It sneaks up one you. One day you are playing poker and the pot consists of Skittles and Starbursts. You can bet it all and not care because you’ve got a pocket full of candy you were going to eat yourself anyway. You are just enjoying the game, hoping to get some more candy and then — KA-BLAM! — someone lays down any of the following cards:

• Divorce
• Suicide
• Infidelity
• Abandoning the faith
• Addiction

All of a sudden you’re playing with very real cards that have very real consequences.

It seems like just yesterday I was in school worried about grades, relationships, and career path. Then I moved into being married and playing house and trying to raise kids. But when something like this gets laid on the table, I am forced to acknowledge that I — like everyone else — am dealing real cards and the stakes are high. Possibly even the very lives of my wife and children.

I guess it just an example of how easy it is to try and live in a fairytale. Maybe it’s just another step in growing older. Everyone has to play the game of life and we only have the cards we are dealt, but we still need to play them well.

Pray and be there for those who have been dealt the big cards.