by James H. Pence

On the See the Light blog this year, our goal is to provide useful and practical tips and resources for your homeschool art class. Today's focus is on Web sites that will help you teach your children about one of the seven key elements of art: line...

By James H. Pence

If you are going to be a chalk artist, obviously you will need the right kind of chalk and paper. Unfortunately you can’t just run out to your local art supply store and buy a set. In fact, most art supply houses not only don’t carry the right kind of chalk, most of them haven’t even heard of it. The chalk you need is called “lecturer’s chalk”, but if you go into your local arts and crafts store and ask for it, they’ll look at you as though you told them you just flew in from Mars.

By James H. Pence

Probably the most frequently asked question about chalk art is, "Do I need to have artistic ability to be a chalk artist."

And my answer to the question is frustratingly ambiguous...

by James H. Pence

On September 11^th, 2001, I knew that the world my children would grow up in had changed dramatically. Terrorism had been around for years, but in the past it was far removed; it was something that happened in other countries, to other people.

But now it was here, on American soil.

Next week, I'll be in prison for four days.

No, I'm not on a work-release program. I go into prisons because I choose to.

Back in the mid nineties, I was invited to do a chalk-art presentation at the Wynne Unit in Huntsville, Texas. To be honest, I wasn't too keen on the idea. But early-on in my chalk art ministry I promised God that as long as he kept me in chalk and paper, I'd draw wherever he opened a door.

But I never imagined that he would open a door into a prison.

I'm so squeaky clean that after nearly 40 years of driving I've only had one ticket. I had no idea of what to expect behind the walls of a medium security prison unit, and quite frankly the prospect of being in one room with a couple of hundred convicts scared me to death. But I had made that promise to God.

And so I went.

And my life was changed forever.

When I went in, I expected to find a couple of hundred angry men just daring me to bless them. What I found were men who were hurting, who were hungry, and who simply wanted someone to care about them.

Two things changed my perspective on prison ministry. First, I didn't see "prisoners" or "inmates". I saw men. People just like me. And I realized, perhaps for the first time, "There but for the grace of God, go I." Those men were in prison because of bad choices they had made and bad things that they had done. I could just as easily have made some of those choices, and it's only by God's mercy that I didn't.

Second, I saw that God's grace was sufficient to change the minds and hearts of even hardened criminals.When those men sang during the worship time, I saw a deep hunger and passion reflected on their faces that I rarely see in churches.

Don't get me wrong. Many of those men (and women) have deep, serious issues to deal with before God.

But they know that God loves them and that he is a God of grace, mercy, and forgiveness. And they love him.

And so next week (May 15-18), I will be drawing and singing at the Glen Goodman Unit in Jasper, Texas, sharing God's love and mercy through Jesus Christ.

I'd appreciate your prayers, that God may show his grace through me.

-- James H. (Jim) Pence