THE MEMOIRS OF SUMMER RAY

Lately, I have hit brick walls in several different areas of my life. I am getting a jump rope and I have start to follow a workout plan. I haven’t held a jump rope in 40 years. This should be interesting. But, skating, walking, dancing, stretching and riding my bike isn’t enough. This is crazy hard – this figure skating at this level. But, if I want to go higher, I have to pay the price! Having reached a plateau – to reach a state or level of little or no growth or decline, especially to stop increasing or progressing; remain at a stable level of achievement; level off; to reach a point where gradual progress is no longer possible; not flowing in a current; motionless; where advancement can only be achieved by a sudden, difficult, and possibly a risky leap up to the next level.

What concerns me is the defintion of “decline.” Instead of moving forward, things stop and we actually start to go backwards. If I didn’t want to advance to a higher level in my skating, I would stop here. But, I want to go all the way to the top and I won’t be able to do that, unless I meet the need. I have to meet the conditions of the level I am going to reach. I met the conditions for the prior levels. But this new level, advancing to Gold Moves, means I have to consistently get this one move mastered and pass Silver! What I have been doing, is not enough. I need more ice time and more strength. My flexibility is (for a woman my age – 55) the best its been in years. But, without strength, it isn’t doing me much good. So, I have to take that sudden risk. I have to push myself to break the walls in front of me, in order to advance to Gold. 

As for the film, I feel I am also at a wall. I have done practically everything there is for me to do without funds. But, I am at a place where funds are a must. Who cares all the work I have already put in! It doesn’t matter. If I want this film produced and distributed, I have to forget how tired I am, take all the risks necessary and get myself out there. I have to advance to getting funded. There again, no one cares if I have already put 9 and a half years into this project. It is irrelevant. If I want it, I have to be willing to pay the price. I don’t want to get sluggish. I have to redirect my focus, not on how much I have already done. But, on what I still need to do. The walls are not going to come down alone. They will stand until someone or something collapses them. If they are too high to climb over, then they have to be torn down. It really is that simple. Like my skating, I have to meet the conditions of the level I need to reach. If getting funded requires more of me out in the community to bring awareness of my film; if it means sending out my Marketing Package to prospective donors; if it means doing book signings, what ever it takes – that I must do. I have to be willing to take those leaps! I am willing, and I will get where I need to be.

Nothing has opened my eyes more, to the need of this film series, than the Hawaiian volcano eruptions. What does that have to do with anything? I have one word…Hell! The Bible describes Hell as being a “lake of fire.” No human on earth can even understand what Hell will be like. But imagine standing in that lava and it will give you just a glimpse. The top of that volcano, while erupting, is literally a lake of fire and it put Holy fear in me. I know I can’t save all. But, I can save some. I am already saved and do not need this film to help bring me to Christ. But, others do. Others need it to help pull them out of the brink of despair and suicide too. It is my duty as Christian, to go in all the world and preach the good news. It is love that compells me to do so. My friends, Hell was never meant for humans. I will make sure these films reach the big screen and all over the world. God is able and He will enable me too!

Juliana