“What happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas,” is a motto suggesting opportunities for many activities, few legal, moral, or ethical. (My opinion of the motto is a subject for another day.) People come to our beautiful city hoping to return home with a new car, house, or at the least, lots of cash. Most return home with much less than they brought.

Casinos are brightly lit with no windows or clocks to remind patrons of the time or even if the day, or night, has passed. Colorful areas with enticing noises help to convince one that in only a moment or two, their machine or cards will “hit” and they will become wealthy. Few achieve wondrous wealth. The few who do “win” usually pour it back in a futile effort to win more. Thousands of people occupy the multitude of casinos conveniently forgetting all that glitz can’t come from generous management, regardless of signs touting their latest “winners.”

Contrast this tourist view of the city with another which happens many times each week. A man and a woman, dressed in white, kneel at the altar of God, covenanting with each other and God they will be moral, honest, upright people, treating the love of their life with honor. And they do.
One of my favorite quotes comes from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest when Captain Jack Sparrow tells William Turner,

“Not all treasure is silver and gold, Mate.”

Captain Jack is telling him to look far beyond the glittering treasure of gold and jewels. The love of his life is of more value than all the treasure in the cave. Similarly, patrons seeking treasure by winning at a gambling house may lose the treasure of greater worth, their sweethearts and their families.

In surveying her family through time, Eve must surely have seen millions who gave up love, family, friends, and joy for a chance to obtain a treasure that glitters, shines, or buys more of the stuff of this world. She must have sorrowed at their loss.

Is it time to check the treasure you hold dear? Will it rust or corrupt? Or is your heart, your treasure, focused on family, friends, and God?