By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

Singer, actor, soldier, the king of rock and roll.  Each of those descriptive terms belong to a man named Elvis Presley.  I snapped this photo of his grave on one of our family trips to Graceland through the years.  There has always been a fascination with Elvis, his music, his family, and the life he lived, from his poverty-filled beginnings in that tiny house in Tupelo, Mississippi, to the money, cars, women, and so many other issues that plagued his more financially lucrative years.

At today’s current rates, in order to visit Graceland for a self-guided tour, one must pay at least $85.00.  For upwards of $260, an individual could receive some “extras” along the way.  Some 600,000 people fork out the money to visit Elvis’s place every year.  More than 20 million people have visited there since it opened to the public in 1982.  It staggers the mind to think of the devotion and sheer idolization that exists when it comes to the man whose hip gyrations were once considered too vulgar for television.

When is the last time you had to stand in line to step into a house of worship?  When is the last time you and your family members made plans to truly visit your church house and experience the worship that takes place there.  When is the last time you felt devoted to the Lord or to His House?  When is the last time you felt the cost was worth it?

One of the ten commandments reminds us that we are not to have any idols.  These idols, which can be things or people themselves, take our focus from all that is pure and holy.  Anything or anyone who disrupts my focus and my vision of the Lord has become an idol in my life.

Now, I have nothing against the man Elvis.  I never knew him.  My mother-in-law remembered attending one of his concerts years ago.  I’ve never known that excitement.  

What I have known is love and devotion that I have for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.  As you travel through your days ahead, remember that things are just things.  People are just people.  None should be put on a pedestal.  Even Elvis experienced a great sadness and loneliness in his later years.  

I can only imagine the excitement, the pomp and circumstance, the fantastic fanfare that there will be when the Lord’s people come into His presence!  And here’s the greatest part — He has already bought your ticket.  All you have to do is accept it and step on in!

Just a thought.