It’s hard to believe that we’ve been in Las Vegas for ten years. With the exception of the Denver area this is the longest we’ve stayed put. My appointment to Trinity United Methodist Church seemed surreal when it happened, while it happened, and after it happened. Sin City seemed the perfect place to share the gospel, but I had no idea just how severely the good news could be twisted and distorted by theological ignorance and immaturity. The slogan hadn’t yet been developed, but had we known then that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, we might have taken more seriously the prospect of starting a new congregation in Omaha.
This is not to say that I don’t like it here. I do. There’s something refreshing about this city’s upfront candidness about human propensities that other cities try to sweep under the proverbial carpet or otherwise ignore. “Greed is good” isn’t subjected to some sort of euphemistic P.R. spin in Las Vegas. We like our wine, women and song, and we’re completely out in the open about it. I suppose that explains why nearly one-million visitors pass through McCarran Airport every week. You get to do things here in Las Vegas that you’d like to do at home but are afraid to.
Now that we’re empty nesters, Mary and I are giving more serious thought to where we’d like to spend our golden years. Through my ingenious career planning, that’s still a quarter-of-a-century away but it isn’t keeping us from exploring where we’re most likely to find culture, virtue, and values. Las Vegas has two out of three but that may not be the winning ticket. Wherever we settle upon, I hope that it will have an atmosphere of unabashed honesty. That’s in short supply these days, everywhere but Las Vegas.
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