John was born in Boulder, CO.
After high school graduation he took a year off of school and worked in a
ski shop.
After a break up with his girlfriend, he moved to San Diego, CA to get a
new start in life and live with his brother Paul. They were both searching and
one night Paul picked up a Bible and said
"I don't know what we are looking for, but I believe it has to do with this
book," and they both started trying to read the Bible.
While enrolled in the community college, he saw a sign for a Bible Club.
He decided to attend and the man leading the club led him to the Lord and became
his best friend. His life was never the same.
He met Becky at church one Sunday night but thought she was too young for
him! : )
He was 20 and she was 17 at the time.
They along with 6 other students, left San Diego to attend a two year Bible
college in Florida
John liked to say that during spring break of that year, on a bike ride to
Burger King, cupid hit him with an arrow and he was immediately in love with
Becky. But he had to keep that to himself since she had a boyfriend.
They got together over the summer of that year.
After graduation, they moved back to San Diego and attended San Diego
State.
During that year, John felt God move upon his heart to move back to Tampa
to help start a church.
He broke up with Becky, gave away all his possessions including a Night
Hawk 350 motorcycle and arrived in Tampa with $20 in his pocket, ready to
obey the Lord
He slept on a friend's couch and took the first job that he found, which
was painting. Since he was a college kid who didn't know how to paint, he didn't
even make minimum wage. He helped work on a this start up church and eventually,
he asked Becky to marry him. (finally!)
They were married in San Diego and she moved to Tampa after their
honeymoon.
When they landed in Tampa, to start their life, he had her kneel in prayer
with him in the corner of the airport and asked God to use them in this
place.
He had a passion for teenagers and became the volunteer youth pastor for
two churches.
And he also decided to become the best painter he could possibly be.
John and Becky felt the Lord tell them that they would someday have 4
children so, they got busy obeying the Lord. LOL
John was often asked why he didn't own his own painting company. He always
felt like owning his own company would hinder his ability to be fully present
for his family when he came home from work and he wanted to be able to be "A
Saturday Dad" as he called it, meaning one who was able to attend all the sports
events and activities his kids were involved in.
He gave up youth ministry when God spoke to him that his children were his
disciples and it was time to pour into them. They were 3, 5, 7, and 9 at the
time.
He felt like God gave him his own strategy for parenting his children and
it included these things:
1. Worship God together: As a result he got everyone music lessons and
formed a family worship band
2. Teach his children to be able to lead Bible studies so that they could
share the Word of God with their future families
3. Spend 15 uninterrupted minutes with each child each night so he could
hear their hearts
4. Take each of them on 'dates with dad' on a regular basis to do something
fun
He had a passion for the local church and believed in being planted in it
and serving.
He felt so deeply honored to be a deacon at VLC and he loved the people he
served with so much! One day, on the way to church, the family was talking about
the wifi at church and how theywere having trouble signing into it when we were
in the building. Becky joked that "maybe our favorite deacon can look into that"
and Joy said "Yes! I will talk to Mrs. Tracy about it." LOL He loved that and
went to find Tracy when we got to church to let her know that she is Joy's
favorite. ; )
He had an undying passion for the Word of God and people.He believed that
those were the only two things that would last forever!
And he deeply loved his wife....
When he found out he had cancer he decided the family needed an anthem and
he chose a song by his favorite band, Switchfoot. He chose "Hello
Hurricane"
Here are some of the lyrics:
Hello
hurricane
You're
not enough
Hello
hurricane
You
can't silence my love
I've
got doors and windows
Boarded
up
All
your dead end fury is
Not
enough
You
can't silence my love, my love
Every
thing I have I count as loss
Everything
I have is stripped away
Before
I started building
I
counted up these costs
There's
nothing left for you to take away
Hello
hurricane
You're
not enough
Hello
hurricane
You
can't silence my love
He believed he would live through the second bout with cancer but if he
didn't he expressed to Becky that he had already done everything he ever set out
to do.
1. He had a wonderful marriage
2. All of his children love and serve the Lord
He felt he'd already 'arrived.' And that no matter what it was a "win/win"
situation for him.
His whole life centered around the Lord and he would be happy
to be with him.
But he fought just as hard, to stay here for his family.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(from Hubby's memorial service)
~Becky
