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Check out the TRAILER for our smoking aces EP

Finishing Strong. A great season comes to a close.

Thirteen months ago, I sat at a coffee shop with a lady who had better options.
Options of stability, timelyness, comfort and so on. And, as was expected though our
interaction was pleasant she chose the more practical solution.

God had a different plan in mind. The woman was Becky Hicks and ten days later
Becky called me and said, "J. I know this will sound crazy, but I didn't feel comfortable with
that family living in my house, I really feel like your supposed to be the one who lives there."

And so in July of last year I moved in to 222 5th Ave. S. I told Becky I had heart to love people
and help out those in need. She told me she loved the idea of her grandmother's house being
used in that way. She has been gracious every step of the way. Flexible with payments, time,
and always stuck to her guns that she felt I was supposed to be there.

Thanks largely to her heart for me, 222 housed numerous missionaries, pastors, bands, homeless,
broken, depressed, hungry, and amazing people. It wasn't always perfect, we didn't always all live in
complete harmony and unison; but overall it was an amazing season.

In late july we got word that through a chain of events the city did some investigation into our ministry.
They infomed us that what we were doing was breaking a city ordinance and we weren't zoned properly.
We were given until the end of the month of August to clear the house and cease operations.

And so this chapter has quickly come to a close. It was good. It was right. And now I want to finish strong.
There are some expenses that have built up over the last 13 months that I have been paying off bit by bit.
Including, some final utility expenses, and some rent payments from early on, with some of our early guests
took advantage of the situation in a negative way.

I would really like to bless Becky for taking a chance on me, and this ministry. I would like to show her that
it's worth it to trust people, and believe in them. The total ammount remaining in my debt to her is $966.
If there is any way you could come along side me in this last push to finish strong, I would greatly appreciate it.
Anything over the remaining balance will go as a gift for her. Becky's had to pay for a lot of damage that came after
the flooding we had in nashville, and she spent a month out of work earlier in the year with an injury.

Any donations can be made out to conduit mission
and mailed to:
J. Morris C/O John Ross
524 OverView Lane
Franklin TN, 37064

Thank you all for being with me this year.
Your love has gone farther than you can imagine.
Blessings.

I got stuff. You got stuff. Now What?

It used to be the only thing I worried about when attending a wedding was if my mom ironed my shirt and if my game boy had fresh batteries. I didn't have much vested interest in the actual marriage. They were my parents friends or my aunts and as long as I got some pigs in a blanket and a few cups of punch I considered the whole thing a great success.

Twenty years later I'm not sure my success standards are much higher. I'd prefer chicken marsalla to mini hot dogs and a glass of wine to punch. That being said, my connection to those getting married has increased substantialy. Now they're my friends, people I've shared life with in some form or another.

Even more odd is when these married couples come and ask my advice on something. Everything is so clear when your single. Or it seems to be. I have often thought things like, "why can't they see how they speak to eachother?" and "dude your not listening to her!" I nievly wonder how it could be so hard for married couples to just talk through things and come to logical reasonable solutions.

The truth is I know better. I've read a dozen or so books that tell me things like, mens ears are blue, and womens brains are like spaghetti, and they're both from different planets. Logical solutions don't really work though, not usually. We like the idea of a formula but when the equation is altered by sex, emotion, baggage, and hormones it gets pretty difficult to "solve" anything.

I was talking to an older married couple once about their "sucess" and how they achieved it. The man told me ,"you want to have a good marriage, get the first two out of the way." We laughed for a minute and then he leaned foward in his worn recliner and said, "If you always put the other person first you can't lose".

This sentiment has stuck with me for most of my adult life. I wonder if maybe it could be that simple. This idea of selflessness, or atleast an attempt to go in that direction. Two people putting eachother first, one day at a time. Because we all have baggage right? I got stuff. You got stuff. Now What?

j.