Article September 10, 2012 Issue

No need to gamble–You have it all!

John Minard

Many years ago, I had just started a job with a new company, when the manager of our group announced one day with great excitement that we were all scheduled for a one-week training trip to … Las Vegas!

The excitement fizzled out for me immediately. As someone who had never been game for gaming, I had no interest in going to Vegas. In fact, I dreaded it. Though I’d never been in a casino before, I felt that I might be deeply saddened by what I saw as the artificial allurements of gambling: greed, ostentatious materialism, deception, and the hypnotic atmosphere of a false sense of happiness. 

On the other hand, as a Christian Scientist, I knew I should not fall into thinking this way. I became determined to turn this trip into an opportunity to counter the temptations of gambling with prayer, to continually listen for God’s direction, and to expect tangible good to come of it.