Evangelist’s Confusing Itinerary

Here is something new and weird.

I like watching Perry Stone and reading his books. Sometimes, maybe, he looks at scriptures and events a little too hard, in his determination to find meaning. But overall, I like what he does.

He sells recordings of appearances he does while traveling. Sometimes these things are really good. Yesterday I looked at his website, and he was selling a new CD set…from the incredibly obscure town where I was born.

It’s hard to explain how unimportant this place is. As far as I know, nothing whatsoever happens there. I wouldn’t describe it as a farming town. On the other hand, with a population of under 17,000 people, it’s not large enough to be a big city where rural people go to shop or get medical treatment. Lexington, which is almost a real city, is just 18 miles away. My grandmother used to drive by without stopping, every week, to shop in Lexington.

It has no personality. It has zero importance to history. Daniel Boone lived there, but not while he was doing things historians care about. In all the time I’ve spent in Kentucky, I can’t recall having any reason to go to this town, except for a brief period during which I worked at a local roadhouse. If you ever visit, you’ll have the same thought I’ve had: “Why did they put a town here?” Yet somehow, Perry Stone (who lives in another state) thought it was a good place to have a series of meetings.

I can’t figure it out. Why didn’t he just go to Lexington?

Curiosity got to me. I ordered the CDs. I have to find out what he said there.

This is even weirder than having a President who was a member of my class at Columbia.

Stephanopoulos, I remember. He lived across the hall. Obama? A cipher.

I keep trying to figure out what God wants with me. There must be something. He is going to so much trouble to keep my attention. What a great thing that is. Talk about feeling special. And as far as I know, he is willing to treat every believer this way. Can we all be special? I guess so. Maybe this is the feeling we are trying to replace when we stupidly strive to get attention from other people. The life of an unbeliever is an endless, frustrating process of filling holes with the wrong things.

Church was a little boring last week, but I learned something good anyway. I already knew it, but I hadn’t been thinking about it enough. The guy who spoke talked about making offerings in response to blessings. For example, say your kid has a medical test, and it turns out negative. To acknowledge it, you do something for God. It’s impractical to sacrifice animals these days, so money is a good vehicle. Pick a cause you’re sure God likes and give a little something to show you know where the good news really came from.

I’m going to keep that in mind from now on. I think gratitude without works is like faith without works. Wasted and incomplete. Even God should get thank-you cards.