#his mother behind‚ then his Master's sudden death‚ and he's left with no certainty in his future.

[mayhemspreadingguy]

Lost boys

[firelxdykatara]

If Zutara were to be canon,thanks to Aaron Ehasz,how will this affect Legend Of Korra?

This is a difficult question to answer, mostly because it would of necessity rely on a whole lot of assumptions and biases, and without asking Aaron himself (in private, where he wouldn’t have to worry about kicking off another fandom war), it’s impossible to answer with any degree of certainty.

Now, I can talk about how I, personally, think things would have been different if Zutara had been canon–which, for me, means that the epilogue of book 3 was just the tea shop scene, and we got a book 4 where, as Aaron briefly mentioned on twitter and in various interviews, the consequences of energy-bending were explored, the lost Air Nomads were found, Azula had her redemption arc (which would probably have tied into the search for Ursa, which I would’ve loved to see Aaron’s take on in book 4, especially considering the crap the comics handed to us), and Zuko and Katara grew closer and entered into a relationship by the end of the season.

(Before I start exploring this in more depth, I want to head off ‘delusional Zutarian’ arguments at the pass–I’m not saying it’s 100% confirmed that Aaron was planning to make ZK canon in book 4. I am saying (as I’ve said before) that, given the set up and development in canon, and the way Aaron himself has talked about how he develops characters and relationships, I believe he (and other writers/artists/crew members) was leaning heavily towards that particular relationship and would have explored it further in book 4 had he been allowed to.)

Putting the rest under a read more cause this got long.

We know some of what Aaron had plans for–Azula’s redemption, the consequences of energybending, the lost Air Nomads–but nothing super concrete. Going from that, then, I believe that in Book 4, the Gaang would have split up for a good chunk of it. (Please note that most of the rest of this is pure speculation.) There’s a lot of ground Book 4 would’ve had to cover–the Gaang in the beginning would’ve split off to head to their respective homes (Sokka and Katara to the SWT, Suki to Kyoshi Island, Toph… ok, Toph probably just stuck around Caldera and this would’ve been a great time to have the Toph&Zuko life-changing-field-trip episode we were denied in canon) to touch base with the families and friends they’d left behind to go on their save-the-world tour.

For his part, Aang would’ve returned to Guru Pathik. While he got a last-second Hail Mary (in the form of a conveniently placed rock, which still boggles my mind, but whatever) when fighting Ozai, he still was not a fully realized Avatar, and since I’m bitter that the Guru Pathik/chakras plot was almost entirely dropped after the book 2 finale, I’m saying he’d have gone back to finally finish that training because it makes sense and because I can. Anyway, he returns to the Guru, and by this point he has accepted that Katara doesn’t return his feelings the way he’d like her to (a call back to The Fortuneteller, which should have been foreshadowing for Aang’s emotional growth, barring the last twenty seconds of the episode).

Furthermore, he’s learned that ‘letting her go’ doesn’t mean he can’t care about her or want her in his life to be the Avatar (after all, previous Avatars have had love and even been married–Kuruk isn’t that great of an example, given that his love life got him killed, but Kyoshi lived over two centuries and had multiple loves over her incredibly long life, and Roku was married and had descendants of his own), it just means letting go of his expectations–letting go of the selfish aspects of his love, the parts that lead him to nod in agreement when actors on a play told fake!Katara ‘I thought you were the Avatar’s girl’, and that lead him to expect her to return his feelings and push against her boundaries when she told him she wasn’t sure and was confused. (He said “We kissed at the invasion and I thought we were gonna be together, but we’re not.” even though a) he kissed her without any warning, she did not kiss him, and she looked away and frowned afterwards, and b) she never once brought up the kiss again or hinted that her feelings towards him had changed and become romantic, so he had no reason to believe they’d ‘be together’.)

Ok that was a bit of a tangent, but the upshot is, Guru Pathik helps Aang fully master the Avatar State. While on that particular journey, Aang has to deal with the consequences of energybending–he pulled Ozai’s energy into himself, and he has to deal with the sudden darkness that was absorbed into his spirit. He also receives some sort of hint, possibly from a dream or meeting with a spirit, that with balance returning to the world, the Air Nomads can start to return, too.

Sokka, Suki, and Toph wind up going with Aang on his journey to figure out just what the spirits meant by that. They discover that the Air Nomads weren’t totally eradicated by Sozin (which would’ve been impossible, since we already know that inter-nation relationships happened in the past [Avatar Kyoshi’s mother was an airbender], and they were, well… nomads), but those who survived (because they weren’t at the temples at the time, or some who hadn’t attained mastery managed to escape) assimilated into the Earth Kingdom and even some in the Fire Nation. Because the world was incredibly out of balance following the decimation of the Air Nomad population, and because many of them were suddenly in a situation where showing they were airbenders was a death sentence, their spirit as a population was almost completely broken, and they stopped being able to airbend. In the present, Aang finds descendants of Air Nomad survivors, including Ty Lee (and, in my HC, Jet, who shows up alive bc I want him to get the healing arc he didn’t get in canon) who are beginning to discover they can airbend.

Meanwhile, Zuko asked Katara to accompany him on his journey to find his mother–it’s a callback to TSR, when he helped her gain closure for her mother’s murder, and since he wants to bring Azula too, he asked for Katara’s help sister-wrangling. They eventually find Ursa (who did not willingly forget her children, and who did not send a letter to her former lover to make Ozai question Zuko’s paternity, because in the show she was not a horrible person and she loved her children more than anything tyvm), as well as Kiyi (the only good thing to come out of that comic), and Azula finally gets the sort of closure she could never have before, and there is a heavy focus on her emotional journey. Zuko is there to support her, and Katara is there to support Zuko. In the process, Katara winds up with an odd sort of mildly antagonistic friendship with Azula, who gets to a point where she can good-naturedly tease Katara about her growing feelings for Zuko.

ANYWAY. I realize you were asking primarily how it would affect LoK, and I went on a whole ass book 4 tangent. So here’s how I see it changing the landscape in LoK.

First of all, Katara is granted the importance she is due. She has a statue in most major cities, including both Caldera and Republic City. Katara married Zuko and became one of the most beloved Fire Ladies in Fire Nation history, partly because she didn’t assimilate and give up her own home and culture, and she never hesitated to speak her mind during council meetings. It put off much of the nobility, especially in the first few years of their marriage, but Zuko had survived many an assassination attempt by then, and he valued his wife’s input above his closest advisors and never made a secret of it. The nobles could either accept it or risk losing their titles, which several of them did because they figured the Fire Lord was bluffing, only to find out he wasn’t in the slightest.

Katara was also active in the White Lotus, which she wound up leading along with Sokka and Zuko (who’d passed the mantle of Fire Lord onto their eldest daughter, Izumi, once they felt she was ready to lead), and when Aang passed away, they immediately began the search for the next Avatar.

Most of Korra’s early life would’ve been the same, Katara and Sokka saved her from the Red Lotus’ kidnapping attempt, and she wound up raised at the White Lotus compound where she learned waterbending, firebending, and earthbending, and was on the cusp of learning airbending from Tenzin (who was Aang’s kid with someone else–given his design, his mother could’ve been literally anyone, Toph or one of the returned Air Nomads or someone else entirely) when he got called back to Republic City, and she followed.

From here, well… ok, there’s a lot I would change about LoK just in general. Thinking specifically of how Zutara would have affected things, and with the stipulation that Aaron was still the head writer for LoK, I like to think that Katara wouldn’t have been rendered weak and useless (seriously, a bloodbender locked away Korra’s bending, but Katara–allegedly the most powerful waterbender alive, and the one who single-handedly got bloodbending outlawed–couldn’t undo it with bloodbending???), and would have been allowed to, for example, fight to protect her family (while Tenzin and his children wouldn’t have been her direct relations [unless, instead of Pema, he wound up marrying Zuko and Katara’s youngest daughter??? that’s an idea], they would still have been family, as Aang’s only living descendants) and taken a more active part in the water tribe civil war (which would have been given the narrative arc it was due instead of being a half-assed vehicle for ridiculous spirit world shenanigans). And besides, a gaang reunion episode where Zuko, Katara, Suki (because screw LoK for having her just up and disappear lmfao) and Toph fight the Red Lotus together just like old times??? That would’ve been fucking amazing.

(We got to see old ass men in AtLA fight like they were in their prime, including one who was over a century old. What was LoK’s excuse???)

Since we got the return of the Air Nomads in book 4 of LoK there would be no need for the spirit portals or the ‘harmonic convergence’, and instead Korra’s spiritual journey hinges on her trauma from the end of Book 1. The biggest difference, here, is that I have always been incredibly dissatisfied with the fact that Korra just stared sadly over the edge of a cliff and was suddenly able to unlock the Avatar State and get her bending back. Keeping in mind the way Aaron Ehasz excelled at character journeys in the original show, I think she should have ended book 1 with her bending locked completely. Katara was able to reverse whatever it was Amon did to her (and Amon, by the way, didn’t get killed–the Equalists also didn’t just disappear, and the thread of nonbender oppression carries through the rest of the series, to be revisited and finally resolved in book 4), but it didn’t give Korra her bending back, because the trauma she suffered was just as psychological as it was a physical block to her bending.

Book 2, therefore, would’ve included a narrative thread of Korra needing to go on her own spiritual journey to unlock her chakras and regain her bending, finally able to reac the Avatar State when the civil war between the water tribes reached a head, and she is finally able to broker peace, having learned a great deal about herself and her connection to the past avatars.

I realize that I’ve kind of derailed pretty far off the original point, so I’ll stop here with a general note that while Zutara, as a relationship, doesn’t affect a whole lot of this directly (for the most part it would just affect the parentage of the Gaang kids who showed up, the designs of some, and their relationships with each other and possibly with Korra)–however, with the addition of Book 4 and keeping Aaron’s writing talents for LoK, the landscape of the entire sequel would be altered. I’d like to think that he would’ve preferred writing a coherent narrative that did justice to the characters even if it meant ending the show with unresolved plot threads (especially since they could wrap things up with comics which, in this alternate timeline, are actually good and in character because I want to have my cake and eat it too), so rather than being disconnected plots that didn’t make much sense when each individual villain could’ve served as the entire series Big Bad, much of books 2 and 3 would’ve involved smaller scale plots and villains, with Amon returning for book 4 and everything getting wrapped up far more neatly than it did in canon.

TL;DR: while Zutara itself wouldn’t necessarily change a whole lot (it would affect Book 4 and the post-atla comics more) outside of the different Gaang kids and their dynamics, the show as a whole would’ve been vastly different if the writing team for LoK had been the same–including Aaron as head writer–as the writing team for AtLA.

Bryke were great Big Picture guys, great vision and visual guys, I’ve never disputed that. But they sucked at not missing the forest for the trees. They sucked at romance. And they really sucked at coherent plot and character development, especially in the small scale.

[stusbunker]

Weddings and Other Holy Deals

For Better or Worst: Chapter One

Featuring: Sam Winchester x Emery Simmons-Winchester (OFC)

Setting: Mid Season 14 AU

Word Count: 1675

Summary: Sam finds an unlikely solution to the Michael problem in Dean’s head. His soon-to-be wife has her own side of the deal with the powers that be.

^*^*^

Jan. 20, 2019

Somewhere beyond the neatly trimmed lawns and the perfectly timed sprinkler systems, over a wide porch with a loveseat swing and past a storm door with etched glass, slept a Winchester. It was not a normal place for this Winchester, Sam for clarity’s sake, to be upon waking. But this wasn’t a usual day, for the hunter or anyone honestly. Though he had lived another day like this one, the excitement and anticipation he felt as he rolled over and saw his clock face shining back at him was unmatched. Today, Sam Winchester was getting married, and if he knew anything it was the best decision he had ever made. That things would only get better after today. Rare is certainty in life, which was why Sam held fast to his and began the life-changing day.

Across town, Bandit woke his bride. Bandit is her dog, soon to be their dog, a Setter mix that loved to herd. Emery Simmons had always been an animal person, but Bandit was a surprise blessing from her former life.  She hadn’t asked to bring him along, though as there wasn’t much she had left, she supposed it was a perk to balance her expectations. She roamed through the short-term rental, contemplating the dress that had been left for her as she made herself a cup of tea. Bandit demanded a walk and a bout of catch in the park, which Emery accommodated, unhurried by the little preparations for the small ceremony. They weren’t going to start without her, after all.

Sam had exercised, showered and shaved by ten o’clock. He had another three hours before the service was scheduled, idle hands met a replaced contact list in his phone. He didn’t know any of these people yet, well he knew one. With little else to bide his time, Sam hit the old rotary phone icon below the smirking face.

“Whoa, when did they futz with our phones?” Emery asked, spinning around with Bandit’s leash before tucking her phone beneath her ear.

“Dunno, it’s weird right?” Sam stared at the tux bag hanging in the bedroom. Their bedroom.

“Creeptastic, actually. What’s up?” She sounded worried, maybe she was distracted. Sam was overthinking her tone and almost forgot to answer her.

“I didn’t have anyone else to call?” Sam offered, sitting at the end of the bed, huffing at himself with a sad smile. “Forget it, I’ll let you get back to your, stuff.”

“Hey, I’m just out for a walk, you’re not bothering me. Sam?” His name came out heavy, like she was reminding herself who she was marrying. He didn’t blame her. There was a scuffle on her end of the line before she groaned. “No, Bandit, no!”

Sam’s forehead shot to its full height. “Is that— are you walking a dog?”

“Uh, yesssssss? Is that going to be a problem?” Her sudden defensiveness made him grin, the image of her struggling with a leash warmed Sam from head to toe.

“Not at all, the opposite really. I love dogs.” He understood why she was anxious; they barely knew each other, it was a bit soon for a potential first fight.

“Well, good, shit, had me panicking there for a minute.” The conversation lulled as she reached the porch, each stumbling over small talk before she looked at the clock on the microwave. Sam was starting to pace, but the relief that there would be someone else in the house with them made it seem less scary somehow. They said their goodbyes and Sam decided he better eat before the nerves resurfaced. He quickly fried some bacon, out of habit, and tossed together a smoothie. Everything he could possibly want stocked in the fridge and cupboards; they had done their due diligence, apparently.

Two and a half hours later, Emery was hiking up the church steps, dress bent over her elbow and simple veil trailing behind her loose curls on a winter breeze. She had never had a lot of friends, but today was a day when a female entourage would have come in handy. She thought about her mother and how she would have worried over her hair until it needed to be reset. She sent up a silent prayer to her, telling her that she was finally making an honest woman of herself. Adding a few choice words that would have had them both pursing and posturing before breaking down into fits of giggles. God, did she miss her. She smiled quietly, opening her eyes and the heavy glass door.

The church was cavernous and quiet and after countless trips inside hallowed walls, Sam was able to appreciate the architecture and the scale of the ancient organ pipes. The minister seemed confused, but accommodating, given the last-minute organization. Sam stood at the end of the aisle, hands in his pockets, the ring box lightly brushing against his thigh. A blast of sound curled throughout the space, nimble fingers flying over aged keys as the timeless march stopped Sam’s heart. This was it, a pact fulfilled. He inhaled, swallowed, and turned to face his future.

Emery hated heels, but given the size of her husband, she may have to learn to live with them. The dress was forgiving at least, the gentle satin flowing as she glided down. Tried to glide. There was no one to give her away, no one at her elbow to keep time with, no onlookers to slow down for, no photographer to capture their faces as they saw each other for the first time. This moment was theirs alone, shy and appreciatively sacred. He smiled at her without teeth, dimples mesmerizing as she lost her rhythm, strolling to him out of the step-halt-step that was expected of her. None of that mattered anyway.

She shook her head and smiled back, licking her lips as she remembered the minister was waiting for her. Carefully she stood in front of Sam, toes of her white slippers lining up with his reflective black shoes. A small bouquet of orchids clutched in her right hand, her left petting her skirts as she tried to rub off the sweat.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here-,” the ceremony began. They echoed the scripted vows, eyes locked on each other in hopeful promise. Cautiously optimistic was too naïve for these two, humble veneration too romantic. They stood as strangers, forging a partnership to save those dearest to them. It was a contract that required both of their souls, willfully shared and bonded before Heaven and Earth. Samuel Winchester took this woman, Emery Simmons as his lawfully wedded wife. And she him. For better or worse.

Two days prior

Two days and a series of choices prior, stood the other Winchester in an underground fortress, three hundred fifty miles due East. Dean was in his bedroom, staring at Death, or Billie, if we’re being technical. Which we should, being the time jumps and all. Billie handed him the last remaining outcome of his life on Earth. The book, once one of countless possibilities, remained his sole option from world ending calamity. That was until Sam burst in, with a very stern angel on his heels.

               “Dean! Listen, so—Naomi thinks she can help us. Help you, with Michael.” Dean looked from Death to his brother to the psychotic bureaucrat, the exhaustion heavy in his eyes and on his heart. Puppy dog’s hopeful eyes barraging him with an innocence he hadn’t had to let down gently in ages. Dean felt, unabashedly, like the oldest soul in the room. The women regarded each other, silent conversation earning only an audible hum from the former Reaper.

               “Interesting. Dean? I think you need to hear them out. I’ll be in touch.” Billie nodded to Naomi and vanished before Sam could get a word in. No one mentioned how these beings, especially the angel, entered the Bunker. A place lauded as being the securest on the planet, had conveniently become a haven for all sorts of unmentionables.

               “Okay, let’s hear it,” Dean sighed, perching on his bed as he listened to the latest hair-brained scheme. That night, after hours of arguing, endless curt responses from Naomi and rebuttals from Castiel, Dean agreed to leave with her. Before Naomi whisked him away, she shared a pregnant glance with Sam.

               “We’ll be in touch,” the platinum blonde angel replied curtly. The air was suffocating with tension, Dean tried to get Sam’s attention and Cas glared at his former puppet master.

“Wait, what am I supposed to leave like there isn’t something else going on here?!” Dean bellowed at Naomi, who looked like the cat that got the cream, rolled her eyes.

               “Boys, one thing at a time, please?” She gestured to a corner of the library, where a glowing pattern had appeared on the old tiles.

               “How’d you—” Cas stared in awe as a portal to Heaven opened before their eyes.

               “This is a one-way, temporary portal, Castiel. Don’t try to stowaway or the deal, all of the deals are off. Do I make myself clear?” Naomi glared at each man like a field trip chaperone. The men nodded, but Dean’s jaw worked over all of his unanswered questions. The pounding in his head intensified the moment Naomi arrived, which almost, was a relief. It meant Mikey knew something was happening and his suspicion was enough to swing Dean’s vote.

               “Alright boys,” Dean sniffed. “See you on the other side?” He shook Cas’s hand before pulling him into a brief hug. Sam stood waiting, an arm up and one underneath, they embraced as equals. Another risk, another potential goodbye.

               “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, bitch.” Dean chided, giving Sam a knowing smirk.

               “Too short a list, jerk,” Sam tossed back, as Dean took Naomi’s hand like the kid forced to partner with the teacher in dance class. The portal swayed and flickered, the angel and the hunter pulled skyward, though Heaven was much farther away than the instant transport suggested.

               “Sam?”

               “Not now, Cas.” Sam stormed off, thumbing through his phone, needing to make some calls.

^*^*^

Read On: A New Normal

[the-christian-walk]

A PRAYER FOR PROTECTION

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“I have revealed You to those whom You gave me out of the world. They were Yours; You gave them to Me and they have obeyed Your word. Now they know that everything You have given Me comes from You. For I gave them the words You gave Me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from You, and they believed that You sent Me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those You have given Me, for they are Yours. All I have is Yours, and all You have is Mine. And glory has come to Me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by the power of Your name, the name You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name You gave Me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.”

“I am coming to You now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of My joy within them. I have given them Your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. As you sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify Myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”

John 17:6-19

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Death is a certainty. In fact, it can be more than a certainty than life itself, right?

I say this because we all know we’re going to die. It’s an inevitable part of the human experience. But life, this is more of an unknown. No one can say for sure that they know they’ll live through any one day and certainly there are stories every day of someone who came awake in the morning in perfectly good health only to have a sudden health emergency or an accident of some kind bring their life story to a close.

It’s these truths, the certainty of death and the uncertainty of life, that should motivate everyone to seal their future by believing in Jesus as Savior now. By doing so, there is no need to worry about when life ends because life really won’t. It will continue forever, free from all the worldly hardships and afflictions we deal with now.

But that’s another message for a different day. Today, we’re looking at the second of three special prayers Jesus speaks before heading to Gethsemane’s garden and His arrest. In it, we find Jesus concerned, not for His own well being, but rather for the protection of His faithful, hand-selected disciples He was leaving behind. His words are a primer for any person who might be nearing death and concerned for their loved ones who might be left behind. Look again at Jesus’ words here:

“I have revealed You to those whom You gave me out of the world. They were Yours; You gave them to Me and they have obeyed Your word. Now they know that everything You have given Me comes from You. For I gave them the words You gave Me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from You, and they believed that You sent Me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those You have given Me, for they are Yours. All I have is Yours, and all You have is Mine. And glory has come to Me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by the power of Your name, the name You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name You gave Me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.”

“I am coming to You now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of My joy within them. I have given them Your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. As you sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify Myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”  John 17:6-19

Note three important things about this prayer of protection, two things we should incorporate into our own prayers when faced with a similar situation.

First, Jesus knew His future was set, despite death looming on the horizon. Yes, He was going to suffer deeply, mentally attacked for what He believed and then brutalized physically before nailed to a cross and lifted up to hang and die. Any mere human would be self consumed with worry, anxiety, and dread over what was ahead but we know that Jesus was no ordinary human. He was the very Son of God.

So Jesus wasn’t worried for Himself because He knew death would not be the end. Instead, He would be resurrected, rising up out of the tomb before ascending to once again dwell with His Father God in heaven. His future was secure.

But Jesus’ disciples weren’t following Him to His heavenly home. He was leaving them behind and He knew they would face grave danger just as He was about to. He knew His disciples would be hated because they were in the world but not of it, just as their Master Jesus was. And upon being emboldened by their false belief they had eliminated Jesus, the Jewish religious authorities would certainly come after Jesus’ followers next with the hope of eradicating Christianity altogether.

This is what leads us to the second element we find in Jesus’ prayer of protection. It was not self centered because Jesus knew He had nothing to worry about and this allowed Him to focus His concern on His disciples. Note that He gained great comfort in His prayer by knowing His Father God had the power to do all things, especially protect.

While Jesus was with His disciples, He provided the protection. He also provided instruction, showing His followers how to be obedient to God’s word while revealing Him to them. He also made sure His disciples knew that everything was an outflow from God, that He was the Master Orchestrator and Provider of all things.

Jesus had spent a lot of time educating and mentoring His disciples but now He was departing and so we find Him asking His Father to place a covering over His faithful ones, the followers who had been a part of His inner circle for three years running. He asked His Father to use the very power of His name to do this but to use that power while the disciples remained in the world. In other words, Jesus wasn’t asking God to take His disciples away from the world and the trouble they were going to experience. Rather, He allowed God to dictate the circumstances as He wished. Then as in now, God knows the plans He has for His people and He surely had future plans for Jesus’ disciples after their Savior departed. Jesus knew His followers would be in good hands.

And this leads me to the third element we see in a prayer of protection.

For these prayers are not self centered because of the promise and assurance of salvation at death. They also are prayers of complete trust in the power of God to protect anyone dear being left behind. And as we see in this third element, we find a prayer of protection carrying with it a component of concession, a concession that understands fully who people belong to.

In the end translation of things, all people belong to God, period. Jesus knew this and confessed it. The disciples belonged to God, first and foremost. God had loaned out the disciples to form Jesus’ special traveling ministry team and now Jesus was simply returning the care and protection of His followers to the One they truly belonged to. Jesus knew His disciples were as much His Father’s children as He was and so there was no need to worry because His followers would be in God’s hands, the best hands that anyone could be left in. Therefore, Jesus could depart and do so in peace.

We’re all going to die. Even Jesus did and He was the One and only Son of God.

But through His prayer of protection over His disciples, Jesus shows us how to pray for our beloved ones when out time comes to face the end of this worldly existence.

First, we need not worry about ourselves. Through Jesus, our future is secure and so we can focus our prayers on those we leave behind, asking God for their protection in our absence.

Second, we pray these selfless prayers of protection over our loved ones, knowing fully that God’s power can more than keep them safe. Our loved ones couldn’t safeguarded by anyone greater or better than God Himself.

Finally, we pray a prayer of protection, acknowledging that our loved ones don’t really belong to us but God and God alone. He simply loaned them out to us so we could love and share life with them. And we realize that they are His children as much as we are.

I give thanks to Jesus for this prayer and how it has equipped me to die when my time comes. It permits me to enter my salvation promise, free from worry over my family left here on earth. Whether my mother, my wife, my two daughters, or my grandchildren, the truth is that they all belong to God and God alone. They are His children and we know any good Father loves, cares, and protects His children.

Whether in death or in life, God is always in control. He is always with us and for us. And so, like Jesus, we have no need to worry.  

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

[owl-eyed-woman]

Attack on Titan Season 2 Episode Reviews - Episode 3

If I had to describe this episode in one (hyphenated) word, it would be this: juicy-dangler. AOT loves setting up a juicy, juicy mystery, and then, tantalisingly and cruelly, dangling the answers just out your reach. This episode is all about this dynamic, juggling about 5 or 6 minor mysteries and then gleefully withholding answers from the audience. It’s like the show itself offers us some delicious chocolate before yanking their hands back, saying ‘whoops too slow’. Then, they does this 5 more times, and we keep falling for it, vainly hoping to grab a scrap of delicious truth.

The episode begins in this vein, picking up where the last episode left off. Connie, still confronting the prospect of his family’s death, lets himself hope that they may have survived as another soldier points out the dissonance between the apparent destruction and the lack of blood or corpses. Just as Connie is about to move on, he is stopped in his tracks by a shocking sound;  the titan crushing his house speaks, welcoming him home, just as his mother would.

The implication of this scene is shocking; titans were once humans and human are, for some reason, turning into these mindless beasts. AOT has been progressively eroding the metaphorical and literal divide between humans and titans, and with this scene, this divide has been completely annihilated. This juicy set up (the first of many) is, unfortunately, cut off by Reiner reminding Connie of his duty as a soldier. Get ready for this kind of interruption to reoccur throughout this episode.

Last week, I criticised the way that focusing on the mystery behind this scene minimised Connie’s big emotional moment but it all makes sense now. Here, tragedy and mystery are intentionally entwined, embroiled in one big mysterious soup. In this case, it was the right call to make the emotion of this moment more ambiguous, rather than purely heartbreaking as I suggested.

Moving on, we next check in with Christa and Ymir who are tasked with riding into nightfall to find the hole in the wall. Though Ymir objects, arguing that this is dangerous to Christa and herself as they are both unarmed, they must continue on; such is the life of a solider. What follows is a very charged discussion as Christa explicitly asks Ymir what her motivations are, especially in regards to herself. There’s a real sense of weight to this scene, both from the history between the characters and what remains unspoken. So many fascinating questions about their relationship are raised. What are Ymir’s true feelings in regards to Christa? Why did Christa seem so pained when Ymir asserted that she only acts for herself? I desperately want to know the context of this discussion and these emotions, but all we get is a tiny hint that Christa is more important than she appears, due to her ‘family’. I guess I’ll have to be patient.

I have to say, each glimpse I get into Ymir and Christa’s relationship is always incredibly compelling. They are such fundamental opposites but their connection is undeniable (and dare I say, electric?). Ymir is a fierce individualist, proudly selfish and callously cruel in her honesty – I think she’d describe herself as a realist though. Christa is a gentle altruist, naturally selfless and effortlessly kind. Even their appearance emphasises their fundamental opposition; while Ymir is tall, dark haired, brown-eyed and masculine, Christa is small, blonde, blue-eyed and feminine.

Perhaps it is because of their differences that they are drawn to each other. Or maybe they are more similar than they appear. Either way, there is definitely more to Christa and Ymir than my simple sketch suggests. Though her design implies fragility and delicateness, Christa has a strength you wouldn’t expect. She is as determined a soldier as any, joining the scout legion of her own accord, and she refuses to let Ymir go unchallenged, literally butting heads when she defended Sasha’s dialect. But what about Ymir? Ymir seems emotionally closed off, almost as if she is hiding behind her selfish persona. Perhaps Ymir is hiding a kindness you wouldn’t expect.

I began this review by describing this episode as a “juicy dangler”. Or, in plain English, it is an essential episode for the plot as a whole to function smoothly, laying the necessary groundwork for conflicts and mysteries that will be resolved in later episodes. However, of equal importance to the shows overall function is how this episode creates an emotional and tonal atmosphere, generating suspense and an inescapable feeling of unease.

As Rico diligently holds off titans and Hannes searches for a break in the wall, they both instinctually feel that all is not right. Where is the hole in the wall? Why aren’t more titans attacking? This uneasy feeling only becomes more pronounced as night falls. Last season, all of AOT’s set pieces occurred in the day, often concluding in the beautiful yet shadowy light of sunset. The fact that the oncoming struggle occurs at night sharply creates a much more ominous experience visually as well as further adding to a claustrophobic sense of dread.

Nowhere is this feeling more evocatively expressed than in what is essentially the best scene of the episode, as a small group of soldiers search for the break in the wall in the dead of night. AOT has always had a deft hand when it comes to visually representing the emotional experience of their characters, but this has most often been applied to big, loud emotions like despair, anger and terror. Here though, we experience the quiet but suffocating feeling of dread that comes from walking through the ink-black night, unable to perceive the countless threats surrounding them.

It’s a wonderful, expressionistic moment and you can almost feel the fear dripping off the character. Here, AOT returns to its horror roots and it is stronger for it. Through the use of selective lighting, creating an impenetrable black void except for the light of the torches, and the selective silencing of diegetic sound, only allowing us to hear his breathing and internal monologue, AOT truly expresses this character’s isolation and vulnerability in a powerful, memorable way.  

This all leads to a sudden meeting with another party, at it becomes clear that they too were unable to find the break in the wall. There is no solace in the end, only an intensification of their confusion and an eldritch fear that the threat extends past all human understanding. In this way, this scene becomes about a type of symbolic black space that all our characters are forced to walk through, where any certainty in this the world becomes impossible. Even the appearance of the castle ruins, lit with an ominous, shadowy light, offers little sanctuary in this dark world.

Back with the main gang, the goal and specific stakes for the following episodes are finally established. If the female titan’s hardened skin remains even after Annie has discarded this form, Eren should be able to use this power to seal the hole in the wall. Game changer! In the wake of this plan, Eren is left gripping that damn basement key and, like me, trembling out of his desperation for answers. After two episodes of stagnant discussion, I’m excited for our three faves to do something that doesn’t include hanging out in the back of a cart.

Moreover, just as Hanji hoped, Pastor Nick is moved after seeing the true human cost of this conflict. Though he stays committed to his duty, refusing to reveal the whole truth, he does want to help in some way. It’s nice to see that there is humanity even in our deeply flawed enemies. It’s a far cry from his once fanatic loyalty to his religion, to the point that he would sacrifice his own life to protect its secrets.

Though he refuses to reveal who, or what, is behind it all, he can give them information about a key-player in his organisation’s nefarious plans, and, through her, hopefully aid in the discovery of their true motivations. Now, after piling on mystery after mystery in basically every scene, it all finally comes to a head. Because it turns out that the person they must find and protect at all cost is… oh wait, Sasha’s here!

With Sasha’s sudden interruption, it becomes clear how delightfully self-aware this scene is about how AOT introduces new mysteries, playing with the audience’s desire for a clear answer and using that against us. They know we desperately want answers, so the show keeps on building up the importance of this person, even as it resolutely refuses to absolutely confirm who this person is. AOT can be very self-serious when it comes to its own plot and conflict, so it’s a nice change of pace to see them having fun with this revelation, even if they are making fun of the audience’s investment. Even Sasha being rewarded with a potato is yet another good-natured jab at the audience, using her own satisfaction to mock our lack thereof. There’s a confidence in this scene, like a master puppeteer who knows just what strings to pull in order to get the desired reaction out of the audience. It just so happens that the reaction they want is edge-of-your-seat frustration.  

The self-awareness just keeps on going too, as Eren, Armin and Mikasa literally describe this person but still refuse to confirm their identity. At this point, the show knows that we know it’s Christa. Thus, the resolution is intentionally anti-climactic – I mean, the final shot of confirmation is Christa drooling and snoring in her sleep.

But just as we’ve seemingly answered one question, the show throws another mystery at us, as Ymir has told Reiner something of desperate and shocking importance. But before anything more concrete than his immediate reaction is revealed, the commander literally cuts this scene off for a threat of greater importance. Against everything that they thought they knew, titans are attacking at night. But that’s not all; in the distance, they see the beast titan walking away, doubtless with some nefarious but unknown purpose, as Reiner and Bertholdt react with intense, dare I say, familiarity? Throughout all this, AOT knows just how to balance these various threads and how much to reveal or leave obscured. Some scenes, as with Christa, are plainly set up, while others, as with Reiner and Bertholdt, remain intentionally obscured with only a single reaction shot to hint at anything greater.

Throughout this final part of the episode, AOT uses editing masterfully to heighten the suspense and intrigue. The juicy mysteries threaten to overwhelm the audience, as it intercuts between several scenes, revealing a scrap of information in one scene, before it cuts it off by cutting away to yet another scene, giving us a different snippet of information. Through this type of editing, the show simultaneously hides answers from the audience even as it reveals more information – for example, cutting off Ymir and Reiner to reveal that titans are active at night.  In this way, the show deftly balances our feelings of satisfaction and frustration, building up and retaining suspense even as it releases it. By doing this, audience remains hungry for more and invested in the conflict and any potential frustration from purposefully concealing truths is offset by resolving some small mysteries.  

In the end, this is an episode that mostly exists to set up mysteries, create suspense, and establish a sense of dread for this conflict. This is entirely necessary for the show to function, and while there are some stand-out scenes, overall it isn’t a stand out episode. The fun stuff comes next!