The other evening, while I was at the sink doing the dishes, following the National News,
Jeopardy was next up on TV.
Halfway listening, as the water ran and the dishes clanged in the sink,
I heard one of the contestants asking for a question in one of day’s categories…
It was the hidden daily double.
You know, those hidden opportunites where the contestant is offered the choice of
wagering their entire accrued winning total…
all in hopes of answering the question correctly…
with the chance of either doubling their winnings,
or, should they choose to play conservative, at least adding slightly…
“Let’s make it a true daily double Alex”….
This is where the audience will often gasp while Alex is heard to sardonically quip “helllloooo”
I don’t remember the particular question, nor the amount for which the contestant was now playing…
but I remember hearing the contestant stating what I thought to be the correct answer.
Alex however, the ever audacious, all knowing host, quickly corrected her pronunciation
informing her that her answer was incorrect due to the fact that
she did not correctly pronounce the word—-
But the thing is Alex knew,
as I knew,
that she knew…
the answer…
She just pronounced it incorrectly.
And in Jeopardy, pronunciation is key… down to each vowel, consonant and syllable.
And as a native southerner….accents can play the devil in pronunciation….just saying…
So the contestant lost it all…
her entire show’s winnings….
and was now forced to play catch up…
working her way from behind back into the running….
Odds were not in her favor…
So the question for us all is….
Are we gamblers in life or are we the play it safe kind of person?
Would we be feeling confident, perhaps even daring, by making things a true daily double…
or…
would we play it safe, holding onto what we had by wagering only a nominal amount,
if we even wagered at all…??
You may claim to be the latter of the two—always playing it safe…
But do you really?
And to what extent….?
We’ve all read the stories…
the one about Peter…
that lovable yet often mindless disciple who took to the notion of speaking first
and thinking later…
The one who lead more with his heart and often less with his head…
Impulsive perhaps
Full of emotion
and most likely a true daily double kind of guy…
Remember it was Peter who was charged with the keys to Heaven…
However when the going got rough and things went bad,
really bad for the Carpenter and then his followers,
Peter, when confronted with his association and knowledge of the rebel rousing Carpenter…
as he was no doubt regretting that whole daily double attitude…
Peter pled the 5th.
He knew him not…
Three times he took the 5th…
He knew him not….
And like Peter, we are currently finding ourselves, this very day and time,
faced with the same sort of accusations…
Aren’t you one of them?
Don’t you know Him?
Are you not one of His followers?
They ask this when prayer is no longer allowed in public and you keep silent.
They ask this when the faithful are told that they can’t use or display a cross,
have a public Christmas tree or manager on display, use the word Christmas or even
read a bible publicly…while you remain silent.
They ask this when your fellow brothers and sisters, around the world,
are tortured and murdered for their faith in Jesus Christ,
the very Carpenter Peter once tried to deny…
and you choose to remain silent…because that is over there…
and you are over here…
In the home of the free and brave….
You play it safe, you play it conservative…
You dare not play the daily double because then they will know that you are “one of them”
and there will be nowhere to run, nowhere to hide…like Peter…
So maybe we shouldn’t worry so much about…
those missed pronunciations,
those missed spellings,
those overt politically correct stances,
the overt politeness
the falsehoods that we are continually fed
the denials we face daily over our belief…
It was later, when it truly mattered, when Peter,
who when faced with his own martyrdom opted for the true daily double…
by announcing to Nero and the crowd…
“Yes, I knew Him”
“Yes I know Him”
“And yes, I am one of them…one of His…”
…”And I have made this life a true daily double for His sake,
your sake and the sake of the salvation for the world to come….
Proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the
Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.
Acts 28:31
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