While writing the novel, I kept having the feeling this story would make a great movie. Just before beginning to film, the Lord blessed me with the revelation that movies can be modern day parables that will draw people to him. I began to believe that I would be involved in a number of these modern day parables.
As it turned out, the Lord was giving me that idea, and throughout 2009 we saw miracle after miracle that He accomplished on our behalf to see this movie to its completion.
You can find the trailer to this movie by clicking The Death of Kevin Frye.
Throughout the showing of the movie and the premiere, we continued to see God working. Discussions were taking place, and the movie was carried to Ireland, Thailand and several other places, including places stateside, like California and Texas.
With every project there is a bit of a letdown as one wonders what is going to come next. After being intent on this particular project, I too, had that "after project blues" set in, and I began to believe this would be the only project that would see any of my writing come to life on the screen.
But the Lord never told me that.
I didn't come to realize that until the summer of 2013. During that time, our Sunday school teacher was showing a video series from Ray Vanderlaan. In that series, at the completion of each lesson, Ray would tell his audience that we, as Christians, needed to be involved in the secular world "that the World may know" there is a God who loves them. Most of the time he mentioned the entertainment industry. I kept hearing the Lord calling me to follow His lead and trust Him for this, but I kept responding as Moses, "What can I do?"
Finally, at the last lesson, I realized I'd been arguing with God just as Moses did. I asked the Lord to forgive me for my lack of trust. Although I know the truth that I cannot accomplish this, I forgot the other part of that truth: I can do ALL things through Jesus who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13).
So, I began a prayer journey asking the Lord what He wanted me to do. Amazingly, the next Sunday school lesson was on some material by Mark Batterson called The Circle Maker. I was already familiar with Mark Batterson's writings through another book he wrote called, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day.
Both books teach us that God wants us to believe Him for the impossible. I found it quite interesting how God made sure we were going to go through that lesson after the lesson from Ray Vander Laan.
During the course of this lesson, I began to realize God was calling me to believe Him for a production company I would call Ebenezer Productions. "Ebenezer" means "thus far God has helped." I knew I would need all of God's help to see this through.
At this time, also, we began to be friends with Dennis and Charyl Armstrong. During the beginning of our friendship, she found out that we'd made The Death of Kevin Frye and that I had completed a new story called Shots in the Dark. She encouraged me to start thinking of making this story into a movie as well.
I found myself arguing, again, with God. "I can't do this…" This time it didn't take me as long to realize I was arguing and Charyl, Dennis, John and I began talking about making the movie. There will be more about our friendship with the Armstrongs in later blogs.
So, now we are involved in making this new movie with me (gasp) as director; or rather, assistant director. The true Director is the Lord, Himself. In later blogs I will tell about all the miracles God has been doing for us to get this movie made, and the people He has brought and will bring into our project.
In this blog, however, I will just introduce the story. Shots in the Dark is a story about Abby Cooper, a woman who has unexpectedly lost her husband when they were shot in their home. She becomes angry with God and decides to leave her son and his family in order to find the murderer and discover why God let this happen.
Be watching for the progress of our movie and eventually a trailer. I know that the Lord's hand is in this. Every morning my question to Him is, "So God, whatcha gonna do today?"