Ecclesiastes 12:10

There is an old story about a young man that bought a horse from farmer.  He paid the farmer one hundred dollars and agreed to come by the next day to pick up his new horse.  The next day as he drove up the farmer said, 'Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the horse died.'  The young man replied, 'well, then just give me my money back’.  The farmer said, 'Can't do that. I went and spent it already’.  The young man exclaimed, ‘What am I going to do with a dead horse!’  The old farmer felt for the young man and said, ‘Here is what you should do, go into town and tell all the folks you are having a raffle for a horse.  If you can sale a hundred and one tickets at a dollar a piece you can get your money back.’  ‘Why a hundred and one tickets?’ the young man asked quizzically.  ‘Well,’ the farmer explained, ‘the guys who wins the raffle is going to be pretty upset that the horse is dead, you will have to give him his dollar back’  ...

  The Oklahoma lottery celebrated its one year anniversary with the announcement that the revenue that the proponents had promised it would generate fell well short of expectations. It's not surprising. The lottery usually fails to deliver what it promises.    Take Mack and Virginia Metcalf. These two blue collar workers saw their winning Powerball lottery ticket back in 2000 as the greatest thing that could happen to them. They took the instant payout and started their new life with a divorce. Still each walked away with over 13 million dollars. But Mack found himself in court quickly again owing $31,000 in back child support and was forced to use $800,000 to set up a trust fund for his child's future. He didn’t stay out of court too long because of a series of drunk driving arrest. In 2003, Mack Metcalf died of complication resulting form his drinking.    His wife Virginia started her new life with a new husband, and a brand new house. But in 2004, tha...