was good. “The Eight is for the family of Noah and his wife, their three sons and their wives – the eight people God spared from the flood that destroyed all living things on the earth.

“The Nine is for the lepers that Jesus cleansed of leprosy. He cleansed ten, but nine never thanked Him. “The Ten represents the Ten Commandments that God handed down to Moses on the Tablets made of stone for how we ought to live. “The Jack is a reminder of Satan, one of God’s first angels, but he got kicked out of heaven for his sly and wicked ways, and is now the joker of eternal hell, the Prince of Darkness that roams the world seeking the ruin of souls. “The Queen stands for the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. “The King stands for Jesus, for He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. “When I count the dots on all the cards, I come up with a total of 365, one for each day of the year. “There are 52 Cards in a deck representing 52 weeks in a year. “The Four suits, heart, diamond, spade and club, 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 talk with 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 just stood there. After a minute, with tears in his eyes and pain in his heart, he said, “Soldier, can I borrow that deck of cards?” § Many military men and women have sat still for a few moments on their bunk at one time or other, I know that I have found myself in such times

many years ago. The fact that someone would come up with such creativity, in a place in need of a Bible, is wonderful.

Please stop for a moment and pray for our “away” service men and women in their vital mission for peace in the world. Thank you.