Everyone has a purpose and a story here is mine:

WHO IS CHRIS COLOTTI:

My name is Chris Colotti. I am a 25 year old creative from Newburgh, NY. I am currently living in South Florida. My main passions are Jesus, drawing, writing, lifting, gaming and playing baseball. All of these have helped shaped me to be the man I am today. I have been drawing and writing passionately since I was about 14. Throughout my life I have let others sway my opinion on a lot of things. Throughout elementary school, art was my least favorite class just because all of the “cool” kids thought it was lame. However, that all changed when I was 8 and I painted a house. The satisfaction that I got from the completion of this house and the way it looked filled me with so much joy. However, the thing that made me fall in love with art was the fact that I not only surprised my teacher myself. That is what I love about art, is that there is so much doubt and failure that it beautifully motivates you to be better. Everyone has their own style and everyone has their own definition of art, which makes every single piece of work unique in it’s own special way. I am currently a part-time retail worker, while part-time pursuing my dream of becoming a full-time artist. I recently graduated from Nyack College (2019) with a Criminal Justice degree. You may be asking yourself, “why not just become a cop?”. Well I got the answer, like I said art has been my passion for a while, I initially wanted to go to college for an art degree, but I fell for the world’s doubt of “what can you do with an art degree?” So, I played it safe and went to school for criminal justice, since justice and being a cop always intrigued me. The original plan was become a cop, do my 20, and then do art after. However, during my junior year I had to look for an internship and that is when life hit me. Every time I sat down to look for an internship, I got sick to my stomach and thought to myself “I really do not want to do this.” This meaning I did not want to do the work, but I did not want to become a cop, either. My heart was not in it, and I did not want to do something my heart was not in. So, I went to my teacher and told her that this was not for me, so she told me to write a paper on it. This led to a 5 chapter story, with a prologue and epilogue, of why I did not want to pursue an internship and a career in the criminal justice field. Art is a huge part of how I am still alive today, but let me tell you about my testimony real quick…

MY TESTIMONY:

Before I accepted Christ into my life, there was so many different mental issues that I battled on a daily basis. I dealt with constant depression and anxiety, meanwhile I tried everything to find an identity. Through not having the right state of mind and trying to find who Chris Colotti is, I battled suicidal thoughts. There was not a day that I did not want or think about killing myself. Growing up I spent a lot of time being by myself. I was that kid that walked down the hallways alone with my headphones in, avoiding eye contact. I was not a popular kid by any means, but I was not someone that slipped away from the popular scene, people knew who I was, and I knew who people were; I just rarely, if at all, did not associate myself with them outside of school. I played baseball my entire life, this is where I found most of my identity, this is how people knew who I was. In high school, there was four of Colottis around the same age, two of my cousins, my sister, and myself. We all played sports and we were all good and known for our sports, from soccer to football to basketball to baseball and softball, we played it all. Meanwhile, when I was trying to find my own identity outside of my last name and my sport I was constantly being rejected and outcasted. I was bullied starting at a young age, but also, I was a bully. Before Christ, I battled so many different emotional battles which led me trying to find control. Where I found control in what I did, was in my addiction to porn. I could never get a girl to like me the same way I liked them, never less get them to be my girlfriend; so, I fell for the digital pleasure of pornography. Growing up I did not have much of a spiritual stability. I grew up physically going to church, but I was never mentally there. It was the same when I went to CCD, I was always talking, did other homework, and always got in trouble. I knew of God, but I did not know God. I knew he was there, but I did not know him personally. I wore the cross and I would give the sign of the cross after hitting a home run, but it was all fake. I did not live for Jesus.

            My journey all started my freshman year of college, I went to Dominican College to play baseball. However, God had a different plan. Even though the coaches convinced and told my dad and I that I would be on the baseball team, when it came to the end of the tryouts my name was not on the roster. I was devasted, I did not know what to do. Baseball was my life; it was my god. All I wanted to do was play baseball, it was something I dedicated my entire life to it. Before the list was posted, I was in the shower and prayed the typical “if you do this, I will go to church, and I will be good” prayers (which God showed me that it was in his time). As soon as I saw the list my heart sunk and fell to my toes, I bursted into tears and called my parents. I called them apologizing, thinking that I failed them. After collecting my composer, I immediately started to search for new colleges, I mass emailed coaches, updated my recruiting profile, talked to coaches left and right, and eventually went on a handful of visits. When it came down to it, it was down to two colleges. It was between a D3 school in Iowa, who told me I would be the starting first basemen and hitting in the middle of a lineup as a freshman and my current college (Nyack College) who told me that I would be on the team, but had to work for my spot. After several “prayers” and visiting my grandpa’s grave, I chose Nyack College. I chose Nyack College due to the fact that I love the challenge of having to earn my spot, it was close to home (not 18 hours away) but far enough away that I was not home, and it was a Christian college. I wanted to get to know God more, and I did it more for my grandma and grandpa. Therefore, I was looking forward to the religious classes that they offered. During my first semester there, we had team Bible Studies; which I went to every single one. One of the first classes I took was Old Testament, which is where I ended getting my first Bible. Before entering college, if you told me I would own a Bible I would laugh in your face. Once I got it, I read all the time. I should have been studying and do homework, but I do my best stuff when I am supposed to be doing school work - i.e. learned how to solve the Rubik's cube my first ever finals week, but hey still got straight A's.  At first, I would only read the Old Testament, since that is what I had to read for class. I was so intrigued by the devotionals I had to read and write each week, and all the essays I had to write for the class. That winter break I read the entire Old Testament, I sketched out time to read every day. I had friends from back home who wanted to hang out all the time, but I had told them that I didn't have a lot of time to hang and talk since I was always reading the Bible; they were so confused and asked if I was serious (they seriously thought I was joking). Once I got back to school, I started to read the New Testament. When I was down in Florida for the Spring Break trip, I was constantly in the lobby reading. One of the days, a current brother in Christ of mine and now one of my best friends in the entire world, Gabe asked me if I wanted to study the Bible with him. At the moment, I didn't know that this was the moment that would change my life. We studied every day of the break. At the time, four of my teammates had been baptized. I thought I was good, since I was already baptized when I was a baby (shoutout to them Catholic traditions). However, when I read the Bible, I learned that I had to repent and chose to be baptized, man was I convicted. It was as if a rug was just ripped out from underneath me. I knew something had to change. I knew something had to change specially after I studied and talked about sin with Gabe. Jesus gave up his life for us. He went through so much pain, agony, and turmoil for us. My life was filled with sin, but Jesus died for me in order to have my sins forgiven and in order for me to have an eternal life in heaven. I was saved by the Red Letters. After several more studies and talking with elders in the church and the pastor of the church, on April 9, 2017, I was DUNKED.

WHAT IS WITH THE VERT AND THE ASTRONAUT HELMET?

Throughout my life I have always been an introvert. Many of my close friends and family members do not believe this, but I hate meeting new people and making new friends. I am naturally the shy type. However, once I get to know you and you get to know me, I start to open up and become an open book. The root word, vert, from introvert, extravert, invert, convert etc. means “turn, turned, turning”. I created, and paused, a podcast called “The_VertedIntro”. For me there is power in this name, I did not want to call it “The Introvert” and I wanted to put my little spin on it (because why not). At the stage of my life this is something I find myself doing a lot, turning and changing. For me I constantly have to think about turning away from the world and turning away from my doubts. This is where I get the “vert” and the astronaut. The astronaut to me means “not of this world”, this is a reminder that we are not of this world. We are destined for something greater that is above and something that is greater than what the pleasure of this world offers us. An astronaut’s main job is to be in space, be out of this world. They are outside of this world. They literally are not in the world, that is something that I strive to be. The big thing for me is I want to be a light in the world; but I want to not act like the world. I want to be on the outside looking in.

Philippians 3:20-21 says, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

Something that has changed my mind on life and ties all of this together comes from the book You Can Change: God’s Transforming Power for Our Sinful Behavior and Negative Emotions by Tim Chester. Tim Chester says, “The word holy means ‘set apart’ or ‘consecrated’. For Jesus, holiness meant being set apart from, or different from, our sinful ways. It didn’t mean being set apart from the world, but being consecrated to God in the world. He was God’s glory in and for the world.

WHAT IS MY PURPOSE?

I think my purpose is to spread the Gospel through my writing and my art. Every time I pick up a pencil, pen, marker, highlighter, brush, can, stylus, or whatever I use to create I use it for the glory of God. No matter what I do, no matter where I go I do it for the glory of God. God is the greatest artist, he is the one that created every single one of us, he is the one that created the earth and all that we see. I strive every day not only to become a better artist, but to be a god-driven artist. To be his artist.

Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not human masters.”

ONE THING I WANT YOU TO LEARN FROM ME:

Joseph Solomon in his spoken word, A Shadow of Doubt, said “doubt your doubts”. I have doubted much of my life. Doubted God, doubted my purpose in life, doubted my life (in if I was meant to live), and doubted my passion for art. I have let those doubts control my life. I have let the devil take hold of these doubts, and they have held me back from my real purpose. I have wasted time because of my doubts. I pray that you learn from me by doubting your doubts; follow your dreams and your passions.