Outside in my driveway is a 16' x 8' storage unit with everything we have stuffed into it. It's a sobering inventory that I highly recommend every few years or so. Suddenly priorities are redefined. No longer is the value of a thing determined by how rare it is, how beautiful it would look on your wall, or how badly you have always wanted it. Now the determining factor of whether we keep a thing or throw it away is if we can fit it in the container. Like I said, sobering.
As we sat in church today, Travis Ogle was preaching (he was awesome, btw!) from Philippians 3 and came across verses 7 and 8:
I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ (NLT)
All this stuff is just that: stuff. The whole reason we are packing it up, deciding what to keep and what to throw away, is so that we can follow Jesus. We count everything we are leaving behind as loss compared to knowing Jesus, experiencing life with Him as our Guide. It's precisely because we'd "rather have Jesus than anything" that we have quit our jobs, put our house up for rent, and said goodbye to some of our dearest friends and allies.
It's hard and there were tears today at our final service at Hope Baptist. But we are pressing on and reaching forward in response to the call of God. Having said all that, we'd like to recap a few of the things we will miss the most about living in Las Vegas these last seven years...
1. Our dear friends and allies. The relationships that we have made here and the way they have poured the love of God into our lives. We won't name them all for lack of space and fear of forgetting someone, but the friendships we have made are the greatest treasures of the time we spent here. Someday we will all be together again in Heaven. What a day that will be!
2. Hope Baptist Church. Most of the relationships we have are a direct result of serving Jesus alongside them at this wonderful body of believers. The preaching, the music, the heart for the city and the nations. Thank you Hope for the way you have loved our family and allowed us to lock arms with you in taking the gospel to Las Vegas, the west, and the world. It was such an honor to be on staff here.
3. Sushi Bay. Our place. The majority of our Friday lunch dates were spent here, discovering the miracle of Japanese cuisine. We will especially miss Sunshine, Paradise, Yum Yum Salmon and Crazy Horse. Just incredible. I think I feel a tear coming...
4. Winter in Vegas. I remember calling back east on Christmas Day where everyone was freezing and I was standing in my driveway in a T-shirt and shorts and no shoes. The weather here is great all year round except for summer, when Hell just sort of spills out onto the earth and sucks your soul out. Other than that, it's very pleasant.
5. Easy to get around. There is virtually no traffic in Vegas. Even at rush hour in the worst parts of town, at least it's moving. And it's impossible to get lost. Everything is flat and laid out in a grid. You can see from one end of the valley to the other from practically anywhere.
6. Being close to so many great vacation spots. Grand Canyon. Lake Tahoe. San Diego. Yosemite. Zion National Park. Monterey. San Francisco. Disneyland. Knott's Berry Farm. These are places we got to vacation while we lived on this end of the country. Places we will likely never visit after we move back east.
7. Mojo from Havana Grill at Eastern & Pebble. Pronounced Mo-ho. I could drink this stuff from a gallon jug. It's a tangy dip for bread and such at this amazing Cuban restaurant across the street from our neighborhood. It's so good I could just by pass the bread altogether! If you live in Vegas, you must go to Havana Grill and try the mojo. The sandwiches are to die for.
8. Sunsets over the mountains. We never saw real mountains until we moved out West. You begin to understand what the scripture means when it says His creation declares His majesty. Breathtaking. We will miss seeing that every evening.
9. Pizzookies from BJ's. It's a huge, warm gooey cookie covered with a big glob of melting ice cream. The come in a variety of flavors -- chocolate chunk, white chocolate with macadamia nuts, Oreo, etc. Until they open a BJ's in Atlanta, this will have to be a thing we'll miss about Vegas.
10. "It's a Grind" coffee shop at Pebble & Eastern. Every Wednesday night while the kids were in AWANA, Cheryl and I would have a coffee date here. It became quite a special place for us. This is where we wrote our marriage curriculum, "Staying Married on Purpose." This is where we held deep discussions about the weighty issues of life, love, parenting, following Jesus, etc. We will miss the Triple Chocolate blended and the Caramel Macchiato especially.
Stay tuned for the next post... The Top Ten Things We Will NOT Miss About Living in Vegas. I'll give you a hint of number one.... Today it was 110 degrees. I think I felt my life oozing out of my pores.
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