My Film: Test The Spirits

Greetings, dear friends,

Last Wednesday, my brother and I threw together a little illustration video for my dad's sermon this past Sunday. The source Bible passage for the sermon is found in 1 John 4. I selected the first three verses as the material for our video.

For more information about our church, you can visit kirtlandchristian.org.

Enjoy!

~Tommy

Excitement, Depression, Impatience, Hope

The more I think about being a filmmaker, I feel both excitement and depression rising in sufficient amounts to all but cancel each other out. Excitement because of the stories I'll tell, the power of the moving image, the breathtaking visuals I will compose. Depression because of the high expense associated with the telling.

For a wannabe indie filmmaker, money is a big thing. Anything I do will be either self-financed or financed by a small number of contributors giving very modest sums. That's hard for me, because the stories I want to tell tend to be epic. Like, the original meaning of the word epic. But whatever I do not already have, I have to buy. Which right now, is just about everything. And it can be hard to work creatively when it's one guy and a camera. Heck, I'm blessed to even have a consumer camcorder with which to work.

But I know that God has promised to work all things for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28 NIV). God has set me on this path, and I will walk it, for better or for worse. It may take me years before I can begin to tell the stories I want. It may take me many more years before I can effectively tell the stories I want. Rome wasn't built in a day. And God's times are not my times.

Lord, help me to be patient, to wait on Your provision, and to seek Your will every day of my life.

~ Tommy

Dreams: Parkour

Photo by James Davidson from AmericanParkour.com

Anyone who knows me could tell you I am a fan of Parkour. I fan with aspirations of being a practitioner. I started on that road some years back, but knee, hip, and back problems kept me from doing things as simple as jogging or doing repeated squats, let alone the acrobatics exhibited by the likes of David Belle, Sébastien Foucan, or Danny Ilabaca. But God has given me some small victories of late. I have been visiting a Chiropractor who has been adjusting my back and giving me physical therapy to improve my overall strength. I asked him if he thought I was ready to start jogging. He said I was, though I need to take it little by little at first. And largely (I suspect) thanks to Kendo, my knee, leg, and body strength has dramatically improved.

Praise God for small victories! I may be a long way from the stunts like you see exhibited in the photo, but each step forward brings me that much closer.

~ Tommy