Missed Opportunities (2025)

[bunniefuu]

(inmates chattering indistinctly)

Officer?

(tense music)

(Gary speaking in warped speech)

We got the socks.

h*-h*-h*!

What?

(tense music)

(audience applauding)

The nurse will be in to

see you in a minute, okay?

[Patient] Okay.

(tense music)

Dr. Robertson, the police are here.

For what?

I don't know.

(tense music)

(car humming)

(siren wailing)

(tense music continues)

Let's go. Somebody's post your bail.

You go right this way.

The time is nigh.

Sinners, gamblers, you're going to hell.

Repent of your sins.

You're going to hell.

The time is nigh.

He is coming back.

Repent, repent, repent!

(locker clattering)

I'm not even in the frame. (Chuckling)

See, it's blurry. Do it again, do it again.

(laughing) No, wait,

you're doing it wrong. Wait.

- It's not even on focus.

- You want me to take

that for you?

We're good. Thanks.

- Oh, okay.

- Thanks.

Well, hey, so today after the game,

my youth group is having

like a little pizza party.

And it's called Fifth Quarter,

'cause, you know, it's after the game.

But anyway, they're

having this competition.

Whoever brings the most

of their friends wins

like a car or something.

Just kidding.

But anyway, there's pizza, fun, games.

They're gonna open up the gym.

You should come.

After the game we go

hang out with the players.

Yeah, plus it's gonna be raining

and we already have plans.

Yeah, I have a piano lesson.

(Rachel and Lena laughing)

Okay, well, that's cool.

I just, I thought I'd ask.

She's never gonna stop asking, is she?

- I am not going. No way.

- Me neither.

(bell ringing)

Did the bell ring?

- Ah.

- Let's go.

(man humming)

(neighbors shouting indistinctly)

[Woman] I'm sorry.

(man shouting indistinctly)

(tense music)

(door thudding)

Hello!

(door thudding)

Heather!

Hey Gary.

What are you, what are you doing here?

Like, we heard you got out.

Heather asked me to come by

just to make sure everything's okay.

Okay, what, what are you doing

in my house with my wife?

Heather, what is going on here?

Please, just leave.

Leave? Where am I supposed to go?

She filed a restraining

order against you.

You're not allowed to be here.

Wait, a restraining order.

Why would you do that?

- Where is my daughter?

- She's not here.

She's not here. Just leave.

[Gary] I wanna see my daughter.

[Heather] I already called

- the cops, Gary.

- Keep your hands off me.

Don't you touch me.

It's not me... It's not you?

No, the best thing,

it's between you guys.

Locked inside my house?

The best thing for you

is to go away right now.

Where am I supposed to go?

Get out.

Why are you doing this to me?

Why are you doing this, Heather?

Where am I supposed to go?

I have no credit cards.

(tense music)

Hey, how can I help you?

I'd like to get a room.

Sure, sure. I just need an ID please.

(gentle music)

Perfect, perfect.

Sorry, Mr. Robertson, this is

saying your card has declined.

Do you have another you'd like to use?

(gentle music)

- No, this one.

- Thank you.

(gentle music)

Sorry, this one has also declined.

Can I see a manager?

Sorry. There's not one here right now.

What am I, what am I supposed to do?

Sorry.

(gentle music)

(door whirring)

(piano keys resonating)

Rachel, please stop.

(piano keys continue resonating)

Rachel, stop!

I'm so bored.

The rain ruins everything.

Well, what do you wanna do?

We could watch a movie.

I could teach you that piano

song a lot better than that.

We could play a board game.

What about that church thing?

- Church thing?

- Yeah. What's it called?

Fifth Quarter.

Don't you need a Bible?

(snickers) Yeah, I don't have a Bible.

Me neither.

Yeah.

(gentle music)

You know, it's gotta be better than this.

Is it?

Lena? Lena?

(gentle music)

Christmas, Christmas carols

Christmas time

It's Christmas time

Christmas carols

Christmas time

(Gary sighing)

It's Christmas time

Hey.

You don't like Christmas music?

Not, not particularly, no.

You know who has the

best Christmas music?

The Grand Ole Opry.

You ever been there?

No.

Okay. There's this kid, right?

Greatest truck driver around, right?

He wants to be a singer.

So he goes out, he

starts singing everywhere,

gets very popular.

Guess who that is?

Elvis Presley. Right?

He could have been the best

truck driver who's ever lived.

Eh? Talk about a missed opportunity.

That's, that's funny.

Listen, man, no offense,

but I, I've had a really bad day, so,

just gonna...

(sighs) You've missed

a lot of opportunities,

haven't you, Gary?

Well, there've been a lot

of opportunities that I've taken

that I wish I hadn't, (laughs)

But, so at this point in my life,

I think I don't need any

more opportunities, you know?

So, thank you.

You know, you've

missed a lot of opportunities

and you've taken a lot of opportunities

that you shouldn't have taken.

You know, I know 'cause I was there

for every single one of those.

Yeah. How did you know my name is Gary?

[Franklin] 'Cause I'm an angel.

An angel?

Ah, I am a guardian angel.

- A guardian angel.

- I'm your guardian angel.

- Ooh.

- I know.

That's crazy.

I mean, not like just

your guardian angel.

I actually have like a whole roster

of humans I have to take care of.

And so it's, it's fun.

Okay.

And my job is to make sure

that you stop missing these opportunities.

- Your job?

- That's my job.

I reach the unreachable,

I gospel the ungospelable.

(laughs) Now I know

where I know you from.

You're, you're the street preacher

from out in front of the jail.

- That's me. Nice.

- That's you, man.

That's me. You took notice of me.

That was you.

Do you know how many

times you've heard the gospel?

I, I, I don't know. I don't know.

How many times have I heard the good news?

You've heard the good news 126 times.

Wow, that seems like a lot.

You know, the average

person takes about 75 times

of hearing the gospel

before they actually listen to it.

It's, (sighs).

Gary, well, I'm gonna give

you an opportunity, Gary.

Jesus said, "My sheep

hear me and they follow."

Follow me, Gary.

Wait a minute. Whoa. Wait. Whoa, whoa.

Are, are you saying I'm a sheep?

Because I had a buddy

who was in Afghanistan and...

(gentle music)

(door creaking)

(gentle music continues)

It's been raining all day.

Oh, excuse me.

Hi, how are you?

- Hi.

- Welcome.

Oh, you were at the game, weren't you?

- Yeah.

- Got rained out.

Sorry about that.

But we're glad you're here though,

so you can leave your umbrella here.

Come on in.

Hey guys.

Oh, you know, Madison.

Well, you're in good hands then.

Okay, so it turns out

they got pizza and wings.

So come on. I'll go show you.

(gentle music)

(gentle music continues)

(Gary and angel whooshing)

(gentle music continues)

Wait, that's my parents.

Yeah. Yeah.

Who are you?

Oh, well, that last guy

was just your warmup angel.

I'm moving you up to the next level.

[Gary] What's going on?

Well, that's you.

You were what, like a year old here?

You're getting baptized.

Oh, you're so cute.

(laughs) Yeah.

Oh, well, I, I, I know what this is.

This is kind of one of those things

where you take me back in

time, like a Christmas carol,

like Marley and Scrooge?

Well, sort of, but I'm not a ghost.

Right, right, you're an angel,

which means I'm dreaming.

Okay, no, this is fine. I can do this.

Look, there is he. There

I am getting baptized.

Phew, straight shot to heaven.

I am Heaven bound.

Well, just because you're baptized

doesn't necessarily mean

you're Heaven bound.

I mean, baptism is, well,

it's more like a symbolic act,

a significant sacrament for sure.

I mean, it was from the day forward,

you became a member of the church.

And well, all of your original

sins were washed away.

Wait, wait, wait, original sin?

Well, you know, Adam

and Eve, the fall of man,

that sort of thing.

But being just a baby, it was all grace.

Wait, Grace, that's my daughter's name.

Yes, I know that,

but this is a different kind of grace, hmm?

I was a cute little bugger, wasn't I?

- Yeah.

- Mom, dad, dang,

check your eyes.

- You got mine.

- Come on.

I lost some weight, huh?

(Gary whooshing)

Mm, I just love this place.

What are we doing here?

Oh, well, we're going

to go through your

spiritual journey book, yeah.

The spiritual journey book?

Yeah. Let's see here.

Um, oh, Sunday school by age five.

That's when you really

started thinking about it, huh?

- Yeah.

- Hmm.

By age 12, you've heard the gospel.

Let's see. (Gasps) 110 times? Wow.

Oh, but then you, you just stopped going.

I don't know. We went

to church when I was a kid.

[Angel] Yeah. Hmm. Interesting.

What happened?

Nothing happened.

We just, I don't know,

we just stopped going.

Hmm.

Was it the divorce?

Look, my mom loved going to church,

my dad, not so much.

So I, you know, I spent

most weekends with my dad.

Hmm.

Oh, and it looks like you went

to several Christmas services.

Oh, and eight Easter services.

Does that sound about right?

- No idea.

- Yeah.

Oh, and then you started,

oh, yes, you were listening

to those old time radio

gospel preachers, yeah.

I remember "Unshackled," huh?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

That's good stuff.

But then you were, you know,

watching a bunch of TV preachers, right?

Wait, so you have a

record of what I watched?

[Angel] Oh, we have

a record of everything.

Is my, is my browser

history in there, or?

Mm-hm.

Oh, that seems to,

well, that's about the time.

You know?

What, the addiction stuff.

Yes. Yes. Yeah.

- Hmm.

- Yeah.

So, I mean, you know,

I started staying up late

watching these, you know,

crazy preachers, you know,

I found 'em entertaining.

Well, you know, some

would say you were looking

for something, huh?

Like what?

Oh, wait, wait. Let me guess, God.

- Oh, maybe.

- I was looking

- for God, right?

- Yes.

Or quick get rich scheme. (Laughs)

Let me get, hold on.

But I have to accept Him though, right?

Okay. Okay. Here we go. Here, here.

Hey, God, here I am,

Gary Robertson, lowly pleb.

I accept you, God, into my,

into my heart and into my head

and my arm and my left butt cheek, okay?

[Angel] Sit, sit, sit.

- We're alone.

- Sit down.

[Angel] Are we?

Mm, (chuckles) you got me on that one.

Okay. So, oh, you sent

Grace to camp for winter break?

Yeah. No, no. I don't know.

Hmm, your wife sent Grace

to camp for winter break.

- No.

- Yes, she did.

No, look, lady, if my

wife sent my daughter

to some like Jesus camp,

I would know about it.

Really? Would you?

(gentle music)

(neighbors shouting indistinctly)

Mind your own business.

(neighbors continue shouting indistinctly)

[Preacher] So, for tonight's deposition

Hey, there's my daughter, Grace.

Hey Grace!

Remember no one can see us.

Why?

'Cause, you know, we're

We're?

Let's see what's going on here.

- Come on.

- But tonight's illustration,

we're gonna use a ticket.

The Bible teaches that in the beginning,

God created the heavens and the earth.

He created us in His image.

But the Bible says,

"By one man, sin entered into the world."

And now we're all born into sin.

And that sin separates us.

But God had a plan.

He sent His son Jesus

to live a perfect life,

one that we could never live.

The Bible teaches us

that He died on the cross

and He was buried.

But three days later, He rose again,

showing He had power over death and sin.

The Bible teaches, "He bought our ticket."

And as a free gift, He offers it to us

so we can spend eternity

in Heaven with Him.

There's nothing we can do to earn it.

There's nothing we can do to win it.

We simply have to accept it.

Bible says in Romans 10:9,

"If we confess the Lord

Jesus with our mouth

and believe in our heart that

God raised Him from the dead,

that we can be saved."

But we have to have a ticket.

We have to accept this gift.

Some of you may have never

asked Jesus in your heart,

and don't have a relationship with Him.

If you would like to do that tonight,

I would like to show you how.

You might pray something like this.

Dear God.

[All] Dear God.

I know I've sinned.

[All] I know I've sinned.

[Preacher] I ask you to forgive me.

[All] I ask you to forgive me.

[Preacher] And I wanna

begin a relationship with you.

[All] And I wanna begin

a relationship with you.

I pray you help me.

[All] I pray that you'll help me.

[Preacher] to follow your word.

[All] To follow your word.

[Preacher] And to obey you.

[All] To obey you.

[Preacher] Thank you for saving me.

[All] Thank you for saving me.

In Jesus name.

[All] In Jesus name.

[Preacher] Amen.

[All] Amen.

If you prayed that prayer tonight

is the biggest decision you'll ever make.

Welcome to the family.

You did it.

I did a thing?

(gentle music)

I wanna talk to you about something

that's very, very important tonight.

I'll be brief I promise.

I know you've got a

basketball tournament to get to.

(students laughing)

I wanna tell you guys how to

have a personal relationship

with Jesus Christ.

Right now it's not about going to church.

It's not about being a

good person, all right?

It's about knowing Him

personally and following Him.

All right, now, first,

it's important for you

to know that God loves you, all right?

It doesn't matter who you

are or where you come from,

or what you've done.

God made you, He knows you.

He loves you.

And He wants to have

a personal relationship

with you, all right?

Now, there's some bad news. We're sinners.

We all sin, every single one of us.

And we make mistakes.

And this sin is what keeps us

from a relationship with God.

But now there's good news.

It's called the Gospel.

Jesus came down from heaven.

He stepped out of eternity,

He stepped out of paradise

to come down here and be

a human being just like us.

For 33 years, He lived a perfect life,

spotless, blameless, not a

single mistake, not a single sin.

And then He gave

Himself up to die on a cross

to pay the price for our sins,

'cause we could never do it for ourselves.

And then three days later,

He rose from the dead.

He conquered death. He ended death forever.

And He gave us a way

that we could be forgiven,

so that we can have eternal life.

So you say, Pastor

Josh, how does this work?

Well, it says in God's word,

"If you profess with your

mouth, Jesus is Lord,

and if you believe in your heart

"that God raised Him from

the dead, you will be saved."

Now, guys, you can do this tonight.

And please, I urge you,

don't leave here tonight

without knowing Jesus,

because none of us is

guaranteed a tomorrow.

None of us.

Okay, let's pray.

Dear gracious, Heavenly Father,

we thank you for your blessings.

We thank you for

everything you've given us,

for everything you've continue to give us.

We thank you for these,

for these great kids.

And I would ask if there's

one person in this room tonight

who doesn't know you

as their personal savior,

that person would come to know you

and would call upon you

as their Lord and Savior.

We ask these things in

the precious name of Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.

Let's go play some basketball. Let's go.

(gentle music)

I hope that wasn't too preachy.

No, it was perfect

perfect.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

You wanna go?

- Yeah.

- Sure.

(Gary panting)

(tense music)

(pills rattling)

(bottle clattering)

(student chattering indistinctly)

Hey guys. Hey, hey.

Hey, Grace.

Mom didn't tell me that

you coming to get me.

No, I know.

I just wanted to take you to lunch.

Let's hit it.

- Okay.

- How was class?

[Grace] How very nice of you.

Yeah, of course, of course.

(gentle music)

So Gracie, you got any

plans for the summer?

Well, Mom is gonna get a

beach house for a week or so.

- What?

- Yeah.

Like, wow.

[Grace] You?

I mean, nothing like that, no.

I just, beach house.

Toby gonna be there?

I don't know, Dad.

I mean, that's you and Mom's thing.

That's true. That's,

you're right. You're right.

That was out of bounds.

(making a whooshing sound) 15.

That was, sorry, I'm sorry.

I shouldn't have...

Did you go to camp?

- A camp?

- Yeah, yeah.

You know, like a, like a Christmas camp.

I mean, I've never been to a camp.

I, I went to that kids' like

dance day camp thing,

but that was at the

studio and I was like eight.

You remember that, right?

Yeah, well, of course. Yeah.

Yeah, 'cause you did

the, you had the, the thing,

and so, no, I just, because of the divorce,

and I didn't know,

now I don't get to see

you as much as I'd like to.

And I didn't know if maybe for Christmas,

you know, Mom had set you away.

Sent me away? She's not the Gestapo.

Gestapo? Nein, nein (chuckling)

That means no in...

Anyway, no, I just, I didn't,

so you didn't go to a, you

know, like a Christian camp

where they have dorms and a fire pit?

- A Christian camp?

- Yeah. Yeah.

Where they preach and stuff.

No, Dad.

- No?

- No.

Do you know any Christian camps?

- Like church camps?

- Yeah.

No. I mean, when was the

last time we even went to church?

Oh, I know.

Yeah. Guilty. Guilty.

Would you ever go to one?

I mean, I might. Yeah.

Do you wanna tell me what's going on?

Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm

just, (sighs) deep breath.

Okay, I just don't want

you to think that I'm crazy.

It's just, I had this, I had a dream, okay?

And it was a camp with

the room in that fire pit.

And you were there, you were sitting,

but then you weren't there.

And then Franklin,

(laughs) I stick to that,

but he called me a sheep,

which was like, not cool.

But then we talked about Elvis,

and then we had the other one who was like,

oh, higher level.

And then she had this hat,

and there were just,

there were some really,

you know, weird people there, Grace.

And I, you know what?

Let's just, let's just enjoy

the rest of our lunch.

How about that?

Let me start, let's start over.

Mom wants to know if

you can take me home.

Home?

Yeah, yeah, I can,

yeah, I can take you home.

Okay.

Is Toby gonna be there?

- Dad.

- I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I know.

I'm so ashamed.

Check, please.

(car humming)

See you again.

Okay.

- Bye, Dad.

- Bye.

Bye.

Eeuw!

Hey! (Pastor yelping)

Huh!

(Pastor Michael chuckles)

You startled me. I, I saw God.

Sorry. That's kind of my new thing.

Oh, I was just cleaning up after mass.

You'd be surprised at

what people bring to mass.

Mass mess, I call it.

Oh, yeah.

It's a little play on.

- That's good.

- Yeah.

Thank you.

Father, can I ask you a question?

Sure.

Do you believe in angels?

I do. Do you?

Yes. No. I don't...

I dreamt about two angels.

- Two.

- But not,

like, not your typical angels.

Like one of them, his belly

was sticking out of his shirt.

- Oh.

- And then the other

had a funny hat.

Huh!

I don't think I've heard

of those kinds of angels.

- Yeah, that's...

- So.

But does your church have a camp?

Camp? You mean like, for young people?

Yeah, um, so like, is

it like a long dining room

and then a fire pit with

bleachers around it?

We don't have a camp,

but a fire, fire pit and

bleachers, it doesn't ring a bell.

Are, are you looking to go to a camp?

No, no, no, no.

I just, I just thought,

I don't know what I thought.

- Have a seat.

- Yes.

Yes. Thank you.

Sure.

So did you go to this

camp when you were a kid?

No. No. My daughter was there.

- Oh!

- No, she wasn't.

- Oh.

- I don't know.

Let me ask, can I ask you another question?

Of course.

Do you believe in dreams?

- Of course I do.

- You do?

[Pastor Michael]

Dreams are very important.

Okay.

My Bible teacher, she taught

me that dreams are the seeds

that God plants on our hearts,

that if we follow Him,

He nurtures those seeds,

helping us find purpose.

- Huh!

- Yeah.

And, and what do you know

about missed opportunities?

Missed opportunities?

Yeah, well, so my whole life,

I've basically just walked

past churches, right?

I've ignored prayers and pushed away anyone

that tried to help me

have a relationship with,

you know, with, yeah, with

Hey, we've all walked past Christ.

Churches, we get distracted.

We doubt, we sin.

Here's the amazing part. (Laughs)

He never stops calling.

Like in a dream?

Yeah, sure.

Okay, do you think you

can be saved in a dream?

Oh, I think God only knows that.

I got saved in a dream.

- You did.

- I did.

[Pastor Michael] That's great.

I got baptized at this church.

- Really?

- Yeah.

Gosh, that would've been before my time.

I'm sorry, I don't remember,

but God surely does.

Well.

So everyone tells me that, you know,

God still loves me and I don't,

'cause I've messed up pretty big,

and I've messed up a lot of stuff.

Here's the thing, he

never stopped loving.

When you got baptized there,

that sealed you as his own.

But see, that's just the beginning.

Salvation is a journey.

We have to grow in faith,

keep receiving the sacrament,

and return to God when we fail.

Have you ever heard of

the tale of the Prodigal Son?

Oh, yes. Yeah.

It's the, the story about

the kid that runs away.

And then he wastes everything

and then comes crawling back to his dad

and his dad, you know,

nestles him to his bosom.

And yeah, no, I never understood all that.

That is because you

see yourself as the son

who wasted everything.

You're missing the heart of the story.

The father never stopped loving.

He runs to him.

He embraced him. He celebrates his return.

I just, I don't, I don't

know how to start over.

Mm.

Why don't you start with those dreams?

God gave them to you and only you.

I like that.

- That's pretty good.

- I think I like that.

[Pastor Michael] I have my moments.

Yeah. Wow. Okay.

Thank you, Father.

But, but, but no camps?

No.

Yes. Yes. I do know

of a camp with a fire pit.

I mean, it did, it, um,

Camp Faith, yes.

Lord, it's in the middle of nowhere.

It's way out Route 30.

I don't even think they're open anymore.

The guy who ran it passed away.

But it's got a fire pit.

It did.

Thank you, Father.

Yeah.

Hey, you don't want to

help me pick up the rest of

[Gary] No, you got your own mass mess.

(laughing) Okay.

[Teacher] Okay. Are you ready?

- Yes.

- Si.

- Okay. One.

- One.

- Uno.

- Uno.

Louder please.

- Two.

- Two.

- Dos.

- Dos.

- Three.

- Three.

- Tres.

- Tres.

I'm afraid I have some sad news.

This morning on her way here to school,

Madison Medrick was in a car accident.

When the paramedics arrived,

sorry, when the paramedics

arrived, she was already gone.

Now, we're gonna suspend

classes for the rest of the day.

We brought in several grief counselors

and even a few local

pastors to help you all,

to help us all deal with our grief.

Madison was a great student

and a role model to many of you.

She'll be greatly missed.

I'm so sorry.

(gentle music)

- Hey.

- Oh.

- Hi.

- Oh, hi.

Can I help you?

Yes. I mean, I hope so. I don't know.

I, hello.

Yeah, I, I, I had a dream last night

and I was here.

Here?

Well, no, not exactly right here.

We were actually standing

over there, the two of us,

and I'm pretty sure we were invisible.

So, yeah, that sounds a little crazy.

So, (imitating a buzzer)

let me rewind a little bit.

Okay, so, like I said, I

had a dream last night.

I was here. I got saved by Christ, okay.

And then my daughter

was sitting like right there,

but she wasn't really here, so

she doesn't really remember.

But then the preacher was

talking about going to the movies,

and I love the movies.

It's like one of my favorite things.

And he said, "You had your ticket,"

And I was like, "Whoa, whoa, preacher man,

you know, hands up over here.

What about my ticket?"

And then all of a sudden, bam,

I get a ticket and I am

standing in this exact spot.

Okay.

Yeah. That's great.

So we went to the movies?

No, no, we just talked

about going to the movies.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

What did you say your name was again?

Oh, I'm sorry. It's,

it's, it's Gary Robertson.

- Jordan.

- Jordan. Nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you.

So this is it, huh?

This is what?

This is the camp.

Oh, well, yeah.

My, my father started this

place about 20 years ago,

but yeah, he recently passed away.

I'm sorry. Yeah, I heard.

[Jordan] Oh.

It's... Thank you.

Yeah. So no camp?

No camp.

Now the bank's making me,

forcing me to sell the place.

Well, what about the

missed opportunities?

- Missed opportunities?

- Yeah.

People are gonna miss

out on the opportunity

to have a relationship with Christ.

Like, like I said, I, I had this dream.

It was last night, right?

I was here and there were a bunch of kids,

and they all got saved.

Yeah, I mean, that

does happen here a lot.

And you got saved here too, yeah?

Yeah. Yeah, I did.

That's it. That's it.

(laughing) Oh, that's

why they brought me here.

That's why they brought me here.

Oh, I'm sorry.

There was a dude, his name's

Franklin, and he was cool.

He called me a sheep.

And I'm like, "Whoa, whoa, I'm not a sheep,

whatever you say."

But then we started talking

about Elvis, which was cool.

And I like Elvis.

His little tummy was

peeking out of his T-shirt.

And I was like, "Dude,

you need to hit the gym."

I didn't say that to him.

But then the other one, the girl,

she was like, "I'm next level."

She had a, don't say anything,

but she had like a funny hat.

And, yeah, they were angels.

Angels?

Yeah.

(gentle music)

I'm gonna buy it.

You're gonna buy what?

The camp.

You wanna buy this camp?

I'm gonna buy the camp,

but you have to run it.

Mr. Robertson, was it?

Oh, well, just call me Gary.

Gary. Yeah, I don't do camp.

This was my dad's thing.

I'm really just here

to clean up a little bit.

So what? You just wanna close it?

No, I don't want to, but I

Let me ask you a question.

And this can be an estimate.

So how many kids per

summer come through the camp?

Last year maybe 400.

400.400.

Okay, so of the 400, how many get saved?

A lot.

Wow. Wow.

You guys were given the opportunity

for the kids to have an opportunity.

This is my purpose.

Wait, so you wanna buy the

camp, but keep it as a camp?

Yes.

Oh, no, no, no, no. You don't understand.

This camp doesn't actually fund itself.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

It's okay. It's okay.

I'm a doctor. I mean, I was a doctor.

I mean, I just sold my practice.

I was like (imitating gulping) taking pills

and (imitating glugging) drinking a lot of,

I mean, it wasn't very pretty.

But I'm feeling a lot

better now. I'm much better.

And, and yeah, this is what I gotta do.

So what do you need to do exactly?

I need to buy this camp.

If we move the women's

conference to the morning,

then we can hold the

men's event in the evening.

How does that sound?

Okay. Well, that sounds like a plan.

Will that work for everyone?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

Okay, great.

Okay, great. Anything else?

Fantastic meeting. Thank you all.

- Okay.

- Okay.

Um, yes, Eugene?

I was wondering if we could have a word.

Sure.

I didn't wanna say anything,

but the others wanted me to.

Then why aren't they all here?

Well, your sermon the other day,

it was a bit harsh.

Harsh? Oh.

Well, I'm sorry. I didn't

mean to upset anyone.

When you said that if

you don't accept Christ

as your savior, you go to hell.

Oh, the Bible says that.

- I mean, does it really?

- Yeah, it does.

Okay, well, as you know, the pendulum

for determining salvation

swings pretty broadly.

I'm not sure what you're talking about.

Over here you have

the sacraments, baptism,

church involvement, and helping the needy.

Those are all very important.

Yeah, as you said,

they preach to the pathway to salvation.

I just think you need to

preach more of the path.

Oh.

Just for context,

what does the other side

of the pendulum look like?

I'm glad you asked

because that's the problem,

'cause over here you have

nothing but fire and brimstone

and eternal damnation.

These are all negative words.

Negative. You don't believe in hell?

I do, but I don't believe the people

of this church are gonna go to hell.

Look, all I'm asking is that

you tone down the rhetoric

of your message.

Make it a little more, I

don't know, palatable.

Palatable?

Yeah. Pray about it.

Will you promise me you'll pray about it?

I promise you.

Okay. Thank you, Father. I appreciate it.

And I'm glad we could clear this up.

Me too.

Palatable.

Well, I know what my next

message is going to be.

(phone buzzing)

Yeah. Hello?

Yes, this is he.

(somber music)

I'm sorry, can you say that again?

(somber music continues)

How do you...

Are you sure it's her?

(somber music continues)

(somber music continues)

(keyboard clicking)

(notification tone chiming)

Hi from Tey.

I'll be, I guess Gary found his camp.

(upbeat music)

[Man] Come on, come on!

- Shut up.

- You're hurting me.

(neighbors arguing indistinctly)

(upbeat music)

(upbeat music continues)

(upbeat music continues)

Hey, thank you so

much for all of your help.

It's been really great having you here.

Yeah, it's, it's been really fun.

Good.

Your dad's quite the

character, huh? (Laughs)

Yeah, he's full of surprises.

So I was wondering if your dad

can actually get some campers here,

would you be interested

in staying on to help out?

Well, I mean, there's

a lot going on right now

with my dad and this

No, I understand. It's okay.

(fire crackling)

You know, when I was

younger, I used to sit right here

and listen to my dad preach.

Man, could he give a sermon!

He was just so...

I really miss him.

And one night we were here

and it seemed like any other night,

but I don't know, something

just changed, you know?

The, the message just

really resonated with me.

And I decided right then and there

that I would accept Jesus

as my Lord and Savior.

Actually I was about your age.

Biggest decision of my life.

I don't, I don't really

know what that means.

Oh, okay.

I guess for me, it just

means that the creator

of the world steps out of Heaven

and enters your heart to

walk the Earth with you.

(fire crackling)

Is that what happened with my dad?

Yeah. Yeah. I think so.

I want that to happen for me too.

(Gary howling)

Girls. (Laughs) Woo. Guess what?

- What?

- Come on.

Guess, guess, guess.

Can guess? Can you guess?

Suspense is k*lling me.

I got the phone call. We got campers.

(all cheering)

- We got, your serious?

- Oh yeah, yeah.

- Multiple campers.

- Not just like one camper.

We got campers.

We did it.

- We did it.

- We have campers.

We did it.

Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Throw another log on the bobby. (Laughs)

Let's celebrate.

(gentle music)

No question is more

central to our time than this,

what is the gospel?

Translated, it means the good news.

Folks, God has put this heavy upon my heart

that we must reaffirm the

gospel as our central message.

And we should not debate this

for it is so simple that

little children can believe it,

yet it is so profound

that the greatest scholars

have been pondering it

for 2000 years.

Yet the message is the same: God loves you.

God sent His son to die for you.

And those that believe this message

will be saved from an eternal hell.

The gospel, like it or not,

is the difference between life and death.

This is the power of the

gospel of Jesus Christ.

Nothing compares to it.

For it is in the gospel

that we find Jesus Christ.

So let's be that gospel in our daily lives,

to our friends, our

family, and our neighbors.

It's good to see you again.

(Eugene clearing throat)

Oh, Eugene.

I see you didn't take my advice.

I did.

Well, you preached the exact opposite

of what I asked you to do.

Did you even pray about it?

I did.

I prayed to God. I told Him what you said.

I said, "God, this is

heavy on Eugene's heart,"

and God said, "Eugene who?"

(door thudding)

[Man] Man, what do you want now?

I, I want you to leave.

I want you to stop hurting

people in this house.

And if you don't

[Man] And if I don't,

what's you gonna do about it?

I'll call the police.

I'll tell them everything I know.

I hear your little drug

deal phone calls outside.

I have 'em all documented.

Are you really gonna

get the cops involved?

I know about the store

that you sell out of on Elm.

The dealer in Miami you owe money to.

He's looking for you, isn't he? Roberto?

Don't do it. I'll call him.

(tense music)

- They're not coming.

- They're coming.

They said they were

gonna be here at noon.

(Jordan speaking indistinctly)

No, no, no, this is just my,

and I'm serious.

[Jordan] They'll be here soon.

Wait. Whoa, whoa. (Laughs and cheers )

Come here.

Hello, hello.

I'm sorry for late.

(cheering) Let's go. Lets go.

- Hi, Jordan.

- Oh my gosh.

Come on in.

Come on in.

What? Whatevs! Whatevs!

- Gimme some, gimme some.

- Welcome.

- Gimme some.

- Welcome! Welcome.

Gimme some.

Boom, boom. Boom, boom, boom.

Yes. Let's go. Let's go.

All the way

- to the back, guys.

- You got your bag, buddy?

You got it? All right.

Are you good? Here we go.

Come on in. Gimme five.

- Okay.

- Here we go.

[Jordan] Oh boy.

All right, there we go. There we go.

High five. High five. High five.

Thank you.

Amazing.

Welcome.

I knew this was gonna work out.

(gentle music)

(gentle music continues)

(children clamoring)

(gentle music continues)

(door thudding)

(gentle music continues)

And so, you know, like Jesus was like,

"That's not cool," you know?

And like, His beard, He

had a beard, you know,

which is cool 'cause I

can't really grow mine out,

but Jesus could, man.

That was cool.

Singing in the chapel, Lord, Kumbaya

And in the Bible, huh?

Yeah, the Bible says in, in Genesis,

which was a great band, by the way,

yeah, a guy by,

Phil Collins, the great drummer.

Anyway, in Genesis it says,

Singing in the chapel, Lord, Kumbaya

Thank you. Thank you.

Is it okay, is it

Yeah. Thanks.

Okay. Hi.

- Thanks.

- Thanks.

(children applauding) Thanks, Jesus. Jesus.

What I wanna know is,

who's telling the scary

story tonight at the pit fire?

- Me!

- Yeah, scary story.

Scary story?

Father!

Hey, hey, hey, there you are.

[Pastor Michael] Hey man, you did it.

What are you doing here?

(laughs) Well, I was

working on the devotion,

and I get this text from someone named Tey,

and there's a poster and

your gorgeous smiling faces on,

and I thought to myself,

I never met a celebrity in person before.

So here I am.

Great. It's great to see you.

This is my daughter, Grace.

And these are, you know,

my, my my, these are

- Campers?

- Yes.

Hi campers. I'm Father Michael.

- It's such a pleasure.

- Nice to meet you.

He's a cool dude.

It looks like you're well fed, huh?

I have one question.

Are there gonna be s'mores later?

'Cause I'll stay.

Well, maybe, maybe s'mores.

Maybe he's good enough for me.

He came into my church recently.

Boy, did he startle me.

And you should have heard him.

He was talking about angels and demons.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

No, no, I heard all about it.

Oh, okay.

(both laughing)

It's funny how God works, isn't it?

Um, God and me.

Oh, hey. Hey. Where are you going?

I'm, I'm, I'm going into,

Hey guys, I'm going,

- I'm coming in for some...

- Yeah, I know.

Maybe, maybe take a break tonight.

But you saw my

I know, I know,

and I hate for the

kids to miss out on that.

But Father Michael is here tonight.

I was thinking maybe

he could fill in for you.

Oh, oh, I, no, I don't

wanna take your, this.

No, you do it for the kids, right?

God, I'm trying to,

I'm tired of being head honcho around here.

Yeah.

Okay, sure. If you don't mind.

Hey guys, Father Michael, right here.

Let's go.

(everyone applauding and cheering)

Thank you, children.

Thank you all so much.

I am Father Michael.

I'm a Catholic priest,

a couple of towns over.

And gosh, I feel so

blessed to meet all of you

and to be here tonight.

Thank you to Jordan, the owner,

and to my new friend Gary,

for letting me speak tonight.

I hear he is a great orator and,

woo, and singer/songwriter too.

Man of many talents. I was not aware.

So thank you, Gary, for

letting me say a few words.

So when I met my new friend recently,

we talked about many interesting things.

Among them, missed opportunities.

So I've actually been working

on a talk about missed opportunities.

I'd love to share that with you tonight.

First of all, one question:

Who's heard the phrase,

actions speak louder than words?

Oh goodness, that's great. All of you.

Well, I have something deeper for you.

You may be the only glimpse of the gospel

or the Bible that someone sees.

People out there such as

friends from school, neighbors,

even family members may

never walk into a church.

They will watch how you live,

how you treat others,

how you handle problems.

If I might, 2 Corinthians,

"You are our letters.

Letters written upon our

heart for everyone to read."

Now this means you are the letter from God.

What if someone watched

your life for one week,

just one week of your

life, what would they see?

Would they see kindness?

Would they see honesty?

Would they see forgiveness?

Goodness, this fire makes me

want those marshmallows so bad.

But isn't it beautiful?

It shines bright in the middle

of this amazing camp

surrounded by the woods.

But if you went all the way

across to the end of this camp

and look back, you would

still see this fire burning bright.

Jesus said, "You are

the light of the world.

A city on a hill cannot be hidden."

If I may, a challenge for you

before the end of this camp,

think about what others will see

when they watch the letter of your life,

how the light shines in you.

Now, I don't know about you,

I like my marshmallows

crusty on the outside,

gooey on the inside.

That takes precision heating in the fire.

Happy to show anyone how

to do that if you wanna try it.

But before we do, one last question,

is there anyone who has a story

about how someone's

actions showed you Jesus?

Anyone?

Yes, please, would you share with us?

We, we knew this girl.

Some of you all know her too.

Her name was Madison.

She would always invite us

to church and stuff like that.

Yeah, we weren't exactly church people.

No. But we finally did go.

Yeah.

And you know what I remember,

I remember that she never left our side.

Yeah, she had her own friends too.

It, (sighs).

Yeah, but she knew we were alone.

And a little freaked out.

(chuckles) Definitely.

But we had fun.

We did. We met a lot of you guys.

- Mm-hm.

- Yeah.

We always knew Madison was different too.

Not in a weird way.

Yeah, no, just different.

She was always there for people.

She didn't care what the

popular kids thought of her.

She wasn't ever mean.

She just wasn't like that.

Yeah. She never stopped

being our friend either.

And the hard part is that

we were not nice to her at all.

No.

But she was always so kind.

Yeah.

Some of you guys already know this,

but Madison died a few weeks ago.

I don't know why she had to die,

but I know that if we hadn't

met her, we wouldn't be here.

And I'm so grateful that we

got the chance to meet her.

She, she showed us Jesus.

She was Jesus to us.

Yeah, but we wanna meet the real Jesus.

Thank you so much.

If there's any comfort in

your losses that Madison

is with Jesus, and He

is so proud of the light,

the beacon that she's shown with her life.

She sounds like an amazing soul.

If you wanna learn more

about your own light,

if you wanna build the light

that is your life and shine it,

I hope you will consider

accepting Jesus as your savior

before the end of this camp.

Please consider that.

And please feel free to speak to me

about any of this you like.

I'm here for the evening,

but I'll be over by the marshmallows

and the Graham crackers.

(everyone laughing)

Thank you so much.

(everyone applauding and cheering)

(gentle music)

Good evening, everyone.

Please have a seat. Have a seat.

I hope you like the punch.

I had to learn to make it

myself off of the, the tick,

the ticking tock, the,

anyway, I saw a place to do that.

So I hope I did it well.

Good evening.

I wanna start the evening

out by inviting a friend of mine

to come up and say a few words.

And I'm gonna ask him to start first

because he might just chicken out. (Laughs)

But no, seriously what he is going through

and how he's doing it,

I think could be really

helpful to everyone.

So Gary.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Hi. Hi guys.

- Hi.

- Hello.

I mean, I'm nervous as heck.

So firstly, I wanna, I wanna thank Michael

for asking me to come in

here and speak to you guys.

I mean, this isn't really my thing,

but, you know, what I've learned here

is that you don't turn down an AA request

and you suit up and you show up.

So that's what I'm doing.

I've been clean

Oh, just one second, Gary.

Hello. A new member.

Hi, I am Father Michael.

- Hello, Father.

- Welcome. Welcome.

- Thank you.

- What's your name, sir?

- Toby.

- Toby, everyone.

- Hello, Toby.

- Have a seat please.

We'll, we'll continue.

- Thank you.

- Okay, great.

Gary?

(gentle music)

(clears throat) As I was saying,

I've got four months clean and sober.

I'm a, I'm a doctor.

I guess, I'll tell you how I got here.

I started a medical

practice with my best friend

and it became very stressful.

I started taking pills and then,

and then I started taking

alcohol on top of the pills.

And it got me, it got me,

and it became habitual.

And I started losing the

things in my life that I loved,

mostly my family.

And I, I just didn't wanna miss out

on any more opportunities.

You know, the opportunities

to spend time with my daughter,

the opportunities to spend

time with my wife, my friends,

and most importantly,

the opportunity to have

a relationship with Christ.

You guys waiting on your parents?

Yeah, our dad's here.

Do you go to church here?

No, our dad just likes bringing us here.

He thinks it'll rub off on us.

(gentle music)

What do you think they do in here?

Well, they have meetings.

[Grace] Yeah.

They pray, I guess.

Look, I get what you're

saying, I, I, I really do.

I've had lots of opportunities in my life.

I mean, I've been to church my whole life.

I guess I just missed it.

I don't wanna miss it.

Well

Excuse me. I'm sorry.

Gary, can I talk to you for

a second outside please?

(gentle music)

Yeah, yeah.

[Toby] Thank you. Excuse me.

(gentle music)

Just don't miss out on any opportunities.

Okay.

You know, I didn't really

know what they did in here,

but I think I do now.

It's a place that gives you an opportunity.

Opportunity?

Opportunity to know Jesus.

This is His house.

Are you serious?

Think of it this way.

We're gonna grow up and

we may never get the chance

to learn about Jesus or know that He's real

or know how much He loves us.

We might never get to hear that.

But in here, that's what

this place is all about.

Would you guys like to know about Jesus?

(gentle music)

(gentle music)

Could I believe in what

my eyes cannot see

Or has the antidote to

brokenness evading me

Could I believe in what

my ears have not heard

A wheel of suffering that surrounds me

Have the final word

Even all the darkest

nights I know the sun will rise

I'll trust the promise I

cannot see with my eyes

Even when the clouds surround

I know the sun still shines

But when will it break through

Jesus, I need you

(singers vocalizing)

Could I believe in what

my hands have not touched

Could the murmur of the

stars contain my fragile hopes

Even though the darkest nights

I know sun will rise

I will trust the promise

I cannot see with my eyes

Even when the clouds surround

I know the sun still shines

But when will it break through

Jesus, I need you

When will it break through

Jesus, I need you

When will it break through

Jesus, I need you

When will it break through

Jesus, I need you