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CHAPLAIN’S CONFESSIONS (reprinted from newsletter of Sangre de Cristo Riders chapter of CMA

Our daughter was recently awarded her Master’s Degree in business.  To help celebrate this, she and her husband asked Linda and I to go to Las Vegas for a weekend.  Now, we have been to Vegas a couple times before, and always enjoy the amazing lights, the fantastic architecture, the great food, and a show or two.  But each time I am also just as  amazed at the heights (or is it depths) that people will go to in chasing the ultimate “high.”  Literally rubbing elbows with all representatives of humanity, walking up and down the Strip, you see people not only with grins on their faces but a certain desperation in their eyes; people hoping to get lucky at the casino, or “lucky in love,” just allowing all their inhibitions to dissolve.  I’m struck by how hard they push themselves to “have a good time.”  Even on the flight over, there was a distinct party atmosphere on the plane.  But once there it didn’t take more than a few hours for the noise, the cigarette smoke, and the “in your face” attitude of Vegas to begin to rub the veneer right off and expose the darkness underneath.  On the flight back some of those same eyes now contained empty stares, and a more subdued mood, as I’m sure many were reflecting on the fact that the “dream” had once again eluded them.

 James 5:5 says this:  “While here on earth you have thought only of filling your own stomachs and having a good time. But now you are like fat cattle on their way to being butchered.”  Now James is actually speaking against the wealthy who abuse their workers, but I believe the lesson still applies:  Are we interested in our own bellies, or in “feeding” others?  My prayer today is that the Lord open our eyes a little wider to see the hurt and dying around us everyday; to realize every day the fantastic gift of our salvation, then give us the earnest desire to witness that gift to everyone around us.