White Creek
Yesterday, I finished a book, White Creek: A Fable, that I want to tell you about. It’s a witty, haunting tale of family and friendship, regret and redemption, set on a remote Wyoming cattle ranch in the dead of winter.
The White Creek Ranch has been in Hap Cobb’s family for over a century and a half, but Hap is now eighty-two, and the last surviving member of his family. Tart-tongued, moody, and all too often “a miserable old fart” (in the words of his long-suffering ranch hand and closest friend, Aaron Littlefield), Hap has no rival as a home cook, owns the best-stocked private library in the state, and prides himself on his “God-given ability” to exasperate everyone he meets. He is also a world classed foul mouthed old man. My favorite expletive statement he makes in the book is the hilarious “He’s happier than a two twatted whore in a room full of Siamese twins.” The enormous ranch house he inherited long ago from his grandfather stands mostly empty these days, save for Hap and Aaron, and while their life together is both busy and comfortable, Hap often loses himself in his past, knowing he has little future left.
When a sudden blizzard hits one January evening, however, and Aaron opens the door to a young woman and a teenaged boy seeking shelter from the storm, everything Hap thought he knew about the world begins to shift. With these two unlooked-for houseguests, the White Creek Ranch soon becomes a wellspring of mystery and possibility, and will never be the same again.
A story of magical realism in the tradition of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and John Crowley. It’s a book with magic or the supernatural, however you want to think of it, presented in an otherwise real-world setting. The supernatural only begins at the end though you realize that it’s been going on throughout the book.
White Creek: A Fable is by Bart Yates, who lives in Iowa City, Iowa, and is the author of four previous novels: Leave Myself Behind (winner of the 2004 Alex Award), The Brothers Bishop, The Distance Between Us, and (writing as Noah Bly) The Third Hill North Of Town. When I first read Leave Myself Behind I loved it so much that I read it again. I never read a book twice, but this one I loved. I’ve devoured each of his books since. I have yet to read The Third Hill North Of Town, but it is on its way from Amazon. Yates has a way with words like few authors I’ve ever read. You will care about and fall in love with the characters. While White Creek is the latest of his books I’ve loved and read, I urge you to pick up any of these books and give them a read. I don’t think you’ll regret it.
Yates books Leave Myself Behind, The Brothers Bishop, and The Distance Between Us represent gay fiction at its zenith. White Creek isn’t gay fiction but it is a damn good book, and I expect no less of The Third Hill North Of Town.
Thursday
I almost went to bed last night without scheduling a blog post. I happened to remember it just as I was trying to fall asleep. I spent last night catching up on a few tv shows. I watched Fued on FX. If you aren’t watching Feud you should be. It’s about the feud between Betty Davis and Joan Crawford. It’s quite interesting. Then it watched Dancing with the Stars. Let me just say, Bonner Bolton is one more sexy cowboy. He’s worth watching the show for. Him and Gleb, one of the dance coaches. Gleb is also an underwear model. He is sex on legs.
Cold
Yesterday, we never got below freezing. Today, the high is supposed to be 17. Welcome to spring in Vermont.
Bells in the Rain
Bells in the Rain
By Elinor Wylie
Sleep falls, with limpid drops of rain,
Upon the steep cliffs of the town.
Sleep falls; men are at peace again
While the small drops fall softly down.
The bright drops ring like bells of glass
Thinned by the wind; and lightly blown;
Sleep cannot fall on peaceful grass
So softly as it falls on stone.
Peace falls unheeded on the dead
Asleep; they have had deep peace to drink;
Upon a live man’s bloody head
It falls most tenderly, I think.
Lazy Weekend
I did nothing all weekend. Nothing important anyway. I watched some Food Network, took some naps, and was just all around lazy. I did leave the house a few times for pizza, groceries, and a Subway sandwich. I was lazy for a couple of reasons. First, I really didn’t have anything I needed to do all weekend. Second, I had a headache most of the weekend. And last, I’m still trying to get over the remnants of my cold.
Faith Without Works Is Dead
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe-and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”-and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.James 2:14-26
Faith without works is dead faith because the lack of works reveals an unchanged life or a spiritually dead heart. There are many Scriptures that make it very clear that true saving faith will result in a transformed life which is demonstrated by the “works” we do. How we live reveals what we believe and whether the faith we profess to have is a living faith.
Many profess to be Christians, but their lives and their priorities indicate otherwise. James is simply saying that if you ‘say’ you are a Christian, then there had better be some appropriate works manifested or your faith is false. This sentiment is echoed in 1 John 2:4 which says, “If you say you have come to know Him, yet you do not keep His commandments, then the truth is not in you and you are a liar.”
Apparently, there were people who were saying they were Christians, but were not manifesting any of the fruit of Christianity. Those people exist even to this day, especially those who espouse hatred toward the GLBT community. Can this faith justify? Can the dead ‘faith’ that someone has which produces no change in a person and no good works before men and God be a faith that justifies? Absolutely not. It is not merely enough to say you believe in Jesus. You must actually believe and trust in Him. If you actually do, then you will demonstrate that faith by a changed and godly life. If not, then your profession is of no more value than the same profession of demons: “We believe Jesus lived.”
Obedience to God is the mark of true saving faith. James uses the example of Abraham and Rahab as the type of works that demonstrate salvation, and both of those examples are of people who obeyed God in faith. Saying we believe in Jesus does not save us, nor does religious service. What saves us is a life of faith demonstrated by ongoing obedience to God.
Faith without works is dead because it reveals a heart that has not been transformed by God. When we have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and experienced the “washing and regeneration of the Holy Spirit,” our lives will demonstrate that by the way we live and our works of obedience to God. It will be evident by the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) in our lives and a desire to obey God and live a life that glorifies Him. Christians belong to Christ and as His sheep they hear His voice and follow Him (John 10:26-30).
True saving faith is always manifested by good works and a life that desires to live in obedience to God. Ephesians 2:8-10 makes it very clear that works do not save us but that we are saved “for good works which God prepared beforehand that we would walk in them.” When we are truly born again you will have hearts that are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit where God’s law is written so that we might walk in His statutes and judgments. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
I challenge you this week to help someone out, to do some godly work.
Ginger Men
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, lets have a look at what makes a redheaded man so hot. Ginger guys have a hard time. So much so that there’s been talks of whether ‘gingerism’ is as bad a racism. True story. Photographer Thomas Knights released an entire exhibition in New York’s BOSI Gallery trying to bring down stereotypes of ginger men and promote their eternal hotness..
Not convinced yet? Here’s 21 reasons red-headed guys are actually ginger Gods amongst men.
1. Their Confidence
All those years of playground torture have molded them into the hardy, self-confident MEN they are now. They know who they are and aren’t about to let a few sh*tty put-downs change that.
2. Their Personalities
Because they haven’t always had to rely on their looks (that unforgiving inch of red hair has worked ’round the clock against them), 9 times out of 10 they will have naturally winning personalities.
3. Their Ginger Beards
When they grow a beard it actually MATCHES their face.
4. Their Sense of Humor
Due to the fact everyone has been poking fun at them their entire lives, they know how to take a joke and have a good old laugh at themselves.
5. Their Freckles
Ahhh, those freckles. Sexy AND cute.
6. They’re Fireballs in Bed
Ask anyone who’s been there to confirm – for some unknown reason they are ALL dynamite in the sack.
7. They’re Unique
They’re a rare and exotic breed (approx. 0.5 per cent of the world’s population), so unlike the hoards of blondes and brunettes out there, they will always keep your attention. Which is a big bonus in the apparent modern day “hookup” culture we live in.
8. They’ll Age Well
The sun and red heads will never be friends. So unlike other men who will grow leathery and awful, their skin will be primed for perfection well into old age.
Another plus: if you’re being selfish about it, they will make you look extra bronzed for half the tan-time.
9. Their Straight Forwardness
That fiery temper will always let you know where you stand; there are no mind games. When a ginger guy is pissed at you, you will know about it.
10. Their Sense Of Style
Ginger guys in suits – guaranteed HOT.
11. Their Eyes
That fiery red hair and porcelain skin only accentuates their stunning blue/green/gold eyes.
12. Their Passion
They are passionate and feisty people in all aspects of life, and what’s hotter than that?
13. They OWN it
They always have a slightly mysterious vibe going on.
14. They’re Classy
For some reason we can’t quite pinpoint, they are automatically kinda classy.
15. Their Tan
When they actually manage to get a tan it’s like you’ve got one of the rarest jewels right in the palm of your hands.
16. The Hot Accents
Can you ever imagine a ginger man who doesn’t have a glorious accent? Scottish? Irish? Count us in.
17. They Have No Egos
Usually they don’t realize how unbelievably hot they really are, so there’s no battling with ridiculous egos.
18. They’re Strong Minded
They know what they want and go for it. Damian Lewis, Prince Harry, Tom Hiddleston – they live their dreams.
19. They’ll Protect You
Science says ginger people have higher pain thresholds than the rest of us. What woman doesn’t want a strong man?
20. Their Spawn
If you manage to reproduce with this man you could be in for the most bitchin’ hot family of red head babies ever.
21. THEY ARE JUST SO FLAMING HOT
There’s just something about ginger guys – they’re rare, they’re precious, and they’re IN demand.
Only in Alabama
Beauty and the Beast has a gay scene in it. If you didn’t know this by now, what rock have you been under? The thing is, an Alabama drive-in theater, the Henagar Drive-In Theater, refused to show the movie because of its gay scene. Tragic as that is, this story has a funny ending. The owner replaced Beauty and the Beast with a film called Fierce because, based on the film’s poster, she thought it was a Game of Thrones style film about dragons. By the way, Game of Thrones has many gay scenes, but that’s beside the point because Fierce is about drag queens. She replaced a movie that had a small gay scene with an explicitly gay movie. What a dumbass!
Henagar is not a place where I have been nor is it a place I’d visit. It’s up on Sand Mountain. Those people are bat-shit crazy. That’s where the snake handling churches are. If you don’t know about snake handling churches, these churches release venomous snakes into the congregation and only the holy won’t be bit. There also used to be a sign as you went up the mountain that told black people not to be caught on the mountain after dark, implying they’d never leave alive if they did. These are seriously fucked up people.
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