Psycological Thriller

Last night I found myself with my girls, Sandra was out, so we were hangin'. Found myself searching for a TV show that we could watch together. So we ended up watching Howie Mandell, "Deal or No Deal." This was an episode that had 13 - $1,000,000.00 cases and 13 from .05 - whatever. (Sidebar - it is times like this I miss the cent symbol!) Ok, on with the blog. It did not take long before I was invested, it is not an edge of the seat investment, it is the psycological investment. In a moment I am invested in the contestant, their story, the family trials. A lump developes in my throat, tears well up in the corner of my eyes. Yes take my "man card," whatever. I am praying she is able to make the right choices, the intersesting thought to me is that she came to the show with nothing to loss, yet somehow it is gripping. Perhaps this is a story in itself, if she came to gamble her life savings I would say, "that's foolish." Is it a deserving soul, a reward for someone's struggles or what? The episode continues to develope, bouncing between 50 - 50 chance at a million dollars, segment after segment she is faced with the continued decision. She believes with her heart she has a case with a million dollars, and I, not knowing who she is, am pulling for her, wanting her life to be blessed. Adnausium we are pulled and bounced from decisions and the emotion of the moments to go for it... to commercial breaks. Reality each time we go to a break, this is what it is truly about. Buy, sell, market your products etc. but back to the show. Again she states she believes with every decision she has a case with a million, risks it each time, not to settle to push on. "The process is the point...." She believes, I am pulling for her, the offers keep getting better. Now the payoff, she is down to 2 cases, the one she holds and the one left on stage......$1,000,000.00 and $200.00. The offer comes in with all of Hollywoods grandure, an offer of $400,000.00 +/-. She still believes she has the case holding a million. Just when I want her to pull through, she throws a curve ball, she can not risk her families future on this gamble of "does she hold the right case; 50-50 chance she does." Her intentions and reasoning, I could not disagree with, that is a tremendous amount of money. $400,000.00+ can change life for them. She accepts the offer from the "Banker" (is this Satan on the phone?!) and takes the lesser, my emotions shift to dejection. I wanted her to trust her gut and believe in her heart. I do not think it is judgement on my part, I was just pulling for the story of their life. After all this emotion of the last hour, she settled.....then they open her case to find she was holding a case of a million dollars, then the on on stage......$200.00. She had the right case, she still "finished strong," really having nothing walking on the show and still walking away with a return. My thoughts are, "did she sell herself short on what she believed?" I hope this is not blasphemy, to parallel this to God's Grace, it does raise the question to me, "am I willing to walk with Him trusting in Him, no matter what emotions, offers or hurdles are disclosed along the way.....

I have a steadfast faith that God will deliver in my life, and do not for a moment believe it can be changed by Hollywood, some gamble - foolishly risking all that I stand for by compromise. I came into the world with nothing of the world and will leave with nothing from the world. My responsibility is to do my part to walk the walk, to effect others, simply, put practical applications to my Faith. To believe with all my heart in what has no tangible explaination....God's unfaultering Love. I have to believe in something higher, I have to be the same person under trial (James 1:2 -6), every day offers the opportunity to make choices. It can not be compromised by something speaking into my ears that sounds better than the fortitude of Faith. Perservere............James 1:12.

So one lesson I came away with was, there are no easy answers, no offers that come along that should deviate my direction in Him. Another is to know that my heart strings can be twisted, tangled and pulled by outside forces, in this case a television show catching me up in the emotion of manipulated psycology. "I have to be careful who is speaking in my ear..........." Again, I praise my Savior and the communicator He has given me, a shepard and leader in my life, Pastor Furtick (http://www.stevenfurtick.com/) who challenges me with practical application, the Living Word and seeking His Wisdom.