Playing Dominoes

When aunts and uncles and cousins gathered in the evenings in Little John’s home, they might all enjoy playing dominoes. Little John also loved to get the dominoes out and build things with them much like our kids build things with Lincoln Logs.

One evening after the chores were finished, Mom, Dad and Little John pulled up their cane bottom chairs and gathered around a table for a game of double sixes. Little John was all set to win and was feeling a bit frisky, taunting his Mom and Dad about how he was going to beat them both. It was declared the first one to reach 250 points was the winner. Tension had built as they continued to play so by the time Little John won, he was feeling pretty good. He had taunted his Mom throughout the game and now he was really taunting her. His Mom joined in his playful mood ,reaching over, laughing with him and giving him a little shove. The back legs of a cane bottom chair are an inch or two shorter than the front legs so over little John went. Somehow in the shuffle, Little John fell on one of those legs. The leg caught him in the pit of his stomach knocking the breath out of him. He fell on the floor and just laid there. His parents thought he was just playing with them.

“Okay, get up, you silly boy!” His Mom said.

Frightened, both parents bent over him realizing he wasn’t breathing. Neither of them knew anything about CPR like we do today. Thankfully, Little John caught his breath and slowly got up to the relief of his Mom and Dad.

Mom hadn’t thought much about playing dominoes until now. She always thought playing cards went right along with gambling so cards were never allowed in their home. She had heard that people used dominoes to gamble but none of that was allowed in their games at home. However, now that Little John had been hurt and, according to her thinking, almost died while playing dominoes, she changed her mind about the game. She determined that dominoes was a game of Satan.

“Okay, from this day on, there will be no more dominoes in his house. There will be NO domino playing anywhere period. There will be no more building with these dominoes; they are going to the trash.” And, with that, Mom gathered up the dominoes, box and all, and headed out the back door to the trash pile.

Little John and his Dad could have complained about Mom’s decision to destroy something they considered harmless and fun. But, perhaps they did the right thing by allowing Mom to have her way about something she felt very strongly was wrong. Continuing to play dominoes was probably fine. Afterall, they weren’t gambling but just having fun. However, Mom thought playing dominoes had almost cost them a son. Therefore, she wanted no part of that game in her home.

As Christians, we are forbidden to do anything that may cause our brothers and sisters in Christ to stub their toe, spiritually speaking. Stubbing the toe could cause a person’s faith to be weakened. Are any of us doing something that could cause a brother or sister to fall even though we see no harm in it?

Romans 14:19-21 MSG says this: “So let’s agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other. Help others with encouraging words; don’t drag them down by finding fault. You’re certainly not going to permit an argument over what is served or not served at supper to wreck God’s work among you, are you? I said it before and I’ll say it again: All food is good, but it can turn bad if you use it badly, if you use it to trip others up and send them sprawling. When you sit down to a meal, your primary concern should not be to feed your own face but to share the life of Jesus. So be sensitive and courteous to the others who are eating. Don’t eat or say or do things that might interfere with the free exchange of love".