(Miller Davis Agency photos by Jon C. Lakey)

Submitted by Rowan Helping Ministries

James remembers the exact moment he nearly gave up on art forever. He was six years old, sitting in a first-grade classroom in Lexington, when his teacher ridiculed him for painting a purple sky. For years, he carried that discouragement with him, even as art remained a quiet constant threading through his life.

Nearly six decades later, this past August, James stood in the Salisbury VA Medical Center, accepting a medal for one of his oil paintings at the Veterans Creative Art Festival. His work has since advanced to the national competition.

The journey between those two moments wound through a career in emergency medicine, military service in West Germany, a period of homelessness, and finally, an unli

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