Wise and Harmless

Happy Draw A Bird Day!

Enough to Spare

Does that sound harsh? This dire warning matches the fate of the rich man in Jesus' parable in Luke 16:19-31. Many have pointed out that our world is "overpopulated." And that may be true for our current rate of consumption. But we have it on the authority of the One who created this earth that it was prepared with more than enough to take care of all of the earth's inhabitants. The problem is not the earth's capacity to produce. Rather, it is our willingness to sacrifice and share.
There isn't a single person among us who can't give something, no matter how meager, to help uplift the poor and the needy of our community and the world at large. It may mean the occasional sacrifice of the things we've come to enjoy and the great abundance with which we have been blessed. But the outcome for doing so is always worth so much more than the cost.

Sword vs Mace

GM: The enormous shadow monster begins terrorizing the village, gobbling down the fleeing populace, wrecking buildings, and sowing death, destruction, and chaos. Roll initiative.

*dice rolling*

GM: All right, you guys move first.

Paladin: I draw my sword and charge up to the--!

Knight: Whoa, whoa, wait. You should let me use my mace instead.

Paladin: What? Why?

Knight: Because my mace does more damage.

Paladin: But my sword has a higher chance of dealing a critical!

GM: Uh, you know you could both--

Knight: We need to take this thing down hard and fast! We can't just rely on scoring a few lucky shots.

Paladin: News flash! We're using dice! All our shots are lucky!

GM: Guys...?

Paladin: Besides, this is probably going to be a long battle. In the long run, I'll deal more damage on average.

Knight: Oh yeah? Have you checked your math on that?

Paladin: Prove me wrong!

Knight: Fine! You got a calculator?

*dice rolling*

Knight: Wait, what are you doing?

GM: The monster takes another swipe, knocking over more buildings. Screams of pain and terror split the night sky.

Paladin: Wait, stop! It's still our turn!

GM: You took too long, so the monster took its turn. Now, are you going to make a move?

Knight: Fine! You going to let me use my mace, or is your pride going to cost us even more lives?

Paladin: My pride?! You were the one who--!!

Knight: Besides, a mace is probably more effective anyway. It might have a resistance to slashing damage.

Paladin: How could you possibly know that?!

Knight: How do you know it isn't? For all you know, you could end up making things worse!

Paladin: Oh, for the--!! Forget it. I'm attacking. I draw my sword and--!

Knight: I block him!

Paladin: What??

GM: What??

Knight: I step in front of him and parry his sword with my mace.

GM: You guys are on the same--!

*dice rolling*

Knight: Yes! Blocked!

GM: Sigh... *dice rolling* The monster takes yet another swipe. More innocent lives lost. Now what do you do?

Paladin: That's it. I'm attacking!

GM: Good. The monster turns to face you and--

Paladin: Not the monster. Him!

Knight: What??

GM: What??

Paladin: As long as he keeps interfering, that monster's going to keep killing!

GM: The monster is already killing!

Knight: Fine! All I wanted to do was take a minute to size up our enemy and make sure we do this right! But since getting your way is clearly more important to you--!

GM: Why don't you just both attack the thing?!

Knight: ...

Paladin: ...

Knight: No, he'll probably get in the way and cause more damage.

Paladin: There's no place for his arrogance on the battle field!

GM: Sigh... fine. Roll for attack. *dice rolling* Meanwhile, the monster smashes another building and begins devouring its inhabitants. More screaming. More death...