Loving Las Vegas

It was three years ago today that my family arrived in Las Vegas. We had lived in Virginia Beach, Virginia for eleven years prior and came to Las Vegas because we felt that God has called us to come and love this city.

Why should we love it? Well, because God does.

Some Christians assume that a pure and holy God could only have disdain for a city that prides itself on sin. And that view would make a lot of sense, if it wasn’t for the Bible. In the book of Jonah, we see God declaring his compassion for Nineveh, the “sin city” of the day. And because of his affection for it, he sends Jonah to share his message with the people there. And in the book of Jeremiah, we see God tell His people to move into the “wicked” city of Babylon and to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city.”

God is into cities, and He seems to have a special place in His heart for cities that have turned away from Him and have become stained with sin. And while some may focus on the stain, God sees beyond it to the beauty that lies beneath. And I love Las Vegas, and pray I can be a part of making it into a more beautiful place, one life at a time.