A Brief, Final Post

As any follower of this site can tell from the lack of posting, this blog has fallen off dramatically. Also, I am no longer in Houston which renders the title of this blog moot. Thank you for all of the time you took to stay updated with my work in Houston. Now, I encourage you to follow my wife and I's blog about our new mission and adventure in Honduras. It's currently under renovation, but stay tuned for more information about our new work.

livingoutmyfaith.wordpress.com

A Final Act

Today is Good Friday and yesterday was my last day of working at Impact Church of Christ. It's a weird feeling as I sit back and reflect today. Today what I have been doing is done, finished. A sad day for me. But Sunday is coming. Sunday I will sit on the floor at my soon to be home in Honduras. Sunday I will remember the Resurrection with my new church, where my new life will be.

I love Impact and have been blessed deeply in my time there since 2008. One of the things that I've tried to do since I announced that I was leaving is to leave well. I think my "final act" was something that surprised me. Every Spring Break we have multiple groups come in to work on projects and with the kids of Impact. One of the first days when the kids were out of school we worked in the garden with a group from Dallas. After clearing out some brush near the garden, a couple of my boys started gathering stones and bricks and putting them in a circle prompting me to say "What are yall doing? Making a pagan worship circle?" They didn't get the joke, but instead responded by saying "No we're making that thing, a labyrinth." I almost fell over. I first exposed the kids at Impact to labyrinths about a year and a half ago. Ever since then they have ask me a half dozen times if we could make one at the church. So we did.

Another group came the next week and we cleaned out from behind the garden where some of our outdoorsmen had stayed and left their trash. In the mountain of trash they gathered a mountain of 40 ounce liquor bottles seen here.

With these bottles I said to myself, we can make a labyrinth out of this. So I found some artistic girls, Saylor and Elyse, they improved upon the half-Chartres design of a labyrinth I gave them and this was created.

And out of a glass pane door we found, they created a fantastic sign!

The kids were so excited to see it that night, and are loving the process of painting and creating something beautiful and full of life. Last night was the last night for me to look out of this view you see below with them, last time to water and grow plants and hearts. When I look at this spot, I think resurrection. Discarded toilets, tires, tubs into objects to grow food for those who need it. Liquor bottles, a symbol of the death and despair felt by some many addicted on the street and broken families turned into an object to guide people towards peace and prayer. If I have done anything in my time here, I hope that I have taught my children about the Resurrection for them and that they are a resurrecting body with Christ in this world.

A Transition On The Rise

It has been a long quiet spell here on this blog. A lot has happened in my life in the past few months. A lot of great things are in store for me personally and as a minister. As many of you are probably aware of I am now engaged to a wonderful girl, Michael Lemmons. It's very exciting! If you want to see the video here's the link: Honduras Proposal. We'll be tying the knot in May.

Along with that excitement, Michael and I will also be moving to Tegucigalpa, Honduras sometime in the late summer. We will be working with the Breaking Chains Honduras team there which Michael has been involved with for the past 16 months. This is their link: Breaking Chains. There I will take care of their worship on Sundays, working with their youth and families on a daily basis among other various projects. I am excited to be a part of the community at Breaking Chains. Developing communites spiritually is an interest I have gained in my time pursuing my M.Div and at Impact. I look forward to creating healthy bonds of community and as a church as we aid the residents out of poverty and into other homes and communities.

This transition is difficult for us because we love Impact dearly. It is where we met and were formed as ministers and directors in the church. With that said, we are excited about all of the ministry that we will be able to do together in Honduras. I'll defer to her latest newsletter to give you more information, it is attached below. Soon this blog and facebook page will be no more, but I encourage you to follow Breaking Chains on facebook and to be on the lookout for a new blog about Honduras with both me and Michael.

Grace & Peace.
John

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B67JnZoizTOSeXdVMnIwZWJRaEE/edit?usp=sharing&hl=en&forcehl=1