The first was Washington D.C. I blogged about this experience in an older post.
The second was Las Vegas. I went there for a basketball tournament and didn't have to pay anything...the team in Las Vegas covered the plane tickets and hotel.
Las Vegas was interesting. I described it in a text to a friend like this:
"There is sex everywhere....it's a bit ridiculous."
No joke. First, when we exited the plane into the airport, there were tons of billboards with girls (and guys) wearing very little clothes. Then, we were driven to our hotel, which happened to be nextdoor to a strip club (don't worry, we didn't go to it....though it did feel a little weird to have to walk past it anytime we left the hotel). Walking around Vegas, there were those boxes that you drop money in and pull out a newspaper....except here there were pornographic magazines instead of newspapers. Everywhere you turn: sex. Not even an exaggeration.
Strangely, my faith in God felt more real and legitimate in Vegas.
I was surrounded by a city whose economy is based on satisfying immediate desires with counterfeit means of fulfillment. Come to Vegas, see lots of naked girls (or guys), have sex, win (probably lose)lots of money! That's the selling point. Really? Is that why millions of people visit this city every year? Is that really what all these people are searching for?
Yeah...sort of.
But it's all just fake. Sex will leave a person wanting more. Money (more than we need, anyway) will only leave us more bored, lonely, and depressed. What I have in Christ is so much better (I'm completely convinced about this) than what sex and money have to offer.
We were in Vegas for less than 48 hours (and we played 5 basketball games), so we had basically no time to spend in the city. But the thing I most wanted to do there is find some Christians who live there and just talk with them about what it's like to live in Vegas. I wondered what the church is doing in that city. With all the hurting, broken, desperate people there (either addicted to sex or having gambled away all their money), what a great opportunity for the church to rise up and offer something so much better! I assume there are good churches even in Las Vegas.....if not, one of us needs to go start one. It could be beautiful. Think about it.
The third was Memphis. (which I will save for another post)
I think there's a church called XXXChurch in Vegas whose mission is to help people escape the sex mindset. They offer a lot of cool stuff on their website...
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