THE GAME SHOW GUY

"Rich Seiber, Come on down. You're the next contestant on The Price Is Right."

Oh how I long to hear those words. Especially lately.  Since I have been unemployed for the last 2.5 months, I have reinvigorated my fondness for game shows. My six year old son and I have been enjoying game show reruns on GSN. One of his favorite phrases to say around the house is "I'd like to buy a vowel please, Pat."

In that way, he is definitely his father's son. I have vivid memories of me at the age of 4. My Grandma would place me in my crib for nap time. But I didn't nap. Instead I would invent and host game shows in my head. My favorite one was where you had to find words inside of another word. For example if your word was "Grandma" you would get a point for "grand" and a point for "ma" and a point for "and" and so on.

My love for game shows didn't end there. When I was a senior in high school I was interviewed by our local  metropolitan newspaper and asked what I wanted to be when I finished college. "He wants to become a television game show host" is a direct line from the article.

Well, that goal I haven't met...yet. But with all this free time on my hands I have returned lovingly to my longing for programs hosted by Regis Philbin and Alex Trebek. More than just the free time, though, I think when you are unemployed you tend to focus on the need for money. That is what game shows are all about. That quick fix and emotional high that money can provide.
Shortly after I lost my job my family won $250 in a Little League raffle. At the time I viewed it as an answer to prayer, a method that God was using to provide for my family. Since then I have been wondering and hoping that God will continue to use a form of winning as His way of provision -- hence the increased interest in game shows.

But "survey says" that's not likely to be the way it is done. The book of Proverbs is full of reminders to work hard and rely on your diligence to provide for you and your family.

Proverbs 14:23 says "All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty." One chapter earlier it says "The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied" (Proverbs 13:4).

So I can use a lifeline and phone all the friends I want to but my final answer of provision is going to have to come from a job not Jeopardy.