Into the Fire

Cam Gigandet plays Roy Rayder, the co-star City Attorney of Charleston to Anna Wood's Jamie Sawyer, Yankee defense attorney in the CBS summer drama Reckless. Roy Rayder is pictured above in his two modes: the easygoing southern gentleman and the suave, understated but in-command lawyer.

Roy Rayder is the go-by-the-book City Attorney, unabashedly determined to do everything right. At times, he comes off as a tad self-righteous because of it, but his serious efforts to get the best and lawfully fairest results for the clients he serves make him an attractive combination of dedication and diligence. He's a bulldog if he believes he's right and will fight without mercy to get justice.

Complications arise when he finds himself drawn to Jamie Sawyer. Definitely not the "proper" southern belle type he's used to in Charleston, she possesses the same drive and passion to defend her clients as he does. He's the divorced father of two young girls and through the course of this first series, he warns his ex-wife Shelby about her engagement to a wealthy manipulative real estate magnate in cahoots with her father Dec Fortnum, Roy's boss at a prestigious law firm.

Midway through the season of Reckless, he grudgingly visits his mother to confirm some sordid information he received about her and the singular illegal action of his deceased play-by-the-rules City Attorney father. He listens to her explanation, but his judgmental pain surfaces in concluding their meeting.   

The pop and sizzle transmitted between Roy and Jamie, their love-hate relationship when they're dueling in court, and their mutual respect for each other are all part of the extreme UST created by the writers of Reckless. Roy maintains his powerful presence with a slight southern drawl, his straightforward confrontations, his muted frustrations mixed with pointed and revealing expressions, all accomplished with rarely raising his voice. Matching Jamie's sensuality, Roy Rayder is a focused, determined, charismatic character who usually gets what he wants.   Sparring with the woman he comes to admire, he finds himself conflicted in his priorities. Loneliness taunts him in the background of his life as it does Jamie. In many ways they're two of a kind, floundering emotionally, trying always to keep their jobs/clients at the forefront of their concerns and almost failing to do so when alone together.

The compelling two-hour Series Finale of Reckless puts Roy in the middle of having to make the toughest decision of his life, one he didn't see coming and one that challenges every desire to do the right thing. Suddenly the lines blur in his life, and the turmoil he faces accelerates in the final scene of this compelling replacement drama.

I can't imagine any actor playing Roy Rayder more effectively. Cam Gigandet owns this role. Again: perfectly done.

Lord, please do your work as only you can do. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

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Character Studies – Part One

As you've read, I've enjoyed the CBS summer replacement series executive produced and created by Dana Stevens titled Reckless. Impressed with the writing and the forward movement from "steamy drama" to the serious legal contentions and personal struggles of the primary and secondary characters, I decided to take a look at these well-acted and perfectly cast characters who exude either charisma, sensuality, and professionalism, or manipulation, duplicity, and darkness.

It was said the title originated from a cast of characters who find themselves living recklessly - sometimes physically and emotionally and other times unintentionally and uncontrollably. Some of them seek noble aims and purpose while others seek control and personal gain. And still others find themselves caught in a revolving series of terrible choices they can't ever undo.  

Pictured above is the co-star Anna Wood who plays "Yankee" attorney Jamie Sawyer, purposefully displaced from New York City to practice in Charleston, South Carolina. The two sides to her character are perfectly captured in these photos: the whimsical, sensitive woman and the killer-serious, drop-dead professional.  

Jamie Sawyer believes in her clients, although her primary and biggest case involves a young former police officer fired from the Charleston PD because of her conduct in a sex tape involving several other cops on the hood of a squad car. Lee Anne Marcus is the only cop fired, and she is suing the city for wrongful termination and defamation of character, but Lee Anne keeps throwing disturbing wrenches into Jamie's case involving the Detective Terry McCandless, supposed instigator of the sex tape and Lee Anne's ongoing lover. Once the sex tape is leaked just before the jury selection commences, Jamie's case gets tougher.

Jamie grew up with a drug addicted mother and spent much of her youth in foster care. She had a younger half-brother she lost track of as she grew up and became an attorney, legally changing her name. Finding him was the reason she came to set up her practice in Charleston. An episode which exposed this private part of her life also brought her closer to City Attorney Roy Rayder.

When we see the different nuances of Jamie's character, we learn she's passionate about justice and deeply disturbed when she discovers she's been fooled. The pull between due diligence to her client and her need for true justice are pressed to the wall in the two-segment Series Finale. 

Jamie Sawyer is a perfect blend of tough and tender, winner and loser. Strong, compassionate, and seeking to do the right thing, she's thrown into emotional turmoil at the culmination of factors in this first season of Reckless. We want to root for her because of her strengths and dedication, but we care about her because of her past and her subtle but compelling need for real love and a sense of belonging.

Anna Wood has given us the presentation of a slick, savvy, sensual attorney who is adapting to the characteristics of the South. Her Yankee history is slowly becoming a non-factor with every success in court. Her underlying sadness only surfaces occasionally – just enough to keep viewers aware of her innate vulnerability in spite of her overall confidence. Perfectly done.

Father, you know the hearts of us all. I pray for each one to turn to you for truth and real love. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

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Blessed is the man

   who makes the Lord his trust,

who does not look to the proud,

   to those who turn aside to false gods.

Psalm 40:4 (NIV)

Life has a way of showing you the limits. Of everything. Including life itself. Some are given days, others a century, and still others never make it out of the womb. Finite. Having an end.

The hope is to make the most of whatever you're given. Incredible that some resort to scandalous acts, murderous acts, viscious acts to spend their days of life. Others resort to whining, complaining, and failing to see any beauty anywhere or in anything. Some do their best to use whatever they've been given to enjoy, encourage, and embrace life.

I went to my first funeral in high school. It was solemn and intangible to me at that age. I barely knew the young man who attended a different school and died in a car accident. Another young man at my high school broke up with his girlfriend and committed suicide. She died about a year later in a car accident. Death didn't speak in a loud voice at the time because I was young and barely knew the individuals whose lives were lost. And I didn't know Jesus.

One day we leave this life. One day even this earth will be destroyed – and not by any kind of manmade global climate change. God himself will put an end to this tainted world and build himself a new one.

Sin has left us finite. Our days are numbered. We will not go too soon or too late – even when it feels that way. Redemption brings an infinite life once this one is done. We choose where to spend eternity. Love Jesus or hate Him, He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. If you want your finite ending to lead you to a perfect infinity, He is your only choice. Every other way offers a counterfeit, a designer knock-off, a tragic outcome.

Always a choice – except in death. We can't overcome our finite lives. But we can find the perfect eternal One.

God, please send your Holy Spirit to find those hearts on the brink of destruction. Rescue them just like you rescued me. In the Name, Authority, and Blood of Jesus. Amen.  

                                                9 / 11 / 01

God Almighty, we're desperate for you. Please return your blessing and mercy to the USA, still one nation under God. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Over at Novel Rocket today. Complaining. But I can't complain about this magnificent beauty!

Thank you, Lord. No words to thank you enough. Love you, Lord. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Many of you don't know who this couple is. Many of you have just been made aware of them because their business has been plastered all over the internet, newspapers, and television. The young lady is Janay Rice and the young man on her left is her husband Ray Rice, former or recently "ex" running back for the Baltimore Ravens. The NFL (National Football League) has perpetuated Ray Rice's punishment for an incident in a casino elevator after first issuing a two-game suspension.

Oh the outrage! He decked his then fiancée and dragged her out of the elevator. She is rumored to have spit on him, and the infamous video makes it clear they were fighting. It's likely alcohol was involved in their fracas. They made amends, they sought counseling, she married him, they publically apologized to family, friends, coaches, team members, and fans. Ray Rice was suspended for two regular season games. Until the entire video surfaced, and he is seen giving her a stinging punch in which she fell back, hit her head on the elevator railing and was out cold. He drags her from the elevator.

I once worked for an older gentleman on the racetrack who happened to be black. He'd seen some horrific things growing up in the south. He once played a mean game of baseball he said, but a horse reared up and came down hard on him, crippling his leg, so he walked with a limp and a cane. He told me plenty of stories, some funny, some sad, some ugly. He knew prejudice intimately. No one really knew how old he was – except perhaps his younger girlfriend who happened to be white. He implied the date of birth on his driver's license wasn't accurate.

He told me there was nothing meaner than an angry black woman. He also told me he'd never hit a woman – unless she laid her hands on him. That wouldn't fly, and if she chose to do that, she would get what she gave.

I agree you don't hit women. I disagree that there is never a case for hitting a woman. I will clarify there is never a case for beating a woman. But this doesn't give women the choice to hit, berate, slug, spit on, and generally go off physically on a man. Personally speaking, I know very few men who could stand there and take it. If walking away is not an option: look out. You reap what you sow.

I find this whole circumstance despicable but not for the reasons all of the self-righteous pundits and outraged women – and men - are parading their comments and literal hatred for Ray Rice. This couple made some very poor decisions on the public stage. They're paying for their choices. But is their wrongdoing really deserving of this young man's livelihood being stripped from him? He not only apologized, he and his wife are attending counseling. They married each other after this incident. 

The fact they chose to repent, marry each other, and are participating in counseling looks like they're seriously trying to mend their ways to prevent another episode of this magnitude from ever happening again. Janay Rice loves her husband. Just because they both acted stupidly doesn't mean they can't learn from their mistakes and better themselves. Now of course that's not guaranteed, but the fact that they're seeking ways to rectify their failings should count for something. Shouldn't it?

Relationships are complex by nature. Some people make them difficult but learn to correct those things which provoke their mates. They work at it. And it's hard. Any married couple who's willing to tell the truth will admit it's not always easy. Love must overcome.

The NFL has turned into a political cess pool. I love football, and I hate that this commissioner is ruining the game. He solicited a place for the "first openly gay football player" on other teams' practice squads after the player was cut by the team who drafted him. This has never been done for any other rookie! So being gay earns you preferential treatment in the NFL? That's a sorry "qualification" for any game.

Now the punishment given to Ray Rice wasn't "enough" according to viewers of the video revealing this couple's elevator fight, so BOOM! end of Ray Rice's career indefinitely. One altercation with his girl, and he's done because all of the "noble" pundits and hysterical women want him terminated – some literally!

I find it all so in need of Jesus' actions when confronted with the adulterous woman. "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." To her, He said, "Go and sin no more."

Ray and Janay Rice made an ugly mistake in their relationship, in their personal conduct, and in light of their visibility and responsibility to each other and to their families, friends, fans, and teammates. They apologized. They took actions to correct their behaviors. And the powers-that-be said, "Not good enough." I find all of the outraged women, pundits, coaches, the Commissioner, and anyone else demanding Ray Rice's termination far more offensive than I do this couple. I hope the same judgment is applied to each of them the next time they do something wrong.

Father, I pray you would mend the hearts of this couple, provide the answers they need, look after them, and counsel them as only you can do. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.     

Jack Noble cannot go anywhere it seems without finding or leaving bodies in his wake. His past has made him high-level and low-level enemies in governments and civilian life. In Never Go Home he's employed in London where his boss (Sasha) implores him to work private security for a female up-and-comer in the political struggle there. The woman has had several threats on her life, but Jack doesn't do bodyguard detail and wants no part of it even though she insists on using Jack. After an incident where this woman survives an attack on her life, Jack receives bad news from his brother with whom he hasn't seen or spoken to in six years. He forces his boss to let him go home for the funeral of his former girlfriend Jessie who's suspected of committing suicide (and who readers will remember from L. T. Ryan's earliest Jack Noble books). 

After meeting the sheriff, who he used to babysit, he's allowed to view the scene of Jessie's death. It's clear her death wasn't a suicide, and that begins a search for the killer. Jack is glad to see his brother, but Jack's presence brings danger to his remaining family, and he needs to figure out how it all ties together. The all-grown-up sheriff, April, needs Jack's experience to help her figure out the case which of course isn't as simple as it appears to be.

Jack is distracted by the obvious and fails to give credence to a car that he spots in a few different places. Death and mayhem, danger for his brother's family and his elderly father, follow Jack. He returns to London but when April calls with more murders, he returns to his hometown with the woman he's supposed to protect. It's time to find the deep connections that always seem to lead back to someone wanting him dead and hurting those he cares about to smoke him out.

Never Go Home is a small glimpse into Jack's family history and how he's had to abandon them in order to keep them safe. Regrets pile up in his life, and the living with a target on his back is getting old. L. T. Ryan does a good job of illuminating the situation to Jack, of allowing him to see how he's going to spend the rest of his life distancing himself from those he loves in order to protect them. There is heartbreak, resolve, and resignation. He is who he is.

Never Go Home is a good look at Jack Noble's long ago past and a reminder that in his case he really can't go home again.

Father, please continue to provide those stories you have just for Lee to tell and may your blessings be recognized. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.    

Chapel Springs Revival by Ane Mulligan

With a friend like Claire, you need a gurney, a mop, and a guardian angel.

Everybody in the small town of Chapel Springs, Georgia, knows best friends Claire and Patsy. It's impossible not to, what with Claire's zany antics and Patsy's self-appointed mission to keep her friend out of trouble. And trouble abounds. Chapel Springs has grown dilapidated and the tourist trade has slackened. With their livelihoods threatened, they join forces to revitalize the town. No one could have guessed the real issue needing restoration is personal.

With their marriages in as much disarray as the town, Claire and Patsy embark on a mission of mishaps and miscommunication, determined to restore warmth to Chapel Springs —and their lives. That is if they can convince their husbands and the town council, led by two curmudgeons who would prefer to see Chapel Springs left in the fifties and closed to traffic.

Lord Jesus, bless Ane in your abundance. Amen.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord . . .

Psalm 33:12a