SandStory

This is the amazing story of how sand changed my life. It is how I became a SandStory artist. I firmly believe that God does not include anything in our lives that is unnecessary. Every detail is of value and part of the story. All of our joys, all of our sorrows, the successes and even the failures make up a compelling narrative that becomes our lives. Some day we will read it from beginning to end and be very satisfied with the result.

My story began with a desire to be a Commercial artist. I got started doing graphic arts and founded my own advertising agency. Over the next 18 years, I took almost any job that came along. The typical commercial stuff like logo designs, brochures and catalogs were the bread and butter. The ‘not-so-typical’ included brush-lettering signs, pastel portraits, courtroom drawings, airbrushing T-shirts, clay modeling and three dimensional displays. It was the foundation that God used in preparing me to be a SandStory artist.

After career number one, I went back to seminary, got a degree, married a wonderful, stable gal named Cindy and were asked to plant a new church.

With my background in art and advertising, It only made sense that I wanted to blend art into the colors of a vibrant new church. I was also very aware that this was a visual generation and using the arts was the logical way to reach them. As the church grew we moved into and remodeled an old movie theater that still had the large screen. All of our art creations could be projected larger than life. W tried to stay fresh and creative but when you are doing things on a weekly basis, it is a huge challenge. The creative element becomes a stretch. After almost five years I was running out of ideas. The two biggest times in church attendance are Christmas and Easter. With Easter coming up I needed something new. One day in April my son Jose sent me an email attachment with the cryptic note, “Dad you need to give this a try.” It was a short grainy clip of some guy named Kako creating images in sand for an animators' event in Korea, . It was the right time and since I was looking for a new idea for church, it was the right place. It caught my eye and my imagination as well. That next week Cindy sent me off to Lowe’s to get her some mulch for the garden.

I got home with the mulch, but I also had a trunkful of gear including a bag of sand, a kitchen light fixture, a piece of glass, four table legs, some 1’ x 4’s and various nuts and screws. I started ‘Macgivering’ this collection of parts in my garage.

Sand images started appearing on my homemade sand table and I wanted to add some drama to it in the form of music. My wife Cindy mentioned the powerful music we had just heard watching the Mel Gibson movie, “The Passion of the Christ.” After purchasing a CD of the sound track and found it was perfect. Composed by the masterful musician, John Debney it inspired images that came together for the very first SandStory I called “The Passion.” I then duct taped a portable handy-cam to a tripod and plugged into our church projector and voilá! There was the sand, my hands and any images I wanted to draw projected huge up on the screen.

Easter Sunday morning, went off without a hitch. My congregation overflowed with lavish accolades. But, I assumed, they were my congregation, they were supposed to say nice things about the sermons and my crazy art projects.

Almost one year after our Easter performance a call came in from a friend from Asbury Seminary. They were having a ‘President’s Retreat’ on Marco Island, Florida, and they wanted me to come and perform my new “SandStory” art. It sounded very exciting. For two weeks, I practiced like a madman. The night of the event arrived. The lights dimmed, John Debney’s gripping music started playing through state-of-the-art speakers that rumbled the floor and vibrated the chandeliers. Every grain of sand was in sharp focus on two giant screens. The images began unfolding under my fingers in the darkened auditorium. About half way through my performance I subliminally noticed the room had become abnormally still. The hair on the back of my neck began to stand up, my face tingled and goose bumps started piling up on my arms. In some way I could not understand, the spirit of God was at work. It was very much as if all the air had been sucked from the room. The face of the resurrected Christ holding out his pierced hand was my final image. The last haunting chord faded into silence. I stepped away from the table. Nobody breathed. As the lights came up, many seemed to be wiping tears from their cheeks. A softly breathed, “Oh my!” from the back seemed to loosen the tension with a collective exhalation. Never before or since have I experienced the power and intensity of a moment in that way.

As soon as I was done, I was surrounded by a hundred or so people all wanting to shake my hand and offer some form of praise. The comments I kept hearing were things like; “Wow, that is the most powerful thing I have ever seen!” “Incredible!” “Captivating!” “Absolutely Unique!” “I have never seen anything like that before!” “I just couldn’t control the tears!” “Bless you, you have touched my life in a way nothing before ever has.” All I could do was look sincerely into the eyes of person after person and say, “Thank You, thank you, thank you.”

The very next day the phone started ringing. Requests to perform SandStories began to flow in. Some SandStory clips wound up on YouTube. The results have been staggering. Seven years later I have performed in forty three states, eighteen foreign countries, on all the major networks, for presidents, kings, dignitaries and I am continually amazed at the way God continues to create my story in the Sand.