I'll Try Anything Once (or Maybe Twice)

When I was in high school, I came to Las Vegas. Believe it or not, it was on a mission trip with my church. We were doing door-to-door surveying and evangelism to set the stage for the Southern Baptist Convention that would come the next week. I didn't like it then.

But, for some crazy reason, when we were planning our trip, I agreed to come back. Ryan and I talked about it, we settled on the fact that it was a logical stop along the way. The hotels are cheap, the food is cheap, it's a good midway stop between the Grand Canyon and LA, and it's an iconic American city.

We knew that our kids would see things that we hope they never choose to participate in, and we actually decided that providing a safe platform for which to discuss these things would be our strategy. We were careful about our hotel- we stayed just off the strip at a non-gaming hotel. We chose our restaurant ahead and made sure it was child safe. We chose our route along the strip and knew which hotels had cool, free, stuff that the kids would enjoy.

Here's the bottom line. Even with all of that, I would never recommend Vegas for a family with our type of values. Ever. Not unless you're coming with the intention of doing ministry. Cause it's a mission field, to be sure. I know, most of you are saying, "DUH!" at this point. But I promise you that if you do any sort of research about the city, you will be assured that there is a lot here that's perfect for families. It's a lie.

But, here's the thing. I don't regret that we spent 7 hours on the strip with our kids. We saw some really cool things. We did. We also saw some really yucky things. Which is okay, because we have already had some great discussions. Discussions we wouldn't have had if we hadn't risked the strip. Lizzy and I watched a lady put a $100 bill in a slot machine and we figured out how many months that could support our Compassion child. Abby made the observation that all of these people were spending all of this money and you just had to look at their faces to see that it wasn't bringing them any joy. Isaac and Ryan discussed the horrible devaluing of women all up and down the strip. That was just what came out last night. Now, we have a 4 hour drive to LA to debrief on the experience a little more.

Our wi-fi here is terrible, so I'll post a few pictures for the grandparents tonight.