Holding Up the Mirror: See Your Story the Way God Does

Written By Paul McDonald

A New Series: Stories Behind Wild at Heart: The Series

 Every man carries wounds—some buried deep, some tearing through the surface, some leaving them questioning everything. Wild at Heart: The Series is an invitation to step into the stories of men who have faced their deepest wounds—and found that God was there all along.

Over the next few episodes, we will have conversations with the men who were a part of this project. We start with Daniel to explore his calling as a filmmaker and how he holds up a mirror to help men see their stories the way God does. Next we'll sitting down with each man featured in the series—Mark, Leo, Sam, and Pablo—real men who have faced crisis, trauma, and failure, and who have found healing, redemption, and restoration.

If you haven't watched the series yet, check it out on the Wild at Heart YouTube channel. Watch the trailer or dive straight into the prologue. Then join us here as we unpack the stories that didn't make the final cut—and the films that reveal the transformation and hope that mark these men's lives.

Download your study guide here.

Filmmaker Daniel Chesnut shares how a winding road of waiting, craft, and story shaped his calling and helped bring Wild at Heart the Series to life. A conversation about story as mirror, encounter over output, and how God prepares men through the long road.

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The Quotes

  • One without the other doesn’t get you where you want to be. Both is the right answer.

  • The dots that connect it all are relationships.

  • The way we love our children, and want them to engage with us, can be a pathway for us to engage with God.

  • I create an environment where people can share things they have never shared before. I use story to access the deeper longings of their hearts.

  • If that’s my motive, and that’s my calling, the output no longer matters.

 Themes

  • Discovering your passion: Daniel was a surfer, and found joy in filmmaking. Combination of passion and craft. Arose again with Wild at Heart and filmmaking.

  • Waiting to share movies he loves with his son for the right moment

  • Use story to access the deeper longings of their hearts. Hold up a mirror for a person to see their lives the way God sees it.

Resources

  • Wild at Heart YouTube Channel

  • Wild at Heart: The Series trailer

  • Wild at Heart: The Series prologue

  • “If you could do it, I suppose, it would be a good idea to live your life in a straight line - starting, say, in the Dark Wood of Error, and proceeding by logical steps through Hell and Purgatory and into Heaven. Or you could take the King's Highway past the appropriately named dangers, toils, and snares, and finally cross the River of Death and enter the Celestial City. But that is not the way I have done it, so far. I am a pilgrim, but my pilgrimage has been wandering and unmarked. Often what has looked like a straight line to me has been a circling or a doubling back. I have been in the Dark Wood of Error any number of times. I have known something of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, but not always in that order. The names of many snares and dangers have been made known to me, but I have seen them only in looking back. Often I have not known where I was going until I was already there. I have had my share of desires and goals, but my life has come to me or I have gone to it mainly by way of mistakes and surprises. Often I have received better than I deserved. Often my fairest hopes have rested on bad mistakes. I am an ignorant pilgrim, crossing a dark valley. And yet for a long time, looking back, I have been unable to shake off the feeling that I have been led - make of that what you will.” - from Jabyer Crow by Wendell Berry

  • Process Creative website

  • All Things New video series

  • Some of our favorite John Eldredge books

Questions

  • Where do you find joy in things you do, for the sake of the thing, not the result?

  • What makes your heart come alive?

  • What things come easily to you?

  • How can you partner with God in the initiation of your children?

  • What do you enjoy watching your children do? How can that be an example of what God enjoys watching you engage in?

  • What are the major throughlines in your life?

  • How do you carry God’s heart into the world?

More info

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Logo and episode templates by Ian Johnston

Audio quotes performed by Britt Mooney, Paul McDonald, and Tim Willard, taken from Epic (written by John Eldredge) and Song of Albion (written by Stephen Lawhead).

Southerly Change performed by Zane Dickinson, used under license from Shutterstock.

Links:

Paul McDonald
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The Family Man: Who Will You Choose?