Episode 94 - Roles and Identity as Filmmakers

In this episode of the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast, hosts Jaclyn and Geoffrey Whitt continue their conversation with Aaron Burns. Aaron discusses his experiences and challenges as a writer, producer, and director, highlighting the joys and stresses associated with each role. He speaks about the significance of his identity in Christ and how it helps him navigate the highs and lows of his career, and they have a discussion about the concept of viewing God as the storyteller in your life’s adventure.  Aaron shares about recent and current projects, including 'The Forge,' a movie on discipleship, and 'Jimmy,' a biographical film about the life of actor Jimmy Stewart. 

Highlights Include:

• Aaron's Favorite Role
• The Joys and Challenges of Directing
• Balancing Roles and Relationships on Set
• The Concept of Identity in the Film Industry
• Personal Struggles and Leaning on Faith
• Recent and Upcoming Projects
• he Inspiring Story of Jimmy Stewart
• God as Our Author

Bio:

Aaron Burns is a passionate team leader and filmmaker who brings directing, producing, and business expertise to his projects. Aaron directed BIRTHRIGHT OUTLAW, a western starring Sarah Drew and the adventure film LEGACY PEAK, starring Lucas Black for Sony AFFIRM. His producing credits include the record-setting film BEYOND THE MASK, the #1 box-office hit WAR ROOM, as well as OVERCOMER, LIFEMARK, COURAGEOUS LEGACY, and PENDRAGON. He lives in Michigan with his wife Andrea and five children.

https://burnsco.us/

https://m.facebook.com/burnscoproductions

Jaclyn's Book - In the Beginning, Middle and End: A Screenwriter’s Observations of LIfe, Character, and God https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D9R7XS9V

VIP Producers Mentorship Program https://www.faffassociation.com/vip-producers-mentorship

The Faith & Family Filmmakers podcast helps filmmakers who share a Christian worldview stay in touch, informed, and inspired. Releasing new episodes every week, we interview experts from varying fields of filmmaking; from screenwriters, actors, directors, and producers, to film scorers,  talent agents, and distributors. 

It is produced and hosted by Geoffrey Whitt and Jaclyn Whitt , and is brought to you by the Faith & Family Filmmakers Association

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Jaclyn: 00:00:00

Welcome to the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast.

Jaclyn: 00:00:03

My name is Jaclyn, and Geoff and I are speaking with Erin Burns today.

Jaclyn: 00:00:06

This is part two of our interview, and I would like to start off, asking Erin, what is your favorite role to play in the film industry?

Aaron: 00:00:16

Well, it's a fun question because roles in some ways for me blend together from writer, director, producer.

Aaron: 00:00:25

I've realized that my strength is not in writing screenplays, but I do have a strong story sense, so I love collaborating with gifted writers.

Aaron: 00:00:34

particularly my friend, Justin Strahan.

Aaron: 00:00:36

We've done, several scripts together.

Aaron: 00:00:39

And he is so good with dialogue and so good with rounding out characters and beats and things.

Aaron: 00:00:45

have another friend, Paul, I've written with.

Aaron: 00:00:47

Another friend, Matt, I've written with.

Aaron: 00:00:48

But I love collaborating on the storytelling with people who are particularly gifted in those areas.

Aaron: 00:00:55

I love the element of producing, which is bringing the project from just that seed of idea we talked about before, all the way to the audience.

Aaron: 00:01:05

And I love seeing all the pieces line up.

Aaron: 00:01:07

But then, as a director, as I've gotten to direct two features recently, it is such a joy to be able to sit in the driver's seat.

Aaron: 00:01:16

Of actually telling the story, you know, leading the whole team and doing that.

Aaron: 00:01:20

So it's, probably the most fun, I would say most enjoyable is directly, even though it's the most stressful, but just to be able to be at that storytelling helm is a rare privilege and responsibility.

Aaron: 00:01:32

But honestly, any of those roles.

Aaron: 00:01:35

I take delight in, and for me, the downside to directing is it is so consuming, I have trouble connecting with other people to the same level I would when I'm, when I'm not directing, but I'm just producing.

Aaron: 00:01:48

So when you're on set, Producing, you have the opportunity to go around every day and check in with your team invest in people and build those relationships and those kind of things, whereas when you're directing, you're a little bit more limited, almost talking with your first AD, with your director of photography and your cast, you know, you might have a few other conversations throughout the day with other department heads.

Aaron: 00:02:09

But it's pretty limited, and brain is just going a gazillion miles a second.

Aaron: 00:02:15

Um, I remember, earlier producing, you know, going up to Alex Kendrick at lunch or something like that, and you know, I walk up to him and ask him, Hey, can we chat for a second?

Aaron: 00:02:24

we're in the middle of, you know, uh, making War Room or Overcomer, whatever the movie is.

Aaron: 00:02:29

And I ask a question about like next Tuesday, have this big extra scene, you know, blah, blah, blah.

Aaron: 00:02:34

And he kind of looks at me like a deer in headlights and he's like, uh, let's talk later.

Aaron: 00:02:38

He's so focused on the day.

Aaron: 00:02:39

He has no idea what else is

Aaron: 00:02:41

going on.

Aaron: 00:02:41

And I remember that exact same

Aaron: 00:02:43

thing happening to me I'm on, Legacy Peak, and I'm at lunch, and David, producer comes up to me, and he says, Hey, so for tomorrow, and I hit that pedal in my brain, like, to turn on tomorrow, like, as a producer, that I just have, Kind of access to all of those panels.

Aaron: 00:02:59

And you open up a new spreadsheet.

Aaron: 00:03:01

You look at tomorrow, look at all the details of everything.

Aaron: 00:03:03

And I hit that pedal and I hit it and I couldn't get anything to rev.

Aaron: 00:03:07

My brain was so fried out on today.

Aaron: 00:03:10

I said, David, I have no idea what we're doing tomorrow.

Aaron: 00:03:12

Can you remind me?

Aaron: 00:03:13

So it's, it's interesting how, you know, God's made us with the ability to adapt to different roles.

Aaron: 00:03:19

But I do enjoy them all.

Aaron: 00:03:21

And I just enjoy the collaboration and the teamwork.

Aaron: 00:03:23

That you get to do, any of those roles, uh, as they come together.

Jaclyn: 00:03:28

And how do you bring in your relationship with God into your career?

Aaron: 00:03:34

a, that is a very great and very interesting question.

Aaron: 00:03:37

Um, so a theme that has resonated with me over the years, talk about two themes.

Aaron: 00:03:44

One is the concept of identity.

Aaron: 00:03:47

And going back to, you know, the question, what is your favorite role?

Aaron: 00:03:51

A lot of times as we look at roles, We think of them as part of our identity.

Aaron: 00:03:56

And it, if we're honest, it is, if your name tag says director, you get a different level of respect and response.

Aaron: 00:04:05

Uh, from the people around you than if your name tag says, you know, production assistant or props standby or construction supervisor or whatever.

Aaron: 00:04:13

It's a different role.

Aaron: 00:04:14

If your name tag says producer, it's different than if your name tag says writer.

Aaron: 00:04:19

and as I think about those pieces, it can become addicting.

Aaron: 00:04:24

just the, the rush that I guess you get of adrenaline as you're in those intense situations and you're in the opportunity to lead and have your opinion matter and all those things.

Aaron: 00:04:33

Um, a film set is a very, chaotic, um, you know, hopefully it's organized chaos, but it's, everything is so demanding and so forced and focused that when you wrap production, you go home, life just slows down so much.

Aaron: 00:04:48

And you can, you know, we talk about it with our crews at the end of every project, Hey, make sure that you prepare mentally for the change of pace as you get back and that you have that availability for family, et cetera.

Aaron: 00:04:59

But if those mindsets of one identity of, Hey, I'm a director, I'm a producer, I'm a whatever, becomes your main identity, then you're in serious trouble.

Aaron: 00:05:10

So we explored this theme in the movie, Beyond the Mask, and also, And the Kendrick movie Overcomer of what is our core identity and who are we?

Aaron: 00:05:19

And, for me, that's that I'm a son of the King.

Aaron: 00:05:23

That's my bottom core.

Aaron: 00:05:25

That's who I am.

Aaron: 00:05:26

And any of these other titles that might get added, any other roles that you play are things that are added on to that.

Aaron: 00:05:34

So, for example, right now I'm not directing any movies.

Aaron: 00:05:38

I have some that are in development, but I'm not actively directing them.

Aaron: 00:05:41

So do I get to wear that, badge of director right now?

Aaron: 00:05:44

Um, right now I'm, you know, happily married and I've got five kids, but if, if something happens and my wife and kids are all killed, then are you a dad and a husband anymore?

Aaron: 00:05:56

Or, you know, I had a truck for a few years and then it got too old and died when I was driving a car.

Aaron: 00:06:01

So I'm not a truck owner anymore.

Aaron: 00:06:03

Those different little identities that you wear that make up our personality.

Aaron: 00:06:07

That is true who we are, but we can't Live in those identities.

Aaron: 00:06:12

And we have to let our core identity be who we are as a Christian.

Aaron: 00:06:16

My core identity is that I'm a son of God.

Aaron: 00:06:18

So that, it helps me not have to get out the spatula as often and scrape myself off the floor or the ceiling.

Aaron: 00:06:23

when my identity is I'm a filmmaker, I'm a producer, I make, You know, timeless faith family adventure movies, then when it's not going well, you can, you can get depressed and discouraged and hit despair.

Aaron: 00:06:37

And that's happened to me before.

Aaron: 00:06:38

And when it goes great, all of a sudden you start to think you're the awesome sauce that's made it all happen.

Aaron: 00:06:43

Neither one of those things are true.

Aaron: 00:06:45

when things aren't going well, it's not all your fault.

Aaron: 00:06:48

You're not the worst person ever.

Aaron: 00:06:50

And when things are going great, it's also not all to your credit.

Aaron: 00:06:53

A lot of timing and other people and grace and gifts and, you know, all of the things that came together, it wasn't because of you.

Aaron: 00:07:01

It wasn't all because of you.

Aaron: 00:07:02

So you don't have to take the credit.

Aaron: 00:07:04

You don't have to bear.

Aaron: 00:07:05

The, the shame and the glory for those things, because at the end of the day, your identity is placed somewhere else outside of your career.

Aaron: 00:07:13

So I feel like that to me has been a helpful balancing pivot point, um, to, to try to bring some, uh, measure of thoughtfulness towards how I approach my career.

Jaclyn: 00:07:25

That is amazing.

Jaclyn: 00:07:27

I would encourage people to back the podcast up and listen to that again.

Jaclyn: 00:07:31

that is probably the best advice that I could ever hear and, you know, want people to know because it is so true.

Jaclyn: 00:07:40

At the end of the day, you are grounded in your identity being a child of the Lord because everything else could be taken from you.

Jaclyn: 00:07:51

Anything else could change at any point, but who you are in Christ, that cannot be taken from you.

Jaclyn: 00:07:59

I love that.

Jaclyn: 00:08:00

and just the fact that, you know, the highs and lows are just kind of part of life's journey.

Jaclyn: 00:08:05

There's not anything that you need to take such a degree of responsibility and credit for that, you know, it's going to put you so high or so low because God is already encompassing all of it anyway.

Aaron: 00:08:19

Absolutely.

Aaron: 00:08:20

And I've found that as I lean into that, It allows me to weather those highs and lows with more balance.

Aaron: 00:08:29

There's, um, I'll share briefly.

Aaron: 00:08:31

in 2019 through like 21 were some really rough years for me.

Aaron: 00:08:39

my dad passed away of cancer.

Aaron: 00:08:41

movie was in, uh, the distributor went into bankruptcy and took the profits.

Aaron: 00:08:47

Uh, another project I was working on failed.

Aaron: 00:08:50

Uh, business partner had to quit the industry.

Aaron: 00:08:53

Uh, COVID, you know, hits.

Aaron: 00:08:56

I was having trouble sleeping and that had never happened to me before.

Aaron: 00:08:59

And I looked up like reasons why you might have trouble sleeping and there's like the top seven reasons.

Aaron: 00:09:03

Like, yep, I've got all of them.

Aaron: 00:09:04

we were moving, you know, the world was shut down by a pandemic, of our jobs ended.

Aaron: 00:09:09

we made almost no money in like 2017 and just all this stuff was piled up this massive pile of stressors.

Aaron: 00:09:17

And it was getting to me.

Aaron: 00:09:19

physically, emotionally, and got to the point where I many nights just not sleeping because my heart, keep my body functioning, my heart was racing so fast then it wouldn't let my body sleep and you just get into this really challenging cycle.

Aaron: 00:09:34

And up to that point, I always could rely on myself, like as life is going, you know, going by.

Aaron: 00:09:43

I'm a very reliable person, I tell myself, and I can get things done.

Aaron: 00:09:47

I can think, I can plan, I can talk my way out of the situation or convince other people to whatever, but all of these circumstances were conspiring around me and I was losing my ability to even control myself.

Aaron: 00:10:02

And I remember there's a verse.

Aaron: 00:10:04

where the psalmist says, my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and I portioned forevermore.

Aaron: 00:10:14

And I was at a point where my flesh and my heart were failing.

Aaron: 00:10:17

And I, you know, well, mental health and emotional health and whatever you can, sometimes when you're doing very well, you can look down on other people.

Aaron: 00:10:28

Even subconsciously say, Oh, I'm glad I don't struggle with those things.

Aaron: 00:10:31

But when you're at that moment where your flesh and your heart are failing, it, is extremely challenging.

Aaron: 00:10:37

And it forced me to lean into who I really am and to, to lean into my identity that God is the strength of my heart and my portion and whether I flake out and burn out or whether I get through it and survive.

Aaron: 00:10:53

God is my portion forevermore.

Aaron: 00:10:54

And, you know, there's no easy answers to, some of life's most challenging questions.

Aaron: 00:11:00

but, even as we look at the promises of God, some of his promises, are for, you know, the future, or they're for the people of Israel, or, you're like, which promises apply to me in which circumstance, Lord?

Aaron: 00:11:12

Like, I'm not seeing this right now.

Aaron: 00:11:14

But the promise that always applies to you at every second of every day, in every trial, in every, adventure, is that He will never leave us or forsake us.

Aaron: 00:11:25

And we, we've talked about this before, but, the definition of fear, and faith that I look at is fear is looking into the future, imagining that the worst will happen, and then believing God won't be there with you.

Aaron: 00:11:39

I'll say that one more time.

Aaron: 00:11:40

Fear is looking to the future, imagining that the worst will happen, and believing God won't be there with you.

Aaron: 00:11:44

But, all throughout scripture, there's these commands that say, Don't be afraid.

Aaron: 00:11:50

Don't be afraid.

Aaron: 00:11:51

Don't be afraid.

Aaron: 00:11:51

What is always paired with that?

Aaron: 00:11:53

Why can we not be afraid?

Aaron: 00:11:55

It's because the Lord is with you wherever you go.

Aaron: 00:11:57

It's

Jaclyn: 00:11:58

hmm.

Jaclyn: 00:11:58

He's with us.

Jaclyn: 00:11:59

Yep.

Aaron: 00:12:00

presence.

Aaron: 00:12:00

So whether it's Joshua 1, whether it's the angel talking to Mary or the angel talking to shepherds, you know, do not be afraid.

Aaron: 00:12:08

I have good news for you, Emmanuel.

Aaron: 00:12:11

Or the Lord is with you over and over and over again.

Aaron: 00:12:14

Psalm 23, you know, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because And learning to, trust that even if you don't feel God's presence, you're his son, or you're his daughter, and he loves you more than anything else.

Aaron: 00:12:28

And even as your other titles might change, those things might come and go, he will be with you through those.

Aaron: 00:12:35

Through those valleys and he will eventually he'll strengthen your heart and he'll be your portion.

Jaclyn: 00:12:40

Amen.

Jaclyn: 00:12:42

good.

Jaclyn: 00:12:42

Thank you so much for sharing that.

Jaclyn: 00:12:44

I think that is so important for us to hold on to, and to think about often, especially in this industry where, you know, it's, there's periods of times where we're working hard and everything's going, and then there's periods of time where we're just looking for work.

Jaclyn: 00:12:58

And so it's just this constant kind of push and pull and uncertainty that a lot of us are living with.

Jaclyn: 00:13:04

so.

Jaclyn: 00:13:05

if we are grounded in, the one who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, you know, like that, that is going to sustain us, yeah, absolutely,

Jaclyn: 00:13:14

Okay, let's move forward into what you're working on now.

Jaclyn: 00:13:18

What are you currently working on?

Aaron: 00:13:21

Yeah, so, a lot of exciting things, one of which we finished just a month or so ago and that was, uh, just post production on The Forge.

Aaron: 00:13:30

So that's the Kendrick Brothers movie and it's coming to theaters here in just, I think, a month from today, give or take.

Aaron: 00:13:37

It'll be out, so I had privilege and joy of working on that, and a movie around the theme of discipleship.

Aaron: 00:13:42

It's a follow up to the movie War Room, and just excited to see how God will use that to help inspire us to be making disciples and discipling people in our communities.

Aaron: 00:13:54

The next project that my production company is working on, is, uh, the story of Jimmy Stewart.

Aaron: 00:13:59

So, of course, everyone's seen him from It's a Wonderful Life those things, but I had no idea the man he was, behind the scenes and the journey and adventure that he went through, serving our country in World War II and even into the making of It's a Wonderful Life.

Aaron: 00:14:14

So, just very excited, as we're getting, nearing the end of the development phase, looking to move Into production on that next year, Lord willing.

Geoff: 00:14:21

That sounds very interesting.

Geoff: 00:14:23

tell us just a little bit about the story.

Aaron: 00:14:26

I'll give you a quick overview of Jimmy's story.

Aaron: 00:14:28

So he grew up in small town Pennsylvania.

Aaron: 00:14:33

His dad was a strong, kind of hard nosed Presbyterian guy who taught Jimmy right and wrong.

Aaron: 00:14:38

And he heads off to Princeton, to study architecture.

Aaron: 00:14:42

And graduates right smack in the middle of the Great Depression when there's no work to go around.

Aaron: 00:14:47

So he, naturally joins a group of traveling musicians playing the accordion, on these little And someone kind of notices and says, Hey, that guy's actually a terrible accordion player, but he's decent, as an actor.

Aaron: 00:15:00

So he worked his way up, uh, eventually, to doing shows on Broadway.

Aaron: 00:15:05

And then landed a contract with MGM and fast forward five years later, he wins the Oscar in 1941.

Aaron: 00:15:13

He's on top of the world, but he's lost his way.

Aaron: 00:15:17

he's playing Mr.

Aaron: 00:15:18

Smith.

Aaron: 00:15:19

But he's living, a pretty sloppy, you know, LA lifestyle.

Aaron: 00:15:24

And he looks around says, you know, I don't like the person maybe that I've become, and don't know, who I am anymore.

Aaron: 00:15:32

And I don't want to be fake.

Aaron: 00:15:34

I don't want to be a pretend hero.

Aaron: 00:15:36

I want to do something significant.

Aaron: 00:15:37

So he sees war clouds on the horizon.

Aaron: 00:15:40

He sees the war in Europe.

Aaron: 00:15:41

He had friends over there.

Aaron: 00:15:42

And Uh, and so he'd been a private pilot for years, always had a love of airplanes, so he tries to enlist in the Army Air Corps.

Aaron: 00:15:51

Uh, and eventually kind of battles his way in, just before Pearl Harbor.

Aaron: 00:15:55

but they pigeonholed him flying, training missions in California.

Aaron: 00:15:59

And they said, well, hey, we've got opportunities for you.

Aaron: 00:16:01

This is great.

Aaron: 00:16:02

You can shoot promotional videos for the army.

Aaron: 00:16:04

And he said, no, I don't want to shoot promotional videos.

Aaron: 00:16:06

I want to actually serve.

Aaron: 00:16:07

So they let him eventually go over and he spent two years.

Aaron: 00:16:12

flying bombing missions out of Great Britain and worked his way up to a squadron commander and a full colonel, and he's now, leading 700 airplanes, know, flying his daylight precision bombing runs over Berlin, winning the war.

Aaron: 00:16:27

But losing his soul in the process, as in, you know, in one mission, 13 planes, 130 guys go down, and Jimmy's the one who organized that mission, and now he's the one who's writing letters home, your son, I'm sorry, your son is lost.

Aaron: 00:16:41

And, you know, they call it PTSD now, they didn't really know how to describe it back then, so they would send him off to Flack Happy Camp to try to recover, and he's, so skinny, and losing weight, and can't hold his food down, and deaf in one ear, and going gray, and all of this weight that's just resting on him.

Aaron: 00:16:57

Um, and just before he, he went over, his dad gave him a copy of Psalm 91 and said that he'd be, praying for him.

Aaron: 00:17:03

And Jimmy later writes that it was dad's prayers that got him through the war.

Aaron: 00:17:08

But as he gets home, he's a completely broken man, and Hollywood has moved on.

Aaron: 00:17:13

It's, you know, Jimmy Who, right?

Aaron: 00:17:15

And you don't look like a leading man anymore.

Aaron: 00:17:17

You look like an old, you know, guy who's aged 15 years in the last three.

Jaclyn: 00:17:21

Wow.

Aaron: 00:17:22

So he's, you know, now home at the end of his rope.

Aaron: 00:17:25

and he goes back to MGM and they say, well, look, Jimmy, we'll let you out of your contract and don't worry.

Aaron: 00:17:31

we'll let you off easy.

Aaron: 00:17:32

But there's one movie that we would offer you to make, and it's called Jimmy's War, where you can play a bomber pilot who bombs people.

Aaron: 00:17:39

And Jim said, I can't do that.

Aaron: 00:17:41

So, as he's, just giving up kind of in despair, his old buddy, Frank Capra, who directed Mr.

Aaron: 00:17:47

Smith Goes to Washington, and a couple other movies with Jimmy, was also in the war serving, and he comes and says, Jim, I've got a project for us, and I think this might be just what we need.

Aaron: 00:17:58

To help ourselves out, out of the, you know, the rut we're in and to give hope to our country.

Aaron: 00:18:03

And I want you to play a suicidal father in a Christmas movie about this angel.

Aaron: 00:18:08

He was like, what?

Aaron: 00:18:09

You want me to play what?

Aaron: 00:18:11

And

Aaron: 00:18:11

so, a great pitch.

Aaron: 00:18:13

So he ultimately, he agrees to it.

Aaron: 00:18:16

And he struggles through production, just bearing all the, you know, the demons, of the war with him there, and they're making this movie, and he talks about how Lionel Barrymore, who's playing Mr.

Aaron: 00:18:27

Potter, is mentoring him on the set, you know, in between takes where they're yelling at each other.

Aaron: 00:18:31

Lionel's helping him, and Frank is helping him, and, and Jimmy's channeling all of this into the performance, and you can see the parallels between Jimmy and George Bailey, right?

Aaron: 00:18:41

as these characters are kind of becoming one and Jimmy's pouring himself into this role and he said, he gets to the scene where he's in Martini's bar and he prays, right?

Aaron: 00:18:50

And he says, God, I'm not much of a praying man, but, and he said, in that moment on set, as he prayed that prayer, it became real for him.

Aaron: 00:18:58

And that journey of making it's a wonderful life was the beginning of, his personal healing.

Aaron: 00:19:04

And you see him, from there.

Aaron: 00:19:06

Eventually meeting his wife, Gloria, and adopting her two sons.

Aaron: 00:19:10

And they have these beautiful twin daughters.

Aaron: 00:19:12

And rather than the kind of, um, flirtatious kind of loose guy he was before the war, he marries Gloria and he's faithful to her and just was a wonderful husband and father for the next 45 years.

Aaron: 00:19:24

And he just finishes so well, and you can see the healing that was brought to him, and through that film, the hope and healing that it offers to a broken world every Christmas.

Aaron: 00:19:35

So, when I just, found that story, I couldn't believe that I had no idea about it.

Aaron: 00:19:40

So, we got to know Kelly Stewart, Jimmy's daughter, and have been working to finish the script a bit ago.

Aaron: 00:19:46

just preparing to move into production on that, so it's been a very, rewarding, story to tell and to get to

Jaclyn: 00:19:53

Yeah.

Aaron: 00:19:54

legacy of one of my favorite actors, um, and someone really, like I said, he finished well, and he became the man he was pretending to be know, with a George Bailey or a, um, And just to get to watch that and spend some time in his skin has been a joy.

Geoff: 00:20:10

That's going to be quite a story.

Jaclyn: 00:20:11

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:20:12

And it's interesting, too, how, he played a character in man made stories, but he's actually also or he did play a character in God's story, which is now going to be told through the movie, which you are writing.

Jaclyn: 00:20:26

And I love being able to show God's story.

Jaclyn: 00:20:29

When God is, the author of our lives, like, for us to be able to see how all of that plays out, and sometimes it's really hard to see it when we're looking at, like, just the temporary moment or, you know, maybe we're not far enough in the story to be able To recognize where God is yet or, you know, in different plot points, it's hard because you're like in the throes, but, you know, to be able to see a life like that where you can look back at it and you can see that, God was with him and God was calling him and, and, got him to that point where, you know, God wanted to heal him, wanted to restore him as a man so he could be a father and a husband.

Jaclyn: 00:21:07

just love seeing when God brings it all together.

Jaclyn: 00:21:10

He's an amazing writer.

Aaron: 00:21:12

Yes, he is.

Aaron: 00:21:12

It's something we've talked about before, Jaclyn, my, my favorite.

Aaron: 00:21:16

hard to have a favorite verse or a life verse or whatever, but Psalm 139.

Aaron: 00:21:19

16, David writes, Your eyes saw my unformed body, all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Aaron: 00:21:28

And that idea of God as a storyteller, Um, people get in these conversations as they look at the brokenness of the world and the power of God and they ask questions about, if God was sovereign, is he really loving?

Aaron: 00:21:42

Or if he's really loving, how could he be sovereign?

Aaron: 00:21:44

If he's really good and they ask all these questions and why this pain in my life?

Aaron: 00:21:48

Or why are these different things?

Aaron: 00:21:49

And to me, the lens.

Aaron: 00:21:51

that helps bring the most clarity to those questions.

Aaron: 00:21:54

And honestly to my own, challenges in my life, is thinking of God as the storyteller.

Aaron: 00:21:59

You know, as he writes in that psalm, All of my days were ordained in your book, before one of them came to be.

Aaron: 00:22:05

when we tell stories, I don't sit down and say, I hate my characters.

Aaron: 00:22:08

How can I torture them?

Aaron: 00:22:10

Uh, but also who wants to read a book about a guy who woke up in the morning, brushed his teeth, had a great day, got a promotion at work, had a wonderful dinner with his family, watched a movie and went to bed.

Aaron: 00:22:21

Like that's

Aaron: 00:22:21

not a story.

Aaron: 00:22:22

That's

Aaron: 00:22:22

just a

Aaron: 00:22:23

series

Aaron: 00:22:23

of

Aaron: 00:22:23

facts

Aaron: 00:22:24

. Jaclyn: And no struggle.

Aaron: 00:22:25

No struggle.

Aaron: 00:22:25

A story is an adventure.

Aaron: 00:22:28

You know, I think to Lord of the Rings where Frodo and Sam are journeying towards Mount Doom and they're imagining the legends have been written and and could be written about them.

Aaron: 00:22:38

And Frodo says, you know, I want to hear more about Sam.

Aaron: 00:22:40

when you're in the middle of those struggles and those challenges, that's when your character's being formed.

Aaron: 00:22:46

And that's when a great story is being told.

Aaron: 00:22:47

So I think as a

Aaron: 00:22:50

character in a story, we don't always understand what the author is doing.

Aaron: 00:22:55

We don't understand their motives or where they're going, but to know that it is a loving father, a loving author, who's writing this

Aaron: 00:23:04

and has promised to be with you in your story.

Aaron: 00:23:06

brings me, a great deal of comfort and joy, and it allows you to see the adventure a little bit more as you go.

Aaron: 00:23:14

Doesn't mean it's going to be easy, but I think that, that mindset, can bring some joy along the way.

Jaclyn: 00:23:19

Yes, absolutely.

Jaclyn: 00:23:20

When you know and trust your author, then you know that your story is going to be a good one.

Aaron: 00:23:26

Yep.

Geoff: 00:23:26

Well, this has been such a great conversation, there's so many aspects throughout the conversation that have so much value for our listeners, and I really thank you, Aaron, for delving into some of those deeper, discussions, really appreciate it.

Aaron: 00:23:40

Absolutely, it's my pleasure.

Geoff: 00:23:42

And we'll certainly be looking forward to, The Forge.

Geoff: 00:23:45

well, it's a month, you mentioned, approximately, from the time we're recording, so we'll certainly be looking forward to that and, watching in the future for your, Do you have a title for your film about Jimmy Stewart?

Aaron: 00:23:57

right now we're just calling it Jimmy, so we will see if that evolves, but, his life and his character and putting that on the screen, that's the heart of what it is, so that's what we're calling it for now.

Geoff: 00:24:08

Awesome.

Geoff: 00:24:08

It'll be something to watch for.

Geoff: 00:24:10

Well, thank you for sharing with us today.

Geoff: 00:24:12

I really appreciate your time and, we look forward to connecting with you again

Jaclyn: 00:24:17

Yeah, great conversation.

Aaron: 00:24:18

Thank you guys.

Aaron: 00:24:19

Blessings

Aaron: 00:24:20

to you

Aaron: 00:24:20

all.

Geoff: 00:24:20

And

Geoff: 00:24:21

You

Jaclyn: 00:24:21

You too.