Tony Jones: July 2008 Archives

As we stepped out of the RV, Mark turned to me and said, "This feels like tobacco territory."

We were in Burlington, North Carolina, in the parking lot of JR Cigars, home to the largest humidor in the world. Walking in to this Taj Mahal of Tobacco is an overwhelming experience, especially for someone like me who has a weakness for the dog rocket.

We wandered about the 500 square foot humidor for over an hour, receiving wise guidance from a grizzled cigar jockey with a Fuente dangling from his lips. It was glorious.

So, believe it or not, we'd rather not drive our whole 40' RV with trailer into Manhattan on Friday. We're looking for somewhere safe to drop the RV and borrow or rent a truck with which we can pull the trailer into NYC. Somewhere between Edison and Newark would be best. Please drop a comment with any ideas.

We've been to a lot of cities so far, and it's funny how many people in these cities claim that they are:

- The buckle of the Bible belt

- The least churched city in America

- The city with the most witch covens per capita

- The city with the best Bar-B-Que

Well, we don't know about the first three, but we're doing our best to determine the truth about the fourth. Yesterday we stopped at Dreamland, a spot that was frequented by Mark two decades ago. It was good, not great. I liked the sauce, but the meat was sub-par. Doug gave high marks to The Joint in New Orleans, and I liked Gates in Kansas City.

We'll update you on the BBQ in the coming few days.

Having one's book reviewed is almost always a good thing. It means that someone is reading your book and taking it seriously enough to reflect on it and write about it.

The editors over at the Out of Ur blog (from Christianity Today) told me they were surprised when they received Chad Hall's review of my book; they weren't expecting it to be so negative. So they gave me the opportunity to respond, which I have.

I sat on Mr. Hall's review for a while before responding. It's difficult to be accused of being "supremely arrogant," and it's even more difficult to respond to that charge without sounding supremely arrogant. Really. Think about it.

The tack of my friend, Brian McLaren, in these situations is almost always to be gracious in the face of harsh criticism, so I strongly considered that angle. But in the end, I just decided to defend myself point-by-point from Mr. Hall's criticism. Maybe I should have been more gracious; hindsight will tell...