Deck of Cards

Friends, this is T. Texas Tyler with a strange story about a soldier boy and a deck of cards.

During the recent war overseas, a bunch of soldier boys had been on a long hike. They camped outside a little town near the front. The next day being Sunday, several of the boys went to church. After the chaplain had read the prayer, the text was taken up. Those of the boys who had New Testaments took them out. But this one boy had only a deck of cards and so he spread them out. A sergeant who commanded the boys at church saw the cards and said, “Soldier, put away those cards”. After services were over, the soldier was taken prisoner and he was brought before the provost marshal. The marshal said, “Sergeant, why have you brought this man here?”…”For playing cards in church, Sir.”…”And what have you to say for yourself, son?”…”Much, sir”, replied the soldier….The marshal said, “I hope so, son. For if not, I shall have to punish you severely.”

“Well, you see sir,…I’ve been on a march for about six days, and I had neither Bible nor prayer book…just this deck of cards that I found in a foxhole. But I hope to satisfy you, sir, with the purity of my intentions.”

With that, the boy started this story.

“You see sir, when I look at the ace, it reminds me there is but one God…
and when I see the deuce, it reminds me that the Bible is divided into two parts…the old and the new testaments… When I see the tres, I think of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost…
When I see the four spot, sir, it reminds me of the four evangelists who preached the Gospel…there was Matthew, Mark, Luke and John…
and when I see the five, I think of the five wise virgins who trimmed their lamps…there were ten of them, of course, but five were wise and were saved, and five were foolish and were shut out…
When I see the six, it reminds me that in six days God made this great heaven and earth…
and when I look at the seven, it reminds me that on the seventh day God rested from His great work…
When I see the eight spot, sir, it reminds me of the eight righteous persons that God saved when He destroyed this earth…there was Noah and his wife, their three sons and their wives…
and when I look at the nine, it reminds me of the lepers our Savior cleansed…and nine out of the ten didn’t even thank Him…
When I see the ten spot, sir, I think of the ten commandments God handed down to Moses on a table of stone…
And when I see the King, it reminds me once again that there is but one King of Heaven, God almighty…
When I see the Queen, I think of the blessed Virgin Mary, who is queen of heaven…
and the Jack or Knave, sir,…that’s the Devil…
And when I count the number of spots on a deck of cards, I find 365, the number of days in a year…
There are 52 cards…the number of weeks in a year…
There are 13 tricks…the number of weeks in a quarter…
There are 12 picture cards…the number of months in a year…
There are 4 suits…the number of weeks in a month…
So you see, sir, my deck of cards has served me as a Bible, almanac, and prayer book…”

And, friends, this story is true…I know, because I was that soldier…