One of the best parts of Donald Miller’s Searching for God Knows What for me was the preface to the second, expanded edition. One of the significant part’s of Miller’s story that helped me was his simple understanding of place and it’s significance. He moved from Bible-belt Texas to something-different Portland, Oregon. He quickly found himself in a culture almost nothing like what he had known. From the preface:

I’d grown up in a very conservative, Southern Baptist church in Texas. Urban living in Portland stood in stark contrast. Portland, and for that matter the Pacific Northwest in general, is not a place where Christian faith is a social commodity . . .

A person can advance in their career by being a Christian; they can meet a soul mate from a large pool of Christian singles; they can gain social acceptance in their culture by displaying a stable spiritual life. . .

In fact, in the southeast, you could hide from any threat to your faith because Christian culture is so vast. Kids can go to a Christian school; young adults to a Christian university; adults, to a Christian company. You can find a wife at a Christian church, have kids, and reset the cycle by putting your kids in a Christian school.

While the quote might feel a bit extreme for some, it doesn’t sound extreme at all for those who grew up in but now live of outside of a culture with a strong Christian flavor. It has taken me years to understand how far from that culture I have gone myself, with over 4,000 miles between me and the church of my youth and my amazing Christian college.

Miller reminds me that place is important and that the flavor of a culture changes things. Secular cultures (which all of 21st century has quickly become) are never easy to interact with, especially when non-Christian beliefs have deep roots that are easily glossed over with church or institutional Christianity.

I was glad to see Miller bring up his move from Portland to Nashville in Scary Close. I remember feeling sad when I learned during my second trip to Portland that he had plans to leave the city. But Nashville is its own place, too. And it’s a place that seems to be good for him. Granted, everything great has to make it’s way through Tennessee sometime. Place really is a significant thing.