The Deck of
Cards
During the North African
campaign, a bunch of soldier boys had been on a long hike and they arrived
in a little town called Cascina. The next morning being Sunday, several
of the boys went to Church. A sergeant commanded the boys in Church and
after the Chaplain had read the prayer, the text was taken up next.
Those of the boys who
had a prayer book took them out, but this one boy had only a deck of cards,
and so he spread them out. The Sergeant saw the cards and said, "Soldier
put away those cards." After the services was over, the soldier was
taken prisoner and brought before the Provost Marshall.
The Marshall said, "Sergeant,
why have you brought the man here?" "For playing cards in church, Sir."
"And what have you got to say for yourself, son?" "Much, Sir."
Replied the soldier. The Marshall said, "I hope so, for if
not I shall punish you more than any man was ever punished."
The soldier said,
"Sir, I've been on the march for about six days, I had neither Bible nor
prayer book, but I hope to satisfy you, Sir, with the purity of my intentions."
With
that, the boy started his story:
You see Sir, when I
look at the "ACE", it reminds me that there is but one God;
And
the "DEUCE" reminds me that the Bible is divided into two parts;
The Old and the New
Testaments;
And when I see the "TREY",
I think of the Father, the Son, 
and the Holy Ghost;
And
when I see the "FOUR", I think of the four
Evangelists who preached
the Gospel. There was Matthew, Mark, Luke and John;
And when I see the "FIVE",
it reminds me of the five 
wise virgins who trimmed
their lamps. There were ten of them, five were wise and were saved.
Five were foolish and were shut out;
And when I see the "SIX", 
it reminds me that in six days,
God made this great
heaven and earth;
When
I see the "SEVEN", it reminds me that on the seventh day, God rested from
His great work;
And when I see the "EIGHT",
I think of the eight righteous persons 
God saved when He destroyed
this earth. There was Noah, his wife,
their three sons and
their wives;
And when I see the "NINE", 
I think of the lepers our Saviour cleansed.
And nine out of the
ten didn't even thank Him.
When I see the "TEN",
I think of the Ten Commandments 
God handed down to Moses
on a table of stone;
When I see the "KING",
it reminds me that there is
but one King of Heaven,
God Almighty;
And when I see the "QUEEN", I think of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
who is Queen of Heaven;
And the "JACK" or "KNAVE"
is the Devil; 
When I count the number
of spots on a deck of cards,
I find 365,
the number of days in a year;
There's 52
cards, the number of weeks in a year;
There's 4
suits, the number of weeks in a month;
There's 12
picture cards, the number of months in a year;
There's 13
tricks, the number of weeks in a quarter;
So
you see, Sir, my pack of cards serves me as a
Bible,
Almanac and Prayer Book.
And
Friends the story is true. I know, I was that Soldier!!!
God
Bless You
