today was the first day of school and i spent the time leading up to it in vegas with two good buddies. the theme of the trip was golf. in the past i remember posting up pictures of golf trips and talking about it, mostly so i could write it down somewhere for memory’s sake because i dont think anyone else really cares…but this time we didn’t take pictures and i won’t focus on playing 54 holes in 110 degree weather and shooting 89 at famous wolf creek and birdieing #17 which is one of the signature holes.

but even though the trip was drive, golf, sleep (a little), golf, eat, golf, sleep (a lot), eat, golf, drive, God was really speaking to me.

it was interesting to go to vegas. i haven’t been since i was 15 1/2. we stayed at the cosmopolitan in the terrace studio room which is the nicest hotel room i have ever seen in my entire life. as one of my friends remarked: “there are so many good looking people here.” people all excited to be in the big city of lights and night life. it was fun to play a famous golf course. it was fun to feel like i’m rich.

but it’s also not who i am and i don’t think i’ll go back. on the second night, after 3 hours of sleep the first night, i fell asleep at 9:30 for 11 hours. who goes to vegas and sleeps at 9:30? i do. and i’m more than comfortable with it. God was speaking to me so much about who He’s created me to be and the life that He wants me to be living, and it doesn’t involve being rich or going on vegas trips. like i said, it was a blast and i had fun. i’m also probably not going to go back.

this doesn’t mean that it’s bad to go to vegas. it doesn’t mean it’s bad to stay up all night. those things can lead to not so good things, but the point of what God was communicating to me is that you need to be comfortable that this life isn’t you. those things aren’t bad, but they aren’t me.

more than anything, God loves us and wants us to discover that our identity is secure in Him. nothing can be more important than knowing how God has created you and reconciling that with thankfully worshipping God for who He is. God loves us and He wants us to love ourselves for who we are. where do we find our identity? that’s a question i’ll leave for part 2