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Story of a Changed Life |
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 Tommy Thomas
It was an exceptionally warm spring day in 1974. The sun was bright but you couldn't tell because of the old, stained curtains covering the nursing home windows.
I was playing cards with my 82-year-old father, Titanic Thompson. He was one of the most famous gamblers and golfers in the world.
Before I walked out of the nursing home that spring day, my dad did something he hadn't done before. He put his arms around me and said, "I love you son." I had waited my whole life to hear those words. Little did I realize as I walked out of his room that day, I would never see my dad again. He died just a few days later.
My dad had divorced my mother when I was two-years-old. I grew up reading about him in Life magazine, Golf Digest and Sports Illustrated. I wanted him to love me and felt the best way to do that was to become a professional gambler. I started practicing with a deck of cards when I was thirteen. The best card cheaters in the world would come to see dad, and I would spend hours mastering what they taught me. Dad told me I was the best he had ever seen with a deck of cards.
I can't begin to tell you all the times God supernaturally saved my life during the 32 years I gambled.
He even brought his word into my life in a couple significant ways. I came back to my hotel room one time and saw a Bible sitting on the table. I knew that I should pick it up and read it, but I didn't think I was worthy enough because I had just cheated people out of their money. Some time later, though, I finally opened that book. I was heartbroken because my first wife had just left when God woke me up in the middle of the night and directed me to a Lutheran church. Since the doors weren't locked in those days, I walked right in, sat down and opened up a Bible to the book of John. As I read, I couldn't believe how powerful it sounded. The same thing happened the next night and I knew that there was an indescribable power found in these words that I just couldn't ignore.
In 1997, four weeks before Easter, I took a look at myself in the mirror and didn't like what I saw. I said, "God, I have been taking from people all my life. When I die, I want someone to remember me for giving instead of taking." I fell down on my knees and cried out to him.
Two weeks later, I was waiting for my turn in a barbershop when I met a Christian lady named Margaret Moberly. Even though we had never met before, she knew everything about me. She said that God had told her, "That man is a professional gambler. He has a lot of nice things, but he isn't happy. He has a big heart, and God has him on a long leash." I was blown away.
I responded, "Lady, it doesn't get any better than being on a long leash with God, does it?" She didn't laugh.
The night before Easter, she sent me another message through a friend. "Tell him that God now has him on a short leash, the devil has made a bet on his soul, and God has covered the bet." God had really gotten my attention now.
That Easter I went to church with Margaret. Again, prompted by the Lord, she said, "Tommy, when you were a teenager, God called you to be an evangelist and everything in your life has led up to that end." When she said those words, I felt like someone poured hot oil in me. I have never been the same since. I knew then there would only be two winning hands, and they were nailed to the cross for me.
I am now a volunteer chaplain and have preached the gospel in maximum-security prisons for the last five years. I am so thankful that God never gave up on me. He has given me the love that I was looking for and given me a new purpose in life. I know that God loves me, not because of my ability or performance, but because he is my Father, and I am his kid.
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