Featured Content

This is my latest freelance piece. I was asked again by Briercrest College and Seminary to do an art piece for them, this time for their online marketing campaign targeting potential US students. I used the GIMP for this project and was able to try out a new style that I haven't done before.

I communicated quite closely with the webmaster at Briercrest College and Seminary throughout the duration of the project to best suit their needs and expectations.

"Calvin is a true natural talent. He's flexible, versatile, and doesn't compromise quality. I gave Calvin a rough idea of what I was looking for and he infused his own ideas and the final product far exceeded expectations." - Natalie Ott, Director of Communications at Briercrest College and Seminary

Click on the image to view the full-sized version.

Recent Happenings

I am continuing to work in Distance Learning at the college here through the summer. I will quit in early August and then have a couple weeks off before heading out to Vancouver for art school at Emily Carr University of Art + Design.

I have been praying and asking God to prepare me for University in all the ways I will need to be prepared and already I have felt and seen myself being stretched and tested as the summer starts. I know that if I had planned out the things I need to work on and tried in my own strength I would fall short, come fall, but in God's power I will be ready!

Ask Yourself!

So here's the thing. As people we all worship something. There is no person on earth who doesn't worship something. Now, of course, by worship I don't mean we all bown down before something and worship in that sense, but we all have something that we hold above everything else. There is something or even a couple things that we hold in higher importance than anything else.

So the question is, what do you worship? And the even more important question is, are you a slave to what you worship? Even though you think you want this thing, do you think that you could give that thing up in a moment? Or does it hold you captive?

If Love is not a Feeling

by Calvin Culy

If love is not a feeling,
Then where's this feeling from?
With what word should I describe it,
If love is not the one?

You say "Love is sacrificial,
A commitment to go on."
Cannot a promise carry passion?
From where does joyful service spawn?

Perhaps though love is not a feeling...
It's can't encapsulate the whole.
But this feeling that I have,
Reverberates down to my soul.

This feeling turns my focus,
Away from pleasing self,
It causes me to want to give,
My life for Someone else.

It urges my surrender,
And to praise my God above,
It binds me fast on solid ground,
And frees me like a dove.

           This feeling must be love.

My Memory

by Calvin Culy

My Memory grew old and slipped away from me one day,
But of the year, or month, or hour it’s really hard to say,
She was a close companion, a friend while I was young,
Though hardly had I lived a score, she returned from where she’d come.

You know I loved her dearly, for how she cared for me,
Guiding me from day to day, as a shepherd does his sheep,
The only key to open up the safe within my mind,
To bring back to the present a life that’s left behind.

It makes me glad to know no more the things I long wished gone,
Of hardships that had left her scarred, that darkened her bright song,
But it made me sad to see her go one crisp, cold, cloudy day,
To watch through rain streaked windows my Memory fade away.

She took with her my recollect of growing up at home,
Of friends now gone that I had loved, of places I once roamed,
She took with her experience, a skill learned over time,
Once valuable, now useless, who will bring it to my mind?

Now here I am an empty man, bare, ridden of my past,
Though more focused on the future, on eternal things that last,
I wish I’d been more thankful for the years she lived to see,
I’d taken her for granted; now she granted rest in peace,

My Memory grew old and slipped away from me one day,
But of the year, or month, or hour it’s really hard to say,
Alas I wish now as I write to bring her back to me,
For I had a few things more to say, but they left with Memory.

My Memory,
Please reappear,
I’ll never be,
The same as I was when you were here.
My Memory,
Please reappear,
I’ll never be,
The same as I was when you were here.

Where You’re From

Flowers wilting in the fields,
This life is giving up its own,
Like a steaming vapor quickly disappears,
S’ no need to mention this was so.

Leaves spreading ripples in the stream,
Snow topped rocks amid the flow,
Like loosing focus in a never ending dream,
On and on it seems to go.

And then it’s gone,
Like dying embers from your fire last night,
From day to day,
The flowers bloom and die under the sun’s light.

Stars spin twinkling over head,
What years of time their light has graced,
Yet earth and heaven shall one day pass away,
But the One behind them will remain.

The life of man is but a spark,
To touch the world then fade to grey,
Like a figure clawing helpless in the dark,
His worthless eyes can’t show the way.

And then he’s gone,
Like the green grass in the fields when winter comes.
From dust to dust,
He struggles to find where he’s going, where is he from?

Just listen to the oceans waves,
See the seagulls in the sand,
Though far less than man their every need is met,
The Lord does hold them in his hand.

Oh little man where is your faith?
Where’s your trust within the One,
Who simply spoke, and created time and space,
Oh man, this is where you’re from.

Can you see,
Creation tells the glory of the Son,
Do you have peace,
Do you know the truth of where you’re going, where you’re from.

Can’t you see,
That creation tells the glory of the Son,
Where’s your peace,
Don’t you know the truth of where you’re going, of where you’re from.

A Crystal Vase

If the world were a crystal vase,
Within a child’s hands.
Gripped fierce in chubby fingers,
And filled with colored sands.

If everything we’ve know to be,
Was jostled once or twice,
And every dark and hidden thing,
Was sifted to the light.

Would we not cringe and weep to think,
Of the horror we’d become,
We tried to hide in colored sands,
Two shakes we’re undone.

So what good is a crystal vase,
If the colors just inside,
Are speckled with impurities,
We cannot hope to hide?

Would we not be better off,
To deal with these things?
Than hide them in a crystal vase,
And pray that no one sees.

I’ve Found It

Happiness wells up inside me now,
And I can’t tell you just how long I’ve tried
To fill myself so that I’d never need another thing!
To try and fill this empty me!
But I couldn’t find it I’d die trying…on my own
Many have before I’m afraid.
But I’ve got some good news, just for you my friend,
That there’s life beyond the grave.

And,
I! I’ve found it!
I! I’ve found Him!
And His name is Jesus Christ.

If you tell them that you’re seeking truth,
They’ll love you, until you say you’ve found it, now.
And then they’ll say you’re just a fool.
Everyone knows there’s no truth, that’s the truth, so I’m a fool,
Cause I lost my job, I lost my friends,
I lost my house, my cash to spend!
I lost my will, I lost my dreams,
I lost my life, my everything!

But!
I! I’ve found it! I’ve found the truth!
I! I’ve found Him! I’ve found You!

Cause what good does it do a man,
That he saves his life then loose it all the moment that he dies?
There goes his job, his friends, his house, his cash, his will, and dreams,
All poof before his eyes.
Sounds familiar,
But now he’s standing guilty empty-handed, before the Judge of All,
He missed the one true thing that redeemed man from the Fall!

But!
I! I’ve found it! I’ve found the truth!
I! I’m can’t hide it! I’m telling you!
I! I’ve found it! I’ve found the truth!
I! I’ve found Him! I’ve found You! Jesus Christ!

I! I’ve found it! I’ve found the truth!
I! I’ve found Him! I’m telling you!
Well that’s what I’m shouting out to you,
I’ve found it! I’ve found Hi-im.

Using the World

I can’t start making a difference,
Until there’s a difference made in me.
I can’t save you from drowning,
Unless I’m not drowning in the same sea.

So don’t tell me that you can,
Save the world,
Using the world.

Don’t tell me that you’ve been,
Saving the world,
Using the world.

I can’t give you true water,
Unless I have the water that quenches all thirst.
I can’t change one heart,
Without the one who changed mine first.

So don’t tell me that you can,
Save the world,
Using the world.

Don’t tell me that you’ve been,
Saving the world,
Using the world.

And how could we ever expect,
That we could do anything apart from Him?
How did we deceive ourselves,
To think that cleverness could save a man?

When did we let down our guard,
Believing that there’s a truth beyond His Word?
Can’t you see we’ve slipped so far,
Trying to use the world!

So don’t tell me that you can,
Save the world,
Using the world.

Don’t tell me that you’ve been,
Saving the world,
Using the world. (X2)

I can’t start making a difference,
Until there’s a difference made in me.
I can’t save you from drowning,
Unless I’m not drowning in the same sea.

Pretty Colors

This dark rain’s leaving us behind,
Soft light’s returning to the sky,
And a rainbow is heralding the news,
What they said it must be true,

And all those pretty colors,
Are swirling around,
Are spreading down.

Now all those pretty colors,
Are calling out,
No flood will cover this,
Ground.

His word is truer than this life,
Passage of time can hold no sway,
And no matter where I look it’s at my sight,
His mirrors set in every space.

And all those pretty colors,
Are swirling around,
Are spreading down.

Now all those pretty colors,
Are calling out,
No flood will cover this,
Ground.

Verse 1

Chorus (x2)

You Didn't Stay

The world all around me,
Says this is it,
“Live how you like.
Try and make the most of this.

We don’t need God,
But if He exists,
He’s probably in heaven,
Where he sleeps and sits.”

But I know there’s a whole lot more to the story,
And I’m here to say today,
So that the Lord gets all the glory,
And so that someone might be saved.

Cause He didn’t stay up in heaven,
And leave us to die in sin on the earth.
You sent your son to redeem us,
As a ransom to offer new birth.
No you didn’t stay up in heaven,
Hidden away from man’s evil deeds,
Cause even today you are at work here,
Breaking sins chains and setting men free.

The people I’m telling,
Are laughing at me,
They call me a fool,
For what I believe,

They say that, “Man,
Has no need for God”,
Claiming man made him up,
So not to feel weak.

But I know there’s a whole lot more to the story,
And I’m here to say today,
So that the Lord gets all the glory,
And so that sinners might be saved.

Chorus

I’m here to tell you that this is all true,
It’s time you stopped doubting,
I’m showing you proof.

Jesus died for me and you,
For wicked men like us,
To make us new.

He took the wickedness of man,
Upon himself,
Who had no sin,

And he was crushed by God’s own hand,
He paid our price,
We’re forgiven!

Chorus

Halleluiah, Hallelu, Hallelu
Halleluiah, Hallelu, Hallelu

Chorus

When I'm Crucified

I see the rays,
And these are the days,

I’m so amazed,
At how quickly,
They’re slipping,
Away.

Light’s pouring in,
I’m waking up to begin again,
Do I give in to the noise?
My day hangs on my choice.

But I’m not giving in.

So I’ll nail myself again,
To the cross. To the cross,
And I’ll hammer the nails in,
So I can’t get off.
When I no longer live,
I’m alive in Christ.
When all I have I give,
He will free me inside.
When I’m crucified.
When I’m crucified.

Birthed from within,
A wicked thought that tempts me to sin,
Growing screaming inside of me,
“This is your life. You ought to be free.”

But I’m not giving in.

Chorus

I just can’t do the things I used to do,
I just can’t say the things I used to say,
I just can’t think the way I used to,
I just can’t live the way I used to live,
I can’t live that way.

Chorus

Seven Hours Later

It’s 12 A.M.
And the day is over; you’re heading into bed,
Your alarm is set,
Like always set for 7; as you lay down your head.
But it was ringing when they found you,
Is what they said,
It was ringing but,
But you were still in bed.

Seven hours later you were dead.
Suddenly it mattered, every word you’d said,
Where you’d been throughout your life and all the things you did,
Suddenly it mattered how you lived.
All along it mattered how you lived.

No one, No one,
No one saw it coming,
No one knew the time,
If you had known,
How short your life would be now,
Would you have changed your mind?

Did you listen to the world?
And try to save your life?
Or lose yourself; take up your cross,
And follow Jesus Christ?

Seven hours later you were dead.
And now it doesn’t matter the people that you met,
The things, or friends or happiness you tried so hard to get,
Suddenly it wasn’t worth your sweat.
It wasn’t really ever worth your sweat.

Rewind, rewind,
Back to the beginning,
Beginning of your life.
I think you’ll find,
This race was made for winning,
Not running out of time.

But did you get distracted?
Did someone call your name?
And did you stop and listen?
Giving up the race.

Seven hours later you were dead.
I’m afraid there’s no more trying; it seems you’ve reached the end,
The Book of Life is opened, is your name within?
Hear this as a warning from a friend,
This was just a warning from a friend.

Resource Documents

Blender Files

Short Stories & Poems

Wallpapers