God, Guns, and the Perfect Chicken-Fried Steak: Chapter Two

Over the next few weeks I will be putting out the first several chapters of my recently published novel "God, Guns, and the Perfect Chicken-Fried Steak" as a serial (like they did in the old days when we used to read newspapers). You can get more info by clicking the My Website link on my AC Content Producer's Page. You can read the Prologue and Chapter One here.

CHAPTER 2

As I pulled into the sprawling parking lot of Briarwood Baptist Church in North Dallas the following Saturday evening, I wondered about that inner voice and how I had become so cynical again; for a while, at least, I'd been almost normal.

I looked around as I walked through the lot and was faced with one possible answer on the bumper or back window of every SUV I passed: each one had either a Bush/Cheney 04 or a National Rifle Association sticker. Some had both, and I only counted one that had neither. Probably a visitor.

I believe in both the Second Amendment and a person's right to support the candidate of their choosing. But what I saw in that parking lot made it appear that Jesus was a gun-toting Republican. As a life-long Independent, I couldn't stand the fact that the Republicans had sold people on the idea that they were God's Party. It also made me wonder how many people here really believed what they claimed to believe and how many gave any thought to what their leaders, religious or political, told them. Most people were just sheep following the crowd, not even caring where the crowd was leading them. I decided then to test how well people paid attention to what I said.