The Good Old Days
Two days ago one of the other missionary couples here in Cambodia left for furlough. That’s an interesting word, furlough. Outside of a missionary context, the first thing I think of is a soldier who is on furlough from their military assignment. Kind of like having a few days off or taking a vacation. And when most people hear that a missionary is on furlough they think it is a time for them to relax and take a break. Wrong answer. In fact, the Assemblies of God World Missions office has stopped using the term furlough and now uses deputation. I’m not sure that increases the number of people who understand what is going on, but I suppose deputation carries less baggage than furlough.
Basically, for an Assemblies of God missionary, we work on a five year cycle. Four years are spent on the field, and one year is spent in the States raising support for the next four years. So during that one year in the States, whether you call it furlough or deputation or whatever, you have to raise enough money to live on for five years, as well as any money you will need to do ministry during the next four years. To accomplish this you travel to different churches, preach and talk about your ministry and the country you work in, and hopefully they will then give you an offering and a pledge to support you monthly for the next four years. Out of that offering you have to take your travel expenses, and not every church will give you a pledge of monthly support. On top of that, the average pledge from a church is only about $50, so you can imagine how many pledges you need to cover your entire budget. This all works out to missionaries preaching between 150 to 250 times during the year they are home. Believe me, it is not a relaxing vacation time by any stretch of the imagination.
So these missionary friends of ours, Mark and Joan, were leaving the field to go on furlough / deputation / whatever, and a bunch of us got together for a sort of going away party. It ended up with me, Mark and a brand new missionary associate (MA) sitting around, talking about “the old days.” Lisa and I first came to Cambodia in 1994, and Mark and his family first came in 1993, so that makes us long term people here. This new MA had been here for about 2 weeks (although she had spent a month or two here last year as well) and that made here the most recent addition to our field. So we started talking about the old days.
Another missionary and my wife, Lisa, eventually joined in the discussion as well, and toward the end of it all Lisa said, “You know, someone needs to write a book someday.” Not because of the deep spiritual insights or the eye witness historical perspective, but because of the falling on the ground laughing so hard that coffee shoots out of your nose kind of stories! There is some downright funny things that happen here. Most of the things we talked about would take a long conversation just to set up, and some might not seem that funny to an outsider, but we had a great time. (Maybe I'll try to write some of them another time)
You know, the “old days” here weren’t really that long ago time wise, but the changes that have taken place in that time make it seem like a lifetime. And although you can’t sit around dwelling on the past all the time, it does occasionally help to put things in perspective. Mark and his family have been running an orphanage here since 1996 (That’s what we did for the first two years we were here as well). Running an orphanage is hard work. There are a million problems that need dealt with every day, and it’s not like a school where the kids go home to their families every night and they become their parent’s responsibility; in an orphanage they are your responsibility 24 / 7. So it’s easy to get worn out and burned out. You see all the problems that you are dealing with, and they crowd out all the other things you could be, and should be, looking at. What do I mean?
The day before this going away party I was shooting some footage for a video project I am working on to help promote a new project I am involved with. I am one of two missionaries here who are working to set up a local Christian media production company. We are combining some existing studios and media work with some new capabilities (like video and film production), under one umbrella group. The goal is to have it set up in such a way that they become self sustaining; profits from one project will fund the next project, and so on. I will function as a consultant on the video end of things, and we plan on partnering with them regularly on various projects, but I am not the key driving force in this, so I don’t know all the players all that well. But I was shooting footage of a meeting of the various department heads, and I was surprised to see a familiar face heading up the live concert and performance department! His name is Pagah. He is a young man who has been working for an NGO (Non-Government Organization) doing community development. He is very musically gifted and has been very active in his church’s music program over the years. But I know him as one of the kids from our orphanage! It was a bit surreal to have this young Cambodian man at this meeting calling me Papa! I never would have guessed back then where things would be now. God has done some amazing things with the lives of the kids from our orphanage, and as I sat and talked about “the old days” with Mark, it was amazing to realize all that God has done here in Cambodia in the last 11 years. It’s too easy to get caught up in the day to day grind and problems we face and forget to see past them to the bigger picture.
And like most things, that applies to our own lives as well. We get caught up in our own struggles and situations and start to say “God, do you even care? Can you hear a thing I’m praying?” But if we take a deep breath, step back and look at the bigger picture of our lives, of where we’ve been, and what God has already done, the questions we are asking start to seem a bit ridiculous. I always used to wonder how the Israelites in the desert could complain so bitterly about every little thing and ask God “Did you just bring us out here to kill us?” Couldn’t they remember just a few months before when God parted the Red Sea?
But I don’t wonder about that anymore because I tend to forget what God did for me yesterday! The best thing about sitting around and talking about “the good old days” is that it helps you to remember we still serve the God that made those days so good.
Homework, Bicycles and the Art of Procrastination
“But Dad, I’m using a system.”
OK, although I was annoyed, I was also a bit curious. “What do you mean you ‘have a system’?”
“I’m going to do my homework every other day. It’s due on Friday, so I’ll do it on Tuesday and Thursday night.” Of course this conversation was taking place on Monday, which according to Dmetri’s new “system” made it a “free” day. But I wasn’t buying.
“Dmetri, how about if you just start your homework on Monday night, and if you get done before Friday, the days you have left will be free days?” Now Dmetri wasn’t buying either.
“But Dad, I have a system already!” At this point I invoked my executive privileges as head of the house and declared my system to be the one that Dmetri would use. But being the true procrastination artist that he is, he put off the bigger assignments to work on the simple things in a very slow, daydreaming kind of way, so as to put off the difficult as long as possible. He hasn’t, however, gotten to the point that I did when I was in school; I just simply didn’t do the homework and relied on getting A’s on the tests and quizzes in school to balance things out to a passing grade (let’s hope he doesn’t read this posting either!).
Strangely, yesterday the thought struck me that I was doing a similar thing. Not with homework, but with exercise. My current exercise poison of choice is bicycle riding to and from my office / studio. Most mornings I get up somewhat less than excited about the upcoming peddle journey through the traffic, dust and diesel fumes. Now I know that the exercise is important for controlling my blood pressure, weight and stress level, but I still at times put it off by finding something that requires my use of the car or motorcycle for the day. Some of those days I will go out and do some type of exercise later, but usually I just figure “I have a system, and this is a free day.” Sounds kind of familiar.
OK, homework and exercise is one thing, but devotional time is another. Or at least it should be. My problem is that often it’s exactly the same thing. I get up in the morning and tell myself some excuse for why I can’t pray and read my Bible right then, and justify it by telling myself I’ll do it later, but later never comes.
Somehow, procrastination seems like something we need to stop in Dmetri in regard to his homework and chores and things, but it seems a lot more minor when I’m looking at myself… or maybe I’m just not seeing it clearly because of that log in my eye.
Our two boys, Dmetri and Alex, are great! Sure there are moments when I long for some piece and quiet, but they have brought wonderful things into our lives. And of all those wonderful things, I think the one thing that has meant the most to me is the mirror factor. That’s the amazing ability they have to show you something about yourself acted out in their lives. It’s uncanny! Almost anything they do, if I sit back and take the time to think about it, tells me something about myself! Granted, I don’t always like what it says, but it does speak volumes.
So Dmetri and I need to work on our procrastination (like me having put off doing this posting for a day or two…opps).
Dust, Diesel and Road Rage
Sweat, dust and diesel fumes. Those three things make up a large part of my usual morning routine.
A few months ago I had a motorcycle accident (dumped the bike over trying to avoid being hit by a car whose driver was talking on a cell phone, driving too fast and not paying attention as he made a turn onto the street I was riding down) that required a number of trips to see specialist in Bangkok as well as surgery to help deal with a partially torn ligament in my right knee (it was actually kind of amusing to see the looks on my wife’s face at the unnatural ways my knee sort of shifted after the accident). As part of the rehabilitation process the doctor said bicycle riding was one of the best things to build up the muscles surrounding the ligament that had been damaged. So I bought a bike. Now, most mornings, I ride across town, on both paved and dirt roads, to get to my studio (it takes me about 25 to 30 minutes), where I take a shower and change to do my editing and recording work. Then at the end of the day I repeat the process going home. So each morning I am dodging a combination of other bicycles, motorcycles, cars, trucks, pedestrians, stray animals and livestock, and even the occasional ox-cart, all giving loose, VERY LOOSE, allegiance to nearly non-existent rules of the road (here in Cambodia they aren’t so much traffic laws as traffic suggestions).
This can be a bit frustrating, but it’s not as stressful or upsetting as when I am driving my motorcycle or car. Let me give you a couple real life examples. People had been ignoring basic traffic laws, like driving on the right hand side and staying on your half of the road, to such an extent that the government decided to put one foot high cement barriers down the center of the main streets so that people could no longer cross into the oncoming lane. That seems like a good idea that should work; if they won’t willingly follow the law, make it impossible for them to break it. But this has created a whole new set of behaviors. Just a couple days ago we were driving down this very busy, very crowded street and were shocked by what one of the motorcycle drivers in front of us did. Apparently he wanted to go to a store that was on the left side of the road, but there wasn’t a break in the divider nearby, so he stopped and parked his motorcycle in the middle of the road, got off, and crossed over to the shop leaving the middle lain of this very busy road partially blocked!
Example number two comes from a close friend of ours who was driving down this same road behind an SUV who seemed to be going a bit slow as though they were looking for some place they weren’t familiar with. Suddenly they acted like they were making a left hand turn, but there was no break in the divider. They stopped just short of hitting it, put the car in reverse, and proceeded to execute a three point u-turn and begin driving back the way they had come directly into oncoming traffic!
These two examples bring me to the main point; road rage. Of all the temptations that missionaries face, this may be the most common, but least addressed. I mean there aren’t any missionaries that I know of who are cussing people out or threatening them with a gun or anything, but this is still a real issue. I’ve had good friends who are caring and compassionate ministers who have spent more than 10 years on the mission field become frustrated while driving to the point that they will come up behind a motorcycle or bicycle in their SUV, get literally right on their tail, rev the engine in an almost threatening sort of way, lay on their horn, whip around the person and cut them off dangerously close, all while driving a vehicle that has “Assemblies of God” plastered across the doors. And it’s not just Assembly of God missionaries, and it’s not just other people, it’s me too.
I didn’t realize how much my driving had been affected until my recent trip to the States. I rented a car while I was there, and as I dd-place finishes in 11 previous Derbies.
Cooperation and Conflict
Some times you just need to take a break. Especially when doing audio or video editing. That’s how I ended up in another missionary’s office yesterday, talking about co-operation and working with different missionaries.
I had been working on editing two different projects and needed to take a break before my brain turned to soggy corn flakes, so I walked down to the first floor of the Assemblies of God Missionary Fellowship field offices and sat down in the office of our country coordinator. That title may sound important, and it is in it’s way, but essentially this person works to facilitate the ministry of the other missionaries on the field and help us cooperate with each other, other missions agencies and the national church. This time of year there are usually a good number of people coming and going and we started talking about who was coming, who was going, and how that would change the dynamics here.
Missionary work can be very diverse, and it draws a wide range of people from around the world. That’s great, but it’s also a real problem. To become a missionary with the Assemblies of God you have to go through a very long and detailed process, and to make it to the field you have to be SURE that it is really what God wants you to do. So you get there saying “God has called me here to do church planting,” or “teach in a Bible school,” or “do community health evangelism,” or whatever. The problem is that when one missionary sees some other missionary doing something else, they sometimes get the attitude that that other missionary is wasting their time, or doesn’t know what they are doing, or is doing serious harm to God’s kingdom just because that other missionary isn’t doing things the way the first missionary would. So they dismiss or ignore each other, or even at times become confrontational. And that’s all just within our own missions agency! Now add in all the other missions agencies working here, as well as all the independent missionaries, all with different rules, operating procedures and goals, and you can imagine the potential for utter confusion!
I’ve seen both ends of the spectrum (and at different times I have BEEN both ends of that spectrum, both combative and cooperative). I’ve seen huge splits and conflicts, and I have seen great cooperation and team work. The thing I have to remember is that God has brought all of these different people here for a purpose. I might not always like the purpose, but I wasn’t the one who called them here either. I believe all these people truly want to do what’s right and to build God’s kingdom.
The role I fill here brings me in contact with many different missionaries, and puts me in a position to help facilitate their ministry through the use of media. In the last year this has become much easier as more and more missionaries see the value of the tools we produce, but it all comes down to creating a partnership with people who have different visions, plans, personalities and ministries and working side by side to reach the people of Cambodia.
Isn’t it the same where you are? The church is the family of God, right? I know in my family there are some people I get along with very well, and some that I get along with better at a great distance ( if you know what I mean ). Don’t get me wrong, I still love them, it’s just we don’t see eye to eye on much, and at times our relationship can become pretty tense. The church family is the same. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the person in your church that always rubs you the wrong way is really a demonic agent looking to infiltrate and sabotage the work of your church; it just means they are family. And who can irritate you as much as family?
The great thing about my family is that as we have all gotten older, we continue to find new ways to build bridges and get along. The same goes for the church. And the same goes here on the mission field.
Rendering and Re-Rendering...
A few hours ago I went into my studio expecting to find my computer had finally completed a task it had started about 24 hours earlier. Well, that’s what I expected…
So what exactly was taking my computer 24 hours to do? About 2 and a half minutes of video. Seriously! Welcome to the world of digital effects.
Whenever you take digital video, put it in the computer, and change it in some way, it needs to be “rendered”. Let me give you example to help explain what that means. In the case of the project my computer was working on, I had been doing an interview segment for a video project I was working on. Unfortunately, when I went to film the interview at the subject’s house we ran into a problem; there was a LOUD wedding party that had started down the street a few houses, so we couldn’t film where we had planned. To solve this dilemma we went to my studio where I filmed the interview with the subject in front of a “green screen”. My plan was to go back later and digitally put in a nice background, so that instead of the subject being in a big green walled room, we would give the interview a totally new context, like a nice outdoor scene. The process is called “chroma keying” or “vector keying”, and is basically what you see on the evening news when they do the weather; the weather man is standing in front of a large blank wall that is either blue or green and the map they refer to and point at doesn’t exist except inside a computer program that combines the images into what you see each night.
So the next step was I filmed a few minutes of a nice background footage. Finally, yesterday morning I combined the two video clips in a special computer program. That program shows you roughly what the final clip will look like, but before it is ready to use in the final video it first has to be rendered. That’s the process where the computer redraws each individual frame, combining the two original source pieces into a new piece of footage. The video format I was working with has 25 frames per second, so for the entire 2 and a half minutes the computer had to draw 3,750 frames that are at DVD quality and size. The amount of time it takes to do this depends on how many effects, filters and changes you have made to the clips. In this case there were a lot of changes and things. In the end, assuming everything works the way it is supposed to, you have a completely new clip that has some things in common with the original, but has been made new and transformed into something original.
Unfortunately, the program I am using to do this vector keying is new (new to me that is), and I am still trying to find ways to get the best results. Yesterday, when I started the rendering process, I decided to try saving the final product in a new format to see if I could get a bit better quality. So when I looked at the finished product this morning, I had a bit of a surprise. The format I had chosen wasn’t compatible with my main editing program. What does that mean? It means I wasted about 24 hours of computer time and was back to square one! This digital video animal is something you keep learning day by day; there is no “I’ve got it now, I have all the answers.” So Monday I will start the process again and see what we end up with.
On the whole, digital editing and rendering is a lot like life as a disciple of Jesus Christ. God takes who we were, and puts our life into a new context to create something that still resembles the original, but at the same time is completely new and original. But just like rendering, it’s not an instant process. When I make the changes to the original video clips and save the project, the changes are done, but they still take time to render out so that the rest of the world can see them. When Jesus comes into our life, we are transformed. Immediately we become children of God. But the process of working that out in our lives so that the rest of the world can see it takes some time. And when rendering digital video, occasionally some problem comes up and something doesn’t go as planned and you have to go back to the original source video and project files and start rendering all over again. The same goes for our walk with God. We sometimes make mistakes and the product that comes out for the world to see isn’t exactly what was intended, and we have to go back and ask God to help conform us to His image.
So Monday I will once again start rendering this video interview to create a new video clip that will fit in with my overall plan for this video project, and Monday once again the Holy Spirit will start rendering my life into a new creation that will fit with God’s overall plan for my life and for Cambodia.
Beggers, Videos and Me
Yesterday, while I was running some errands at one of the larger markets in town I once again found myself in an uncomfortable, but familiar situation. I had a few errands to run yesterday, one of which took me to the Russian market. It's one of the larger and better know markets in town and was actually built with money from the former Soviet Union at a time when Cambodia was one of the many small communist client states of the former super power. So it's old and a bit run down looking. The construction is also somewhat shoddy and features poor drainage, broken up and uneven cement floors, and a low tin roof that turns the market into an hot and steamy oven by the afternoon. It covers the better part of a large city block and contains everything from hardware and jewelry stalls to souvenir shops to open air vegetable and meat sellers, so it also can be a real shock to your sense of smell at times. Then you figure in a congested, crowded and almost claustrophobic feel and you have the basic layout. The people who populate this landscape are even more varied than it's shops; there are the aggressive and rough mannered stall vendors calling out to you as you walk through, most major aisle intersections have an amputee from the war or two selling books to foreigners, tourist of every type can be seen, from somewhat disheveled and grungy backpackers to well dressed business men and women, barefoot children in dusty ragged clothes follow along behind any white face they see, fanning them with pieces of stray cardboard, hoping for a tip, and beggars of every description slowly grouping around any foreigner who stops in one place for long. This is where I was when the discomfort set in. It all has to do with balance.
Cambodia is undoubtedly one of the poorest countries in Asia, and even though I am just a missionary, a job not known for it’s high salary, I am still very rich in comparison. Whenever I go to a market here I am always approached by beggars, but yesterday seemed to be one of those days when there were an unusually large number of beggars at the market, and by the time I was finished with what I was doing there I must have been approached by between 6 and 10 different ones.
Most new visitors to Cambodia feel compassion for these beggars and will almost always give them some money. However, while they may be giving with the best of intentions, it is also one of the worst things you can do. That’s not just me and my opinion talking; it’s the view of almost every missions agency and relief organization working here. Why? Well, let me give you an real life example.
A few years ago an organization came in to help amputees to make a living. They set up a trade school and promised any amputee who signed up that they would provide food, clothing and shelter for them and their family throughout the training, and at the completion of the course they would guarantee them a job starting at a salary of at least $50 per month (good money at the time). But they couldn’t get any of the amputee beggars to sign up! They said they were making more money begging! Many of them had nice homes and families, and each morning they would change into their grubby old uniform, take off their prosthetic limb, and head down to the market to beg. Now I’m not wanting to imply that there are no real needs. But I do want you to understand that 9 time out of 10 giving them a handout of money actually makes their long term problems worse.
I’ve lived here long enough (more than 11 years) to know that, so typically I just tell beggars no and move on. The problem I am having isn’t one of action, it’s one of heart. Yesterday, after turning down numerous beggars in a very short period of time, I realized I had started ignoring them not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well.
In the gospels you will see time and time again that it says Jesus was “moved with compassion” and healed, or touched, or fed or taught the people. He acted out of love and compassion for the people around him. But how about me? More often than not, when beggars approach me I am more moved by annoyance than by compassion. Again, like my last posting, it’s more a question of motives than actions.
Very often people think that God calls people to be missionaries to use them to accomplish His plan and His will in a particular country. I’m not sure that’s the main point. Too often it seems that God accomplishes His plan and will in a country in spite of the missionaries there, not because of them. I believe that part of God’s call does have to do with His desire to use us in a particular place or situation, but more than that I believe God calls people to be missionaries in order to accomplish His plan and will in their own lives! It seems to me that the Bible is pretty clear; God isn’t as interested in what we do as He is in who we are.
So my discomfort yesterday with the beggars was really sparked by my realization that as I was looking at the people around me I was no longer being “moved with compassion.” I was uncomfortable with what I had allowed my heart to become.
So what is the right way to help those who are needy around us? For me, one way we are doing it has to do with why I went to the market in the first place. I was picking up blank DVD’s for a project I am working on producing a video to help raise support for an orphanage and a Christian school in the southern Cambodian city of Sihanoukeville. This orphanage is home to about 120 kids, but it is facing a potential funding crisis in the next few months. The video we produced for it’s director will help to raise the money it needs to continue ministering to, and transforming the lives of children who truly have nothing. That’s the right way to help the needy; not a one time hand out to make your conscience feel better, but long term, life changing help that transforms lives.
So today I am praying for balance. To not only have the right actions, but to have a heart that sees people through the eyes of Jesus and is moved by compassion into action.
Motive and Mission
I was reading a book this morning called Confessions of a Caffeinated Christian by John Fischer.
Now, if you have ever spent any time talking to me, chances are that during the conversation I was also holding a cup of coffee, so you can understand why a book with this title would catch my attention. Additionally, I have read other books and articles by John Fischer and have always enjoyed them, so now I am reading this one and thoroughly enjoying it.
But the chapters I have been reading the last few days had to do with motives for witnessing, and he brought up some interesting points. He points out that very often we tend to witness to people, especially strangers, out of a sense of obligation (so as not to have their "blood on our hands") rather than out of love for them. Consider a street preacher in a park; is he doing what he is doing, the way he is doing it, out of love for those people or out of a sense of obligation to keep his own hands and conscience clean? Please understand that I am not trying to attack any form of evangelism or to dispute the effectiveness of any particular method, but I am wanting to look at the hart of the messenger, or more specifically, my hart as a missionary.
Why do I do what I do? Is it out of a love for the Cambodian people? Is it out of a sense of obligation? Is it that I enjoy the attention I get in churches being a missionary? Is it that I enjoy being the rich and important American in a small third world country? Is it that I am looking for the adventure and excitement of world travel and living overseas? If I'm honest with myself, I know there is a bit of all of those reasons in my motives, and more. But if we are doing the "right thing" is it that important that we are doing it for "the right reasons"? Are our motives really that important in the long run?
Very often we hear the story of the prophet Jonah preached and taught from the perspective of our need to be obedient to the call of God. But I think if we stop there we are missing a huge part of the message. Although Jonah initially ran away from what God was calling him to do (preach to the people of Ninevah), he eventually repents and does it. The results were incredible! A city/state that had been so wicked that God was about to destroy it repents and a huge spiritual awakening sweeps the city, so that God relents and spares them. I would love to see those kind of results in my ministry! So God's will for Nineveh was fulfilled. But what about Jonah?
At the end of the story we find Jonah pouting and angry because God didn't wipe out Nineveh! I believe Jonah is a perfect picture of someone who is ministering out of obligation rather than out of love. Contrast Jonah's actions with those of Moses. When God threatened to wipe out the Israelites because of their disobedience Moses pleaded with God to show mercy. Jonah became angry at God for showing compassion! Or look at Paul in the New Testament who said that if it were possible for all Israel to be saved if he were condemned he would do it. Whereas Jonah preached to the Ninevites just to save his skin.
Did it make any difference in the effectiveness of the ministry? Well, Jonah's preaching stirred a tidal wave of repentance that swept a nation into God's grace, so in one sense, that being God's will for a people being fulfilled, I guess it didn't. But if you look at the life of the messenger it made all the difference in the world. Jonah ended up bitter and disillusioned. Paul and Moses and a host of other examples ended up with peace and confidence and love. How about their eternal destiny? Was that effected as well? All I can say is what is said in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 :
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."So what does that mean? Motives matter. God will bring the results he wants to bring in the lives of those being ministered to, but our motives will make a difference in how God's plan for our lives plays out. How about me? Well, like I said at the start of all this, I know I have some mixed motives. I pray and ask God to help me each day to not only do the right things, but to have the right heart and motives. There is one thing that gives me hope that God is accomplishing this in me; I get upset about and defensive when people talk about Cambodia. Think about it. You might be having a fight with some family member that you love, but if someone else steps in and says something negative about them you tend to get angry at that person and start defending the family member they were talking about. That's the way I feel about Cambodia, and more specifically the Cambodian people. I know they have problems, but whenever someone speaks badly of them I find myself getting angry and coming to Cambodia's defense. I do love these people. This is my home. It may not be perfect (far from it), but it is a part of me. So despite my mixed up not quite clear motives, I know some of the right ones are in there and I pray God will help to grow that part and continue to transform my life even as I try to bring transformation to the Cambodians around me as well.
Take 2: Re-Shooting Life
Working with media definitely has it's tedious side.
For the last few days I have been shooting some clips of a young man just talking to the camera. It is for a video we are working on that is designed to be used in recruiting college age young people to commit to spending one or two years working overseas with an unreached people group. The main video itself will be just over two minutes long, and the section where this young man is talking is only about a minute. So I scripted out what he needed to say and we set out to shoot it.
After two days of shooting and re-shooting I'm still not entirely satisfied (in fact I am about 95% sure we will NOT use any of the shots we have taken so far in the final product). Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying it's all his fault. In fact, it's more my problem than his. He did make the usual number of mistakes on lines and general bloopers, but a number of the re-shoots had do to technical problems with the footage of some kind. And now I'm not satisfied with what we have because I have changed my mind about the stylistic direction I want to go (my original idea for the shot just didn't flow well with the rest of the video). So rather than try to cram in another shoot later today, I will use the footage I have now in a rough edit of the project and then re-shoot the necessary parts in Bangkok late this summer (the project deadline is December). Re-shoots can drive you crazy!
On the other hand, re-shoots allow you to get exactly what you want. Wouldn't it be nice if life were that way? I think of time when I was younger and I would get in arguments with my older brother. It seemed like he would generally get the better of me, either because he was older and knew a bit more or because he was bigger and could pound me if I got him too angry. But usually, a few hours later, I would come up with the perfect reply or one liner or argument. Of course by then it was too late. There was no re-shoot for the argument. One take was all you got. Life is "Live!" with no rehearsals. But boy were than times when it would have been great to get a second chance on some of those arguments!
And as a follower of Jesus Christ I find that same predicament at work in my life today. Not that I get in arguments with people and I'm afraid they will pound me, but there are MANY times I wish a could get a second take on some part of my day. Maybe it is the time I could have ministered to someone's need, but I was to caught up in my own schedule and issues to notice. Maybe it was the time when my son wanted me to play legos with him but I was too tired and kept putting him off. Maybe it was the time I could have been more of a help to my wife, who is just as busy as I am, but I didn't want to put out the effort. Maybe it was the time when I should have spent more time with God, but I was too busy working for Him.
Sadly, in real life there are no re-shoots. What we do and say is what we do and say. That's why we need good direction.
If I had been better at my direction with the young man I've been shooting the last two days things probably would have gone quicker, but I just let it run.
Thankfully, in life, God has given us FANTASTIC direction! He started by giving us a great script, the Bible, then he adds to that a great director, the Holy Spirit, who prompts and leads us to get it right the first time. The trick is making sure we know the script and listen to the director.
Horns, Voices and Getting Your Message Heard
It is great to be home in Cambodia, and in reference to my last posting I must be in the zone! I did get the Computer replacement delivery I had been waiting for in Springfield late Friday night. By the time I was done setting it up and registering the various applications it was early Saturday morning (of course once I was back home in Cambodia I have since found a few applications that I failed to register in the States and have to do from here). But all in all things went great.
I was driving across town last night and as I was going around a traffic circle I was surprised by a loud horn that was of a variety I would associate with an emergency vehicle of some kind that you might hear in the States. I was pretty startled because it sounded like it was about ten feet from my car and I hadn't seen a thing (not to mention there aren't many emergency vehicles here to begin with). When I looked for the source of the sound I found not an ambulance, police car or fire truck, but a small 125cc motorcycle driven by a middle aged man. There was no emergency, there was no fire or criminal activity; just this guy who was announcing to the world his opinion that he should have the right of way!
This has been a growing trend here in Cambodia. Cars, and now even motorcycles, are installing extremely loud air horns that carry a sound that a driver from the USA would immediately associate with a particular type of vehicle (emergency vehicle, 18 wheeler, etc.). Somehow it all seems a bit disingenuous to me. I find it very frustrating to have one of these horns go off almost in my ear as I am driving down the road and have my heart leap into my throat because I instinctively think I am about to be splattered all over the front of a massive truck when in reality it is some little motorcycle who is ignoring the rules of the road and demanding his own way.
Actually, as I was stewing over this situation last night, it occurred to me that in one way this isn't all that different from what we do with media ministries. They install these obnoxious horns in order to stand out in a crowd and get people's attention. There are so many cars and motorcycles who are all demanding their right of way and using their horns that it all just becomes a general background noise that we tend to tune out and ignore. These overblown horns, however, are hard to ignore because they stand out.
Here in Cambodia there are TONS of different aid agency and missions agencies, and often it all just blends together into a general noise that people instinctively tune out. It's like living next to railroad tracks; after a while they don't even notice the train going by outside their windows. Media ministries is one way that we try to stand out from the crowd. By using audio and video (and more recently computer) technology to produce messages in a new format, people are more likely to focus in and actually hear what we have to say.
The trick is to stand out in a positive way that attracts people, rather than stand out in an obnoxious way that turns people off. That's where the air horns on the motorcycles and cars fail.
And that's where things stand in our personal lives as well. As Christ's disciples we try to live our lives in a way that stands out above the general noise of life so that we can draw positive attention to Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, we all know (and have probably at times been) the kind of Christians who draw more annoyed attention than positive attention.
Pray with us that what we do, in both our personal lives and in our public ministry, would be a positive message of the grace and love of Jesus Christ.
