Frank-Anderson--Artist-Statement--At-The-Cross.txt

2021-12-01

	The Fall of 1955 our local First Baptist Church of Rifle, Colorado was having revival meetings. One day the Evangelist said, "Tomorrow I will talk about what the Bible says about Hell." As a second grader, around my seventh birthday (October 19) I couldn't wait to hear what the Bible says about Hell! Everyone always talked about Heaven, but nobody ever talked about what the Bible said about Hell. That night it was "Hell, Fire, and Brimstone!" It didn't take me very long to realize "I was going to Hell and going to burn, and it wasn't going to be 'Cool'." He kept going on and on and finally he finished and gave an alter call, "If you wanted to ask Jesus into your heart, come forward." I knew I should go, but I didn't want everyone to know how bad I was, so I didn't go forward.
	After we got home, I guess I started fighting with my sister 14 months younger (December 17). At this point my Mother said, "What is the matter with you? Do you want to go to Hell?"
	I replied, "No Mommy, NO!"
	She realized I was ready and sat down in our coat tree chair and had me kneel down in front of her. She told me I didn't need to go to Hell because Jesus died on the Cross for my sins.
	God permitted me to be a "Time Traveler" for a very brief few minutes! I was less than ten feet from the foot of Jesus' Cross. There was a little pile of dirt less than three feet across around the cross. It was dark, about like twilight, but I could still see Jesus. I was about 35 degrees to His right, and He turned His head and looked at me. I could not look Him in the face because I was bad! His blood was slowly dripping from Him and running down the little pile of dirt. My sins put Him there! He was dying for me! Would I live for Him? I asked Him to come into my heart and to forgive me of my sins. He was still alive, but He was dying for me! I was crying and the next thing I knew I was back in our living room with my Mother.
	The next day after school, my job was to take the ashes out and bring the coal back in for our stoves. That day the bucket of ashes weighed like an empty bucket, and the bucket of coal weighed like a bucket of ashes. When I got back in I told my Mom, "Gee Mom,  feel as light as a feather!" God had washed away all of my sins!
	In school I was interested in Math and Science, How do things work? Rote memory was basically nonexistent! When I attended Moody Bible Institute, I knew I didn't want to be a Pastor, because of the way our Pastor was treated and thought I could handle being a Missionary Pilot. For Pre-Aviation, Moody took their three years of Bible and crammed it into two years. The school year 1966-67 we had 64 students in Pre-Aviation and after two years of Bible, there was room for only eight people at the airport, where in the next two years one would get their "A&P Mechanics license" and then their "Pilots license." Needless to say, a week before the end of school I received a letter letting me know that because I only had ten credit hours of passing grades, I would not be welcomed back in the Fall, which left me devastated!
	In 1990 I found out I had a learning disability even though I had been in the upper third of my class of around 80 students all my life.
	The Fall of 1991 through the Spring of 1997 I went back to school at Mesa State College; Grand Junction, Colorado, which is now Colorado Mesa University. There I received an "Associate of Applied Science (13-May-1995); Major: Printing Technology" and a "Bachelor of Arts (10-May-1997); Major: Fine and Performing Arts-Art (Print Making: Lithography and Intaglio)." Total Earned Hours: 197.00; GPA Hours: 197.00; Points: 689.00; GPA: 3.497; Total Transfer Hours: 0.00. My handicap shows up in "Manual Speed and Dexterity" which rates the "Moron" category and directly ties into "Rote Memory."
	In one of my Art classes we were supposed to make five Mixed Media pieces which were the most important things in our life. My first piece was "At the Cross" which is 20 x 16 inches, Pen and Ink, and Air Brush with black ink, Paint (red, iron oxide primer), and Text. Since I was "At the Cross" and could not look Jesus in the face, but only look down, I drew the bottom of the cross. The red primer paint represented Jesus blood and the black ink air brushing represented my sins being covered with Christ's blood.
	Even though Moody Bible Institute rejected me after one school year (1966-67), God has chosen me to be one of His "Mission Possible" people. "Mission Possible" is quite the opposite of the old TV series "Mission Impossible" where they are given a choice of accepting the mission, a packet of pictures which includes the people they will be contacting and what the mission is. With "Mission Possible" you don't know what the mission is, you have no clue who you will be contacting, and you have no choice of accepting the mission!
	God not only wants our "abilities," He also wants our "disabilities" as well. He wants "ALL of Us!"

In Christ,
Frank Wesley Anderson

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