God created every person to be unique and precious – some can sing, some can draw, and others are naturally gifted in speaking.
“I am not an academic grasshopper, nor a pianist cricket, but a drawing firefly with wide-spread wings glowing in the dark,” said Liu.
Davy Liu, former Disney animation artists, shared his faith testimony with Chinese Christians at the Vancouver Taiwanese Presbyterian Church recently. His testimony inspired those gathered to pursue their own dreams by fulfilling God’s will for their lives.
“Fulfilling the will of God is more important than earning the worldly wealth, because the treasures on earth are temporarily, but the treasures stored in heaven are for eternity.” He stated.
Liu’s portfolio of animation drawings includes various Disney family classics, such as Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, and The Lion King. Prior to his discovery of the talents that God has given him, he used to think that he was a worthless marble.
Immigrating from Taiwan to USA, Discovery of Dawing Talent
When he was little, Liu, who was born in Taiwan, did poorly in school, which was reflected in his grades and classroom ranking. In addition, his mother has hoped that he would learn to play piano, but this also was very challenging for him. As a result, he felt that he was very worthless. At age 13, Liu’s parents decided to send him to study abroad in America, but because of language and cultural barriers at first his self-esteem dropped even more.
In one occasion, the school’s principle sent in Liu’s drawing to a national high school competition, and he was placed among the top 20, which really surprised him. At age 19, he was selected by Disney to work in their animation department, where he worked for the next ten years. In the course of his career at Disney, influential figures such as Princess Diana have come to him to learn how to draw.
Disney Production Involvement, Oscar Dream
The days in Hollywood were very exciting, and Liu has set his life’s goal to win the Oscars; however, one day God gave him a revelation through a bag of chips and ants dialogue, in which he realized that winning the Oscars is great is the perspective of man, but from God’s perspective, only the work for the heavenly kingdom is of eternal worth.
At age 31, Liu gave up his job that’s earning an annual salary of 150,000 dollars and founded Kendu Films, a media company dedicated to producing inspiring, character-based animated stories of faith. “Kendu” is pronounced similarly to “can do”, which was taken from the Bible passage in Philippians 4:13, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”
12 Bible-Theme Animated Stories
Liu started his creation of Bible-themed animated stories called The Invisible Tails series, which are stories told from the perspective of animals on land or creatures in the sea. His plan is to complete a 12 Invisible Tails series over a period of 12 years. In addition, he hopes to create an animation movie based upon these 12 books. The finished products are “The Giant Leaf”, “Fire Fish”, “Jordan’s Quest”, and “The Royal Feast.”
Lastly, the Taiwan-born Chinese-American said, “I once thought that I was a worthless marble, but God allowed me to know that in His eyes I am a sparkling diamond.” He encouraged everyone to find the commission that God has given them and live out a life of eternal value.
