There was one particular game that Tim and I became VERY addicted to. Yu-Gi-Oh! This is basically a card game where you "create" a battlefield using a set of cards that has monsters, magical spells on it. Tim got me into this game - YES I BLAME TIM!!! No, really, this game was so much fun. We spent hours upon hours creating new decks to try out against each other. A few other friends joined in but none played as much as Tim and I did. We eventually became avid collector of rare cards. They were called holo cards because they had reflections on them. We played this game consistently for about I'd say six months. At that time, Ali and I were dating. Ali of course, HATED this game. Rightfully so, there would be times when she'd come in and visit while Tim and I were playing. I didn't pay much attention her. My bad! We were just so immersed into the game. During that time, Tim worked at Target, 3rd shift. We would even agree to play in the wee hours of the morning. Tim'd get off around 4:00am and wake me up. I'd have my deck on the floor ready to go. Wow, looking back, we were REALLY into that game. Anyway, during that time, we started having bible studies about things in our lives that allow dark things into the world. Symbols that describe evil, posters of dark things with dark meanings, and so forth. Yu-Gi-Oh cards had many different symbols that described witchcraft, raising the dead (necromancy), controlling dark/light armies and having magical powers. At first, the bible studies didn't bother Tim and me. After the bible studies, we'd go home and play Yu-Gi-Oh! Lol, it's pretty funny looking back and thinking about it.
After a while, we started thinking about how much it consumed our time and that it was true, many of our cards had dark symbols on it, having dark "abilities" and how these kind of things could "open" the door to things that we couldn't see. We had also heard stories of how sometimes children would get so immersed into these games, that they would imagine themselves having these powers, having that kind of desire. We finally decided to give the game up. This was around New Year's. We had also decided we wouldn't give them away, or sell them. We would burn them. We wouldn't allow these cards contribute to someone else's addiction/desire for that kind of "power."
Glenda, whose house we often meet for our Friday night bible studies, asked us the total value of our cards. We guessed it to be at around $2,000. Yes, we collected a LOT of cards. I had one particular card valued at $60 alone and another at $40, because of how rare they were. Tim and I burned them ALL. Glenda told Tim and I that we would receive double the blessing from God for obeying.
Glenda later received a phone call from her brother, who is a pastor at Wyatt Park Baptist church in Missouri. We have a group that goes to the beach every year for a retreat, and we always rent a house RIGHT on the ocean. God has always provided funding for this, somehow. I don't think we've ever had to "raise funds" on our own other than giving money to pay for the food for that week. Anyway, Glenda's brother calls her up and tells her that he walked into the missions committee and they were talking about leftover money that they needed to clear up for the fiscal year. Gerald (Glenda's brother) tells the committee about the group that goes to the beach, so they decided to give money to help support this. They gave.....
$2,000.
Exactly $2,000 for that year's beach trip. WHOA!! God blessed our obedience and we were able to afford the perfect house for everyone to attend the beach.
A couple weeks later, I think, Gerald calls up Glenda again and tells her that the missions committee met again and they also decided to set aside $2,000 for the next year!!! DOUBLE blessing! That's God. They could have given us $500, 750, 2,500, or ANY other amount, but EXACTLY $2,000 -- the total value of our cards, and then double! Whoo.... awesome?
Here's the freaky thing. Glenda and another friend went to look at the fire pit where we burned our cards. There was only one card remaining.
CREEPY! Tim showed me a story from the bible that reminded us exactly of this event.
Acts 19:19-20 -- I encourage you to read the whole chapter so you can see the content of the story.
19. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.
20. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.
Obedience begets blessing. Our group was able to go to the beach because we chose to obey. How many blessings have we missed because we didn't obey?
Have you gotten your 50,000 drachmas?
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