Why I'm not Saving Souls in Yemen

Good evening, friends. Since we read about the significance of Christian art (quality Christian art) I thought I would talk about my own personal story of how I arrived at H.U....and why I'm not a missionary.

I grew up in a Christian home, raised to believe in the power of the unknown and the glory of God's creation. I was baptized when I was seven, simply because I felt obligated to. I assumed it would get awkward if I didn't as soon as possible, my father being the pastor and all. So, once I could wrap my head around the gospel, I announced my faith and was saved.

Drawing had always been my strongest talent. If I ever failed a test or completely threw a soccer match, I would sulk home and doodle winged sheep and space dragons. That always made me feel better, so I planned to be an animator straight out of grade school. It was about this time I began to truly understand what being a Christian was about. I always believed in God, but I learned the need for missions and servitude, and rededicated my life to God.

Jumping forward several years, I was a junior in high school. Art was still the driving talent in my life, but I felt obligated to be a missionary. After all, what good does an artist do? You can paint a picture of Jesus, but you can't tell the gospel in one picture...and there's no guarantee a person would see that picture anyway. The gears started turning that year when I saw the movie God's Not Dead.

God's Not Dead is a very enriching movie, but it seemed to only serve as a Christian back scratcher in my opinion. Walking out of the theater that day had me thinking, "They could tell the story of God in so many different ways. Why did they have to tell it by quickly shooting down every atheist philosophy?" I really wanted in to the world of multimedia now, but it seemed selfish. God calls us to  go and make disciples, not go and make movies. I was at a crossroads.

Later that year I visited H.U. The Christian views fused into all of these classes inspired me so much, and I wanted to come here and tell stories. My feelings were still conflicted, so I prayed for several months. One morning God spoke to me through a friend, "God gave you these gifts for a reason. He wouldn't make you an artist and give you a passion for such things if He didn't have plans for you in that field."

That was the deciding factor. God will still call me to be a disciple, but not in the pits of Yemen. It will be in the abyssal world of multimedia, where anything goes, and Christianity is the last thing the world wants to hear about. God will inspire us to tell His story, some in more direct ways than others.

I'm going to tell his story with a pencil.