Caroline Friday is a novelist and award winning screenwriter with several film projects in development for both television and theatrical distribution. She is also a 2008 Kairos Screenwriting Winner for spiritually uplifting screenplays, sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation. Caroline currently serves as EVP of Sixth Day Media, LLC, a film finance and production company headquartered in the Atlanta area. She lives in Marietta, Georgia, with her husband and three children and can be found at www.carolinefriday.com.

Inspired by a true story, Letters to God is an uplifting, sweet tale about Tyler Doherty, an extraordinary eight-year-old boy who is fighting terminal cancer. Full of faith and very little fear, Tyler prays to God every night and writes his thoughts in inspiring, personal letters, which he sends through the postal system. The letters pile up in the hands of the local mail carrier, Brady McDaniels, who is fighting his own battle with the guilt and shame of living a life riddled by alcoholism.

As Brady befriends Tyler’s family, including Tyler’s mom, Maddy, and older brother, Ben, he sees something special in this little boy and eventually reads the letters. Naturally, his heart is pricked as he realizes they are filled with love and prayers, but not for Tyler; they primarily include requests for God to touch the lives of those around him, including the bully at school. The immense joy, love, and hope reflected in Tyler’s letters speak to Brady’s heart—if a boy like Tyler has hope when death is his certain future, than surely there is hope for a man like Brady.

While normally I am not a fan of cancer stories, I did think this one was very well told, particularly from Maddy’s point of view. Not only did she face the reality of losing her son, but she was still grieving the death of her husband. In addition she lived with the added pressure of providing for her children financially, maintaining Tyler’s chemotherapy and doctor’s visits, and trying to mend the inevitable rift with her older son. Throughout the entire film, I felt the fear, anger, sadness, and heartbreak associated with the hard turn that life had thrown in this precious mother’s way. Even the cruelty of a false remission seemed terribly unfair. But through it all, Tyler remained positive and joyful, which has a tremendous effect on everyone around him.

Despite the grim realities of a terminal illness, some lighter moments added to the film’s entertainment. All of the scenes with Tyler’s best friend, a tomboy named Sam (wonderfully played by Bailee Madison), brought a smile to my face. I especially liked that she wore a bandanna around her head in the same way Tyler did to cover his baldness—and how she courageously defended him against the mean kids at school. Then there was a touching scene with Ralph Waite (Mr. Walton to me), who reassures Tyler that God has a plan even in the midst of turmoil. While this is a hard truth to grasp, Letters to God does a very good job at showing how the Lord is ultimately in control.

I had the honor of seeing this film at a church screening hosted by Curing Kids Cancer, a nonprofit organization founded by one of my fellow church families who lost their nine-year-old son to leukemia in 2003. According to the parents, this film was an accurate portrayal of the agony felt by all at losing a little boy to cancer at such a tender, young age. They testified that, like Tyler, their son had a sweet hopefulness about him, all the way up to his dying moment, when he proudly proclaimed he was “going home.”

It is a rare thing to find good, wholesome, inspirational films that entertain and promote a worthy cause, so make sure you get to the theater to see it. I applaud Possibility Films for a wonderful debut and look forward to seeing more movies from them in the future.

Visit the Letters To God YouTube Channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/LTGmovie.