Faron Weaver and Greg Aubuchon are on sabbatical from the lives they knew growing up, from the religion that taught them there was no place for them and those like them. They’re living in plain sight of their God, attempting to contain and translate and find purpose within His plan while, at the same time, trying to find a place in the grand scheme of a life that leaves them feeling as though they’ve fallen through a noose, which leaves them hanging somewhere in the limbo between sin and salvation. They are two men, each within the inner circle of a system that has insulated them from the secular world both in belief and in practice; both are living sparely alongside the fringes of an extravagant world. They’re two men who are living in the shadows while trying desperately to find their place in the sun.
Faron is the man who has mortgaged himself, body and soul, for a place to live in the English world while he decides if there’s a viable option for him outside the Amish culture in which he’d grown up. He’s not opposed to using the men he meets, not only to fulfill his physical desires but also to provide a roof over his head and put food in his belly in exchange for the sex he’s more than willing to use as collateral to buy himself more time away from his family.
Greg is the man who’s preserved himself, body and soul, for a place to live in the English world while he decides if there’s a viable option for him within the godly world in which the desires of the flesh have no place. He is the Good Samaritan who sees a man in a bar one night, broken and lost, and takes him in because his compassionate nature doesn’t leave room for him to do anything else.
A displaced Amish man and a displaced Catholic monk both struggle to find a new place in the world where the perceived stain of their desires can’t eclipse the belief that there’s a place for them within that faith and that they haven’t been misplaced but have merely found a new seat at God’s table.
A Hole in God’s Pocket is a story of divine intervention, if that divinity can be defined by the miracle of finding someone so like yet unalike you, then falling in love with that person in spite of all the doubts and indecision that seem bent upon keeping you apart. It’s a subtle and introspective story, a story of self-reflection for two young men who have so much to look forward to, if only they can move beyond the past and the ingrained belief that who they are works in direct opposition to that divine plan.
K.Z. Snow treats the subject matter in an understated way, never proselytizing but simply stating the belief that there is a perfect plan for love within an imperfect world, when it is driven by the belief there is a place for everyone in that plan.
The relationship between Faron and Greg builds slowly and sedately; there are no lightning quick burst of uncontained passion between them, but, rather, theirs is a slow discovery that they’re each who the other has been searching for and that what they’ve found is worth whatever sacrifice they have to make in order to hang on to it. They are the juxtaposition of the spiritual and physical relationship of love and what it means to belong somewhere and to someone despite what man’s self-imposed moral authority attempts to dictate.
If you’ve considered reading this book based solely upon the beauty of its title, know that what lies behind the title is every bit as beautiful.
Buy A Hole in God’s Pocket HERE.
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