Originally published in Christianity Today
When director Brian Ivie started working on the film The Drop Box, he thought that he would be weaving his artistic vision and magic into the film. But instead, the film worked a miracle on him.
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“I became a Christian while making a movie. And that’s funny to me because before that,movies were God to me. They were everything. Just like success or fame or security is to other people,” shared Ivie in The Drop Box Book.
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The Drop Box is about South Korean Pastor Jong-rak Lee, who made it his life’s mission to save unwanted and abandoned babies. He created a “drop box” at his home so that troubled parents could leave their children without being seen. He would then care for the children himself.
Most of the children left in the drob box suffer from mental or physical deformities, but for Pastor Lee, the children are just perfect.
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Ivie was curious about Pastor Lee, even though he did not understand the way his heart and mind worked.
“I met this Korean man named Pastor Lee, who loved people with a love that just didn’t compute with me at first,” admitted Ivie, adding that he could not believe “how he adopted wildly difficult kids and how he was able to do it without losing his mind in the process” and “how he loved so courageously and went to the box every time the bell rang.”
But the more time he spent with Pastor Lee and talked with him, the more Ivie realised what being a true Christian is all about.
“Pastor Lee’s source of energy was so full that he could pour out without losing a drop. It was almost like there was constantly something being poured in. Like he was standing underneath the supply. I copied how he prayed on those summer mornings. And when the kids would start to get frustrating again, I’d pray with Pastor Lee, on my knees and out loud,” he said.
Ivie then realised that people can love only as much as they themselves are experiencing love, and that Pastor Lee was radiating God’s love. “That’s why Pastor Lee could love those who weren’t outwardly beautiful, mobile, or able to speak. He didn’t need anything from them. He had everything. He could just give,” said Ivie.
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The limited US release last week of “The Drop Box” documentary was a bigger success than even its producer Focus on the Family had anticipated reports The Christian Examiner.
Shown at 727 theaters nationwide March 3-5, the movie was seen by more than 200 000 people. Gary Steyn, Communications Director at Focus on the Family, South Africa, told Gateway News this week that they will get the movie for screening in SA but have no screening plans yet as they are still working on a roll out strategy.
Amazing! Amen.