This Side of the Pulpit » Theology » Death of Small Towns

Death of Small Towns

July 29th, 2009 | Add a Comment

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ghost-town In the last post I may have implied that my town is one of the many that are slowly dying. Is that true?

Enid certainly has seen more prosperous days. In many ways we have never recovered from the oil bust of the mid 1980s, at least compared to Oklahoma City, which today is growing by leaps and bounds. Compared to surrounding towns, Enid is thriving. They are textbook cases of rural decline.

I think Enid is holding its own. What I wrote about yesterday can be seen in every large city, if you look in the right neighborhoods. In small cities like Enid (pop. 45,000ish) you just don’t have to look as far, and the strories of the golden years are closer, just next door. That the way of men, of our accomplishments is but the grass of the field is more obvious in smaller communities.

All things being equal, Enid has a chance–and a good one. Quality of life is high, good infrastructure exists to support growth in industry. When you look at Western Oklahoma and Southern Kansas, we are the largest hub of commerce for several hundred miles.

But all things are not equal. Never have been, but in our current climate it’s more obvious. If things go south in a hurry, the small towns will dry up more quickly than the large ones, but in time, everything will go bad.

So we are back where we started. Resurrection is our hope and comfort. Not prosperity, though it may come. Not worldly peace, though we still enjoy it. Not comforts of the status quo, not political rights and a Judeo-Christian heritage. Our hope is not in history or heritage but in the one who created and redeems history, the one who will come again.