What happened to God?

What has happened to His manifest presence in the earth? What has happened to the world, that the name of Jesus must be spoken in whispers, and Christians are ashamed of their belief?
I imagine cities, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Seattle, Atlanta, London, Berlin, Hong Kong, Jerusalem. . . cities filled with bustling people; busy people. People so wrapped up in their troubles and problems that they can't make room for the God who created them. You get weird looks if you mention the name of Jesus in public. . . the Holy Spirit is constantly quenched, He cannot work in the earth.
I long to live in a world where I can stand in the center of Times Square, and shout "Let's have three cheers for God Almighty!!! Hip hip—" and have everyone within earshot chime in "—HOORAY!!! Hip Hip...HOORAY!!!" People in all parts of the city stop what they are doing at the sound of distant cheering. A whisper runs through the crowd; "Three cheers for God!" "Hip Hip...HOORAY!!!" The city explodes in cheering for our Creator. People with upturned faces and outstretched hands praising our Creator, our Savior, our King. Schedules thrown to the wind. Employers will understand. A few minutes more or less of work makes no difference. It's God, here! The traffic stops; the city engulfed by the presence of God in our praises.
"Hip Hip...HOORAY!!!....Hip Hip...HOORAY...........Hip Hip...HOORAY"
The sound of cheering fades in my ears, and the vision shatters like reflections in a pool. I stand alone on a busy sidewalk. No sound of cheering now, no sound of voices shouting praise and thanks to our God.
I hear horns, and shouts, the chaotic clatter of a city too busy for God. Hordes of people rush past, and I am left with ringing ears.
If I cried for three cheers for God, I would get some strange looks, some indulgent smiles, maybe even one or two good-natured participants. If I persisted someone would call the police to haul me off as a lunatic and a disturber of the peace. But the city would go on, too busy for God, too inverted for listening to wisdom. Just busy, busy, busy. . .

I know somewhere out there are people who are earnest about God, who would whole-heartedly join in that cheer. But they are few and far between. My heart breaks at the condition of this country. Of the world, in general. Lawlessness is mistaken for freedom. Freedom is used as an excuse for defying God.
Why doesn't the world want a better way? The Body of Christ should be a walking, living testimony to how wonderful our God is. When people look at us, they should want what we have. Why do people ridicule us and defy God? Is it because we are not modeling God like we should? When people look at us, do they see God? Or do they see people, hypocrites; who claim to be holy, but on the inside are not changed.
The world has been biased against God by men who claim to be His people, but are not. Christianity has been stereotyped as a bunch of old hypocrites who go to church on Sunday, and act like the world the rest of the week. But how can we reverse the damage? How can we model God to a world which has closed it's eyes and ears to us? How can we reach a world that does not want to be reached?
If the true people of God, the people within a people, the men and women and children who are truly transformed by God, and long to be like him in every way; if these people would shine for Him, and be light and salt in a world which has no light and no flavor, it can change.
It's the little things.
The way you treat the waitress at the place you ate lunch. Holding doors for people. The smile you give the lady at the checkout counter. Your attitude when you are pulled over and given a speeding ticket. The contentedness in your face if you have to wait in line for something.
It's the little things that show the world God's love. Long suffering, love, gentleness, peace, joy, goodness...these are what the world so desperately needs and doesn't see.
If we show the world a peace and a joy and a love that they don't have, but want, they will come to us. It must be by example, not by persuasion or by force, that people are drawn to the kingdom of God.
If they only saw something they wanted in Christ's people, churches would be filled, and revial would have engulfed the world. But they don't.
The true people of God must begin to act.
The people who are not satisfied with simply being born again, but want are willing to grow as God calls them; they must be that light and salt in the earth.
We may be few, but with God all things are possible. If He has even a few people in the earth to work through, mountains could be removed. Spiritual mountains.
People could be changed forever. Governments could be purified. God could take the helm of our nation once again.
If we could only realize what an impact we have on the world through our actions, our attitude, our speech. We must stand up and be available for God to use.
But how does it begin?
It's the little things.

There's not much point to this post...

But I bet someone's going to read it anyway!
Ah...well, the movie project is going well. We really need to find a NAME for it...it's getting annoying just calling it 'the movie'.
We were thinking of "A Tale of Three Siblings", but that didn't work. If it had been "A Tale of Two Siblings", it would have, but with three of us it isn't similar enough.
Paul and I did a lot of rearranging the script (by phone) yesterday, and managed to get rid of two whole scenes that we didn't need. Then this morning I wrote up the first of the three scenes left to script, sent it to Paul, and he likes it...at least for a first draft.
So now we can work on the next-to-last scene!
Pretty cool...only two scenes left with almost a month to go before filming begins!
Although like three weeks of that is going to be so jammed full of stuff for either Paul or me that I doubt we'll be very productive. And on top of scripting the last two scenes, we have to go back over the entire script again and do a revision to take out any irregularities and rough spots before we film...and it would be nice to be able to try out most of the dialogue by phone or video chat, before our trip out there, so that we can make sure it flows. But all that is slightly optional...
Another revision that was made was that Davy is not the bad guy any more. It's either going to be Paul or me, and I'm thinking me. So the script is going to have to be updated with the proper names.
I'm so glad Word has a find-and-replace feature.

As for current events, the only news is that my parents and I are flying up to Minnesota tomorrow to visit my grandmother. We're going to be there for five days, and I hope to get some footage with my mini-camcorder that I can practice editing in Final Cut. I need some experience with it.
But I don't know how much time I'll have for that around this online Axis & Allies game we have going with Paul and Davy and me. . .it's an addicting game. Paul, as Japan, is totally blowing America out of the water, and is beginning to encroach on Russia's (my) eastern territories, just as Russia is finally beginning to wear down Germany's (Paul's) defenses in the west. It's an exhilerating game, but also mentally exhausting.
Oh...AND Paul has taken over the entire continent of Africa. Not so good for the allies...

Well, I think that's about it.
I'll wrap up with a photo that may play a part in a new theme for my blog...not sure yet.

Cool, huh?


~Pe†er

Ace Wonder Movie - Teaser Trailer HD

Check out the trailer for the latest movie by the makers of The Widow's Might!
This is the first of several teaser trailers they are going to release soon!
It is going to AWESOME!!!





Their production blog is here:
http://acewondermovie.com/blog/
The link 'official website' on the sidebar will take you to the official Ace Wonder production website.

~Pe†er

Final Cut Express...yeah!

The latest addition to my editing software:

Final Cut Express 4.0.
I've only tinkered with it for about half an hour so far, but I can already tell I'm going to love it!
The video project I did for Pleasant Valley Days really made me realize that if I'm going to get into serious video editing, I'm going to need serious software.
So I invested in Apple's signature video editing program...the express version, of course. Final Cut Pro is WAY out of my price range. Over a thousand dollars...whew!
It was either that or Adobe's suite of software, but I'm a Mac guy, I guess.
Maybe Adobe's software is better...after all, that's what HeuMoore uses. But I'll never know until I try, huh?
Paul thinks that now that I have Final Cut he won't be needed for the editing for the movie we're working on. He got FC like a year ago, but hasn't had the time to learn how to use it. But since I'll only have it on the laptop when we go to Oregon, we'll be using his computer, anyway.
Now all we need is a good script...

Paul? Where art thou?

Back to the movie

The video project I was working on is now complete! Actually, it was complete about a week ago today. It was shown at church on Tuesday night, and got a standing ovation. I was really, really embarrassed.
I'm still, a week later, having people stop me randomly at church to say how much they enjoyed it. They all say how talented I am, and ask when the next project will be. I have to tell them I don't know about the next project, because they just happen spontaneously. It's been two years since I did one...and it might be another two years since I do another.
As far as my being specially gifted...I'm not so sure. I'm not really sure how many of these people would actually know if I was. But Scott, the head of our media department, is impressed, too. And it takes some doing to impress Scott.
I don't know...I have a lot of trouble with unloving and self rejection, so it's hard for me to accept that maybe I am actually good at this stuff. But it's always possible. I've always been a visual storyteller, and what's more visual (and better at telling stories) than movies and film?
Maybe filmmaking is where God wants me...I have no idea. I enjoy working with cameras and computers, and do graphic arts stuff, too. It could be.

But, for the time being, it's back to the movie project.
Paul is having a really busy series of weeks here, with his oldest brother visiting from Michigan, and YHEC nationals in Pennsylvania in a few weeks....so the movie might not get worked on very much for a while. But I suppose that's okay. I can doodle with the script on my own, and see what I can come up with. And there's always the phone.
Isn't it great living in the age of instant communication?

Maybe not so much, but it sure helps with projects like this.
~Pe†er