Leaving Las Vegas

Like most people who go to Las Vegas, I was amazed on my trip there last week. I went with two friends to visit another friend who was in the hospital there. We stayed right on the strip and had just enough time to do a little sightseeing. Gambling never has been much of a temptation for me. I have plenty of other temptations but gambling is pretty low on the list. I am obviously in the minority of people who go to Vegas.

My biggest amazement was not the lights and the sounds and the gaudiness of it all although it was pretty incredible. My biggest amazement was the sheer volume of people that were there on the strip. Over one million people live in Las Vegas and 35 million people a year visit. I felt like all 35 million were there last week. Everywhere you looked there were people of every nationality, color and style of dress (or lack of style).

I made several observations while I was there. When we weren't visiting at the hospital, we took time to walk through some the casinos and malls and we drove up and down the strip. Every one of the tourists we saw were having a great time. We saw lots of smiling and laughing and even heard some winning yells. I also noticed the availability of every possible vice a person could want anywhere, anytime. You could walk down the strip and get a cocktail, a slot machine and an "escort" on Sunday morning and put it all on your credit card while watching a mime juggle live squid in front of the Bellagio fountains! You know...if you're in to that.

I started thinking about why people throng to this place by the millions. What is it that people get out of this city in the middle of the desert? Is it just the gambling? I think not. Of all the places in the world, Vegas is the one place you can go to completely leave your daily routine and attending rules behind. It is a city built and sustained on wanting to "get away from it all". They even have the best slogan in the world to perpetuate that thinking: "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas". That's even better than the 60's slogan, "If it feels good, do it." The people taking your money want you to think that whatever you do in their city will not have any consequences. Obviously, millions of people are buying into that.

Is that all people want? Do people work all year long just to save up enough money to get away from the rules in their life? It's not supposed to be that way. There is more to life than work, home, tv, sleep, work, home, tv, sleep. Jesus said in John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly". Abundant life. That's what people want! The problem is that religion itself is just more rules. Religion is the quickest way one can feel like a failure. The good news is that there is a better way to have a fulfilled, abundant life. It's not about religion. It's not about being Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Muslim or a worshiper of squid! It's about Jesus! A friend of mine says and I believe that if Jesus were walking on earth today in physical form that he would hang out in Las Vegas. What better place to spread the good news that there is freedom and fulfillment, joy and peace, love and acceptance-all without the consequences that will surely follow a wild night in Vegas-found by a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.