GOD: Director and Editor

GOD: DIRECTOR AND EDITOR

What’s up ya’ll,

Strange title I know, but it’ll make sense in the end I hope. It came about as I was thinking of the first time I was involved in making a movie. When I was about 15 years old, me and bus load of kids from the youth centers of Norton Air Force Base and March Airfield spent a few days working as extras on a low budget film called “Body Slam”. It starred Dirk Benedict (the dude that played “Faceman” on the T.V. series the “A-Team”) and WWE’s Rowdy Rod Piper. The movie was about a poor excuse for a music manager (played by Dirk) who through a turn of events began managing a pro wrestler (Rod) who he initially mistakes for a musician. Needless to say the flick ended up going straight to video.  But taping the movie was the highlight of my summer.

                You see, coming up I had dreams of being in the entertainment industry either on the big screen or behind the mic… perfected my autograph signature and everything! While I was on the set I was a sponge watching every move of the director, bugging the key grips and audio crew with tons of questions, and interrupting the lunch of whatever actor I saw trying to grab a bite at the catering table. We taped the first two days in a hole-in-the-wall amateur wrestling club in downtime San Bernardino and the last day of taping in the old gym of what was then known as California Baptist College. By the end of each day I knew every line and every que of every take.

                When I finally got a hold of the video a few years later I noticed something odd. The storyline didn’t match the sequence in which it was filmed. It was backwards. All of the footage that was filmed at Cal Baptist was placed towards the beginning of the movie and the stuff we filmed first at the San Bernardino location was placed later on in the film. That was when I had my first introduction to movie production, specifically, the editing process. What didn’t occur to me was that movies are usually filmed from the end first. The director is so acquainted with the script that he doesn’t have to film in terms of sequence of events. Instead he deals with each sequence as pockets or segments of time that will be placed in the order that best tells the story.

The job of placing these segments of time in order belongs to the editor. He meticulously filters through every inch of tape to determine which portions are going to best tell the story. It’s in the editing room that all of the bad takes, audio glitches, bloopers and technical problems are deleted and truncated out of the film. During this process they can determine what’s needed to enhance the story and where to place these enhancements. Every segment of film has a purpose and is placed in order by the editor for the best interest of the film. In other words, the editor does what’s best for the film so that the vision of director can be captured.

As I reflected on this a few days ago I couldn’t help but think of the words that the Holy Spirit penned through the Apostle Paul in this famous passage: “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” Rom.8:28 NLT. It’s such a stress relief to understand that whatever you’re going through, no matter how insanely difficult it is, that it was edited into the film of your life before you were ever born. As it relates to those who love Him and are purposefully called by Him, the fact is God ultimately edited this segment of your life to work for the best interest of the picture He created for your life. He is well aware of your history’s blooper-reel and technical glitches. When you repent He forgives and deletes the bad takes out of your life. And even when the Lord allows those difficult segments to make it in the final cut, isn’t it reassuring to know that He worked out your happily ever after from the beginning of the film?

             Paul is inviting us to remember—in every situation, even the most painful ones—the final result of our lifes’ film. The promise is not that things will always work the way we want them to. Our lives are just the tapes onto which He prints His masterpiece. In many cases, we find that God’s script is quite different than what we hoped, dreamed or even contemplated. But God is a better editor than we are!