Shelby calls this the Road Trip through Jesus Land. I think it's because we started out in Crossville with a trip to God's treehouse. Brenda Wofford gave us a personal tour. It was built by a local who had a vision.

As you can see, the man built an ark of a treehouse, which he has dubbed Gateway to Jesus. It includes a spiral staircase and an observatory tower from which Brenda took this shot

In spring daffodils spell out Jesus. Besides an observatory tower, there's a towering cross that overlooks a half-court.

But maybe Shelby calls it Jesus Land because of all the billboards speckling the countryside. Like the black&white version we saw in a green field in Arkansas proclaiming: Thou shall not commit Adultery. That was about the last thing on my mind as I watched an ember sun dip behind the emerald Ozark hills but I did wonder if perhaps the farmer who erected it might not have been jilted.

That was followed by a colorful number seeking employees -- "Truck Drivers Needed: Jesus & You!" Hey, I didn't even know Jesus knew how to operate an 18-wheeler. Is that what Carrie Underwood meant when she sang, "Jesus take the wheel"?

Then there was the sign advertising a church "Fairview Regular Baptist Church." I'm not sure what a regular Baptist is, but I know what constitutes an irregular Baptist.

That was followed by the admonition on a neon sign to "Pray till something happens."

I guess in a town that small, it doesn't matter what. Those poor folks just want anything to happen.

And then there was the classic religious billboard: Abortion is Murder. Abortion was spelled out in dripping red letters of the horror flick venue.

I'm glad to report that in New Mexico, where we've been holed up for the past couple of days, there are very few Jesus billboards. Just a lot of breathtaking scenery. At night, right after the sun has set and just before it turns black-dark, the sky gets this purple-blue hue that almost hurts your eyes. And in the morning light, the cliffs look like the veins of earth.

As we drove on to Albuquerque, Shelby read to me from The Oklahoman. One headline story was about the death of 5-year-old Austin Haley, who was at a boat dock with his grandpa in a residential neighborhood, when a bullet struck the boy in the head and killed him instantly.

Seems police had gotten a call from a woman on Crest Lane after her 16-year old daughter spotted a snake hanging from a neighbor's bird house. The woman, who thought it might be a diamond-back rattler, wanted animal control to respond but the city had cut that position the week before so they sent out two officers instead.

Obviously not the Pentacostal sort, the police didn't coax the snake from the tree, but decided a 9 mm was the quickest way to solve the problem. They fired a shot which hit the pond just a few feet from Austin and his grandpa. The old man grabbed the boy and called out but the police fired off another round; this one struck Ausin.

The city manager called it a tragic mistake. But Grandpa figured it for more than that. He said that if he had put Austin in a car and failed to buckle the boy up, and if that led to an accident that killed the boy, he would be charged with murder. "This is a lot worse than that," he said. 

"I was standing right beside him when they shot him in the head. There wasn't anything I could do for this baby. He was dead. And he was just the finest Christian boy. His mother just bought him a Bible not a week before this -- he wanted one that was camouflage because he was in the Lord's Army."

And that's how folks around these parts make sense of the senseless.

Speaking of which, headline in today's Albuquerque Journal had me puzzled.

Bush: Intelligence Is Key.

A little late for that, ain't it?

Jesus help us all.