Bottle Rocket

My wife and I just drove through Las Vegas as we travel north towards home. Vegas always strikes me as an odd town for several reasons. First, it's so stinkin' big! And right in the middle of one of the least attractive parts of the country! Second, I know several people that live there and claim its a great place to raise a family. And third, there's sex and gambling on nearly every street corner.

I couldn't help but wonder as we drove past the adult bookstore across the street from our hotel if this was just the natural state of American culture. If the laws in other states suddenly relaxed, would we find slot machines at Trader Joes in Santa Rosa? Would it be as easy to get a lap dance in Seattle as it is to get a cup of coffee?

My mind went to Paul's words: "All we like sheep have gone astray." And "there is none righteous, no, not one". Surely, given the chance, we would all dwell in the same moral desert as Nevada. By the time we'd gotten out of the city, I was even disgusted by the fireworks for sale just outside the city line. My moral superiority sneered at the thought that they don't even care if they start forest fires.

And so, just as I was thanking God for the gift of moral restraint he had bestowed on the rest of the country, I remembered something else Paul had said: "I am the greatest sinner of them all". This is Paul we're talking about here, a guy who was to the average jew what Salt Lake City is to Las Vegas: the epitomy of moral restraint and superiority. In the end though, Paul realized that his pride in being so Good was actually quite Bad. And that at least those folks in Vegas are having a good time, but nobody likes a self-righteous bastard.

So here I sit, a little humbler, a little wiser. And wishing we had stopped at that fireworks booth.