Somewhere, out there, someone is talking shit about a pretty sunset. Maybe it's you? Maybe it's me. Either way, we're fucked. Rejoice.
When driving south on I-37 from, let's say, White Cloud, and you're heading into the town of Newaygo, which hosts around two thousand wandering Americans, you'll notice a rather large wooden sign on your right that lists every church that you and those Americans are welcome to attend and pay ten percent of your earnings to for the rest of your life. You'll be reminded of any road trip or any highway or any time spent running from something absurd or righteous, probably failed love or a dramatic response. Truck stops, gas stations, restaurants, fast food, hotels, campsites and small town diners. Places of business sprinkled throughout America for you and I to enjoy while raging from point A to point B. Necessities for the cold drive, the hard stiff of getting away. Reasons for pulling over.
Living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with mega-churches in training on every corner, I often thought these Christian businesses outnumbered gas stations, especially in Broken Arrow. Having to fill up the tank can sometimes consist of two or three miles before you find an oasis of oil, but to find a church, all you have to do is put it in park, cover your eyes, spin around three times, and start walking. Soon, you'll smack into the side of the Prosperity Message or the Word of Faith. And don't expect to take that blindfold off. They'll keep an eye out for you.
Every Sunday morning, the bells of a small church from just down the street usually stir me awake. I'll lay in bed, listening for a few minutes, wondering what the minister will speak on today. What the offering will look like and how it will be spent within the church. If the congregation attends out of love of Christ, love of people, or fear of hell. How much of their direction is aimed at limiting poverty, feeding the poor, sheltering the homeless. How landlocked do they all feel and how will they vote in the next election. Then the bells stop and I go back to sleep.
