As some of you know, Janet and I are big fans of the annual Iditarod Sled Dog Race that runs in Alaska starting on the first Saturday in March. We initially got interested when we travelled to Anchorage and had an overnight there until we flew to Fairbanks the next morning. Sine then, we have always had a keen interest in the race and, especially, the sled dog teams.
This year, we actually purchased access to follow the race on the internet and loved every minute of the action. Jessie Holmes was a repeat winner – he was also the winner in 2025. Anyway, we have continued to learn a great deal about the whole race culture and what it takes to put on “The Last Great Race on Earth…” To our surprise, it costs more than $4.5 million to run the Iditarod each year. This includes veterinarians for the dogs, straw and food for the teams to bed down”, volunteers at each of the many checkpoints along the trail, food for more than 1500 volunteers, pilots and flights around the state to ferry dogs and to deal with medical issues if necessary. It’s quite a complex operation.
Anyway, much to our dismay, it is getting more and more difficult to finance the event each year. There aren’t quite as many entries as there used to be and it seems that there just aren’t as many interested mushers and teams as there were several decades ago. Of course, the costs continue rise at a rapid pace. Nothing is easy, or inexpensive, in Alaska.
In order to supplement revenue to offset expense for the Iditarod, the race committee hosts what is referred to as “the winter raffle.” The leadership offers 5500 raffle tickets for sale at a cost of $100 each. Out of this revenue, they pay out a total of $200,000. There are a total of 55 prizes, including a grand prize of $101,000, 5 $10,000 prizes and 49 prizes of $1000 each. We have been receiving emails each day on the progress of the ticket sales and we decided to help out by purchasing 2 tickets. It was a close call to see if all the tickets would be purchased. A number of high profile people, including the pop start Post Malone, bought handfuls of tickets to help the cause.
In all honesty, even though we had a 1 in a 100 chance to win a prize, we weren’t counting on anything. In fact, we discussed returning any prize money we might win, in order to help the race. It was about helping the event, not trying to win some money…
The drawing was held live this evening at 8:00 P.M. Eastern and was held in Wasilla, AK where the Iditarod headquarters are located. They had put all the tickets in a large raffle drum and started picking winners in reverse order right on time, streaming live on Facebook. Each number was pulled, shown to the camera and read out loud. In the beginning it went well, but then people wrote in not liking the way the CEO was pulling the winning numbers. One person complained that he should alternate his left and right hands to make it more fair. Another person accused him of not closing his eyes tight enough and looking at the numbers he wanted to draw. Frankly, I couldn’t believe it… It was one petty thing after another. The person drawing was trying to accommodate the requests of the viewers but it was getting a little crazy.
Needless to say, we didn’t win anything. And that was fine with us. We had a great sense of pride in being able to help out and I had even called the Iditarod office in Wasilla to purchase our tickets over the phone yesterday. It brought back memories of us having been in Wasilla years ago.
While it is clear that many people have good hearts and wanted to help out, it was just as clear that people were looking for every excuse to cry “foul” if they didn’t win anything. It defeats the purpose of doing this for the sled dog teams and all the volunteers that help to put on this event.
If you are really looking to win, there are safer places to put your trust and your faith. And it doesn’t even cost you any money. Because the most important thing you can do is guarantee your eternal life – your salvation. There is a 100% chance of winning if you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. And your eternal life begins the moment you make that decision. There’s no need to gamble or worry about whether you can afford to play. Everybody can win…
Our verse for tonight is from the first epistle of John. In fact, this small letter is the first book that I learned to translate in Greek class back in my seminary days. The book is written in simple Greek language and is an encouragement to early church believers. John’s writings are interesting as they can be read by the newest Christian and yet also studied by theologians who have spent decades digging deeper in John’s theology. John tells us, in 1 John 5:4, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”
My encouragement this evening is that we shouldn’t worry about “losing.” God wants us to accept Him as Lord and Savior in order to spend eternity with us. My prayer is that we will focus in the things above rather than the temporary pleasures of this world. And while it is great to support different causes, I hope that our hearts remain focused on the correct goals – leaving the world a better place and spending eternity with Christ. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…