Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth and sky and sea. Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty, God in three persons, blessed Trinity.
As the First Presbyterian Church choir headed into the last verse of the hymn Holy, Holy, Holy this Sunday, Marvin Morazan's one word response was "wow". The organ let loose on the last verse, and as the sopranos in the choir reached for higher octaves, the whole sanctuary seemed to shake in angelic harmony. Marvin, who has grown up on Latin rythms and urban hip-hop, learned a new way to worship God.
Actually, Marvin's whole attitude since arriving in Houston last Friday can be summed up in the many "wows" that he has uttered. Wow as we rushed past the gleaming skyline on the way in from the airport, wow as he looked up at the highway overpasses flying off into the sky in all directions, wow as he entered the beautiful homes of our hosts. All so different from his home in Tegucigalpa, all so new.
But the great thing about this weekend is that Houston has been just as wowed by Marvin Morazan as he was by Houston. He performed one of his songs in all four services at First Presbyterian Church yesterday; appropriately, he performed "My Two Eyes" (I never thought I would come this far...I never thought I'd see with my two eyes/the kind of place that I see in dreams, only comes through when You're here with me...) Every time, he got up on stage, it was as if the Spirit infused his words and his guitar. He spoke briefly of what God has done in his life in words so clear that it surprised even his English teacher Becca Haver. Then, the passion with which he sang his song filled the sanctuary as powerfully as the majestic pipe organ had only minutes earlier.
Wow. I've heard Marvin's sing his songs a thousand times, but I wept freely as he sang on Sunday. A young man, rejected by his family in his youth, locked up by his society for being a kid without a family...now becomes a powerful witness to God's transforming love. Wow.
We will be in the States until Monday, November 24. Becca Haver and her fiancee John Bell are here with us and will travel to St. Louis with us this Wednesday to continue to spread the good word of what God is doing through the Micah Project. Marvin will be doing a concert at Central Presbyterian Church on Wednesday night...all are invited! If you would like to get ahold of us while in the States, call my cell phone (314-520-6033). Also, please pray for our missionaries Roger, Dan, Kamia and David as they hold down the fort in Tegucigalpa in our absence.
Muchas gracias,
Michael Miller