Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well.

Jack London

I was on vacation in Dallas. My family and I was visiting my father-in-law and were having a good time. We decided to play spades for a while.

For those of you that don’t know: Spades is a simple enough game where four players team up (in pairs) to try to be the first to 500 points. Points are earned by the number of “tricks” or “books” each team gets during play. The entire deck is dealt to the four players, giving each person 13 cards. Each player has to bid on how many tricks they think they can get. The total bids for each team is added up and multiplied by ten. This is the amount of points the team is risking. If they get their tricks, they get their points. If not, they lose those points. Any more tricks taken count as one point each.

Teammates can work together to cover each other and neither has to get all their bid as long as the other covers their bid. Unless…

“Nil”

If a player has a hand that they don’t think they can get any tricks with, they can bid Nil. This means that they cannot take any of their team’s bids or they lose 100 points. If they make it through all 13 tricks without taking any, they win 100 points. There is a lot at risk with Nil. Your opponents will be trying their best to set you with a trick. You have to trust that your partner can carry you.

On the last hand of the night…. I went Nil! Before we get into why this is so important, let me set the stage.

My wife is my partner. My father-in-law and his wife are against us. They have a 30 point lead and we are 50 points from 500. The cards are dealt. My hand is not that impressive, and I know that they are about to win. I have a choice: one or nil.

My father-in-law makes the first bid at 2. That’s it. They have the game unless we can get enough points to jump out in front, clear the 500 mark and stay ahead at the end of the game. He said 2.

I look at my hand again. There is a lot of red (hearts and diamonds), but no aces. I see a few face cards. There is also just a few clubs (one is a king). Still, I could lose that pretty easy. Then I look at the only 2 spades I have. 4 of spades, and king of spades.

“Spades trump other cards… I have to play the suit laid ahead of me… I only have 2 spades… I could go nil. But one of them is the king. I could go 1 and play safe. What do I do?” the thoughts just keep coming. I look at my wife. She has this look that says she has nothing. I say, “Nil.”

I thought she was going to have a stroke!

I did it. All or nothing. I had a choice, high risk chance of winning 100 points plus whatever she said and winning the game or a safe bid for a nearly guaranteed 10 points and hopefully they don’t get their tricks. I took the risk.

God does that to us. He gives us options. It is easy to bless us where we are. Where we are comfortable. But God wants us to have a choice. Do we walk out on faith and risk everything or do keep doing the safe thing. He will bless us either way as long as we are doing His will. Both are His will. But one takes more faith. So what do we do? “One or Nil?”

For we walk by faith, not by sight,

2 Corinthians 5:7 HCSB

I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

Galatians 5:16 HCSB

…“It is necessary to pass through many troubles on our way into the kingdom of God.”

Acts 14:22 HCSB

God will bless us in either decision. “One” is a safe bet, but comes with less blessing. “Nil” is all risk. It comes with many blessing as long as we trust our partner (God) to carry us. It is almost certainly terrifying, but it can win the game.

Trusting on God to carry you through the unknown is scary. It is by faith that we walk: not by sight. Faith brings us into His grace. It allows us to trust in Him. He will carry us if we let Him.

I went nil.

I don’t remember much about the game. Only that every time I would play one of those other face cards my wife would yell at me. When I played the 4 of spades she started to panic: until she realized that I played it on her higher spade. Then came the last hand. She leads out with the ace of spades. My father-in-law lays down a low spade and so does his wife. My wife is looking at me as I toss my king of spades onto the pile. She goes insane with panic. She simply cannot believe that I had went nil with the king of spades in my hand…and made it through.

I trusted my partner. She carried me through and we won the game.

God is waiting on our bid. The cards are dealt, and we have the king if spades. He guarantees us a victory, but if played right through faith, God will greatly bless the risk of nil. What are you going to do with the hand God has dealt.

“One” or “Nil?”

Whether you’re shuffling a deck of cards or holding your breath, magic is pretty simple: It comes down to training, practice, and experimentation, followed up by ridiculous pursuit and relentless perseverance.

David Blaine