.....aaaannnndddd cut!
I’ve heard that Atlanta is the new Hollywood, but until now I’ve been living in my international/mom bubble. Recently though the two merged. An episode of 24 was filmed next door to some GFM property, so the girls and I took a field trip to check everything out.
Unfortunately, there really wasn’t a whole lot to see. There were a couple of huge semi’s full of equipment blocking our apartment complex and some lighting rigs, but all the action was inside a house in the neighborhood. We could tell there was stuff happening, but I honestly have no idea what the episode will entail.
We won’t know right away either. The show will air sometime in February… for now it’s undergoing the editing process. Two days of filming and four months of editing seems like a lot of work for a one hour show (45 minutes once you factor in commercials).
Do we allow God to work on us from the inside, editing (or pruning) us? At times it can be difficult. We’ve put work in, only to have it trimmed away. But the editing process is good. I love the bonus features on movies- it’s fun to see the outtakes, deleted scenes and some of the commentary. I can’t imagine though if the entire movie were as rough cut as the outtake scenes though. They’re rough, just as the name implies. We sometimes take for granted some of the things that happen during the editing process, but have you ever watched something before any sound effects are added? It seems oddly quiet.
In much the same way, we don’t always realize how pruning can enhance our lives. Instead, we sometimes view it as a painful process to avoid. We’re comfortable where we are… or maybe we aren’t, but the known is sometimes less scary than the unknown. God tells us that the opposite is true though- we should abide in Him and allow The vinedresser to prune us- so that we may bear more fruit! When we allow God to edit our lives, He knows which cuts to make. I’ve heard that at times directors will purposefully give actors and actresses incomplete or incorrect scripts. The stars don’t know what happens in scenes they aren’t in and there may be alternative endings, so they won’t know how a popular series might conclude (and therefore can’t leak any info to the tabloids). While I don’t believe that God is trying to trick us with false endings, He does know how the scripts of our lives are interwoven with others.
We don’t know how God might be working in their lives either. I couldn’t see the action or storyline… just the equipment, security and a few sound guys. Sometimes it takes a while before we can see the work God has done. I think so often we want to see people go from the chief of sinners to holiest of saints after saying the sinner’s prayer. Don’t get me wrong, God has the power to transform totally and instantly (Paul is always the go to example of this)… but I also know myself. I know often God has laid something on my heart before I generally have the courage to share it with others. Just as an unedited cut won’t draw crowds at the box office, if we bear fruit, but pick it before it’s had a chance to ripen, it can leave a sour taste in people’s mouths’.
Allow Him to correct, allow Him to show us the things that need to change, follow the script He’s written- no matter what direction it takes you. Trust Him- He knows the big picture, He wrote the script, why would we not want Him to direct our lives?
Unfortunately, there really wasn’t a whole lot to see. There were a couple of huge semi’s full of equipment blocking our apartment complex and some lighting rigs, but all the action was inside a house in the neighborhood. We could tell there was stuff happening, but I honestly have no idea what the episode will entail.
We won’t know right away either. The show will air sometime in February… for now it’s undergoing the editing process. Two days of filming and four months of editing seems like a lot of work for a one hour show (45 minutes once you factor in commercials).
Do we allow God to work on us from the inside, editing (or pruning) us? At times it can be difficult. We’ve put work in, only to have it trimmed away. But the editing process is good. I love the bonus features on movies- it’s fun to see the outtakes, deleted scenes and some of the commentary. I can’t imagine though if the entire movie were as rough cut as the outtake scenes though. They’re rough, just as the name implies. We sometimes take for granted some of the things that happen during the editing process, but have you ever watched something before any sound effects are added? It seems oddly quiet.
In much the same way, we don’t always realize how pruning can enhance our lives. Instead, we sometimes view it as a painful process to avoid. We’re comfortable where we are… or maybe we aren’t, but the known is sometimes less scary than the unknown. God tells us that the opposite is true though- we should abide in Him and allow The vinedresser to prune us- so that we may bear more fruit! When we allow God to edit our lives, He knows which cuts to make. I’ve heard that at times directors will purposefully give actors and actresses incomplete or incorrect scripts. The stars don’t know what happens in scenes they aren’t in and there may be alternative endings, so they won’t know how a popular series might conclude (and therefore can’t leak any info to the tabloids). While I don’t believe that God is trying to trick us with false endings, He does know how the scripts of our lives are interwoven with others.
We don’t know how God might be working in their lives either. I couldn’t see the action or storyline… just the equipment, security and a few sound guys. Sometimes it takes a while before we can see the work God has done. I think so often we want to see people go from the chief of sinners to holiest of saints after saying the sinner’s prayer. Don’t get me wrong, God has the power to transform totally and instantly (Paul is always the go to example of this)… but I also know myself. I know often God has laid something on my heart before I generally have the courage to share it with others. Just as an unedited cut won’t draw crowds at the box office, if we bear fruit, but pick it before it’s had a chance to ripen, it can leave a sour taste in people’s mouths’.
NAS John 15:1 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.Abide in Jesus. There will be things in your life that He will cut away and sometimes others won’t see what’s going on in our hearts until later, but trust Him. The story He has already written is so much more glorious than anything that has ever come out of Hollywood. Abide in His love. He sees how your story intertwines with others and His desire is that we all spend eternity with Him.
2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.
3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.
6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.
8 "By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.
9 "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.
10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love. (Joh 15:1-10 NAS)
Allow Him to correct, allow Him to show us the things that need to change, follow the script He’s written- no matter what direction it takes you. Trust Him- He knows the big picture, He wrote the script, why would we not want Him to direct our lives?
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