I won twenty bucks today!
No, it's not just an add-on to a mediocre tale of someone's boring day . . . I really won twenty dollars!
I was helping ring-up a customer for his lottery tickets. He was a usual lottery buyer, coming almost daily to check the numbers and throw a little of his money to invest in an unsure return of cash. I still don't understand why people buy lottery; it just happens. But this man had faith and, low and behold, today he won cash. I cheerfully congratulated him on his stroke of luck and handed him his cash. He, in turn, proceeded to buy more lottery tickets.
When the man spent nearly half of his prizes in more chances to "win it big time," he then looked at me and asked me if I wanted a lotto ticket – his treat. My first reaction was no; the last lotto ticket that someone bought for me ended up being a dud, and I didn't like raising my hopes for something that happens one-in-a-million times. I didn't want to be disappointed, even though for the life of me I cannot remember a time when I was truly disappointed about anything.
But when the man persisted, I let him buy me a ticket with his change, and I placed it next to me, with no desire to scratch off the little dollar symbols. As soon as my coworkers asked me how I did, I nonchalantly scratched off what I believed to be the correct numbers (this was my second lotto ticket ever), and saw that my numbers matched! I won what I thought was six dollars, and gleefully asked my coworkers to dispense of the ticket so that I could claim my prize, only for them to inform me that I, in fact, won twenty!
My first thought was, what a missed opportunity that would have been if I didn't accept that free ticket. What a different life I would have led without God and the free gift of His son! We don't even have to worry that God's presents will yield a "Sorry, Not a Winner" message, and all we have to do is take that first step and accept the ticket . . .
