Today, the Christian church traditionally celebrates All Saint's Day.  The hymn "For All the Saints, Who From Their Labors Rest" by William Walsham How is a pretty traditional choice to sing in church services on or around this day.

Five hundred years ago, a monk and professor at the University of Wittenberg, Germany, wanted to discuss some theological questions with other learned Christians. So he wrote them all down and, since the internet was a few centuries from being invented yet, he posted them to the door of the church instead of to his blog or Facebook wall. He wasn’t trying to cause trouble, he wasn’t trying to start a new church body, and he definitely wasn’t trying to change the world. He just had questions about some church practices that troubled him, like charging money to get souls out of purgatory. 

I give thanks to the Lord that he became my heavenly Father when he called me to be his child and sealed me as part of his eternal family through the waters of Baptism.

A couple of months ago, some lovely Christian women started a new email mini-magazine called Lily & Lydia.  This month, they launched the website lilyandlydia.com to go with it.  Their focus is on uplifting and encouraging Christian women in all stages and areas of life, and I really love what they're doing.  In fact, I have contributed a few things to both the magazine and website!  

So, it's been a weird year again so far, huh?

I mean, I kind of expected a lot of people to be unhappy about the election results.  Didn't expect them to turn out en masse to demonstrate that, but last year taught us that demonstrations, peaceful or not, get a lot of attention, so I should have seen that coming.

I didn't expect Big Tech to start literally censoring those they disagree with.  But "cancel culture" has presaged that, so it's not a big surprise either.  

My blogs and website are hosted by Google-owned Blogger.  Might they pull the plug on them at some point because of my religious beliefs?  Could be.  I would be sad.  And angry.  Might not be surprised, though, by that point.  Shutting someone up online is popular these days.  Then again, I'm a pretty small fish, so who knows.

I've been battling a lot of anxiousness the last week or two.  Haven't been writing much as a result, because my creative juices have been at a low ebb.  When current events begin to severely damage my calm, that does happen.  I've spent a lot of time in prayer, reading the Bible, and thinking.

This morning, I decided I was done losing sleep and calm over this.  

It's one thing to know that the world is not ever going to love Christians, and another to face encroaching persecution.  Mentally, I know the world does't love Christ and doesn't love his followers.  Spiritually, I know that Got will work all things for the best of those who love him, and that he says "the best" doesn't equal "an easy life," but rather "a home in heaven."

But it's hard to focus on God's promises when you're afraid.  I keep coming back to that image of Peter walking on the water just fine as long as he focuses on Jesus, but as soon as he looks at the scary world around him, fear pushes its way to the forefront and he starts to sink.  But remember how that story ends?  Peter doesn't think, "Oh, crap, I am sinking, guess I'll drown."  He cries out to Jesus for help.  Jesus instantly helps.

I've done a lot of crying out to the Lord for help.  For mental and emotional calm.  This morning, I searched my heart and mind to figure out exactly what is bothering me the most about the recent events.  And I realized that it comes down to two of the things that I have struggled with all my life: change and uncertainty about what happens next.  Lack of a plan.  Lack of control.

I hate change.  I get things the way I like them, and I want them to stay that way even if change would make things better.  I like having a plan.  Even if the plan has to get revised, I like having it.  Plans make me feel secure.  I like being the one to make the plan, especially, because I want control.  Control makes me feel safe.

Hey, guess what?  I have never been in control of my life.  Ever.  I can delude myself that I have been, and I've done a great job of that.  But none of us is promised tomorrow.  None of us is promised the next minute.  God says he knows the plans that HE HAS for us.  Not the plans we have for ourselves.  Not the plans we want to make.  Not the plans we've already made and are really looking forward to.  His plans.

And once I faced that, once I prayed to God and said, "Lord, take my fear of change and my enthusiasm for control, and replace them with trust in you," you know what happened?

I smiled.  And then, I laughed.

And part of Proverbs 31:25 came into my mind:

She laughs without fear of the future.

And I realized, this was it!  This was the sinful source of my fear and doubt and anxiety and anguish.  Me holding onto my desire to control them and freaking out because I can't control what's happening. And once I repented of that, there was room for more of God's peace that passes all understanding.

Christ's words in John 16:33 has been on my mind and heart a lot these last couple weeks, so I'll leave you with them:

"In the world, you will have tribulation.  But take heart; I have overcome the world."

(HAVE overcome.  Past tense.  Done; finished; accomplished.  The end.)

So... it's summer, and everyone's busy, so maybe you haven't even noticed that I haven't been posting much, or that I've almost entirely dropped off the blogosphere map since mid-May, but both of those have totally happened.  For good reasons, honest.  Let me explain.

No, that takes too long.  Let me sum up.  (Thank you, Inigo.)

First, I went on a three-week-long family vacation.  It was wonderful.  We went to a wedding, we went camping in the Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota (my kids' first time camping, and they loved it!), and we saw all of Cowboy's siblings and their spouses and kids, plus his mom and a bunch of other relatives.  Good, good times.  Here are a few photos.


 


 

 




When we got home, we were home for one full week, then took off for a long weekend to attend my dad's retirement & farewell party.  Very emotional weekend saying goodbyes to the people who have been my "church family" since I was 12.

And ever since we got home from that, I've been preparing crafts for our church's Vacation Bible School (VBS).  This is my first time being in charge of VBS crafts, and when I looked through the options offered by the place we ordered our VBS program materials from, all their crafts were really junky.  I remember doing amazing VBS crafts when I was a kid, making things that were so cool, I still have some today.  So I decided to come up with my own crafts to go with the theme and lessons this year.  Which was a lot of extra work, but I think it's going to be worth it.  I ended up with a couple crafts that are kind of standard, though I tried to find ways to make even those unique and cool.

And today, I finished prepping the last of the crafts.  Here are most of them:


The ones that took the longest to get ready for the kids to work on have been the prayer journals.  Each one has a different combination of outside and inside papers, which I had to glue onto the cover boards.


My sister-in-law designed the interior for me -- the first part of the book will have prayers printed out that kids can learn, interspersed with illustrated Bible verses about prayer for them to color.  The second part of the book has lots of prompts with spaces for kids to fill in people and things to pray about.  I can't wait for the kids to make this craft!  They'll be sewing the pages into the book and personalizing them.


I also really love this craft.  Our VBS has a shipwreck theme, so the older kids are going to be using stamps to create treasure maps!  For this one, I aged paper that I'd cut to the right size so that when it's rolled up, it will fit inside these adorable plastic bottles. 


(That day, the preschoolers will be making "I Spy" bottles filled with "lost" things from some of Jesus' parables, like sheep, a coin, and a boy, plus a heart and a cross.  But I don't have one of those made up to take photos of cuz I don't have any extra bottles.)

This is another craft for the older kids -- a tin-punch lantern with a battery-operated pillar candle inside.  They'll be punching the words "Jesus is the light" and a cross into the tin, then using paper fasteners to hold the ends together to form the tube shape.  I ended up making my own pattern for this one.


The preschoolers won't be doing the tin-punch, they'll be decorating these windchimes instead.  I bought the chimes and the dove-shaped wooden cut-outs, but I had to drill the holes in the doves and string all the chimes for them.  I'd originally planned for the kids to string the chimes, but when my 6-year-old couldn't manage that, I knew preschoolers wouldn't be able to.  So I found some awesome stick-on gems for them to use to decorate these instead.


Here's another craft where my original plan didn't work out.  And in this case, the improvisation turned out way cooler!  I originally got "suncatcher paint pens" for painting these cross-shaped suncatchers, but the pens were really gloppy and hard to use, and the paint took days to dry!  Plus, it wasn't washable.  So then I had the bright idea of using glitter glue instead, and that was SO MUCH BETTER.  I love that these crosses have stands too, so they're not just another thing to hang in your window.  You can put them on a kid's dresser, the family display table, a mantelpiece, whatever.  And the glitter glue makes them so pretty and translucent!  And glittery.  Plus, it's totally washable.  I'm using it for suncatchers from now on.


This is my least-favorite craft because... they're just bracelets.  Pretty ordinary.  But they DO involve glow-in-the-dark beads!  The older kids are making the one on the left -- the glow-in-the-dark beads spell S. O. S.  And the preschoolers will make the ones on the right that have the words "Jesus helps me" interspersed with glow-in-the-dark beads.  So those are fairly fun.  Worth wearing for a few days, anyway.


After VBS is over, I'll finally have more time and energy to return to writing and reading blogs and hanging out with all my favorite bloggy people again.  Until then... hope you're having a happy summer!

This, my friends, is the Thor movie I have been waiting for all my life.

Thirty-seven years, and finally, here it is!  Exactly the Thor movie I have always yearned for.  Even if I could never have described it to you before it existed, now that it exists, I know it for what it is:  the Thor movie that lives in my heart.

Is it because this is the Thor movie that Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has always deserved?  The one where they didn't try to smoosh him into a specific mold, but just let him be himself?  No more smooshing him into the whiny mold, or the stalwart mold, or the sacrificial mold, or the oblivious mold.  They have just let Thor be Thor, and in doing so, elevated him.

They have finally allowed Thor to be a serious, stalwart, honorable, goofy, hopeful, and cheerful fellow.  Instead of trying to show off just one or two aspects of his character, they've shown them all off -- and thereby allowed him to be a fully-rounded, believable, huggable character.  Who'da thunk, right?

I love so many things they did in this movie.  They hit so many right notes in the rightest way.  They used humor that is actually funny, is character-based and situational, not just adolescent-boy-humor.  They allowed the poignant moments to be poignant, and the proud moments to be proud.  And they let the silly moments be silly, and because they weren't trying to pretend that silliness is important, or that seriousness is unimportant, they pulled off both.

This isn't really a review, is it?  It's kind of a gush-fest.  I'm still humming along on a post-second-viewing buzz from yesterday, to be honest.  But just so you're warned, there's some spoilage below.


You probably know that I have never really managed to like Loki (Tom Hiddleston) before.  I have appreciated Loki, I have enjoyed Loki, but I have never liked him because he's always been such a jerk to Thor!  Thor, who just wants to be friends with his brother, to live peacefully with him... and then Loki's always doing jerk things like stabbing him or trying to kill his friends or making him believe he's died -- ARGH.  Loki, just leave the poor guy alone, will you?  You're so eaten up with envy because Thor is everything you aren't (and that you claim you wish you weren't) that you can't stand it when he continually repays your jerkiness with kindness and love.

But then, Thor stops.  Thor finally stops falling for Loki's crap.  He started pulling away from him back in The Dark World (2013) when, in one of my favorite moments, he admitted, "I wish I could trust you."  Thor knew, cerebrally, he couldn't trust Loki anymore, but he still wanted to.  And, in the end, he did trust him -- he believed Loki's lie about Loki dying.  (And then I spent like a year wanting to cut Loki's heart out with a spoon.)

But now, he's stopped.

He doesn't stop loving Loki.  You can see that in every moment they have together -- that absolute, unconditional love is still there.  But he no longer even tries to trust him.  Thor accepts that Loki will always try to trick him, try to twist things to his own advantage, try to pull one over on Thor.


So what happens?  Well... I kind of like Loki now.  Because as soon as Thor quits trying to trust Loki, I think Loki realizes what he's lost.  And suddenly, he wants to be trustworthy.  Wants to be helpful.  Wants to even do the right thing now and then.  He realizes that what he's always wanted... kinda sucks.

For a long time, even up until after my first viewing of Ragnarok, I thought the Thor trilogy as a whole was about Thor finally growing up.  And it is, to some extent -- he is a fully mature man now, willing to take on the leadership role that he should have assumed long ago.  But it's also about Loki finally growing up.  Will he always be the god of mischief?  Of course.  He'll always try to mess with people just for fun, trick people, twist situations to his own ends -- but I really really really think/hope that Loki has also discovered that he values Thor's love and trust.  He sheepishly walks in at the end and stands beside Thor's throne, taking his place as right-hand man, exactly where Thor has always sought to place him.

ALL THE FEELS, MY FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, other things I love.


Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson).  She is just -- she's beyond cool.  I love her arc, I love her attitude, I love her super-playful relationship with the Hulk.  I love that, when she first sees Thor, she knows exactly who he is -- she calls him "Your Majesty" right from the get-go, before he's identified himself more than cursorily.  And the very first thing she does is protect the throne of Asgard, really, by rescuing Thor from the trash-hunters.  She's tried to convince herself, just like Loki and Thor both did at various times in their series-long arcs, that she is perfectly happy letting other people suffer because she's forsaken her duties.  But, like Loki and Thor, she comes to realize that a duty is not necessarily a curse.  It's a blessing -- it's a place in the world that you fit perfectly, a way for you to serve others that no one else can.

In fact, it's a lot like the Christian idea of vocation -- that God has given us roles to perform, duties to fulfill, and that by doing so, we are serving not just those around us, but serving God through them.  Rebelling against those roles doesn't bring us joy.  Forsaking our duties doesn't make life easier.  We might think that running off and doing our own thing, living for ourselves, and ignoring duties we consider unpleasant will make us happier... but it won't.  We'll end up miserable and bitter and lonely.

Um, so that got kind of deep.

See why I love this movie?  It's bright and glittery and fun, but it's got so much more going on under the surface.  Just like Thor is handsome and muscly, and people tend to just see that outside of his and think that's all he's got going on, but he's actually got plenty of intelligence and an almost boundless capacity for hope and love that they tend to overlook.

And then there's Hulk.  Ohhhhhh, sweet Hulk.  And Banner (Mark Ruffalo).  How I love them both.


And Heimdall (Idris Elba)!  I love that Heimdall got some thrilling heroics this time.  But did we really have to kill off the Warriors Three?  I was not happy with that at all.  I mean, yes, we needed to show that Hela (Cate Blanchett) was horrible, but... poor Fandral and Volstogg and Hogun.  Uncool.

Okay, speaking of Hela, she was... kind of my least-favorite part of the movie, to be honest.  She spent an awful lot of time sashaying around, prating and preening, and her fight scenes went on longer than necessary.  I mean, it's cool that we have a female antagonist and whatever, but she was... well, she was more interesting than the bad guy in Dark World, but did she have to vamp so constantly?  I guess I like my villains to have more than one note.  Which is why I've always appreciated Loki -- he's never boring.  Hela was just all, "I'm going to kill you!"  All the time.


Skurge (Karl Urban) was a lot of fun, though.  I love his final scene.  So I put up with Hela whenever Skurge was around because he kept things fairly interesting,  He wasn't one-note, at least.

Oh, and we have to talk about Jeff Goldblum!  I would say "Grandmaster," but let's all be honest -- this is like the most Jeff Goldblummy role Jeff Goldblum ever could play.  I really have to wonder if they even wrote a script for him, or if they were like, "Then Grandmaster comes in and says stuff," and he just walked in straight out of make-up and hair and said stuff.  He cracked me up soooooo much.


Other funny things:  Matt Damon, Luke Hemsworth, and Sam Neill as actors playing Loki, Thor, and Odin.  I mean, dude.  That was unbelievably hilarious.  I had zero idea they were in it, and so the first time I saw it, I laughed so hard over Matt Damon showing up, I had to blow my nose.  (I recognized Sam Neill too, but I had to look up Luke Hemsworth when I got home -- so funny they got Chris's older brother for the role!)

So much I loved!  The colors.  The joy.  The optimism.  The happy ending.  Thor's short hair.


Um, yeah, I even love the short hair.  I thought I was going to be super sad to see his hair go.  I was right there with him, saying, "Please, kind sir, do not cut my dear Thor's hair."  But nope, he rocks the new look. Including the (I know I said spoiler alert earlier, but SPOILER ALERT!!!!!) eyepatch.  I mean, when he lost that eye, I was like, "I hate Hela and she must die," but holy cow, he looks so regal even with only one eye I can barely stand to look at him straight-on.  Like, he's just so grown-up and adult now, so regal and fierce, and I'm so proud of him.  So, so proud of my Thor.

Okay, I could go on and on and on, but I am kind of guessing that nobody has really read this far, and if you did, well, thanks for letting me gush about my darling Thor and how much I love this movie.  I have other things to say, but I've said the ones I really wanted to share, so... good enough for today.

EDIT:  Forgot to say if this was family friendly or not.  Erm, there's rather a bunch of low-level cussing, loads of smash-and-bash, and people die.  Also a reference to orgies and a couple other small innuendos.

Time for the third batch of AMA answers!  Once again, there's a vlog at the end of this post in which I answer one question from each of these participants.

Also, again, if you want to ask me any questions, you have ONE MORE DAY to do so.  Anything asked after tomorrow (11-4-17) won't get answered in a post and vlog, it'll just get answered in the comments.  Ask your questions on the original post, please.

Jessica Prescott

What's your favorite color to see in a movie? As in, what's one color or shade (of scenery, clothing, sets, whatever) that makes you REALLY happy when you see it on-screen?

This is not something I've ever thought about before!  Hmm.  I'm very attracted to deep blues, purples, and reds.  Also deep browns.  So my eye is drawn to any of those, but I can't say there's any one color or shade that makes me feel happy to have it in a movie, in and of itself.

What is your favorite thing about fall? 

How my creative energy surges!  I get so tired and sort of worn-out during the heat of summer, but when cooler weather arrives and I can feel the world around me begin changing, that's when my creative juices flow faster and freer again, and I feel the urge to write and create much more strongly again.

Which character in The Chronicles of Narnia do you relate to most, and why?

I think probably Peter Pevensie, though it's been a really long time since I read the, so I can't say for sure.  Edmund was always my favorite.  Well, favorite human character, anyway.  I think Bree is probably my fave character over all.



Meat for breakfast: yea or nay? (that'll be a 'nay' from me ;-) )

I wouldn't say yea, I'd say "yay!" if you offered me meat for breakfast!  I adore bacon and sausage, and quite enjoy livermush too.

What do you wear on your feet most often? Sneakers, or dress shoes, or just socks, or what?

Absolutely nothing!  I am almost always barefoot.  Cowboy always says that he knows it must be Very Cold Indeed if I'm wearing socks in the house.  I also go barefoot outdoors whenever I can -- I really hate socks and shoes.

My feet

How do you name your fictional characters? Where do you tend to get the names from, in general, and how do you figure out which fits with which person?

I'll answer this in the vlog below :-)


Natalie

Do you have a favorite fantasy animal? (Unicorns, dragons, etc.)

Probably a flying horse like Pegasus.  I love horses, and then if you can add flying to them, how amazing!  They don't get used a lot, though.  I find centaurs pretty fascinating too.



If you could, would you rather meet a fictional character or a real-life historical person? Who would it be?

See vlog at the end of the post :-)

Which author's books do you prefer: Charlotte Bronte or Jane Austen?

Oh, that's tough!  Charlotte Bronte wrote my favorite book ever, Jane Eyre, but I've never read anything else by her.  Whereas I've very much enjoyed all of Austen's works.  Judging by who I read more about, I guess I'd have to say Austen.

A little known book you love that you think deserves more popularity?

I don't know anyone else who has read House of Living Stones by Katie Schuermann, and that's just nonsense because it was such an enjoyable read.


Do you like musicals/Broadway shows?

I do!  I love them, in fact.  Old ones, new ones, stage-musicals-adapted-for-the-screen, musicals written specifically for the screen -- love 'em.

Would you rather have a week-long, all-expenses-paid trip in the American West or in New Zealand?

I shall choose New Zealand because a week is far too short a time to spend in the American West, but I think if I had a week in NZ, I'd see pretty much everything I want to see.

What would you rather be (hobbit, elf, dwarf, human...) if you were a character in Middle-earth? If human, would you rather be from Gondor or Rohan?

A human!  I'd like to be one of the Rohirrim.  Even if I wasn't a Shield Maiden of Rohan, I'd still get to be around a lot of horses and out in the wide-open spaces of Rohan.

(Source)

Gabby A.

What do you normally eat for breakfast?

Most days, I have a protein bar, half a cup of orange juice, and a cup of coffee.  We live it up on Saturday mornings, though.  Cowboy makes breakfast on Saturday, and all bets are off.

What is a memory that makes you laugh?

See vlog below :-)

Is there a characteristic about people that really attracts you (eg. witty humour, good with kids etc)?

Kindness.  I very much appreciate and gravitate toward kind people.  And, conversely, and repelled by unkindness and unkind people.

What 3 words would you use to describe yourself?

Helpful, happy, and busy.

How tall are you?

I am 5'7" -- the same height as Alan Ladd, according to his Army enlistment record.

(Because I just had to stick a reference in here somewhere.)

What does being a Christian mean, for you, on a daily basis?

Making a conscious effort to see that everything I do, I do to the glory of God.  Thanking him for blessings, asking him for help, and thanking him again throughout my day.  Showing his love and forgiveness to everyone around me, especially my husband and children.

That's my goal, anyway!  Do I succeed at living that out on a daily basis?  Not even close.  I'm a sinner in daily need of repentance and forgiveness.

What book changed your perspective on life (whether big or small)? (The Bible is a given. ;))

Jackie Robinson's autobiography, I Never Had it Made.  It really opened my eyes to how little freedom some people still have here in what is supposed to be "the land of the free."  And his insistence that "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives" really reminded me that I need to be mindful of my actions and how they affect those around me.  As a Christian, I am charged with showing God's love to everyone around me, and my success or failure at doing that can really make a huge difference to others.


THE VLOG



That's it for today!  Happy Friday :-)

In preparation for Tuesday, it's time to sit down and discuss this little slogan thing we've got going on in certain Lutheran circles.  Some people just mention the three solas, some do five -- kind of just depends on how much space and time you're working with.


What are the five solas?  What in the world am I talking about?  What do they have to do with that cranky German monk nailing stuff on the church door?  Time to dig into it.

Sola Gratia -- Grace alone.
Sola Fide -- Faith alone.
Sola Scriptura -- Scripture alone.
Solus Christus -- Christ alone.
Soli Deo gloria -- To God alone be the glory.

Basically, these fit together in a little sentence really easily.  We are saved from our sins only by grace, which is ours only by faith in no one but Christ, who is revealed to us only in Scripture, and only God deserves the glory for this.

They're kind of an elegant way to remind us of Ephesians 2:8-9, which says "by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves -- it is a gift of God, not of works, so that no man can boast."  Those verses are a big part of what got Luther thinking.  He realized the people of his day were taught to rely on their own good works and the works of the saints to be saved from eternal damnation, but the Bible said the complete opposite.  The Bible said that people can't do anything at all to save themselves, only God can do that.  And that salvation is a gift of his, a gracious and undeserved gift, not something you can earn.

Okay, now you know.  If someone mentions the five solas (or the three), now you'll know what they're talking about!

I had these big plans to do a post every month for all of 2017 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing the 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenburg church.  And then I kept letting those plans slide, and now here we are in October, and the Big Day is just a few weeks away (it's October 31st, if you don't know), and I've done one post.

Time to change that.  Over on my book blog, I've started reviewing some Reformation-related books for different ages.  And I have some things I want to write about over here too, starting with... what are Lutherans, and why am I one?


I'll start with the second question.  When I was a kid, the answer would have been easy.  My dad is a Lutheran pastor, so of course, that's where I went to church.  Obvious.

As I grew up and learned more about the Bible, about various different Christian denominations and what they taught, and specifically what different Lutheran synods taught, that answer started to change.  When I was in my teens and knew that I wanted to be a wife and mom some day, I realized that I might possibly meet my future husband in college.  And if being a Lutheran, marrying a Lutheran, and raising my kids to be Lutherans was important to me, it might be a really good idea to go to a Lutheran college.  So I did.  I went to college hundreds and hundreds of miles away from home because I found a college that fit me personally but that I also was pretty sure would attract the sort of guy I might want to marry.

Which, as you probably know, it totally did.  Cowboy and I met in college, got married a month after I graduated with my BA, and so on.

But why was I so focused on finding a Lutheran husband?  And not just any brand of Lutheran (there are several), but what is called a "confessional" Lutheran husband?  What is a Lutheran, anyway?

Well, I'll tell you what a Lutheran isn't.  It's not somebody who worships Martin Luther.


Martin Luther was just a human being.  A sinner like you and me.  A brilliant, brave, flawed, stubborn, weird, angst-ridden, unhealthy, outspoken, generous, angry, loud German who loved beer and sausage and probably told fart jokes.

Martin Luther does not save sinners.  Only God does that.  Martin Luther did not die for my sins.  Only God did that.  Martin Luther did not create faith in my heart.  Only God did that.

In fact, Martin Luther did NOT want people to call themselves Lutherans.  He wanted them to call themselves Christians.  But a lot of their detractors would call them Lutherans, and eventually, those who followed his ideas adopted the name.

So anyway.  Lutherans are Protestant Christians who follow the ideas of Martin Luther and his cohorts.  Confessional Lutherans are a particular branch of conservative ones who are kind of... I don't want to say militant, so maybe I'll just say stubborn... they're stubborn about adhering to these things called the Lutheran Confessions that are basically statements of belief about various doctrines that were drawn up by Martin Luther and his fellow reformers -- they're collected in something called The Book of Concord, which is not about tasty grapes (Concord grapes are my fave, just so you know), but about agreement -- "concord" can mean "agreement," you see.  If you want to learn more about it, this website has lots of amazing information as well as the full text.

And basically, the Lutheran Confessions are just all about how the Bible is the basis of our faith, not people's ideas.  If someone has an idea about God and it doesn't agree with what the Bible says, then it's a wrong idea.  That's kind of a simplistic explanation, I know, but this is a blog post, not a thesis or something.

So, yeah.  I'm a Confessional Lutheran because I believe that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant word of God; that I (like all people) was born a sinner and cannot save myself from my sins; that the only thing that can save me from my sins is the loving grace of God; and that the Bible is the only place I can learn about God and his forgiveness.


Okay, that's enough for today.  More about the Reformation and Luther later.

Alan Ladd's character in China, David Jones, was a direct inspiration for some guy you may have heard of named Indiana Jones.  I kid you not.  David Jones doesn't carry a whip, but he wears the same dark fedora, leather jacket, open-at-the-collar shirt, and khaki trousers as Indy.  And he has a similar character arc as Indy's in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), going from an opportunistic loner to someone willing to risk his life to help others and stop the villains.  Also, of course, they share a last name.  I'm a pretty big Indiana Jones fan, and Alan Ladd and Harrison Ford are two of my absolute favorite actors, so I love this fact :-)

(Alan Ladd as David Jones; Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones)

But China is no swashbuckling treasure hunt.  It's a wartime drama, one of those meant to bolster American morale and encourage audiences to support their allies.  Today, parts of it come off as hokey propaganda, but I find it no more rah-rah than, say, Casablanca (1942).


David Jones (Alan Ladd) and his pal Johnny Sparrow (William Bendix) are profiteers who sell American oil to the Japanese in mid-1941.  World War II is on, but America hasn't entered the war yet, so Americans can come and go in China as they please, and sell their goods to whomever they wish.


David Jones is one of those characters Ladd excelled at.  He's sour and cynical and doesn't give a hoot about anyone except himself and his sidekick.  And he delights in telling people as much.  Ladd played just such a character in This Gun for Hire (1942) and it catapulted him to stardom, so it makes sense that he'd go on to play similar guys in many films during his career.  From Lucky Jordan (1942) to O.S.S. (1946) to Branded (1950), Ladd repeatedly convinced audiences to root for an unlikable character by showing how those characters were actually good, caring, nice people under their snarling exteriors.


David and Johnny are trying to reach Shanghai to pick up their next load of gasoline when they encounter Carolyn Grant (Loretta Young), a Chinese-born American teacher trying to shepherd a dozen of her female college students to safety.  She wants to use his truck to get them to a safe zone where they can continue studying and become the kinds of leaders China needs to become thoroughly modernized.


David, as I said, is one of those tough guys sticks his neck out for nobody.  But his buddy Johnny is completely different -- he picks up orphaned Chinese babies off the street and wants to adopt them, tries to rescue David from his own selfishness, and is generally the sweetest guy imaginable.  Plus, he knows how to milk a cow.


David agrees to let the girls ride in his truck as far as a monastery where they can take refuge.  Along the way, they stop at the home of Tan Ying (Marianne Quon), one of the students.  It's a simple farm where they can rest and get milk for the baby Johnny rescued.  The girls take a bath in the river and, while shampooing each others hair, have a jolly time insulting David for being so greedy and selfish and annoying.  They don't know he's shaving nearby and can hear them.


David's conscience starts to bother him, but nope, he's a tough guy.  He's not going to be roped into helping these strangers, not even though he's been very attracted to Carolyn Grant since they first met in a downpour.


But then Tan Ying jumps off the truck and runs home.  When her absence is discovered, David and Carolyn go back for her alone, leaving Johnny and the other girls at the monastery for safety.  They hope against hope that they'll reach the farm before the advancing Japanese army does.  When the movie was made, the Nanking Massacre was fairly recent history, and everyone watching the movie when it first came out would know why Carolyn is so anxious to keep her female students out of Japanese hands.  (They even name-check Nanking at one point to drive this home for us.)

Alas, when they arrive at the farm, everyone but Tan Ying are dead.  She's inside the house screaming, and when David barges in, he finds three Japanese soldiers with her.  The word 'rape' is never mentioned, but it doesn't need to be -- we all know what's happening.  David's got a machine gun, and he orders the soldiers into a different room, leaving Carolyn to comfort Tan Ying, who is still screaming.  Then he guns down those soldiers with grim, implacable determination.


David and Carolyn bring Tan Ying back to the monastery, where Carolyn and the other girls comfort her with tender care and words from the Bible.  I was really impressed that, when Tan Ying asks Carolyn if heaven exists, Carolyn answers that yes, God promises that everyone who believes in his son as their savior will live eternally.  It's possibly the most theologically correct moment I've seen in any movie that doesn't revolve around religious themes.

Meanwhile, David and Johnny stand around outside smoking cigarettes and trying not to show how deeply bothered they are by what happened to Tan Ying.  It's a quiet, nuanced moment, one of my favorites in the whole film.  Neither of them says much aloud, but their thoughts are easy to follow.  Lovely acting going on there from both of them.




David's now fully committed to helping the Chinese guerrilla fighters stop the Japanese advance.  He and Johnny help steal a bunch of dynamite, which necessitates Alan Ladd running around shirtless AND barefoot AND getting soaking wet.  Um, yeah, not really hard to figure out why this is one of my favorite Ladd movies.


Alan Ladd was a swimming and diving champion in high school, and missed making the 1932 Olympic swim team when an injury forced him to drop out of competition.  So he tends to end up swimming and diving in a lot of his movies.  It's easy to see why directors would want to make the most out of his physique -- he was in top shape and proud of it.  I'm always happy, though, when the story line provides a legitimate reason for him to wander around shirtless for a while, like this one does.  Sometimes it feels like they shoehorned in a shirtless scene just because they thought it would make the movie more popular.


ANYWAY!!!  After returning to the monastery with the dynamite, David and Carolyn have a serious conversation about how they're starting to fall in love, and how when you're in a love, a few minutes of bliss can be enough to last you the rest of your life.



The camera fades to black, then pans in on the two of them cuddling in the back of David's truck.  Although they're fully clothed and the side panels are rolled up a bit, exposing them to the view of anyone walking past, I think we're supposed to assume they've made love.  And then we get treated to absolutely my favorite scene in the whole movie.  I call it The Flirting Scene.


I've watched Alan Ladd in twenty different movies over the past eighteen months.  I've seen him play guys falling in love over and over and over.  I've even say him play a guy falling in love with a girl played by Loretta Young before, in And Now Tomorrow (1944).  But I have never seen him flirt this cutely.  He's just nineteen kinds of adorable here.  (I know -- I counted.)


I've read that Ladd and Young weren't exactly pals on either of the two films they made together, and if that's true, then holy cow, are they both great actors.  Because they pull off one of the cutest flirtation scenes I've ever seen, in any movie.  This first time I watched this, I had to rewind and rewatch it three times, it was just so astonishingly enjoyable.


And then there's a bunch of excitement at the end.  I've done a lot of spoiling things already here, but if you don't want to know how it ends, skip to below the screencap that says "The End."


The Chinese guerrillas want to use the dynamite to stop a Japanese convoy from getting through the mountains.  David volunteers to set the charges.  Carolyn comes along to provide moral support or drive the truck or something.  Really it's just so they can say a touching farewell.


And one more kiss -- that's a good reason for her to come along too.


So um, yeah, this is the part of the movie where we all start to have a really bad feeling about David's chances of making it to the end credits alive.  Because the Japanese convoy arrives before they've got the charges set.  So he leaves one of the Chinese guerrillas to finish up and heads down to stop the convoy by himself.


He assumes that, because he's got an American passport and the correct papers for traipsing around China undeterred, he'll have no problem stalling these Japanese soldiers.  He might even manage to get away from them before the dynamite goes off.  But they have news for him -- their planes just bombed the American navy to smithereens at Pearl Harbor.  All Americans are now their enemies, and will be until Japan succeeds in conquering the US the way they're conquering China.

David is not amused.


But he knows he'll get the last laugh, at least on this particular Japanese general.


David gives a stirring speech about how little guys like him are all going to stand up together and fight against the forces of tyranny and save the world, etc.


He knows by looking at his watch that he should have skedaddled long ago, but he keeps that staff car there anyway.


And then the whole mountainside blows up, right after David gets himself shot for mouthing off to that Japanese general, and a zillion tons of rocks slide down and bury them all.  Johnny and Carolyn drive away in David's truck, looking dazed and making bland remarks about what a nice guy he was.  I would prefer if they just rode off in silence, but it's a minor quibble about a movie that I thoroughly enjoy otherwise.


Is this movie family friendly?  Honestly, I wouldn't show it to kids.  There's a lot of serious stuff going on, and even though the rape is never shown or called by its name, the girl screaming is unsettling.  There's also quite a bit of violence.

You can listen to the Lux Radio Theater version of China here on YouTube if you're into classic radio like I am.


This is my first entry for the Alan Ladd Blogathon I am hosting all this weekend!  Visit the blogathon roster here to find links to the other participants' posts as well.  If you don't, Alan and I will glare at you in a disappointed way, like this: