Ecola- My Place of Ghosts

I haven't really gotten into the time I spent at Ecola Bible School during the 2010-2011 school year on this blog yet. And I figure the best time to do so is now, as I am currently spending the last overnighter here in Cannon Beach for what will probably end up being years to come.

Ecola Bible School is a small post high school Bible school located in Cannon Beach, OR, which is on the northern coast of the beautiful state of Oregon, where I grew up. I first heard about Ecola in 4th grade when my teacher, Mr. Wood, told us that he had attended there. I was again exposed to the school in high school when my some of my camp counselors at high school summer camp had gone there. Finally, my pastor's daughter Allison Fletcher went after high school as well. After that, I visited a couple times, where I attended one of Darrin Ratcliff's 'Life of David' classes, and on the second trip, was exposed to the 'Personal Disciplemaking' classes. After these two trips, I was sold.

In October of 2010, I started my 7 month adventure at Ecola. The first thing I remember about that first day was meeting Josh Duff, who knew me, where I'd come from, and what I liked to do, right off the top of his head. That blew my mind. Then after registration, I went up to my dorm. I was in Ad Dorm 6 with Keith Mast, an awesome guy from Pennsylvania. We went around the campus trying to meet people and ended up at Anchorage Dorm, where I met Kirill Gillis, a homie from LA. Soon we made it to the rec room, where I met my first female, Jordan Preston, who was awesome! That night, I remember going to the welcoming time and sticking close with my new roommate and these two guys from Montana named David Hughes and Kent Weaver, who I thought were completely awesome and I knew that I wanted to be their friend. After that awkward ceremony, a bunch of us gathered in the parking lot to get to know each other. This group became 'The Circle Group', which slowly went away as the weeks went because people would find their niches. The 'Circle' was where I met Eliza Sang and Jessica Reif, two awesome girls I would remain friends with until now.

Ad Dorm would become a very close group. I soon was friends with David and Kent, and became friends with a guy down the hall named Benton Trerise. David, Benton, and I would be a tight group throughout the year, as well as in the future (as in now).

The classes at Ecola are life changing, and the growth you experience is driven by the fact that everyone around you in growing too. It's a greenhouse for spiritual growth, as you are protected from the outside world as you are there. Spending 4 1/2 hours in a classroom a day learning about God! There's no other experience like it! And getting two new teachers every week made the perspectives on God and His Word so great! They say 7 months at Ecola is like sitting through 20 YEARS of sermons in church. 20 YEARS!!! :)

First term for me was the term that God started to work on me, showing me the places I needed to change. The second term was blissful. Everything I wanted. Third term was the term that God took that bliss away from me and broke me, which I am so thankful for!

When I went to write this, I was hoping to cover Ecola. But I can't. What I have written here doesn't even scratch the surface. I didn't even get to Tim Meyers, Zach Ricks, Baylee Hofman, David Spencer, Matt Gunderson, Nikki Parsons, Danielle Johnson, Kylie Marble, Cameron Nohl, Jessica Brooks, and so many others, not to mention my Ecola Team, Matt White, Katie White, Rhianna Moriarty, and Lisa Matz, all of whom I didn't know when I met them! It is stunning to think back on all of what has happened in the last year and a half. I am a completely different person than I was when I started 14 months ago, and am even a different person from who I was when I left this place 4 months ago. I wish I could just write everything down for you, so that you may understand what I am talking about, but I can't. I wish I could get it all back, yes. I do. But I also realize that God is working in me to prepare me for whatever future He has planned for me.

I have many ghosts in this little town of Cannon Beach. Every important thing and almost every important person that has altered and set into motion the course of my life at present happened here. I walk around and the ghosts of amazing memories are everywhere all the time, which is bittersweet.

I can't wait to be reunited with my friends, all together in one place. How I long to hold everyone's hands as we stride into the New Jerusalem when Christ returns! Until then, my brothers and sisters, keep fighting the good fight, keep running the race, striving to love God more and more with each breath.

Revelation 22:20- "He who testifies to these things says, 'Yes I am coming soon.' Amen. Come Lord Jesus."

A Christmas Eve Reminder From God

Tonight is Christmas Eve as I write this. Christmas has always been a special time of year for me. It's always been the time of year that life just feels right, and it feels even more so this year, as this is the first time I've been home in a while.

Tonight, I had the opportunity to watch "The Soloist" for the first time. It's the story of an LA Times reporter who finds a homeless man who is an amazing musician, but has an incredibly hard life since he has schizophrenia. The movie does an amazing and artful job of portraying the world of the homeless. Now, I am not here to give a political, social, or judgmental view of the homeless. No. I'm just saying that it exists and that I have been moved by a film about said people, and I want to share that with you all on this Christmas Eve.

I am thankful that God chose this night to remind me of what Christmas is all about. Obviously I have been thinking about what it means, since it's the time of year that we think about the amazing breadth and width of how much God loved us to send His Son to die in our place. But it has been a bit crowded out by the business and family and whatnot. So God wanted to remind me using the mode that gets my attention the most: Film.

My prayers go out to the many homeless in the world tonight. Those without family or a roof, those without clothes, those without a "Merry Christmas". "The Soloist" said that there are 90,000 homeless in the LA area alone, which breaks my heart. I know that most churches have homeless ministries out there all over, but from my experience, only a few per church are really involved each week. What are we really doing to help these people in need? In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus says that we will have to answer for the deeds we do or do not do here on Earth, for what we do or do not do for our fellow man. I want to be Jesus to as many people as possible (in "Christianese", to "be Jesus" to someone is to reflect who He is to the people around us. Just wanted to make sure you didn't mistake my language for wanting to be God...). So what will I do to make sure this happens for this next new year? It's a question that I will grappled with for the duration of it. What I do know is that if I ask God for an opportunity, I'm sure He will gladly give it to me.

There is a rule in film: Either you can make a movie that says something meaningful, or you can make a popular movie. Great right? It's annoying. But I want to make sure I use the films I make for good, to say something meaningful. Ya, I'll probably make some stuff that's just fun to watch and go along with too, but I really do want to make things with a message. And I pray to the opportunity to do so.

And thus by writing this blog, I become a hypocrite. I write about what I can do, instead of actually going out there and doing something. That's something I want to change for the future. I have lived in two areas of high homelessness, sure. But I have been blessed beyond anything, and consider myself officially spoiled. So I want to use those blessings in my life and spread them around. It will be interesting to see where God takes me this year. This last year has involved so much growing, experiences, and fun, so I'm so excited for this next one! :D

SMT, Part 7= Five Mile Lake- God Chooses To Use Us

Well, here I sit, at the Grand Rapids Airport, waiting for my flight back home to Portland, OR for the holidays. It's amazing to think back, to last year at Ecola, to SMT, and to first getting here to Grand Rapids, MI back in August. I have learned so much about the film business, how life works, and who I am and who I'm going to be. I am sad that it's taken me this long to chronicle my adventures this summer, and I'm noticing that they are getting shorter and shorter as time goes, since I'm loosing the detailed memories slowly as life goes on. But here goes!

After we left Pinecroft, we headed back to western Washington to our next camp, Five Mile Lake. When we left the camp, we found out that it wasn't a good weekend for us to stay with Kaylyn Brown again, so we had to find a place to stay. But God is so cool! It was during this week that I started talking with Jessica Brooks, a classmate from Ecola. It turned out that her dad was the speaker scheduled to speak at Five Mile that week! So we asked her if we could stay at her house. Her and her dad said yes, and we made our way to Silverdale, WA and we stayed two nights there. On Saturday, (after I felt sick for the first and only time on the entire summer trip) we met up with the other SMT group, which was AMAZING and just what we all needed. We then spent the afternoon at the Tacoma Mall almost dying, shopping, and just enjoying each other's company. The previous 2 1/2 weeks had solidified our friendships and "sibling-ship" like it had never been before. So to be able to just hang out with Katie, Lisa, Rhianna, and Matt was a blast! :) That evening we went and did laundry. That was good, but it was what happened afterwards that was so incredible! We went out to the van with our laundry, where we saw a girl on the phone, yelling and swearing at someone (whom we later deducted to be her girlfriend). We prayed for her and got in the van. We sat there for a second, everyone knowing we needed to do something. The girls got out and asked her if she needed a ride or help or something, while Matt and I prayed. Next thing we know, she had said yes, and we were driving her home. We talked about who she was and who we were and told her about God. It also turned out that she knew Jessica Brooks!  So we dropped her off at her house and found out that she worked at Dairy Queen, so we made a plan to visit her the next day.

The next day was Sunday, so we went to the Brook's church, where a sermon wasn't given, but a Q and A time, which was so amazing! After church, we got our stuff and headed to Dairy Queen, where we ate lunch and gave our new friend (who's name escapes me... I have it written down, but it's in my luggage.) I also got a call from my grandpa, which was great to hear from him :)

So we made our way to Five Mile Lake camp in Federal Way. I'll never forget driving up and Rhianna screaming, "This was the camp I went to as a kid!!" Great moment :) Anyways, we settled in and started to get to know the other counselors. We immediately realized that the staff there were less than... grown in the Word, which would make the rest of the week tough for all of us. The campers showed up on Monday morning. I had 4 campers, Andrew, Darien, Garret, and Eli, and a CIT. The camp was run by two guys who had gone to Ecola in 1999 and 2000, which was cool. But the rest of the camp was a huge struggle for me. I was so tired, but I had to give my all, so I did. I had tons of fun playing night games and ultimate frisbee, and putting together the air band mock thingy we did for the final night. Chapel was good too. I enjoyed listening to Jessica's dad speak.

The final night was the biggest struggle for me. What usually is the call to the kids to fall in love with Jesus turned into a crying/emotion fest. Should I be saying things like this? Well, I'm just calling it as I saw it. BUT, I'm not putting God in a box. I'm completely sure that God used that night in many kids' lives, and have grown closer to God because of it.

After the week ended, we took off towards central Oregon to our next camp!

This was the week that I realized a solid truth: God chooses to use us. He doesn't have to. It is within His power to share the Gospel with the world all by Himself, but He wants us to participate in His will, so He uses us in powerful ways. That week, I felt that I wouldn't have an effect, let alone all the rest of the staff. But we did! We all did! I don't understand why. I don't. All I can say it is that God works so powerfully as He pleases, and I thank Him for that!

I hate that I remember more specifics from the weekends than I do from the actual camps. But I'm doing the best I can. If you have the desire for me to get deeper into my experiences, come to me personally. :)

It's good for me to think back on the events of this summer... It reminds me where I've been, and where I should be aiming to go. I desire to fall more and more in love with Jesus everyday, so please remember me in your prayers, that I would seek His face at all times and desire to do His will.

This is John Friend, signing off. God Bless!

"The Day The Movies Died"- what do YOU think?

Read this article, then we can talk.

The Day The Movies Died - by Mark Harris

As you all probably know, I am currently going to film school. As I am doing such, I am learning a lot and forming a lot of opinions. But I do want to keep in touch with the "outside" world.

So what do you all think about this article? Please leave your ideas below :)

Small, But In Training

Tonight has been a strange yet enlightening night.

Have you ever truly felt so aware of who you are on a spiritual level that you feel confined in your body, like you need to burst forth from it in order to become what God fully intended us to be? (Gen. 1:27) Or have you been so aware of your humanity that you suddenly became aware how utterly small you are compared to God? (Job 38) Tonight, I felt both of those, only at the same time.

For some reason during my life, I haven't been able to fully recognize that I am very small. It's so hard to do so when all you see in your life is your point of view. It's natural to assume that you are all that matters. But tonight, I finally cracked a little bit of that assumption, and only by the grace of God. God is too big for us imagine! And we can only begin to tap away the me-centric view that we are all naturally born with. But once we begin the journey with Christ as Our Lord, as Aslan says in 'Prince Caspian': "As you grow bigger, so will I." As we grow, our view and recognition of God's bigness grows as well.

Beyond that, I also felt so entrapped in my feeble body, like I wanted to explode out of it, literally and figuratively.

Literally, I was aching to jump out of my body and just get into God's arms! I thank Him that He took the time to write a longing for eternity on our hearts. (Ecc. 3:11) Which got to me to thinking, if we long for a place, Heaven, that we've never been, how much more incredible is it that God humbled Himself into a man and walked this earth for 33 years knowing full well the place He had left in order to live, suffer, and die for the sins of all of us feeble pathetic creatures known as humans. How incredible is that? How often, as He was just as human as God at the time, did he go out on evening walks along the Sea of Galilee and just long to be in Heaven with His Father once again? How much did His feeble body ache to be in that place again? I can't imagine how amazingly hard that must have been! (Phil. 2:5-11)

But figuratively, I'm feeling the same way. I feel as though I am trapped in this time of my life. I want to be out in the world making movies! School is great, and I know I have to go through this time of my life in order to move on, but I am just so intensely longing to GET OUT THERE!!! Now, I know I use Smallville and Superman's journey way too often, but he is so incredibly relatable to me. I feel like an alien (John 15:19), am supposed to be more than just some guy (Jer. 29:11), and desire to show off the glory of my Father who created me, to wear His symbol on my chest to show the world who the God is that I serve (Ps. 34:1). I want to fly to great heights and show the world who God is! But I am still in my dark training phase, where I am learning who I am and who I need to be and what I need to know and what skills I need to develop in order to be effective as a man and filmmaker, if that is what God so desires me to do, which I'm confident He does. But that is why I keep a Superman cape that I got from Benton Trerise on the corner wall of my room: to remind me that it's not yet time, that I have so much to learn as of yet.

God is doing some amazing things in my life! He has started off my life outside of my childhood at Ecola Bible School so that I would learn the basics of what it means to follow Christ, He started off my year at film school slow and light, and is about to test me and build me this next term as I take up my first official position as Producer. From there, I don't know where God will take me, but what I do know for a fact is that God is in complete control of my life, has been from the very beginning, and always will be. God is training me up for something. I don't know if it's big or small, but it will be what He planned for me from the very beginning, from the very foundations of the Earth.

Fear- Proverbs 1:7

Last night, I had the opportunity to go to an abandoned building in Grand Rapids and explore it. This 10 or so story building lies virtually empty, right in the middle of the cityscape, probably due to some economic trouble, as we've all observed over much of our nation. The building was big, empty, and abandoned. Now for those I was with, it was extremely unnerving to be in such a big place with all of those nooks and crannies, not knowing what loomed in the darkness. But for me, it didn't really bother me at all. And I don't know why. It should have, but it just didn't.

I stopped fearing things around the time of the summer after my sophomore year. I like to say that dealing with girl "stuff" at the time scared the fear right out of me, because it was right at that point, after a "potencial relationship scare", that I stopped fearing things for the most part, except heights of course. But ever since then, fearing the unknown just hasn't been a problem for me. That may be why I like horror movies now, because they are manufactured to create fear, a fear I haven't felt in 4 years. I miss that thrill of being freaked out of your mind, no matter how strange that may sound.

Which brings me to an interesting realization: Proverbs 1:7. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." The American way of thinking about this verse is very much dumbed down. We tend to explain the fear in this verse as being "reverence", but I just don't see that as the case. Whenever we read about prophets in the Old Testament seeing God, they fall flat on their faces because they are SCARED OUT OF THEIR MINDS!!! So often, we feel that we can go to God as a buddy and just ask Him for whatever we want. Which to a degree, is true! Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, we have the right to come into the presence of God to be with Him, because He wants to be with us. But we have to remember that this is the God of the universe we are talking to! And He is HOLY HOLY HOLY (it's said three times each in Revelation for a reason). When we are told to fear God, that's exactly what we should be doing! We are unclean creatures coming to a perfect God for help. I am so thankful this Christmas season that I have a God that, even though I am a sinner and continue to sin everyday, over and over, He accepts me where I'm at and continually helps me through the days, grabbing my hand when I fall.

In Isaiah 41:10 and 13, it says: "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.... For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you." The God whom we should be scared out of our minds to even approach loves us so much, He promises to uphold us. I love that in those two verses, God says with His right hand He will hold our right hand, which is what a loving Father does for His children: helps them from behind so that they may stand strong, or at least learn to stand strong. He tells us not to fear, talking of fearing the world.

In Luke 12:4-5, Jesus says, "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after killing the body, has the power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him." Jesus tells us that it is God we should be fearing, not this world, for it is God who has the power to throw us out of His presence and into hell.

I am so thankful that He loved us so much, that He provided a way out of that eternal damnation. I am also thankful that one day, I get to experience the full on fear of being in the presence of a holy God that loves me, despite how unclean I have made myself in this lifetime.