My Fortune, God's Timing
I became a Christian back in 1994. I was a life Scout and up for my Eagle Scout award. In order to complete the application I needed a signature from my religious leader. So I went to church my sophomore year one Sunday morning with a friend and then I was only going to go two or three more times and then get the youth pastor to sign my application and I would never darken the door steps of the church again. But after that first Sunday, I felt really different. I went back a couple more Sundays and then gave my life to Christ. It wasn't until about a month or two before my 18th birthday that I felt worthy enough to earn the signature from my youth pastor. I did receive my Eagle award May 1997. I began attending Lake about 11 years ago, and I was the president of The Bridge class for almost three years. Last April, my wife and I decided to join Fidelis, a group for young marrieds. We have also helped with community dinners in the past, and partnered with the STARS program and Union Rescue Mission on a regular basis.
For the past 10 years, I have had the amazing experience of being with thousands of people and their families when they received large sums of money. Life changing money. A few of them even got over a million dollars. What amazingly optimistic line of work provides me with these consistent "mountain top" experiences? It is my job with Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. As audience coordinator, I have the privilege of working with the contestant's family and friends, VIP's, and regular ticket holders.
I've talked to the players who have tried to save enough money to pay for adoption fees but couldn't seem to make it, until they won Wheel of Fortune. People that wanted to win enough money to repay school debt or buy a car for a parent who always sacrificed the "good" vehicles for them so they could get to work or school. I've talked to people who always wanted to go back to school but couldn't afford it, but now could. Several people even saved their homes from foreclosure with the money. Every once in a while you'll get the person who just wants to squander it away on frivolous things, but hey it's their money and their life. But overall, the people that come on the show and hope to win lots of money, usually have a noble cause they want to use their winnings for.
Behind the scenes is just as amazing. We are lucky enough to have Harry Friedman as an Executive Producer. He absolutely creates and maintains a culture of family while striving for entertainment excellence. Harry fosters the "we are more than a team, we are family" mantra on a daily basis.
One of the biggest challenges in my life is balancing my career and family life. In the film and television industry you're always jumping from job to job and trying to find work and when you finally do find work it could be that you may be working 15 to 18 hours a day for weeks at a time and never see your family. It could also mean that you are out of work for weeks at a time and are always having to budget differently and such. We are about to start saving for a house which is very hard because you never know whether you're going to be working or not and can meet the mortgage payment. Another challenge is being a Christian on set. Because most people in the world have already made up their opinions on what they think of Christians. So I try to be Jesus to these people and let them see Him through me, and not all the baggage I carry.
I want them to see that yes, I'm human, I make mistakes, but the Creator of the universe whom I follow and trust with all my heart is just and holy and righteous. As a human being, I know I will fall short, but in the midst of my shortcomings I want them to see Christ through me. My goal is for them to see the real Jesus and not who they think He is based on perceptions from the media, or for example those Christians who told them they are going to hell without speaking words to them in love. For God so loved Hollywood that he gave his only son not that Hollywood may be condemned but that Hollywood may be saved through Him.... and that is the message that I try to convey through my life on a daily basis. There are also several Christians who work on the crew of the show and consistently are the hands and feet of Jesus on the set. Whether it is praying for and with a coworker or just speaking a kind word to someone, there is always something being done to advance His kingdom.
God has been teaching me His time is not necessarily my time. Being an American, we want instant gratification and instant answers to our prayers. We want to have it now and the way that we want it, but God doesn't work like that. His timing is perfect and holy. His answer is rarely early, but is never late. With that being said, when I hit my mid 30's, I have had a constant dialogue with God about the desires He puts on my heart when I have not yet realized their full potential. I keep telling God I'm not getting any younger and if He is not going to honor the desires that He put into my heart and bring them to fruition, then to please take it away and replace them with something else. He continually shows me glimpses of those realized desires and brings back memories of the way that He has been answering those prayers. Satan has a way of blinding us from remembering the amazing things that God has done in our past. We have to make a conscious effort to think about the blessings that God has bestowed upon us each day. So when I am quick to question God's answering of my desires He brings to mind many ways that He has brought to fruition those desires and really humbles me. His grace and mercy are new every morning and He continually shows me that.
As much as I enjoy working for these two amazing shows, I have this burden from God to create children's books and animations based upon those books. Being a Co-Founder of You-Nique Productions, I want to strive to fulfill our mission of bringing Biblical truth and morality in a non-obtrusive way to the young people of today. We have one book already available on Amazon called Charlie The Short Necked Giraffe. It is about a young giraffe that was born with a short neck and learns to find his purpose and embrace how God has created him. Our next book coming out in the near future is called Dragon Season and it talks about the theme of adoption. Just like the dragon was adopted by a family of rabbits in this book, we are all adopted into God's family. As Pastor Greg says, and I believe wholeheartedly, Lake Avenue Church is made up of thousands of people in an unlikely family. As we continue to strive to be a Revelation 7:9 church, I want to take that same message to the youth through my love of storytelling and animation.