It has only happened a few times in my life when an experience is so profound that I have to just ‘be’ with it before I can put words to it. As you are about to discover, even though I took two days, my words will fail. Luckily, I was blessed to meet and learn from the remarkable parishioners and leaders who have continue the legacy of the sacred place.
To the uninitiated, Buc-ee’s is sensory overload. Started in Texas in 1982 it has become a southern cultural phenomenon. Everything is BIG. Rows of gas pumps visible from space and lots of barbecue, jerky, jams and sauces, candies and something called Buc-ee’s Nuggets. My best discovery Buc-ee’s was how they treat their employee’s. I will be back!
I can still remember the first time I arrived in Shawnee Oklahoma on a Saturday and made my way down Kickapoo street (not kidding, that’s the name 🙂 to check out the Oklahoma Baptist University. I caught sight of a church across street and knew that I would be attending Sunday service at the University Baptist Church.
That year I wrote, “So this is what I found in Shawnee. A congregation focused, not on politics or social agenda, but on service. I like it here.”
That was 16 years ago and I have never missed a Sunday service at UBC on my travels since. Pastor Justin Dunn is able to gently guide and inspire and I treasure the hours of interviews that he has generously given over these extraordinary times.
This Sunday was no different. Pastor Dunn’s sermon today was on speech and how our words are powerful. They can create good and they can do great harm.
Then Pastor Dunn did something I had never heard him do before. He referenced a current event. Specifically, the Presidential debate and the damage done to Springfield by the former president, and also the language used by the Kamala as an example.
This video includes that segment of his sermon and the discussion that Pastor Dunn and I had after. I think you will see why I always come back.
Crossing into Oklahoma marks the end of ‘high desert’ and the half way point of any southern cross country trek. I found my way to another Route 66 Diner. Just like the one in Gallup, the food was plentiful and tasty. Owned and operated by veterans, it was packed with locals all talking to each other. There was not one person (including children) on their phones or watching Paw Patrol on an ipad. A community together and talking. YES! Not surprisingly, no one was comfortable going on video or tape but they were happy to be heard. I am grateful.
The geography that exists between Bakersfield California east to the Arizona border sets the stage for my favorite stretch of this trip. As you come down from the Tehachapi pass, you start the slow assent to the Colorado plateau that makes possible the Grand Canyon and the next 900 miles of your experience. I noted in 2008 that you have to ‘disavow yourself of everything you think a desert should be’. This is high desert and everything is bigger. The winds are stronger, the air is both hotter and colder than seems possible. But the best are the thunderstorms and the desert did not disappoint today.
