Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Myspace blog entries’

My old Myspace blogs

Posted in Spiritual Growth, tagged , , , on December 24, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Before Facebook, I was on Myspace. I’m glad I am not anymore. But I used to love blogging on their site. I would sit on my balcony and just write. I would write about what God was doing in my life. Today I read through them for the first time in years. As I read them, I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Who was this guy? I read through stories of someone with incredible faith and a broken guy that God was using in amazing ways. I was so sadden to see how far down the slope I have slid since then. My faith is not even what is used to be. I have lived a very selfish life these past three years – a life for myself and a life trying to please other people. But yet, there is hope! And God has been building me up these past couple months. He has been doing incredible things in me. These stories are a reminder of Christ’s love for me. I am God’s son and I have forgotten that. My life belongs to him now and I will serve him to the fullest. Advent season is about restoration and that change has already begun with me.

I downloaded all 100 blogs during that 2 year span onto this site. They are stories of how I wrestled through life during that time and relied on God to get through it. Click on the myspace blog entires category tab and read through them. Read how great God is and how he used me and how he will again. God has great things in store for us. Trust in him and believe in the power of the gospel and the hope of a Redeemer. It is never too late to turn your life over to Christ.

Read Full Post »

New Years Resolution

Posted in Missions, Rhythm, Spiritual Growth, tagged , , , , , , on January 1, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Well.. I’m not much of a New Years Resolution guy. I don’t need a particular day to start or try something new. But a particular challenge was brought my way at our single adult program at church and January 1st seems like a fitting day to start this. Our pastor, James Patterson challenge some of us to buy a ‘Bible in one year’ Bible and read it for this year. I probably have read about 50% of the Bible on my own. This challenge intrigued me. So not only I bought one, I bought a chronological Bible in one year. I am so looking forward into diving into this. Today I start my first reading. My hope and prayer is to strengthen my faith and draw closer to God in 2009. I am also following the Operation World study that educates you on every country in the world and what to pray for. Everyday has a different country you can learn about and what people groups exist there. My hope in this is make sure I am always in prayer for other countries out there and to also step up my own prayer life. I feel so blessed to live in a country that has resources available to us like this to learn and draw closer to God.

Read Full Post »

2008 recap

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on December 24, 2008| Leave a Comment »

Seasons greetings to friends and family,

Wow! What a busy year for the boys and I. Even though 2008 had many ups and downs, I am so appreciative and blessed for all that God has done for our family. It was a fun and memorable year for the boys and I. We’ve been blessed in so many different ways. I am thankful for the time I do get to spend with them and I’m amazed how much they’ve have grown up.

Jake is a pretty active boy. He turned 12 this year (I’m a year from having a teenager!). He played baseball earlier this year and is now active in band playing drums. He puts a lot of time and effort into it. He also enjoys racquetball and skateboarding. He is doing very well in school.

Ty is also pretty active. He has taken up skateboarding like his brother and enjoys his videogames like every other boy. He turned 8 this year and is doing very in school.

I continue to work at Banner Good Samaritan on the night shift. It gives me lots of flexibility to be with the kids. I continue to be active at Cornerstone Christian Fellowship. I just completed my first full term on the church mission board. I feel very blessed to be a part of that. I also took a missions based course called Pathways and a class at Chandler-Gilbert community college. On Wednesday nights, I am leading a small group of about 10 boys in our 5th/6th grade program at our church.

Because this year was filled many eventful memories for me, I thought I’d re-cap the whole year by month:

In January I traveled with a couple friends to Los Angeles to partake in the Passion conference. This is an event for young adults that challenges them to take their life to a whole new level. I enjoyed the music and the speakers and it was definitely life-changing for me.

In February, the boys and I had fun at the NFL experience. This event coincided with the Super Bowl being in town. I also had a small role as a pirate in some skits for a series on finances at our church. The series was called Pirates and we built a giant boat on stage to act out our roles.

The boys and I headed out to California in March for some beach fun and a visit to Disneyland for spring break. It had been some time since we had been there. The boys enjoyed riding all the rollercoasters and overcame their fear of riding the Tower of Terror.

In April, I co-led my first mission trip into Tijuana, Mexico. About 17 of us went down there to build houses with an organization called Mexico Caravan missions. It was an amazing time.

May was a little more laid back. The boys and I enjoyed some relaxation time hiking and camping.

In June, I had the opportunity to be a camp counselor at Forest Home camp in California. What great time we had bonding and hanging out. God really laid that age group on my heart which led me into working with 5th/6th graders.

The boys and I headed to San Diego in July for some more fun in the sun. In addition to the beach, we went to the Zoo, a Padres game, the air museum and geeked out at the world famous Comic-con convention. It was a great way to spend the last week of the boy’s summer break.

The boys were back into the full swing of school in August/September. We enjoyed our weekends attending some ASU football games (bummer year for them..). I also had the opportunity to take a cooking class with my girlfriend Ashleigh. We really enjoyed doing that.

I had an amazing opportunity to go to Cambodia with a couple of leaders in the church in October. We visited a missionary and his family that we support there. The trip allowed us to strategically plan how our church can further support what God is doing in Cambodia. It was an amazing trip and we had some time to visit Seoul, Korea on our way back. I had a little downtime when I got back home and took a short trip to Jerome/Sedona to relax. Then I was back on a plane to Belize. I was super excited to return there. We had a great team and it turned out to be a memorable trip.

In November, I had the chance to lead another team into Tijuana. We built two houses while down there. This month I plan on staying home with the boys. The only thing on our agenda is a snowboarding trip planned after Christmas.

God has been so good to us this year. I feel blessed for all the opportunities that have come my way. The boys and I appreciate so much the prayers and support we get from everyone. You are all a blessing!

God Bless and Merry Christmas,

Travis, Jacob & Tynan

Read Full Post »

What’s going on?

Posted in Cambodia, Missions, Momentum 5th/6th Grade, Rhythm, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 3, 2008| Leave a Comment »

Wow… I haven’t been on myspace in forever. Even though myspace looks cooler, I’ve been on Facebook. Just easier to communicate. But I thought I’d give an update on what’s going on.

Doing the Rhythm and Momentum thing lately. Rhythm is a post college singles group that is meeting on Thursdays. Totally loving it! James Patterson has an amazing vision for that group. Momentum (5th/6th grade) is going well too. God is really stretching me with the 11 kids I get to teach every Wednesday night. I care about those kids a ton and just love seeing what God is doing in their lives.

So the mission thing is what is going on lately. Leaving for Cambodia in about 6 hours here. Then heading to Belize in a few weeks. Then a trip down to Tijuana not too long after that. I love being a part of these teams and serving the people that are need of Christ. I will for sure write about my experiences when I get back.

God is good. He has blessed my so much. The boys are doing so well in school. He has also blessed me with an amazing friend in my life that I’m really enjoying getting to know. She has brought a lot of joy to my life!

Please keep me in prayer as we leave and that we complete the task God has laid out for us. God Bless.

Travis

Read Full Post »

Camber memories

Posted in Camber Young Adults, Rhythm, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 29, 2008| Leave a Comment »

I had a bittersweet moment the other night at Camber. I have been attending Camber since March of 2006. But now there is a group called Rhythm that is starting in a couple of weeks that is running opposite Camber on Thursday nights. It’s more geered to my age group now that Camber is officially a place for college age people. But I can’t forgot what Camber has been to me these past couple of years. I’ve made many friends and I have so many memories. It’s where I started out my single life. It’s where I’ve grown so much in my faith at.
I attended Camber this past Thursday knowing it was going to be my last night there. Yet.. I couldn’t sit through it. I just felt this sense of knowing that I don’t belong there anymore and that is was time to move on. I didn’t like that feeling because of what Camber had meant to me. But at the same time I anxious to see what James Patterson has in store with Rhythm. I’ve already made some new friends there. He has got such a great vision for that group. I think it’s going to be huge.
So I thought I conjure up a list of my top 10 favorite Camber moments. There are so many, but here it goes..
10. Art night. Camber is so blessed with so much talent. Music, art, photography, dance, poetry, etc. We did two of these nights where members of Camber were able to display and express their art, pictures and music talents. God gave us the freedom to put on display his glory through music and paintings. I was blown away. We also gave those that just showed up a chance to express their feelings with a blank banner and some paint brushes. I really enjoyed this.
9. Acts series. Ron did a series that spanned the whole book of Acts. It may have seemed long and drawn out, but I really enjoyed it. I love reading about the early church and the early days of the disciples. Acts is one of my favorite books of the Bible and I would love to do a study again on it.
8. Camber Christmas concert. Last year was absolutely amazing. Ryan and company did a great job of putting this together. It was very well put together and really got the crowd in the Christmas spirit. I don’t know how they are going to top last year, but I’m already looking forward to it.
7. Baptism night at the Liston’s. Incredible night! Ron invited anyone to head over to the Liston’s house to be baptized in their pool after Camber one night. I believe over 20 people were baptized that night. The cool thing is that 100+ people from Camber showed to support those that were being baptized. We must of been there till 1am.
6. Serving on the Camber staff. Ron assembled about 30 of us one day at Dave Sweet’s business to talk about serving on the Camber staff. We went through all the service opportunities and put together an amazing team to run Camber. I felt very blessed to be a part of this.
5. We will not talk series. The summer series that just blew the roof off of Camber. We discussed various topics that many churches refuse to talk about. Homosexuality, eating disorders, cutting, drugs, porn, etc. On top of that we had members of Camber that have struggled with these issues share their testimonies. It was an amazing summer.
4. College Briefing at Forest Home. A huge group of us traveled to California to to spend Labor Day weekend with several other college groups at Forest Home. Our very own Brayline provided the worship for the weekend. We played volleyball, had milkshakes and hung out. Ron got our group together and we had an incredible time of sharing one night. This particular weekend was when I really started to make amazing friendships at Camber.
3. Worship. What can I say.. Cornerstone is blessed with incredible music talent. Ryan, Jason and the band just bring it every Thursday night. Not a Thursday goes by that I feel God’s presence through the incredible music that is being played.
2. The speaking. Ron Merrill was the heart and soul of Camber. He brought a huge vision to that group. Yet God spoke through him with love and compassion toward the people of Camber. The topics and series were amazing. The guest speakers were incredible. It brought my faith and knowledge of the Bible to a whole new level.
1. Passion Atlanta. Can’t say enough about this trip. It changed my life. About 40 of us from Camber traveled to Atlanta on New Years Eve to this 4 day conference. 20,000+ gathered to hear Louie Giglio, Francis Chan, John Piper and Beth Moore speak about living your life radically for God. Chris Tomlin and David Crowder provided the music. This was the trip that turned me on to missions. Going through the Do Something Now booths and talking to missionaries just opened awareness to me. And then being able to hang out and fellowship with other Christians from around the world was so moving. The week was capped off with all 20,000 of us surrounding the Georgia dome and singing “Amazing Grace” while holding candles. One of the highlights of my Christian walk that I will never forget.
There are several more stories I could write about.. Point South Mountain, Sunday BBQs, Camber beach trip, etc.. but these are my favorites. I won’t forget what being a part of Camber did for me. I could write a long list of people that have touched my life during this time as well. I will miss Ron, Ryan, Chris and the gang. But at the same time I will be next door plugging into Rhythm. I’m excited to see what God has in store for this next phase of my life.

Read Full Post »

Getting older… feeling younger

Posted in Camber Young Adults, Rhythm, Students, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 19, 2008| Leave a Comment »

Well.. today I am 35. My first reaction to that is .. I’m old! But it is no longer about a number to me anymore. I feel like I’m 25 and I’m loving life! Funny thing is that I feel like I’ve experienced the life experiences of someone in their 70’s with all that I’ve been through. Yet God continues to use me in ways I can’t explain. I’m so blessed for the friends and family he continues to bring into my life.
So what’s on the agenda? I hit one of my favorite places to eat yesterday.. Cornish Pasty. Love that place! It’s a hole, but the food is great. Hung with my mens’ group last night and then went to Kazimierz last night for some late night jazz with Shane. Hit the slots at AZ casino on the way home and then worked out. Today I’m having lunch with a friend followed by some fun with the kiddos. We might catch Clone Wars. The Mine starts tonight as well. Pastor Royce is covering the book of James. I am super stoked for that. One of my favorite books of the Bible. So a laid back relaxing day.
Last week I started volunteering for our 5th/6th grade program. I have eleven kids in my group. I can’t wait to plug into these kids. God is definitely going to stretch me this year as some of them are pretty wild. But I’m up for the challenge. I attended a youth ministry leadership conference on Saturday called Calibrate. It was very well put together and reaffirmed me that this is where God wants me as well as the mission board. God has been speaking to me a lot lately about maintaining a balance in my schedule. In fact, my Bible college class was canceled yesterday. I don’t know why the timing on this.. but I’m putting my faith and trust in God that he knows why he doesn’t want me in school right now.
Lastly, I’m excited for our new singles ministry for late 20’s/early 30’s at Cornerstone. Its called Rhythm (formally Generation 8). Our new singles pastor, James Patterson has a big vision for this group and I’m excited to be a part of it. But it will mean that I will have to leave Camber as it is going to Thursdays night. Camber was a huge part of my life. Especially after going though divorce. I love plugging into that age group. But it is time for me to move on. God always seems to bring new opportunities to learn and grow in my life. I love the people in Rhythm and I can’t wait fellowship with them.
Last, I heard a message from Pastor Justin about how churches need older people be there for the younger people of the church. Praxis’ average age is 23. I don’t my role at that church, but I know there is a reason I go there here and there. I made a lot of mistakes and age 23 and I love sharing my testimony to guys at that age. And at 35, I still feel I can hang with that age group. God has a plan and I need to obey if that is the path he wants me to take. I’m just excited to be a part of it!

Read Full Post »

Jesus Strong

Posted in Belize, Spiritual Growth, tagged , , , , , on August 11, 2008| Leave a Comment »

Pretty laid back weekend. Took the kids to the drive-ins Friday night. Haven’t done that in years! Watched most of the Olympics on Saturday after serving at Liberty House in Phoenix. Then served at church all day Sunday. I was a little hesitant to hear Pastor Linn’s message yesterday because it was on simplifying your life. If you know me, that hasn’t always been the case with me. I’ve never been a sit still person and I’m very active. But I’ve worked very hard to make sure that I don’t burn out this fall like last fall. It’s still fresh in my mind how disastrous my decision making was last fall. But things are very good right now. I’m very close in my walk with God and I’m really enjoying life.
But at the same time I’m hearing of so many people struggling in their walk and in life. I just got another call this week of some good friends of mine struggling in their marriage. This really saddens me. In fact, yesterday would have been my 12th year of marriage had it lasted. Many of my friends are struggling spiritually. I just read 2 Timothy 3 today and it has really encouraged me to stay ‘Jesus strong’ (a term Pastor Royce uses) during this time. I’m pretty focused right now and I want to be there for these people who helped pulled me through tough times. It’s amazing how God uses those close in our lives to help us through trials. I’m so blessed to have such people in my own life.
I had a great weekend with the kids. I had my first family/devotion night with them at Coffee Rush. I’m doing this every Sunday night I have them. They do homework, then we go over what they learned at church, I do a devotion and then we play board games. It went very well. It will take my relationship with them to a whole new level. I also had our first meeting with our Belize team at church yesterday. It looks like an amazing team. 16 women and 4 guys. Never understand why more guys don’t do missions. It’s the same stats globally as well. 75% women do long term missions.
Well, I’m excited for this weekend. Get to hang with my long time friend Deanna and I will soon see Jude as well. He just spent 9 months in Belize. I also just had a great IM chat with Shauna.. who is in Africa. These people just encourage me so much! I also start school next week. I am looking forward to that very much. I love learning and digging deeper in the Word.
This morning I woke up and climbed a mountain. I got to the top and listened to some worship music on my Ipod while looking at God’s creation. He is so awesome!

Read Full Post »

The Olympics

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on August 7, 2008| Leave a Comment »

Pray for China

Read Full Post »

Conversation

Posted in Camber Young Adults, tagged , , , , , on August 3, 2008| Leave a Comment »

The more and more I engage in conversation with people, the more and more I try and be conscientious of what and where the person is coming from. I work very hard at not being judgemental. We all have a story. We all have a past. I try to put myself in other people’s shoes. I want to know why they believe the things they believe. I want to know where they are coming from.

It’s really how I witness. I used to be a terrible listener. Probably because I never cared much for what other people had to say. But now I do. The more I care and want to help, the better I have become at listening. But I want to do away with asking myself ‘how can they be that way?’ or ‘why would they ever believe that?’. We all come from different backgrounds. We have been exposed to different things. We all worship different things. I just know that the more I understand who I am talking to, the more I will know how to direct my conversation.

It’s funny that this had become a big deal to me. Camber is doing a series on Worldview. Because I am generally busy running cameras or something, I haven’t paid much attention to it. Then I happened to catch a podcast of one of the sermons. I couldn’t believe they were speaking on the very topic I have been working on personally. So now I’m playing catch up…

Today at work, I had a lady ask me about the missions trips I go on. She is single, never married, in her 50’s and doesn’t believe in God. I have never spokem about Christ to her. Yet I show my excitement of living a life for Christ to her. She told me today that I look very happy. I told her that I feel for once in my life I feel my potential is being used… that my life is very rewarding. She mentioned how different I have been since my divorce. She then asked me if I would ever become a minister someday. My answer was that only if I’m called to do so. I left the conversation at that. But I enjoyed having that talk with her because she generally is very private and doesn’t open up to anyone. I went home and prayed for her.

God is good.

Today, I signed up for a Bible class through Southwestern college. Old Testament (Genesis through Song of Solomon). I’m excited to study the Old Testament. There are some amazing stories of faith in the OT. I have also decided to start memorizing scripture. I have too many favorite passages that I can never remember where they are located. Think I’m going to start carrying flashcards…

I’m meeting and sharing my heart to a bunch of guys that have been through divorce tonight. I pray that they will take it upon themselves to better themselves as men and take what they have been through and use it for HIS glory.

Awesome week for missions as we are giving a presentation this week to 200+ people who signed up to know more about what Cornerstone has store for missions in 2009 this Wednesday. Not sure of my role, but I can’t to share my passion to these people. May they see how God has transformed my life and given me this heart to share the gospel to the nations.

Read Full Post »

San Diego

Posted in Camber Young Adults, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 27, 2008| Leave a Comment »

San Diego has become my home away from home. I know the city very well. We did frequent trips there growing up. It’s only a quick 5 hrs away to the beach. This was my last full week with the boys before they go back to school. So we decided to stay there for the week and beat the heat. There was a lot going on in San Diego this week that kept us busy.

We pulled in on Tuesday and checked into our hotel. We immediately hit the beach. Coronado island is always one of our favorite spots. So we spent some time in front of the Del relaxing from our drive. Then a stop at one of our favorite pizza places, Pizza Nova. Of course we got looks because of our beach attire. But the pizza was worth it. That night we saw a late showing of the “Dark Knight”. Batman was my favorite comic book hero growing up and I really enjoyed this lastest installment. Heath Ledger was amazing as the joker.

Wednesday was a day at the Zoo. We had been there many times before. But I love the walk around the park. Its definetly one of the best zoos in the country. Ty is a huge animal lover and really enjoyed his time there. Jake is kinda outgrowing it and let that be known to me. Best part is the polar bear plunge. We stood there for some time. I ended getting sick that day and spent the evening in bed.

We hung at Balboa park the next day. A visit to the Air and Space museum was on the agenda. Checking out the old World War I & II aircrafts was fun.  They had a traveling Star Trek exhibit that brought back some memories of my trekkie days. We then headed downtown to Petco park. There wasn’t a game, so we toured the ballpark. They took us in the locker room and into the dugout. My baseball fanatic days are behind me as well, but I really enjoyed being a kid again.

David Crowder and Mercy Me played a show at San Diego state university that night. My friend Kris joined us that night. It was a good show. I believe it was my kid’s first concert. It was good to get a little worship into the middle of the week.

Our fourth day ended up being a crazy day at the largest gathering of comic book fans.. ComicCon. We’re talking 100,000+ fans. It was nuts! There were so many people dressed up in outfits. The day we went on was Star Wars day. Lots of Stormtroopers walking around. I couldn’t resist taking pictures. We also obtained lots of free stuff. ComicCon is one of San Diego’s biggest events of the year. We had fun, but the crowds got to us and we left.

Camber, our young adult group came up late that night. We hooked up with them and stayed at a local church that night. We spent the evening at Pacific beach and then Mission beach the next day. I spent a lot of time doing nothing. It was nice. We then had a bonfire and a BBQ the last night before wrapping up the week. This was a fun last week of the summer for the boys and I before school starts.

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »