| Betting on Jesus |
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A man who had everything still found he needed God, writes James Hastings  David Fortune was the gambler who took a chance on God – and ended up a winner. The former professional card sharp and horse fancier used to live every punter’s dream. He stayed in plush hotels, drove a top-of-the-range car and had more girlfriends than lucky charms. But away from the glamour of the trackside or card table, David, now 53, was on a personal losing streak. “I enjoyed the good things in life that my winnings enabled me to have, whether clothes or fine wines or especially women,” he says. “I was never short of cash and if I wanted a holiday or new car, I simply went out and got them. But the real reason I gambled was to have enough money to enable me to pursue the one thing that I didn’t have and that was to find out the meaning of life. “I spent hours reading about philosophy, religions and just thinking. Money gave me the freedom to pursue those goals, but no matter how much I read, I couldn’t find any answers.” David discovered from an early age that he had a knack for reading cards. By practising up to four hours a day, he was able to win much more than he lost. Soon he was a professional gambler. “I was never a mug punter,” he adds. “Walk into a bookies and you can feel the depression and desperation all around. I’ve seen men tear open a pay packet and put everything on a so-called lucky number because it’s their wife’s birthday or their grandmother’s house number. That’s mug betting. “For me, gambling was an art, a science. I counted cards and studied form and odds. After a while, I knew what cards were on the table and which were in the pack. It wasn’t really gambling. It was more like stealing.” David devoured books on philosophy, mysticism and world religions. Then a girlfriend told him two men had knocked on her door and were talking to her about God. David raced to the house and listened to every word the men said. Soon, he abandoned his gambling as he searched deeper and deeper into the men’s claims. It wasn’t long before he was convinced he had finally found the revelation he had been seeking all his life. “I read every book and pamphlet they gave me,” he says. “I went to meetings and even prayed like they told me. I convinced myself I had found the real meaning to life. Yet, there were cracks in what they taught and no matter how much I tried to ignore these, something didn’t sit right with me.” Unknown to David, his father had become a Christian and during a visit, David happened to mention the group he had joined. His dad was horrified and tried to persuade his son he was on the wrong track. The pair argued and fought but David was stubborn. He told his dad that in a few days, he would go through a ceremony with the group. Minutes before this happened, David’s dad burst into the building and pulled his son out. It was a dramatic moment. David was just 23. He thought about the group he had joined, the books he’d read, philosophy and the services he had attended. Although he had stopped gambling and was working as a salesman, he still felt he was cheating people. In fact, he used many of the same techniques and language as a salesman that he had used in gambling. Then, suddenly, something remarkable happened. “I realised that all my life I had been seeking experiences,” he says. “I’d been trying to find answers reading books and praying in a certain way or attending a particular type of service. I realised that what I needed was not religion but relationship, a relationship with Jesus.” So one cold January day in 1979, he says, “I gave my life to Jesus, all my talents and faults and asked him into my life. I knew that relationship was not the end point, not the result of studying or reading or going through particular services. “A relationship with Jesus is the starting point and, thirty years later, that relationship remains alive and exciting and fulfilled.” Now he won’t even play the Lotto. “Trust in Jesus and he will look after you. Trust in the Lotto and you’ll only be disappointed.” |
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