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Haha, hello again everybody. No, I still need to catch up in school, but I thought it'd be cool to share with you guys a experience I had with perhaps not my most skilled drawings, but very likely my most valuable ones although I doubt I'll ever see them again. You see, on the 15th of January I headed out to somewhere on the other side of the world from me known as the Philippines. Due to the flexibility of my online schooling, I was able to tag along on this wonderful trip, and it really blew me away. (let alone help me get my life in to perspective with God, which I had kind of been losing since I left Teen Challenge in October). Anyway, we played music, had a blast, but tracking back to the way my art played a part in all of this was our visits to the slums. The children swarmed me almost immediately as I drew my cat, the second character I had come up with on my own when I had first started teaching myself to draw. (Although yes, it does kind of look like Garfield....like I said, I was learning.) Anyway, the kids were so enormously blessed as I drew for them all kinds of requests as best I could and just handed them out with a simple message quickly scrawled out on the paper, "Jesus Loves You." Afterwards the kids were asking Mama Gina (our host from YWAM and someone very involved in the slums) if I could come along to her classes she had for them and teach them how to draw. This brought me to tears, as it was my last day, and I knew I had to leave, but I truly could teach them, as I had taught a couple of my friends to draw in the past. This experience was not altogether new to me, as I had done the same thing with some project kids in Alabama where I was also swarmed with kids, although perhaps a bit more rowdy. I can't believe how much a simple cartoon can impact someone, how much it can show them love. As those kids huddled around me, each time I began a new drawing all the yelling and clamor of the kids came to a peaceful hush as they watched me create something so simple with such awe. The drawings I did were very rushed, as I knew even though I was sitting and drawing out there the whole time, there would never be enough time for me to get to everybody, as I had learned in past experiences. Each drawings was unique though, as I let them choose from my assorted sharpies which colors they liked best and where they wanted them. Sometimes using our gifts for God is a lot simpler, and even humbling for us than we think. (especially those perfectionists out there) These experiences have taught me how, art isn't just a product....it's a blessing. I tagged a few photos below, and I hope this inspires something new amongst us Christian artists....perhaps taking us away from trying to create some big name thing or project and drawing us back to that simplicity that we knew Jesus lives...as he called the little children to Him. :)

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