Las Vegas Learnings #1: Excess

We’ve lived in Vegas for exactly one year, and have tried as best we can to learn about the people, and culture, and life here, and I thought this week I’d share a few things we’ve learned. Here’s one:

Picture a kid who loves candy and has no self-control being put in a candy store, all alone, for 24 straight hours. How crazy might the kid go on candy? How bad might it get? A pretty dangerous situation, right?

I think that’s a decent picture of Las Vegas. It attracts people who crave, it tempts you at every turn, and it is a city of total excess. Whatever you’re looking for, it’s available … 24/7. Drugs? Alcohol? Sex? Gambling? It’s all for sale, all the time.

There’s good news. Anyone who looks to anything other than God to fill them up will eventually realize it’s an empty pursuit. That’s a point where a person’s odds of looking for God, of finding God, increases. And the good news is that in a city of excess, you can get to that point a whole lot quicker. Vegas is filled with people who are realizing that what they want is not what they need, and are looking for something better. I pray we can introduce them to Him.