Last Saturday, Emily Kreutz and I were deep in discussion about the possibility that neither of us would go to India for the graduation. We started wondering if the story we’re telling with Breaking the Cycle is much bigger and broader than the graduation of one school. Kicking around ideas about going on our own later this year or just going for next year’s graduation, and some of the benefits those options would afford us, we found ourselves at peace with the idea of staying behind, particularly with the amount of stress it lifted from our shoulders.
By Sunday Monday night, Emily had composed a list of reasons to go and not to go. We talked it through on Skype, and in the end I told her I thought she should go. Plans were set into motion for how she would go about production on her own, with general help here and there from other people going for the graduation. I was completely surrendered to the idea of not going, and I began planning what I would do to help her (loaning her all my camera equipment, my Kata bag, hard drives, etc). However, toward the end of the Skype call, I decided to take a look at what money I had coming in, what invoices I would be sending out soon, and what donations had come in.
I soon realized that there was a possibility that I could actually possibly afford to go after all. I contacted a client and asked how fast I could get paid for my next invoice (which at the moment will be sent off Monday or Tuesday). It turned out that was not going to show up fast enough to go toward my trip. As the week went on, people started asking if I was going or not, and in the process offering gifts in the hundreds of dollars if I did end up going.
By Wednesday, I laid out where I was in the whole process at our Wednesday night bible study, and people began asking specifically how many dollars I needed and when. Lori Taylor, who has led these trips almost every year for the past 9 years, pointed out that as long as my job hunt hasn’t turned anything up by now, I might as well go. I made a spreadsheet and it turned out I would be short $870 prior to the trip, which was less than half of the total trip cost. I figured that if any kind soul would be able to front the money for my ticket, I could pay them back about half before the trip, and the rest after the trip, and still be able to keep up on my bills just fine.
Right about the time last night that I decided I’d try to get a small short-term loan (at which point I was feeling like I was forcing the whole thing too much), I received a text informing me that a certain teammate would put my ticket on their credit card to make sure I could go, and allow me to pay them back.
So by 6:00 tonight, Emily and I had matching itineraries booked, and on March 4th, we will set off for the second overseas shoot for Breaking the Cycle.
This was a week of great uncertainty, and I saw God at work through the people around me. Even after I had reasoned my way out of going, I now find myself being sent to India a third time. Last year, my funds came in in the nick of time. I trusted that such a thing could happen again, but I was brought to the point of surrendering any personal reasons for wanting to go and letting it all go. This has resulted in a much deeper rejoicing in the fact that I now get to go. I have more motivation than before to produce my absolute best work on this trip. I am thankful beyond measure for the people around me–you each know who you are.
And hey, I get to leave this snowy mess for a couple weeks and enjoy some of this

Now if you will excuse me, I have a bunch of roto to still finish up this weekend, as well as few more shifts at the theater, and somewhere in there, find some sleep (I will likely just skip that last part).












