“God offers second chances and doesn’t punish us when we truly seek forgiveness." ~ Joel 2:13
In what seemed like a lifetime ago,
John, a deeply troubled teenager, suffered from social anxiety. Loneliness and isolation caused deepening
violence which he eventually turned on himself. At 16, absent all hope, he raised
a gun to his left temple and pulled the trigger.
But hope hadn’t given up on him. After
almost seven hours of surgery, doctors pronounced him alive and stable. They
fixed him physically, but mentally John still struggled. He turned to drugs and
a felony conviction sent him to rehab.
After getting clean, John attended a vocational school where
he met a woodworking instructor who inspired his eager student. Chris Hathaway
assured John that he not only had a love for working with wood but a talent for
it, too.
Hathaway convinced John to study piano rebuilding at a tech school
in Vancouver. He graduated two years later and started his own piano-refurbishing
business.
While in Vancouver, John met an accomplished artist named Anni
Becker. Three years after what they like to call their “blind date,” they were
married.
Did I fail to mention that his teenage
suicide attempt left him totally blind? Now, consider for a moment working with power tools from John’s “view.” Yikes!
Today the sightless craftsman
holds a locally harvested blank ready for turning. With the flick of a switch, the
rotating lathe rumbles to life, and he carefully begins shaping the wood stock
using his fingers as guides and his hands as his eyes.
Like many great artists, John already sees the finished
creation in his mind. Satisfaction comes from giving “new life” to wood and knowing
his masterpieces will be seen and cherished by others.
Today he’s “living wide” and
happy to share his story with others. John prefers to be defined by the man he
is now rather than the teen he once was. At 36 years old, his wooden bowls,
plates, mortar and pestles, trays, and smartphone amphitheaters, sell at various
local craft events, retail spaces, and online at: https://www.furnissstudios.com/onlinestore
Along with continuing her
painting career, Anni helps John run the social media and technology side of
their business, Furniss Studios. She does the paperwork, maintains their online
presence, and organizes his woods by color and texture.
When they’re not creating or hanging out with their rescue
dog, Pickle, John and Anni make time to speak candidly about blind awareness,
drug abuse deterrence, and suicide prevention in schools. Reaching out to that age bracket has led to
some life-changing conversations. "Life changes,” he says. “You can affect
that change or you can be affected by it – your choice."
