Unique career change..............

[Bob Wright]

Many years ago, when I was working with an engineering company, I was sent down to make some field notes at a soybean processing plant in Vicksburg, Mississippi. I took one of our engineers with me to analyze the structural end of the job. I rented a car, and we would drive down one day, about a four hour drive, claim our motel room, have dinner and be ready the first thing the next morning. In renting the car, I made sure my companion was listed as an alternate driver.

We arrived in Vicksburg in the early evening and claimed our rooms. Now Vicksburg had just gotten the river boat gambling casinos, and he, my co-worker, suggested we eat at one of the casinos, maybe spend a little time there. I told him as a Christian and Baptist, I had convictions against gambling, and did not want to enter one or have anything to do with one. But, I told him, he could take the car and go there if he wanted to and I could eat dinner at a nearby restaurant. He told me that if I felt so strongly about the matter, he would not go, either. So we dined together and finished our job there.

Today, some fifteen years or so later, I saw an obituary in the morning paper of a lady with the same name as his. In reading the obituary, I saw that the deceased was in fact his mother. Further investigation and I contacted him to renew acquaintances, and express my condolences.

My engineer co-worker is now an ordained Catholic priest and associate pastor at a nearby Catholic Church.


Bob Wright

 

[Sin6Sec63451022]

Just to reiterate, you write it and I'll buy it.

 

[Kevin]

Bob, glad for you to get re-aquatinted with your friend from long ago.

BUT... does this mean you've never been to Las Vegas?

 

[blackhawknj]

God bless him. In 1972 I knew a student at nearby Princeton Theological Seminary studying to become a Presbyterian minister. He converted to Catholicism and became that rarity, a married Catholic priest.

 

[hdxr750]

Bob you always have Great looking Revolvers and even Greater story's. What an interesting life you have lived. Randy Miller

 

[Bob Wright]

Bob, glad for you to get re-aquatinted with your friend from long ago.

BUT... does this mean you've never been to Las Vegas?

Funny your mention of that. We, my wife, sister, and I were in Las Vegas late one Sunday morning. We began to look for a restaurant and found them scarce as hen's teeth unless one went to a casino. Not wanting to do that, we ate our Sunday dinner at some diner for lack of a better place to eat.

We stopped at an information center in Mississippi, and were asked to list our favorite casino. When we said we were Christians, the person at the desk got all huffy with us and said gambling money is what built that welcome center as well as most of the town, and gamblers were part of their life there.


Bob Wright

 

[Bob Wright]

Bob you always have Great looking Revolvers and even Greater story's. What an interesting life you have lived. Randy Miller

My life has not been that exciting, I've just met folks whose lives have been.

Bob Wright

 

[bogus bill]

I am a Christian. In my past life I was a heavy gambler. Now I am still tempted to gamble but try to hold it down to a couple trips a year with maybe a hundred or so. We live 90 miles from Mesquite Nevada. Like to go and have their cheap prime rib once in awhile. I am retired and frankly cant afford to lose. I met my wife AFTER I retired. I owned and planned to retire on 10 acres of mountain side 55 miles NW of Reno near Lake Davis. Wife said no, it`s too close to Reno. Okay, lets check out Susanville, another 60 miles north. Realtor lady had us follow her to a home she thought we would like. We followed her to the house and I broke up laughing. It was across the street from a Indian Casino!
Everything we do in life is a gamble. You can get T boned by a drunk driving to Wednesday night prayer meeting. I am Assemblies of God but live in 95% Mormon country. We go to a small church that is also fundamental as there isn't a AOG in our town. Years ago I worked with a devout Catholic, but to my surprise he was a FUNDAMENTALIST Catholic that believed in speaking in tongues etc. I had never heard of that. He was a great guy. My folks were devout AOG. They wouldn't go to movies. Once dad wanted to see the Ten Commandments. Mom said no, by buying the ticket you are supporting the movie industry. I wondered if she checked everyone's religion in a shoe factory before she would buy their shoes? Everything and act we do in life can get out of hand. I like a shot of whiskey several times a year, could but don't drink every night. I buy a bottle of good whiskey about once every 5 to ten years. Have a bottle in the cupboard that I bought 6 or 7 years ago. Love it but leave it alone. I love gambling but as said go once or twice a year. For quite a long period of my life I went so much I pretty much could go anytime I wanted to and my room and eats were compted! It wasn't just the gambling that drawed me, it was also watching all the various life`s story's around me, bad and some good.

 

[Kevin]

I don't like to gamble, but we do go to Las Vegas and have been to Jackpot NV or more recently the casino just across the boarder up in Oklahoma. I haven't really ever thought about the connection between religion and gambling. Interesting....

 

[jlmtr6]

Many years ago, when I was working with an engineering company, I was sent down to make some field notes at a soybean processing plant in Vicksburg, Mississippi. I took one of our engineers with me to analyze the structural end of the job. I rented a car, and we would drive down one day, about a four hour drive, claim our motel room, have dinner and be ready the first thing the next morning. In renting the car, I made sure my companion was listed as an alternate driver.

We arrived in Vicksburg in the early evening and claimed our rooms. Now Vicksburg had just gotten the river boat gambling casinos, and he, my co-worker, suggested we eat at one of the casinos, maybe spend a little time there. I told him as a Christian and Baptist, I had convictions against gambling, and did not want to enter one or have anything to do with one. But, I told him, he could take the car and go there if he wanted to and I could eat dinner at a nearby restaurant. He told me that if I felt so strongly about the matter, he would not go, either. So we dined together and finished our job there.

Today, some fifteen years or so later, I saw an obituary in the morning paper of a lady with the same name as his. In reading the obituary, I saw that the deceased was in fact his mother. Further investigation and I contacted him to renew acquaintances, and express my condolences.

My engineer co-worker is now an ordained Catholic priest and associate pastor at a nearby Catholic Church.


Bob Wright

I don't gamble, not because I am Christian, but because I'll certainly lose. I used up all my luck 25 years ago when my wife agreed to marry me.

 

[bogus bill]

I think the religious rebuke on gambling has come from where the Roman soldiers at the cross gambled for Jesus`s cloak.

 

[Colonialgirl]

Made me remember a friend I had in high school; Her parents were STRICT BAPTISTS.
Late one evening we were messing around in the kitchen in her house and she opened a cupboard and THERE on the TOP shelf was a BOTTLE of WHISKY !! Oh, it was Only HALF FULL !!
She blamed it on her older brother who was away at college.
Oklahoma was STILL a DRY STATE !!

 

[Bob Wright]

I think the religious rebuke on gambling has come from where the Roman soldiers at the cross gambled for Jesus`s cloak.

It goes much deeper than that. We believe we are stewards, and gambling is not the best way to handle finances.

Further, the gambling casinos are not the places for the best testimony.

Nothing says we are not to gamble, but rather what we choose to do as individuals. How it affects our testimony is the way I look at it.

Bob Wright

 

[Bkat]

I don't gamble in casinos and don't even care to go to one, but one of the things I used to really enjoy was a semi-regular low-stakes poker game with buddies at one of our homes. We'd play dealer call the game and spend two or three hours playing 5 and 7 card stud, draw poker and other variations. I don't think anyone ever won or lost more than $20 or $30 in the course of an evening, and that was a rarity.

 

[bobski]

no, the scripture is "the lot is in the hand of the LORD.'
means...HE decides what you win or lose.
you don't test fate by gambling.
the other scripture to back it is....'if you abide in HIM, and HE abides in you, ASK for whatsoever, and it will be given toyou.'

given is a lot simplier than hoping and chancing.

the list goes on that explains gambling as 'not faith' . and since anything that is not of faith...is sin....theres your answer.

 

[Bkat]

No, the poker game my friends and I played had little to do with winning anything. It was an enjoyable way to spend time with people you liked and the skill part of the game and the competing against each other was fun. We didn't really care whether we won or lost. There wasn't enough at stake to matter. For us, it was an enjoyable social occasion. Everyone should believe what they wish, but I firmly believe that the Lord did not and would not condemn our poker game as I've described it.

 

[RSIno1]

Had a couple friends get ordained and go into the ministry. One a 70 year old millionaire businessman who ended up with a skid row church in downtown LA and the other a 46 year old retired cop who helps out at his church and is on call for the PD he worked for.

 

[bogus bill]

I started Casino gambling in 1961. They were a lot different back then. Nevada Casino`s people actually dressed up. The Casino`s had more class when the mob ran them. I have seen stuff like the pit boss walking up to a BJ table occasionally and flipping over the dealers hold card for the players to see. They would walk up to you and ask have you eaten yet? And give you a note to eat in the restaurant on the house. You heard coins hit the slot trays. Now it`s electric and quiet. Now it`s family oriented. Years ago it wasn't. My jobs took me all over the country and I was single. Got married the first time at about forty. I have gambled in illegal joints. Saw a dealer keep a innocent looking hammer by him on the table while dealing. They had some sort of tip off system. Some nights some well known bars in tourist areas near National Parks would be going full blast and other nights you couldn't find a game. I seen a well dressed old couple pushing a grocery cart with their suitcases in it walking ON THE FREEWAY out of Vegas!
I had a old friend in his 80`s that was a retired merchant seaman. He had got in a auto accident and I and a GF helped him out. Old Charley would rent a flop house room in three different areas. Part of the year at Long Beach California, then Reno, then Vegas. I knew him for about four years. He would stop and see us on each leg a couple times a year. Charlie had two vices. He was good at both. The horses and the stock market. He had never been married. I knew what Charlie had as he kept his account on my computer to check stocks with etc. Charlie dressed very plain, drove a old Subaru but was a millionaire! Right after I retired in 2,000 I got a phone call from a Hospital in Vegas. Did I know a Charlie so and so? We have him here, he is in a coma and the only thing we found on him is your phone number! I went and got a real education in many area`s of life for the next month or so. Charlie died and I chased down two old sisters of his that hated each other. That was a unbelievable story that I wont get into. That hospital tried to cheat Charlie out of his fortune. Point is I would be in Vegas up to a week at a time, drive home for a few days to take care of my stuff and drive back to Vegas to check on Charlie etc for the month that he was in a coma. One day at the Gold Nugget downtown I walked in with about forty bucks to try blackjack. Less than a hour later I walked out with over $4,000 dollars.
I have won over a thousand dollars more times than I can count. I would hate to know how much I have lost. I know it`s far, far more than I won. My ex wife was a bigger gambler than me the few years we were married. Hadn't seen her forever but ran into her when our granddaughter got married a couple years ago. She bragged to me that she was up over 30 G for the year. I cant afford to live that way retired.

 

[nvbirdman]

Every Saturday I meet a friend at a local casino for breakfast. We play the poker machines until the coffee shop opens, then after breakfast we play for about another half hour or so. He plays 50 cents to a dollar per hand, and I play a nickel per hand. The casinos don't call it gambling anymore, they call it gaming. They say it is the same as putting a quarter in a video game down at the local pizza parlor, and I agree with them. I am just as happy winning fifty nickels as I would be winning fifty quarters because I am not there to win money, I am there to play a video game.

 

[bogus bill]

I had a very close friend that I worked with that retired in Fallon. He loved the poker machines. If still alive he would be in his mid eighty's.