IT’S 2008: GOD IS GREAT! My Winter Photos of the Tetons Part 1
Part One:
My first feature article is a comparison of two vacations I took to Grand Teton National Park. The first was in January 2008, and the other was my trip to the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks last June (2019). To make this story more readable for my audience, as well as, allowing for more photographs, I have broken it down into six parts spaced over five days. The beginning of this article may seem strange to some of you, but if you will bear with me, the reasoning will be quickly apparent.
In 2007, a friend at work let me watch Facing the Giants for the first time. We had been talking about inspiration movies, and I had let him borrow my copy of Rudy, a movie about a young man whose greatest desire was to play football for the University of Notre Dame. After watching his version of a great football story, I went to return the DVD, but he told me that I could keep it. It wasn’t until later that I watched the flip side of the disk. This was the side that had all the extras on it. Included in those extras was the making of the film. This was where they explained why a church in southern Georgia decided to make the film.
In order to reach their youth, members of the Sherwood Baptist Church of Albany, Georgia wanted to make a movie so the minors of that church could learn more about God and Jesus. Since they did not have a large budget, the decision was made to film it themselves, using mostly church members as the cast.
As any adult may know, trying to reach out to a teenager can be difficult. Let’s face it, every one of us were once juveniles, and as such, were so sure that we knew everything. It’s no different now than at the dawn of the ages; only life’s experiences really teach anything. So, the leaders of this church tried a new tactic. They made a movie. It was about a fictional high school and its football coach and team. But it was more than just that. It was about life’s journey and how accepting Christ can change one’s perspective. Their reasoning was youngsters like to watch movies, so the decision was made to make a movie about God and Jesus. This way, those children could learn in a practical day-to-day experience about how accepting Christ can change our lives. Sherwood is not a large church with the big bucks that a Hollywood Studio such as Paramount or MGM has so they did it themselves. In fact, most of the cast were members of the church’s congregation, such as head coach, Grant Taylor who was portrayed by Associate Pastor Alex Kendrick.
The whole idea was to convey that we serve God. God doesn’t serve us. And it’s through Jesus, that we receive salvation. God has a reason for everything. We don’t always know what that is. That’s okay, because God does. As Coach Taylor said, just before making a big announcement to his team, “I want you to know that I serve a big God, and he can do whatever he wants to do, however he wants to do it.” One day, in fact, a storm was coming in as the actors were trying to finish filming a scene. No one thought they would be able to get it in, but, after many prayers, the rain stopped. According to Kendrick they could see the rain coming down on the other side of the street. But it wasn’t showering on them.
This was the first film, by the Sherwood Church, in which they had a real theatrical release. The Kendrick brothers, Alex and Stephen (who co-wrote the story with Alex) had previously made a movie called Flywheel, which was about a used-car salesman. Alex Kendrick had the leading role as the owner of a used-car lot. He was, as in all the stereotypical used car jokes that we hear, a very devious and conniving person. Kendrick portrayed, what we think of as, the typical dishonest used car salesman. That is until he finally found God, and this changed his whole outlook on life. The same thing happened in Facing the Giants. It was only after Coach Taylor “got right with God” that his life turned around. Frustration set in, however, as the church could not find anyone that was willing to release the movie theatrically. Finally, just like in the movie, when they decided to put it in God’s hands, the people at Sherwood got a call.
The call was from a music studio whose parent company was Sony. Despite not even calling them, the giant conglomerate wanted to release the film theatrically. Thus, on September 29, 2006, Facing the Giants was released at a small number, only 441, of screens across the United States. Despite this, and with a cost of only about $100,000 to produce, the film made over $10 million dollars even though it received bad reviews. One thing that I distinctly remember from watching the flip side of the DVD, was a man talking about how he first came to see the movie. This guy was a big shot and he had promised to watch a screening of the film. I don’t know if he was with Sony or someone else, however, as the day approached, he regretted his decision. He told his secretary that he wanted her to call him, about fifteen minutes into the screening, and say that he had an urgent call. This would allow him to get out of watching the rest of the movie. Despite his misgivings he quickly became enthralled in the story, and when she called, he said very loudly “Not now, I’m busy,” and then hung up. Or something along that line. As in all things, God has a reason for everything.
This movie, Facing the Giants, had a huge impact upon my life. It changed the way I think about God, about how I worship God and even how I live. Now I want to read the Bible on a daily basis. I want to pray, more and more, each day. My relationship with God is closer than it has ever been, even when I went to church regularly. The next part of this article will show you how faith can move mountains, or at least the clouds that are covering them.
