....to dance in the sun...

Sun+dance. Other than my mom and bacon, there are not two things I like more than the Sun and dancing. In a few days (wed) I will get on a flight to go to Park City, Utah for the last half of the Sundance Film Festival. I will be going with a group from LA made up of writers, actors, documentarians, producers and others involved with the film industry. The quaint city of Park City with it's highs in the 20s and lows in the single digits will host our group for three days of watching movies, discussing movies, attending parties, networking, standing in lines for more movies, eating while running between theaters, sleeping very little and hopefully laughing and learning ALOT.

"So Bradley just goes off to these things because he is that cool, huh?"

I assure you of two things:
1) Yes.
2) I was invited by a friend of mine who is heading up our "cultural leadership summit"

Our purpose is not only to do all the aforementioned, but to find a way as Christians to be relevant and speak a "new language that is quite non-religious." How do we take one of the most prolific and popular methods of storytelling and speak truth and redemption into the lives of the audience? How do we be cultural leaders within this media?

One thing my pastor said recently in a sermon regarding Luke 19: 11-27 talking about using your minas (abilities, gifts, talents) is that if we are good at being pastry chefs, our job is "not to make (only) croissants in the shape of the Virgin Mary." We are to be the best at what we do in order to glorify God. I loved this illustration (because I was hungry)! I think this is a great picture of what I want to be doing in LA and the entertainment industry. I am here to use my gifts to the the top of their potential, not for better "Jesus films" but for better films that speak truth. Movies that matter. All truth is God's truth. Romans 11 says, "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen."

I must say I am learning so much about how much little I know about God. There is great confusion and yet great clarity simultaneously. All I can do is submit to Jesus' words in the garden before being taken, "not my will but yours be done." Those words are the hardest and most powerful words I can imagine saying. I have felt that difficulty recently in my life with relationships, career stuff and just life. It always seemed so neat on that felt board in Sunday school. It is so much messier than that when you are pounding the ground and weeping because you know that it's not about your will and you CAN relinquish control to our God.

That was a tangent.

Sorry.

So I am heading to change the world. Cool.

Pray for this this time:
1) I'll learn
2) I'll further my career
3) I'll be warm

Thanks