Eleven hours of driving last Thursday from Boise to Modesto. Friday morning was Grandparent’s Day at school for our youngest grandson. Then more than three hours driving up to South Lake Tahoe on Friday afternoon for a night football game, followed with three hours returning to Modesto after the game. We got back to our hotel around 1:30 AM. Saturday, we headed out for the 10-year old’s football game (and what a great game that was!). Because we had so much crammed into just a couple days, we decided to do the return trip in two stages, Modesto to Reno, then Reno to home.
We thought we got a good deal on a “deluxe suite” at one of the well-known hotels in downtown Reno. That “deluxe suite” was anything but. The carpeting was stained, dirty, and frayed. The furniture was nicked and outdated and dirty. Not only was our room disappointing, the entire facility was dirty.
We left our hotel to go to another where we knew there was a nice restaurant, not too expensive, but with good food – and clean! We had to walk a couple blocks to get there, right through the heart of downtown Reno, literally under the “Biggest Little City in the World” sign for which Reno is famous. What a heartbreaking walk.
The street was littered with the hopeless. People were begging, holding signs, selling junk. The streets were filthy, garbage was everywhere. There were signs on storefronts advertising things I don’t even want to think about, let alone see. For maybe the first time, I understood how Lot felt.
I’ve never had much respect for Lot, Abraham’s nephew, but as I walked around I remember what was written about him in 2 Peter 2:7-8: “Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented [vexed] in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard).”
Sin is ugly. It is destructive. It shatters lives and families. It produces addictions, crime, hopelessness, death. It should “vex” us as it vexed Lot. It should make us weep and cry and do everything in our power to bring others to the Sinless One who died for our sins. There is no hope for sin apart from Christ Jesus our Savior. He alone can remove sin and sin’s stains. Praise His Wonderful Name.
