I’m going to wander a bit this morning, if you don’t mind. Perhaps you heard the news? If not, I’ll share what I posted last week in two separate social media posts.

From March 10:

“After months of discussion, it’s official. Mandalay Pictures is turning my novel ‘Ashes To Ashes’ into a movie. Jim Caviezel is on board to play Rev. Daniel Michaels. This is a humbling moment for my family and me, to be sure, even more so that a handful of some of the most influential producers in the film industry have expressed to me personally a love for the story and its themes, all with the expectation that it’s going to be a huge success, even bigger than we may yet anticipate. Either way, and again, it’s official. It is happening. And for the record, I intend to embrace the experience fully. If you have not yet read the book, you can order it here: https://www.amazon.com/Ashes-Christopher-I-Thoma/dp/1955355053/. (If you do read it, please return to Amazon and leave a review!) You may do some preemptive reading by visiting here: https://christopherthoma.com/. [I know it will be offered in love, but please do not comment here with contractual advice or concerns/interest for representation. I signed with an agent in Hollywood last December. She is exceptional. In fact, she’s essentially family to us now. God truly has us well in hand.]”

From March 12:

“I can’t even begin to describe how Rev. Daniel Michaels is actually coming to life. He is already a beloved character for the director, Alejandro Monteverde (who is co-writing the script with Rod Barr), and the lead actor, Jim Caviezel. Their praise is humbling. Truly. And with all at the top of Mandalay saying the same things, this is moving forward at full throttle. Even better, they’re committed to remaining true to the book. That alone settles in my deepest insides. It’ll be a long road to the finished product. Still, pray for and rejoice with me, friends. This is something very good.”

Whether you read those posts when they were shared, or you’re reading them now for the first time, I hope you’ve sensed the mixture of excitement, gratitude, and careful restraint that comes with sharing news of this kind. I suppose had you been present when I announced it during Bible study last Sunday, you’d have heard a whole lot more. I took the faithful here at Our Savior—my Christian family—into the deepest recesses of my heart concerning what’s about to happen to me. That’s because when something like this moves from the realm of possibility into the realm of certainty, the instinct is to share the untold details—and the privilege of those details belongs to family.

Beyond family, wisdom suggests saying only what is necessary and letting the moment settle where it should. And so, that was the purpose of the first post. It simply established the facts. After months of discussions, Mandalay Pictures has committed to bringing Ashes to Ashes to the screen. Jim Caviezel will portray Rev. Daniel Michaels.

Admittedly, those are remarkable sentences to write. I have to imagine that any novelist blessed to scribble such things knows the gravity. What’s more, for a pastor who wrote the story while carrying the ordinary rhythms of ministry—preaching, teaching, visiting, counseling, and doing all the tasks required to shepherd a congregation—it adds an additional layer of astonishment. It represents the convergence of a great many emotions. It’s made from moments that belong, first, as I said, to those who know me best, but also the readers who took a chance with the story, discovering a love for it, and now to the filmmaking professionals who believe it can and will be adored by millions more.

The second post I shared was already stirring even as I was typing the first. A product of multiple conversations from the last two weeks, it concerned the people entrusted with interpreting the story. And so, the question: “Do they understand it?” I’m betting that question rests quietly in the heart of every author whose work enters the world of film. It’s no different when the story itself grows out of a pastor’s experience combined with a wandering imagination. Indeed, the character of Rev. Daniel Michaels was never intended to be a caricature or a symbol for anything. In so many ways, he’s real. Do they understand this? Do they know why he does this instead of that? Does it make sense that he’d say these words instead of those? How can he suddenly turn from his role of protecting a flock to one of hunting the wolves?

There’s a lot to consider with these questions. I spent most of Friday night and Saturday morning thinking through and writing a character study for the potential script writer, if only to help him better grasp the innards of these things. But no matter how you see Rev. Daniel Michaels, he demonstrates genuine humanity. There’s nothing formulaic here. In that sense, I should tell you something I said to the folks at Mandalay.

In an early conversation, I said that Rev. Daniel Michaels was written as a man, but also a true shepherd of souls. He really cares and wants nothing more than to be faithful. True shepherds do not do what they do to fill church pews. They’re called in service to Christ. As they do, they bear the very real burdens and convictions that come with that calling (Matthew 5:11-12, John 15:18, and so many others). Being a pastor is not for the faint of heart. Pastors—real ones, that is—are not the prudish or sometimes aloof pietists you so often see on screen. They’re also not necessarily the syrupy skinny-jeans-wearing hipsters you see in contemporary Christian film—even as so many try to emulate that ridiculous form. I added to this that a writer writes what he knows. This was to say, I’m a pastor, and so, Daniel Michaels is me, or an apparition of me, at least. He knows what I know. He speaks as I speak. He carries himself as I carry myself. He drives the same car. He lives in the same town. He loves the people in his care deeply enough to put his own reputation and security on the line to preserve them. Knowing that Jim will be playing the character, I wrote to him specifically, “It’s no small thing for me to say that, very soon, you could be the person who has come closest to being ‘me’ that anyone ever has.”

I repeated that for my wife, Jennifer, this past Thursday night. We were watching a movie when I started getting texts from the director, writer, and producer of the very movie we were watching. Talk about a surrealistic fever dream. She paused the film, I responded, and then turned to her to say that very soon I’d be watching a movie—a character on the screen. It won’t be me, but it’ll be me. I barely have the words to describe how I feel about that.

But then there are all the other conversations so far. It has been particularly encouraging along the way to hear the affection everyone involved in this production has for Rev. Daniel Michaels. When filmmakers praise the character rather than simply the plot, it’s usually a sign that they have a sense for the story’s center of gravity. As this particular fictional world’s creator, I’m convinced they get it. Even better, they’ve committed to staying faithful to the book’s vision.

I’m sure, like me, you’ve read a book and, after seeing the film adaptation, were dreadfully disappointed, if only because the filmmakers took far too many liberties. Adaptation always involves translation. However, in this case, those leading the effort openly acknowledge the sanctity of the original form. This is a great place to start. It suggests that no one involved is trying to reinvent anything. They want the story and the characters that I wrote. That’s good. I want them, too. Will liberties be taken? Yes. But we’re already starting in a very good place.

I’ve already gone on long enough, and I need to get ready for the day ahead. I suppose I’ll close by saying to you what’s been said to me, which is that the road from development to a finished film is long and filled with plenty of moving parts that not even I will ever know or see. Creative decisions multiply. Scripts evolve. Things happen. Still, the essential reality is that the project is underway, the right people appear to be in place, and the story that once existed only on paper has begun the slow process of becoming something more. For a pastor who never set out to write for Hollywood—even though, admittedly, I’ve always had a cinematic mind and style—that realization remains quietly astonishing.

But here’s the thing. I am and remain a pastor. I love my Lord. I love preaching and teaching His Word. I love the congregation I serve. As I said, they’re family. The faithful here at Our Savior will most certainly get first dibs on any potential benefits from this Hollywood stuff. In the meantime, as things unfold, it is more than enough to give thanks to God for His grace in all things, and to rest in the knowledge that something pretty incredible is happening.