I took a long (very long!) scenic route to Florida today, across the fine state of Georgia. Let me say with deep authority that Georgia is one seriously long deep big state. 350 miles later, I crossed into Florida. I stayed completely off the interstates and it was very interesting.
I loved the pace and lack of pressure to go super fast that you have on the crowded interstate highways. The roads were basically empty! Of course this choice of highway requires frequent slow downs and small towns every 15-30 miles were very slow, but that was the whole point, to go slow enough to actually see the countryside and relish it a bit rather, than just barreling down the road at dangerous speeds and competing with other drivers and going insane with people in the passing lane using cruise control!
I have to admit that the towns were much more rundown than I had anticipated, although there were beautiful exceptions, like Madison, GA. But the one overwhelming constant, from top to bottom, were the churches. There are endless churches in rural Georgia. Far more than any other kind of store, brand, type, more than even gas stations! Far more in fact! This was very disturbing.
At first I was glad. Because where I live in the world, there are very very very few churches. But the farther I drove, and the more rundown everything was, the more the plethora of churches began to bother me. Where is the community transformation? Where is the visible impact of these Jesus-following communities? Where is the change that comes from redemption and forgiveness? It was not evident for a stranger driving past their boroughs. On the other hand I may be completely wrong, and things would be much much worse without all these churches?
