Sep 11, 2011

AIM = artists in mission

I have worked on the Logos Hope ship for a couple of months and when I met the founder, George Verwer, I was totally inspired. My dream to have a sailing boat one day is very old. It's so old i forget about this dream even. Before I went on the ship I told my boss at the Dutch Navy that I would go work on a ship, and anyways, my contract ended too and it was not going to be prolonged since they were cutting costs. Job agency workers are let go first. I explained him about the ship, he knows I'm Christian. But then he said something that shocked me: well, you are an artist. instead of working on this ship, you should have your own artist ship and go around the world sharing the gospel with other artists. I couldn't believe was I was hearing out of the mouth of my non-believing boss. But God can speak thru anyone. If He did, i'm not sure, but it felt like this boss just formulated a lingering dream I have had and gave it shape. Then when I started to work on the ship, there were many more 'confirmations' of this desire. And to top it off George Verwer spoke exactly about this: big dreams are the opportunities God is looking for: he is BIG so he wants to do BIG, thru us. Normally as a person you think: oh, it's too big, i need to be a millionaire. Or oh, it's too much fun to actually be possible. But it's really a matter of praying for it and going along trusting, and see how God makes things happen. First God prepares you. He doesn't want you to get into something you can't handle. He doesn't want you to get burnt out for example. Things must go in a good balance. Then He prompts you to take steps, so He can direct those. See, it's God's big plan, so all the honor goes to Him too. So you can't say that you did it. George Verwer is the founder of the Logos Ships but he won't get tired to mentioned that it's actually all God's doing. I wouldn't want it any other way. But my dream for the art platform in Curacao is getting more and more shape! Yes, I don't want to do it by myself, I want to do it with a group of christian artist who are or want to get on fire for the Lord in their artistic profession. I would love to have the platform for artists-in-residencies to get training in how to preach/heal/listen/prophesy/inspire/bring people closer to Jesus thru their art. Those are basically all things from the Holy Spirit. There are many christian conferences and such. But are there also many christian AIR's? The Bible is such an endless source to make art about, it's crazy. Example: I'm working on an art installation about the book of Ezekiel and there is so much to work with. But also i like it because it's for me the most exciting way to dig in and study the Word, by afterwards pour what I've learned and experienced into an art form. It's what a pastor does with his or her teachings. i've gotta sleep next blog soon