A gift from the scrape pile

Charles Darrow lived back during the depression and was out of work. Everyday he would leave his little apartment and stand in the unemployment lines all day. Charles Darrow was married and he and his wife were expecting their first child. So every night when he returned home he did not want to let his wife know how discouraged he was so he would always come home with a smile on his face and tell funny stories that he had seen that day. 

Each day his wife heard him whistling as he climbed the flight of stairs. She would fling open the door and greet him as she hung over the staircase. In the hard times, they fed off the gift of each others joy. As a child, Charles remembered the vacations he and his family would take usually to a nearby place called Atlantic City. Remembering the places that he had gone and the places he had been and seen, he developed a little game on a square piece of cardboard. He drew properties and even carved little houses and hotels out of scrape pieces of wood. Each night he and his wife would play this game and they pretended they were rich, buying and selling property and building homes and hotels.

Charles Darrow never set out to be a millionaire when he made this game. But that is exactly what happened! Parker Brothers bought the rights to the game and they called it MONOPOLY. Some 70 years later, the game is still being sold by the thousands. 

The game is so much fun. You buy houses and hotels. You get the “get out of jail free” card. You race around the board and pass “GO” and collect $200. We see an example of shared joy. After all, isn’t that our whole purpose here on earth? To share the joy of knowing Christ and the salvation that comes only through Him? After all, we don’t have a “MONOPOLY” on salvation. It’s for everyone!