I don't know where it all went wrong, but it did.
    I was a typical hyperactive little boy who was
    always into mischief. I wasn't bad, I just liked
    attention, and still do. Somewhere along the
    line, after my fathers death, I chose to run with
    a crowd that pushed the envelope. School
    became a thorn in my side and I spent most of
    my time looking out the windows yearning to
    be elsewhere or drawing in my notebook. My
    grades began failing in the sixth grade and
    through high school. Teachers and principals
    passed me on what I thought was social
    promotion, but would later find was something
    they knew about me that I didn't even know
    about myself. I began drinking at age 16 and
    spent my first night in jail shortly after turning
    17. It would be the first in several minor clashes
    with the law. Joining the army at 18, I found a
    new life for a short while until alcohol got me
    removed from the great army school I was in.
    Drugs became the next step in my walk down the
    wrong road and would lead from pot to heroin and
    cocaine in a short period of time.
         I reached a point where I wanted something better so I began college at the insistance of a friend and
    with the promise of money through the GI Bill. Art school was fun and I did well until the drugs took over
    again and I found little time to attend school.
         In 1976, I was arrested for a robbery I had no knowledge of and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. It
    was during this time that I began to see clearly that I had a choice to make with my life. I attended
    college in prison and earned a Bachelors degree in psychology during my stay. I was given a job with
    the prison school district as an illustrator for vocational curriculum. My job pushed me over the edge in
    my desire to be an artist. I began drawing and painting and won my first award while behind the bars.
    Finishing college before I made parole required that I take correspondence course in physics to make
    up some hours I needed in science to graduate. The professor grading my papers took an interest in me
    and began writing and visiting. He and his wife asked if I would like to come live with them and their two
    young children until I could get on my feet. Not having a family of my own to help, and having been
    turned down for my first parole, I decided to say yes.
    My new found friends took me to church with them where I heard things that moved something within
    me. I searched deeper and found a new life; the life God had been trying to get me to lead all along. The
    life I fought with alcohol, drugs and anything else I could to keep from being one of those squares my
    friends and I hated so much.
         Over the next year, I would meet a lady who was to become not only my wife, but my greatest
    supporter. Believing in me led her to offer me a two year plan to build my business while she paid all the
    bills. During that time we went to a show in Atlantic City New Jersey where we would eventually come
    into contact with over 300 fine craft galleries that would carry my work. My work not only sold well but I
    became the recipient of several awards.
    It has been 26 years since my release. My work has grown in it's diversity from watercolor drawings to
    architectural glass, to fine functional crafts, back to architectural glass and to drawing.
         Writing has become a hobby and has led me to find rest with my past. I have involved myself in prison
    ministry so that I can let those I left behind know that there is hope in the Good News of Christ and that
    their lives can change. I also speak with many parents who have children in trouble. I feel an obligation
    to work with these kids. Having made my own decisions in life I encourage parents not, too readily, to
    take responsibility for the mistakes of their kids.
         So often I tried to see the events of my life as coincidence or serendipity but after so much
    evaluation I see now that it was the intervention of God that brought about the things that have
    transpired.
         My story is one of redemption and grace. I was truly dead and now I am alive; was truly blind and now
    can see.


    Writings about my experiences in prison and other stories can be found in WRITINGS.
McCANDLESS
MY STORY
DESIGN
Sitting on the chapel steps at
the  Walls unit. Huntsville, Texas
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