Viva Las Vegas

Later today I leave for Las Vegas. No convention, no business...just because I enjoy it. As a pastor, this is something I hate telling people who don’t know me. Whenever I mention going to Vegas I feel that I must give disclaimers. "I'm not there for the other stuff, I just enjoy playing poker." The "other stuff" is usually known as one of three things; drinking (usually excessively because it's free), gambling (defined as, where the house has the advantage), and sex (I don't think I need to explain this one). FYI, The sex stuff is the part I hate most about Vegas. I was talking to Israel about this once when he pointed to a flyer and said, "that girl is somebody's maggie." Maggie is the name of his daughter. It was powerful to think about.

Because of all the crazy stories people share about there Vegas experience (some friends, some acquaintances), I feel that I am guilty by association. For the ones who don’t know me, I avoid being honest…I just secretly enjoy Vegas. But I really do love staying up all night and getting breakfast at the Luxor around 6 am. I love sitting on the patio at the Irish pub in the New York, New York. I love playing poker at the Bellagio and seeing the best within feet. I love taking naps at 8pm because nole and iz are calling for an all night-er. I love traveling with friends. Vegas is like a degenerate friend. He’s the guy that everybody gets along with but sometimes just takes things too far. I love him and hate him. I love him because our personalities mesh well…both extroverts, laugh a ton, night owls, etc., but hate him because I know all the things he does. The key to our friendship is this…we both understand that we’ll have a blast going to baseball games, restaurants, and movies without fighting. But when it comes to where we go afterwards, we part ways. That is the balance to this friendship, knowing when to part ways.

FYI. In my absence, Israel is going to post a blog entry to keep this thing rolling. Look foward to that coming