Behind
the Backyard Fence™
November
15, 2013
Welcome…to life behind the backyard fence™.
I’m not a puppeteer. I
don’t even pretend to be one. Just ask my team. But I am the writer and
creative consultant for Evergreen Creative Ministries. I try to catch God’s
creative vision and implement it into the writing process of bringing our “By
the Backyard Fence™”characters to life through words.
But I’m not alone. For
these wonderful, quirky and “true to life” characters would not come to life without
the talents of our team…the ones who take my written words and add the
personality and charm of each character. It is Kristofer, Kristyn and Amanda
who truly make the characters come to
life!
And so we invite you
to join us Behind…The Backyard Fence
as we share with you the funny and serious side of our ministry. It is our hope
that some of our stories will make you smile, maybe even laugh out loud. Some
stories will be more serious. We will
share the good and the not so good of life that happens on this side of the
fence. And hopefully all of our stories will encourage you in your relationship
with the Lord.
Fast forward. Our
first story awaits.
Sharing
life from behind the scenes,
Kendra
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| Kristofer holding Willie's (removable) head. |
Behind
the Backyard Fence™
November
15, 2013
Heads Will Roll…Literally
This past Saturday we attended the Creative
Ministries Solutions Conference in Perkasie,
PA, where we were asked to teach
and perform. Here we were, the first performance of the day.
I had caught the creative vision,
relayed it to the team; they caught the vision and ran with it. Of course, we wanted to do our best. I had
pictured this performance in my mind over and over again. We had practiced.
There had been many long, late nights. We were prayed up and ready to go.
The performance itself
began well. And kudos to the team for usually being able to think fast on their
feet to cover up mistakes.
The “star” of the show was a four foot Bunraku
style puppet that Kristofer had built… ‘Willie the pig.’ Those of you who are
familiar with puppetry and the stage area know how very dark it can be
backstage. Now add a four foot pig strapped to your body. I heard the song
begin and from my point of view in the darkened back stage area…it sounded like
everything was rolling along smoothly… literally. The song ended, Kristofer waddled backstage
with the pig still attached and the first words out of his mouth were …
“Willie’s head fell off at the beginning of the song.” A huge pig head falling
off and rolling across the stage was not the creative vision that I had for
this song.
As it turned out…while
the pig’s head was rolling around on the floor…it was backstage and not out
front and Willie made an entrance that ‘seemed’ like it could have been
planned.
Who would have thought
that the same scene would be repeated not once…but twice more before the
performance ended. The second and third times it was a butterfly head. Really?!
Needless to say…the butterfly…having lost its head twice…did not make the
‘grand’ entrance that it was suppose to. As I sat, props in hand, watching the
head roll…my mind went into fast forward trying to think how to save this song
within a few seconds. As I watched the
literal rolling of the heads, I just quietly laid down my props and said, “I’m
done.”
So, how did this all
turn out? The team rallied. The
butterfly made an entrance…not a grand entrance…but an entrance just the same.
Having lost not only its head, but also it’s wing arm rod. So now it could not
fly, but only flap. The team finished the song…with no help from me, I might
add. I was too busy sitting on the floor surrounded by props and puppet heads
feeling like my head might pop off and go rolling also.
Lesson to be learned.
After going out to the van to call my husband and cry long distance to him…he
suggested it might be a lesson in character building…ours…not the puppets. How
were we going to handle this?
As it turned out, Kristofer used the
experiences in his next two classes that he was teaching. Those of us in this
business know that no matter how much you practice and how much you think you
have it all together…something can and probably will not go the way you
planned. Use it. Laugh about it…later…much later. Share it. It happens to all
of us and the ‘God’ lesson is in how we deal with it.
Do we lay down our
props and say “I’m done” or do we ‘keep our heads’ and press on, trusting God
to work everything out…using the things that could make us come “unglued” to
strengthen our character.
Thanks to the team for
keeping their heads and their sense of humor to press on.
As for the
puppets…nothing a lot of hot glue won’t fix.
Keeping
my head!
Kendra
