Up until three weeks before our wedding, John and I lived 3000 miles apart from each other. At about 3:30 p.m. California time every day, he’d send an Instant Message on AOL (hey, we were scarcely out of the 90s, when AOL still ruled the internet) and we’d spend the next few hours chatting online. If he had to end the conversation before Mom had dinner ready, I’d kill time by playing solitaire on my computer.

You need to understand that I’ve never had much use of my hands, so card games posed a challenge. When my sister and I played Old Maid, Fish or the few other games I could manage, she’d wedge my cards (without looking) between a shoebox and its lid,  mentally numbering the cards from her left to her right. To play a card, I’d call out the number. Sometimes I’d forget to number them from my right to my left, causing all sorts of frustration for both of us.

Needless to say, solitaire games were — I can’t resist typing it — not in the cards for me. (Okay, sorry.) I’d watch Mom play occasionally, wishing I could do it too. But obviously my disability made it impossible.

The Christmas before John and I got engaged, a friend of mine gave me a software package of several solitaire games for my computer. I eagerly learned Klondike, Canfield, Prince Albert, Frog and (my favorite) Vanishing Cross. I felt great elation at finally being able to play solitaire!

As I played, I’d notice several Biblical principles within the games. Chuckling to myself about the stereotypical taboos against Christians playing cards, I’d promise myself that some day I’d write an article about the spiritual lessons learned while playing solitaire.

Of course, life got busier after marriage, and my body got less tolerant of long days in the wheelchair. Bedtime is much earlier than it was when I first got married, yet my blogging became more serious and therefore more time consuming. Playing solitaire gave way to Twitter and Facebook, which I try to use as vehicles for ministry.

But today I finally had time to blog about some of the lessons I learned while playing solitaire. And, better yet, I was in the mood to write such an article. Alas, when I opened WordPress, I couldn’t remember any of the principles.

Not one.

Not even from Vanishing Cross.

This memory loss saddens me. I probably would have come up with an interesting blog post that honored the Lord and drew some of you closer to Him. How happy that would have made me!

Today’s post entertained me, I must admit. I haven’t had this much fun writing in I don’t know how long — perhaps there’s something to be said for that. But I wish I could have written something focused on the Lord and His Word. I wish that because the days are fast approaching when blogs like this one will not be tolerated. In those times, I can write about solitaire all I want, sneaking Biblical principles in under the radar every so often. Maybe I should play solitaire in preparation for those times.

I hope I can find Vanishing Cross online.

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