Is God Fair? part 2/Why I Write

Yesterday, May 20, 2010, I handed over a parcel containing a script for a comedy titled “Strawberry Fields for Now” to a Post Office clerk. That package is on its way to the Virginia Screenwriting Competition in Richmond. I sent a previous script titled “Feeding Jesus” to this same competition last year. I didn’t make the cut, but got some very helpful feedback that I used to improve the story. “Feeding Jesus” is currently at the Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting; the Super Bowl of screenwriting competitions. You know when they hand out Oscars and the recipient gushes, “I want to thank the members of the Academy…,” well, the Academy sponsors this competition. If I even make the first cut and get into the quarterfinals, I’d be ecstatic.

Getting back to “Strawberry Fields”, I first started writing SFfN around December of 1997. It’s taken THIRTEEN years to finish it (or rather, to finish the current draft (#12)). You see, for many years, I'd tinker with it for a day or two, and then put it away for “later”. On more than one occasion, I almost threw it away. It wasn't until I got serious about writing that I really got anything done to it.

I got serious about writing when I got mad about local politics. “Feeding Jesus” was born out of my anger towards the discrimination that many immigrants (both legal and illegal) faced in my town a few years back. Anger is rocket fuel, and I used it to propel my rear into my chair and my fingers across the keyboard. Finishing "Feeding Jesus" gave me the momentum I needed to go back and restart SFfN. “Feeding Jesus” also gave me the impetus to begin writing my weekly blog.

What has anger moved you to do?

In the Gospel of Mark we find the following interaction:

“Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand. Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched him closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath.

Jesus said to the man, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” Then he turned to his critics and asked, “Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?” But they wouldn’t answer him.

He looked around at them angrily and was deeply saddened by their hard hearts. Then he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored! At once the Pharisees went away and met with the supporters of Herod to plot how to kill Jesus.” Mark 3:1-6 NLTse

Did you catch that? Jesus got ANGRY, but instead of using His anger to destroy, He channels it to heal the man (Thanks Rob Bell for this great insight!).

Anger can be very destructive or it can be used for healing. God channeled my anger into developing the discipline of writing consistently. Two scripts, a weekly blog, and a children’s book dealing with a child abandoned by her father, are the result…so far.

We sometimes feel helpless against problems our world faces. There are some things that are out of our control such as when a natural disaster might strike, or coming down with a disease or disability. However, we CAN work together to make things better. There are situations all around us that are patently unfair; Injustice and hunger are just two out of a very long laundry list. “Why does God let this continue?”, we sometimes think. What is it that makes you mad? Might God be whispering in your ear, “I want something done about this and I want YOU to do it”?

The tools to transform the world as we seek to bring about His Kingdom are there for us to use. Once again, the resources are there.

What makes you mad? What are you going to do about it?

Joe