HGHF 2013: 5th experience and counting
Disclaimer:
Some of you reading this may have no
idea what I’m talking about, and that’s okay. I purposely wrote this blog post
for 1) me, 2) the directors, cast, and crew, 3) our local church body, 4)
Reality Outreach Ministries and all who have ever been involved with Heaven’s Gates
and Hell’s Flames, and 5) everyone who has yet to experience this amazing
ministry tool. If you have never heard of this drama presentation, I encourage
you find out where and when Heaven’s Gates and Hell’s Flames will be near you,
and I encourage you to go see it. It’s free. Or, you could purchase the DVD to
watch, but seeing the presentation live is way better. If you ever get the
opportunity to be involved in the cast of this drama, please do so with lots of
prayer.
A little over a week ago we hosted
Reality Outreach Ministries’ drama Heaven’s Gates and Hell’s Flames at our
church. As the blog title hints, I have been involved with this presentation
five times. I’ve been a druggie in the party scene, an angel, the old lady, a
drunk, and most recently a secretary.
Each year I’ve been involved with
HGHF, the Holy Spirit has shown me something, and this year was no different. The
first year I was thankful to be on stage again and thankful God used me on the
stage. The second year I discovered how difficult being an angel can be (when
it seems so simple) and yet how important it is to keep praying all throughout
the drama.
The third year I was thankful to
have a monologue and be in the first scene; I usually don’t like waiting when
it comes to stage productions. Many times my body says I’m nervous when my mind
says I’m not, and I live on adrenaline for however many days. I don’t like it.
But once I’m on stage fulfilling the role I’ve been given, it’s all good. So, I
was glad to get on stage at the beginning of the presentation so I could
concentrate on praying during the rest of the drama. In addition, the role I
had was perfect for me. As I read the script and learned my lines (with the
help of the Holy Spirit), I thought, “This is me!” One of my lines had
something to do with longing to see Jesus face to face, and in that scene I
didn’t wear my glasses. I found it funny that I could not see the head angel
when I got to “Heaven”, nor could I see “Jesus” once my name was confirmed to
be in the “Book of Life”. I just knew Sister Pastor was at the top of those
stairs as the head angel, and if I would have been able to see her, I could
have used her as a cue. And I knew Les would be up there as “Jesus” to greet me
with a big hug upon fully entering “Heaven.” And all I saw was bright lights
and shiny gold mylar until I was about halfway up those stairs. The Holy Spirit
brought to mind the verse “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then
face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known”
(1 Corinthians 13:12). I couldn’t see “Jesus” clearly while I was on that
stage, yet the closer I got to “Him”, the better I could see “Him”. Then once I
got up those steps past the “gates” and into “Jesus’” arms, I could see “Him”
clearly. The Holy Spirit used that old lady role without my glasses to make 1
Corinthians 13:12 real to me. And now I get even more excited about seeing
Jesus clearly, face to face.
The forth year the Holy
Spirit gave me the role of a drunk woman. Cast members came up to me and asked
if I’d ever been drunk (NOT by anything other than the Holy Spirit, thank God)
and/or said that I made a “good” drunk. Only the Holy Spirit can help me act
like something I’ve never experienced, and He did help. He even allowed me to
almost totally lose my voice (from screaming when going to “Hell” at the end of
the scene in each rehearsal and performance), and He used that to cause me to
sound like a more convincing, desperate, drunken woman who had almost lost
everything because of her lifestyle and rejection of Christ. And although I
have never been a drunk, without Christ I could have easily become that
character or even worse. I admit, playing the drunk was a fun role on the
surface (hey, who cares if you couldn’t remember your lines—you’re “drunk”! And
you can come up with funny through-lines like “You know what? I had a dream
last night about grandma…remember when she would take us deer hunting…”), but
the reality of it wasn’t fun; it shouldn’t ever be fun. And interestingly
enough, I was known as “the drunk” by cast, crew, and other church family for
the rest of the year (until another sister in Christ got that role this time).
Each time someone mentioned it, I thought, “I’m done with that role! I’m not a
drunk! (And Jesus, thank You I’m not, because without You…well, I don’t want to
know who I’d be).”
As with any time, this year I
began praying for my 5th experience with HGHF. I began praying at
the end of August after our annual church Hog Roast, which signaled the end of
our co-ed softball season. I didn’t want a speaking part this year; not so much
because of the nerves stuff, but more so because I wanted to simply pray for
the whole thing. I also know I can act. I know that God has given me a gift of
acting and learning lines. This time I wanted the Holy Spirit to use someone
who didn’t think they could do it; I wanted to give up my position so God could
blow someone else away in that role. As I kept praying, I knew I’d be more
surprised if I didn’t get a speaking role. And, yes, the Holy Spirit gave me a
speaking role. This time I was a secretary who had tried, tried, and kept
trying to explain to a co-worker that knowing Christ is different than “having
religion”, and that one day everyone will stand before God alone—just each of
us alone with Him. My character never gave up in encouraging her secretary
friend to give her life to Christ, even to just consider it. That friend
thought she had plenty of time until the sudden reality of being stuck in that
office elevator during a fire caused them both to die of smoke inhalation.
Again, this role was more
like me. And the Holy Spirit encouraged me to never give up telling people
about Him. Christ never gave up on me, so I should never give up on others.
The interesting thing about
being involved in HGHF this year, though, was that I was not nervous—at all. I
don’t remember a time where I have NOT been nervous before a performance of any
kind (except for church choir, because that’s not a performance). I even
sometimes get a tad nervous before softball games, which I think is dumb. It
was different not begin nervous. I don’t usually ever worry about my lines, so
that was nothing new. But I saw how I could have easily become lazy and gone on
autopilot for most of those 5 days. And I didn’t want that. So I kept praying
with purpose—for me, for the cast, for the crew, for all the Holy Spirit would
draw to the presentation each night, for Christ to flow through us and to use
us to draw people to Him. The Holy Spirit also directed me to the fact of how
easy it would be to grow numb or calloused to each of the scenes after seeing
and hearing them so many times, and if it would be easy for that cast and crew
after only 5 days, think of how many times the directors have seen each of the
scenes. The Holy Spirit reminded me of the importance of praying even more for
each team of directors—that they stir themselves up, allow the Holy Spirit to
stir them up, see each scene each time with new eyes and a heart that’s even
closer to Christ. I don’t want our directors to ever grow numb to how God is
using and can use HGHF. Praying for them is so important.
Finally, during the last two
nights of the drama, while looking at all the gold and silver mylar on our
platform, these lyrics played through my mind: “When the music fades / and all
is stripped away / and I simply come…” These are from the song, “The Heart of
Worship”, and they encapsulated what would happen after strike on that final
night. Once all that shiny mylar was taken down, our roles for that year’s HGHF
had been fulfilled, we would still need to come. We still need to come and worship
our King with everything we are although it may not be through a big production
or on a “stage”. It’s not about us, anyway. All that gold, silver, lights,
sound, video clips, drama, acting, etc. is all about Him—not us. If it ever
becomes about us, then we shouldn’t be involved in it. Now that the set is all
stripped away, all the glitter is gone, now we can simply come. Simply come
before our King as ourselves—not as a character facing Heaven or Hell, but as
ourselves facing our Savior, our Lord, our Love, our Best Friend, our Father,
our King.
He doesn’t want us to forget
(we still may find some glitter, and I don’t know where the tape ball went [it
always seems to disappear, but usually sometime during the summer…so much for
adding to it each year…ah, well], and I still have the scrap of gold mylar I
wore as a headband during much of set-up, and the number 6 will continue to
have special meaning for me, as well as chocolate chip banana bars), but He’d
rather have us live with Him in reality than dwell in remembering what He did
in and through past performances.
And I’m already praying about
HGHF #6.
