Having been born in the Western United States (Brigham City, Utah), I grew up with a preference for all things cowboy. I wanted to wear Levis and I wanted cowboy boots, but never got them. My mother insisted on the zippered J.C. Penny jeans over the more expensive Levis with the manly buttoned fly. But we did go the rodeo on the Fourth of July and I got to ride my uncle’s horse on occasion. Most of my cowboy fantasies were on TV or at the movies. Modern western shows and movies have a more violent feel than those earlier ones. In my more mature view I notice many of the racial and ethnic stereotypes and I now see in them more violence than I remembered. Roy Rogers in my memory rendered the bad guy unconscious with one punch and shot their pistols out of their hands. I still feel a bit of nostalgia as I watch for these old westerns. The good guys always won and the bad guys lost , as I remember it. There was never any doubt about which was which. The bad guys wore the dark hats and the good guys the light hats. On TV everything was resolved in thirty minutes including commercials. It was not a very realistic view of life then or now. Gene Autry singing will full accompaniment while riding on his horse or Roy Rogers and Dale Evans singing Happy Trails to You at the end of each show was pleasant, but unrealistic. Perhaps this appealed to a simpler time when we liked to believe that everything was okay. Christ hope is more profound than that. It can acknowledge the real presence of evil, but still have hope for the future because of the love and grace of God.