About 6-7 weeks ago our Pastor asked for support from our Media Ministry during his trip to Israel. He wanted us to video his sermon on location and upload it back to the states for our congregation to view while he was gone from the pulpit. In this post I will highlight some of the obstacles we faced on our trip.
On March 24th, my producer (Gary Hackney) and I arrived in Tel Aviv, Israel to begin what I call, "A Journey of a Lifetime." The first obstacle we had to overcome was the lack of sleep. On Sunday evening, March 22nd, we began our journey with an overnight flight from Detroit to Amsterdam, followed by a second overnight flight to Tel Aviv. We arrived at our hotel around 4:15 a.m. with a scheduled shoot at 8:00 a.m.
That morning, we drove for 45 minutes in intermittent rain to arrive at our location on top of Mount Carmel overlooking the Jezreel Valley. As we began setting up the video equipment on the observation deck, the wind started to howl, dark clouds were building, and all around us was rain. The second obstacle suddenly became clear--rain. We weren't sure we would get to shoot. In fact, our pastor said later "As you all were setting up the cameras, I just knew it was going to open up and rain all over your gear." It was like God held off the rain just for us to shoot this message. I must admit my producer (Gary Hackney) has the patience of Job when it comes to sticking with the plan and working that plan all the way through. No one is better at that than Gary.
(Side note, We used two Sony's HVR Z1U, 1/3-Inch 3 -CCD HDV. This was my first experience with the Sony Z1u's and they shoot exceptionally well. I was thankful that I had the Z1U's over the bulky Sony HDCAM that I normally shoot with.) Okay, sorry I chased my first rabbit.....
After a quick thirty minute set up , we were ready to roll tape. Right? WRONG! We encountered our third obstacle--large tour groups. The first group walked up to the observation deck and we had to wait for them to leave. Half way through our second attempt, another group arrives. Producer Gary Hackney has an idea. "What if we get pastor to mention that there are groups coming and going as we're recording? Then at the end of the message we could use camera 2 to shoot a couple of shots with the pastor and the tourists in the background."
We shot the first two minutes of the pastor's message looking toward camera 1 and then used camera 2 to shoot a couple of wide shots (the video industry calls this a cutaway). It was amazing--we actually completed the video shoot.
As we began to load our gear back into the van, our tour group arrived and described an unbelievable rain storm complete with hail, rain, and wind. Clearly, God protected us from the storm to ensure that His Word would be taught and shared.
My trip to the Holy Land was life-changing for me. God used all of the details of it to teach me more about Him and His plan for my life. It's clear that Day 1 alone taught me not to focus on the obstacles in my life or path. I need to view them as opportunities to overcome. So do you.
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