I've always had a vision of winning the jackpot whenever I've bought lottery tickets, unfortunately it hasn't happen.  If I ever do win the jackpot it will still be true and I won't remember all the times it wasn't true.

RJOh

And, yeah, RJ, I know what you mean!  I don't think any of us would bother buying a ticket if we couldn't "envision" ourselves winning the jackpot!  I like envisioning how I'll spend it, too! :)

LFox

Your OPINION is correct MAD DOG10 unless he had a dream about which I guess could be considered as a Vision they pretty much won because Luck was on their side that day. 

  yikes.  don't feed the monster that is visiondude (just kidding).

  i guess thanks for the compliment.  but if you knew my background,  then you would really be inclined to believe that it is more of a "God thru me" issue,  rather than "me".  if not for his grace and mercy, most likely you would have "met me" .....on jerry springer (lol).

  trust me,  i am no different than anyone here or any place else for that matter.  no summa cum laude fat head degrees on my wall.  any blame about who i am now, falls squarely on his shoulders.  i am only responsible for my personal choices that got me to this place.  as it is with anyone, our daily choices will make us add up to something eventually. so then it becomes a matter of what is imporatant to you,  and my "importance" has been for a long time what God thinks of me.  so my "investments" are aimed there first.

now usually i never respond to these kind of comments here at LP,  opting instead to keep the atta boyz and atta girls relegated to private messages. the reason i do is because i don't want this to denegrate into some "us vs. them" thing.  i always want to make it about "HIM".  this one time i am breaking rank and the reason is so that i can underscore the fact that i am not the only one who believes this, and not the only one that applies it to thier lottery mentality.  thats all.

to answer your question about my comment, it was born out of me giving it straight and not worrying about the fallout of that afterward.  and what i was inferring was that there is more than one side to God than just the "love one another" thing that people always cite when they don't want to hear about the other side to Gods character.  the side that requires an accounting of evil and/or disobedience.  love first always.  but justice and rigtheousness follows right behind that.  hope that clears it up.

"V"

  my original comment to pick 4master was born out of a friendly debate that is on-going whether God has anything to do with the lottery.

obviously i believe he does.

even though there was no mention in the article about God,  to me it can be so simple as the guy having the idea to tell his daughter to buy a ticket.  nothing hocus pocus or mystical about it.  no mention in the article of any credit given to God for thier win, or any affirmation of some kind of faith.  i don't for a minute think that God only blesses "christians" with winning the lottery,  which is why my original contention was there.  that God (for his own reasoning) decided to give that man the thought to tell his daughter to buy that ticket.

it's not some IMAX theater experience that people might be thinking about.  sometimes it simply comes from a thought or desire.  and one sure way is to buy (1) ticket.  but equally important is the knowledge that you are either meant to or not.  that way you don't hang your hope or future on it.  now to somebody that actually knows beforehand and that knowledge is based out of a personal relationship with God whereby God does at times let those who know his voice what he will do thru them before he does it,  man is that ever awesome.  and the awesome part isn't winning a new jack whittaker replacing jackpot, it's that only feeling you get knowing that Gods hand is all over your life.  no amount of money can buy that experience.

that daughter may not fully understand it,  but i am willing to bet that she experienced it the moment she found out that she won.  though that emotion that she felt may have been un-assignable shortly afterward,  but remember that God is good and patient.  his use of these things are not as impressive to him as they are to us.  they are merely another "tap on the shoulder" and nothing more. 

God does alot of things that he never gets credit for.  in the case,  i think i will.

 20/20

Then why doesn't GOD give everyone that "thought" so WE all can win if he loves us equally? I don't think GOD shows favortism especially when there are families that are homeless and could really use that kind of money.But it's possible for that thought he had to come from GOD as long as it didn't interfere with his FREE WILL remember GOD does not interfere in our lives against MAN's Free Will unless he is called upon.

Atleast that's what it says in the Bible

  he does all love us equally.  but despite the varying circumstances of life, it is with great wisdom that God doesn't allow that for some.

the reason people have the above line of thinking is that people falsely think that the circumstances of life are more about their "comfort" than it is about the things (circumstances) that God chooses to use to teach us what he desires.  this life according to Gods perfect plan (which we can choose to avoid), is more about building an eternal relationship with him right now, and subsequent to that,  the abilities that he builds within us to use us to make a difference in others lives supercedes any temporary comfort.

with that mentality in mind,  i have learned far more about God and have been able to be used more by him via my own difficult circumstances that for now, he refuses to remove from me.  if i hadn't traveled the road the he personally paved for me,  my life would've never added up to what it is. 

but i don't fight it, choosing instead to embrace it for what it is meant to be.  someone who can actually stand up tall and straight despite a difficult life circumstancial life.  i guarantee you people listen to me (that there is hope) far clearer than they would have had if i  had a life that they couldn't relate to.  i have something that actually backs up that message of hope.  i go thru the fire, but the fire refines me,  it doesn't burn me (speak figuratively speaking). 

now i could complain about my life that it didn't go the way that "I" had planned.  but then if i didn't understand why he allowed my life to go this way and the subsequent choice to allow God what he intends to do thru me, i not only would have robbed God of being God in my life (as he knows better than me).  but i would have robbed myself of the joy that is attached to that knowledge.  contained within that knowledge is a peace that nothing in this world cannot match.  including a jack whittaker "jack".  can't go buy a prescription that gives you the answer to why we are here, and where we are going.  but that knowledge is attainable and one choice away.  the first step of course is to re-train ones thinking that this life is all there is, and that the comfort of this life is the most important pursuit of all.  thats when it all makes sense.

God is more than equitable.  but if one is only concerned with this life's comfort and approaches this subject matter from that angle,  it's easy to see how God would appear to be unfair.

but the other side to this coin is that God has people in all economic portions of life.  ever notice how people that have money and ease of life are "less" inclined toward God?  sometimes if your needs are all met,  these people might feel less of a need for God.  if you see what i mean it is really the same thing in that it is all about relationship and the furtherance of that.  and that is where God places importance.

hardships are every bit the effective tool that they are designed to be.

now if you are talking about someone who refuses to improve thier circumstances because they are either lazy,  or they are waiting for God to plop something in thier lap or the worst of all they are living/talking as if God "owes them".....then we are talking a different ball game.  do what you can to change things/improve and trust God for the rest  and then adjust to whatever he reveals is his plan for you.  whatever state you find yourself in (that "state" that you cannot do squat about),  most likely you are there by design.

question now becomes,  is your life determined by this life and it's comforts?  or is your life comforts secondary to what God has decided he would like to do thru you,  which then could mean a deferral of "comfort" in it's purest form ...in the eternal life to come.

then and only then does this goofy life actually start to make sense...

20/20

Don't anybody please take this the wrong way, but even a dog knows the hand that feeds him or her or if you prefer it. So we really don't need to know a lot or be very intelligent and yet there are people (most of us) who are not aware of our position or why we are or BE, maybe lower animals are more aware than us, they know or feel that there is somebody above them, maybe we think that the food that we eat just happened to be and also the water that we drink and that the sun (heat and light) just also happened to be and that the air that we breathe also just happened to be and so us and the whole universe, maybe we think that we ourselves created everything or that everything just happened to be (maybe for our own benefit).

We neither see nor feel the hand that takes care of us and it is everywhere. Maybe we don't because we don't want to.

We don't need to know of or about something for the something to be, it will be regardless.

Good "luck" to all. It is another way of saying "Best wishes" to all.