I met with a guy named Bassam today. He is a Bahraini Director. We met as we were both on the jury at the Bahrain film festival. We immediately clicked as he is a true film buff. Interesting story about Bassam, he wanted to be a filmmaker since he was a child. When he was 14 years old, he made his first film on Super 8. There was a new film production company that just opened in 1974, run by a guy named Khalifa Shaheen, called Falcon Cinefoto. Shaheen took the ambitious young filmmaker in and helped him edit his film. Bassam commented that he was in awe of this dashing filmmaker when he was young. He wanted to be like Shaheen. In part, because Khalifa took some time out to mentor this young man…look at the dividends that it helped create. Bassam produced the first feature film made in Bahrain and went onto produce two other films and many television series and commercials. He is one of the few premiere filmmakers on the island. So you never know who you are helping and how it will affect their lives. Now years later, they are both serving as judges on this jury. That little boy that Khalifa helped is now turning out to help Khalifa and his brand new imported colleague from the states. Life has come full circle.
Bassam and I met for three hours today talking about our dreams, passions, works, and goals. I like the guy, he’s just a genuinely nice and intelligent guy. Im meeting so many amazing people over here. Bassam and my aspirations line up together almost perfectly. We both want to do the same thing. This was a divine appointment indeed. We are going to get together next week to tangibly put together some ideas how we can help and work with each other as we develop the film industry here and use it to “change the world.” He has a treatment he is developing now for a true story of this Englishman that lived in Bahrain from 1926-1959. Im angling to write the screenplay. I have to get him a sample of my writing work.
So I say all that to say…My professional dream has always been to write and direct a feature film. That is why I went to Hollywood. I wanted to direct a feature film within 10 years. While I had a modicum of success in Hollywood with biographies and documentaries for television, I never directed a feature like I wanted to. Yet here I am, halfway across the world and my dream is about to come true (within two years). This is not an overnight success story. I still have a long way to go, but I can see all the elements coming together at the right time to make this happen. Psalm 37:4 says Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. I have been delighting myself (with a few missteps) for the last five years. Yet I really struggled with God on this one. I prayed for the reconciliation of my marriage for 3 years up to the morning she got remarried to the new guy. I pleaded with God, “God I’m delighting in you…my desire is reconcile with my wife…why isn’t it happening?” I couldn’t figure that one out…because I know God is faithful, not a liar, and his words are just and true. So why wasn’t I getting the desires of my heart? Then something started happening to me. It was strange…the day she got remarried…I was no longer sad or lonely. I went to bed crying the night before her marriage, and the next night I woke up covered with indescribable peace and full of joy. I felt like I was new man. There is simply no other way to rationally explain what happened to me psychologically overnight. I didn’t do anything externally or tangible…I just went to bed and woke up. But it was through this process I realized…that sometimes God allows the desires of your heart to change. That was the process. God had a plan for me…and that plan did include giving me the desires of my heart, only it was on His terms and not mine. Now as I’m on the brink of professional and emotional success, I can see up ahead, around the bend, that indeed all my dreams are about to come true. God is giving me the desires of my heart. Maybe he didn’t give me then because what he had in the future was even better. I’ve heard it said that sometimes the greatest things in life come from the prayers that God doesn’t answer.
God is faithful. My dreams are about to come true…
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