You can learn a lot by watching poker.
I sure have. The most obvious is that I watch too much poker.
The second lesson is that of the calculated risk. Most humans want the sure thing. The 100% money back guarantee.
In the game of the Texas Hold’em these type of people are called spectators. No poker player worth his mortgage in default is risk averse. The truly successful players take a lot of risk and lose.
And lose. And lose. And once in awhile they’ll even split the pot.
But they play the odds and if they have done their homework and consistently prod and poke then they do eventually win and win big.
I don’t take enough risk. In the game of Risk I consolidate my holdings, build up my forces while taking advantage of the obvious weaknesses my enemy has and usually will win by shear attrition. Most generals follow this same path. A few will branch into the riskier waters and gamble it all. Some went down with the gamble and their names are lost to history. Others won the gamble and history records their names with titles like great or brilliant.
Winston Churchill, my inspiration for all things political, said that he would always gamble when there was a high probability of success. His first major gamble, Gallipoli, almost sunk his career. But he came back and led the United Kingdom to victory in the Battle of Britain, World War II and gave the Free World the vision that would eventually win the Cold War.
There’s a book my brother Sam gave me called “Rich Dad, Poor Dad.” The point of the book is to make people millionaires. The way to do this is to take calculated risks. The point of my life is not to be a millionaire. As I point out to my students, money is just cotton paper. If you rip it in half, no magical fairies fly heaven ward, though you would think from the gasps in class I’d killed JFK (which I didn’t, though I did give Washington a splitting headache). My purpose is to affect and influence others with truth and faith. But the same principles apply. Calculated Risk.
The step between dreams and visions is the planned implementation. For most of my life I’ve been a dreamer. But what I want to be is a visionary.
Along the journey I may have my Gallipolis but that’s a risk I have to take.
What about the “Braveheart Prayer?” in the entry’s title? In the movie Braveheart there wasn’t a lot of praying as we know it. There was a lot of fighting though, which was a lot more entertaining to be sure.
So here’s my idea or twist. What if men (who are prone not to pray) could reframe their view of prayer from a some fatalistic recantations to a “no holds barred fight for souls?” While I admire the many intercessors that I’ve known (many who paid for their prayers with their lives) I think the fact that most intercessors are women have caused some men to shrink back from engaging in the style of prayer that they witness.
I’m currently rereading a book called “And God Changed His Mind” by Brother Andrew. The simple premise of this book is that God is open to changing the course of history and the world if His Children will simply ask Him. Brother Andrew says that many Christians have a form of Christian Fatalism; God is in control so anything that happens must be God’s will. So they give God credit for tragedy, sickness and the Dallas Mavericks losing the series (yes, I still haven’t let it go).
He argues that Christians should be anything but fatalistic and I have to agree. Throughout scripture and Church history Christians who dared to engage God in prayer have helped save nations, eradicate illnesses and bring blessings to the world.
If men (and women) would take risks and fight in prayer with the same tenacity that the Scots exhibited in Braveheart and not give up until their prayers were answered … well that is something that not even the State of Texas could hold onto.
True, that’s not the best wraparound I’ve ever written but its a risk I’m willing to take.
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