Hi friends! On today’s episode of Draw Near to Me, we will begin Travis’s faith journey. For those who prefer to read, today’s content is also posted below. I first heard about Travis many years ago when my husband, Jeff, came back from a men’s retreat held up in Tennessee. He came back on fire for God. Jeff was so excited for all that he had seen and experienced on that retreat. It was clear that whatever Travis was leading and organizing up there was greatly impactful on the lives of many men. My first time speaking to Travis occurred during our interview when he shared his story. What was clear to me was that he exuded a combination of humility and strength that was inspiring. Thank you, Travis, for being willing to share part of your story. Since this is a man’s testimony, Jeff will narrate Travis’s story. If you enjoy this post, please share it with others using the share button below and consider doing a free or paid subscription. With that, let’s dive into Travis’s story. Enjoy!
When I think about sharing my story, the question is where do I begin? What part do I tell? I feel like my life story has occurred in stages. It’s interesting to look back over my life and see it as a whole, but I think I will start from the beginning. I was born in Missouri. It was a small town of maybe 1,500 people. Although I grew up in church, my parents’ beliefs were very different.
Mom raised me in a very charismatic church. As a child I was very involved in the little, tiny church that we went to. The pastor’s family, and others, were good friends that became like family. To this day I am still in touch with many of them. Our pastor had a huge heart for youth, so he had all these creative ideas of how to reach us. He put an arcade inside of our church and even brought in bands to play to the 25 of us. In fact, back when the Newsboys were unheard of, our pastor invited them to come and perform a concert. Overall, it was a very active and neat church to be a part of as a kid.
In contrast to my mom, my dad was a devout atheist. My parents married when my mom was young. She was around 16 years old. Mom was a woman of faith, but she was a simpler person than dad. She barely finished high school when she started her life. Dad was a police officer and was incredibly smart. In fact, he was really known for his intelligence. People loved him. He was truly a people person. Yet, as smart as my dad was, he did not believe in God.
My parents got divorced when I was in 4th grade. Dad left my mom for a 22-year-old woman. My mom continued to raise me in our church until I got into middle school. Around that time there was another transition in our lives. We moved out into the country. It was the same small town, but we lived further out. Mom got a job at a Baptist church, and we began attending there. So, I went from this very, very, very charismatic church to this small southern Baptist Church. It was a pretty big shift. Even though everybody kind of knew everybody in our town, I still never really got connected at the Baptist Church.
During that time, my mom also got remarried. My stepdad was willing to go to church, but he did not believe. I used to laugh because he always put in gum during worship. He chewed gum to look like he was singing along, but he wasn’t.
In some ways my stepdad was good for me. He taught me a good work ethic. We were living out in the country, so he had me cut and split our own firewood. I did a lot of construction work with him. He had me work hard. To some degree, I worked so much with him in high school that it almost felt like he was more like a boss of mine than my stepdad.
As time passed, I became more hit or miss in church. I was doing whatever work I could. I worked at the grocery store, did yard work, construction, etc. I got really busy and slowly started pulling away from church throughout high school.
Although my stepdad taught me the value of work, he wasn’t much of a role model as far as being a man. There was a lot of pornography that came into our home, and he had at least one affair on my mom. He was not a strong father figure in my life. Honestly though, growing up you don’t know anything different. I did not really think about it, it was just normal for us. However, I was very fortunate. My older half-brother, who was seven years older than me, saw what was going on in our life. So, he kind of stepped in and filled in the gap in a lot of ways. He was kind of the dad to us.
Meanwhile, my dad left the woman he had left mom for years ago. He did this to pursue a 15-year-old instead. He got arrested. Since he was a police officer at the time, he lost his job. Eventually, he ended up homeless for a good while. At that point I kind of concluded that I didn’t need him in my life. So, at 18 years old, me and my dad completely cut ties.
I decided to join the Navy right after high school. Ten days after leaving school, I headed down to Orlando, FL where I was stationed with the Navy. When I got down there, I didn’t go to church. I just completely pulled out of it. In the Navy I got busy and started running around and doing what Navy guys do. I was this small-town farm kid with a city paycheck, and I had been cut loose in Orlando. I was out having a good time.
I started struggling with my faith. There was a part of me that still held on to it because I had grown up with it. However, to some degree, my dad’s atheism created a stumbling block for my relationship with God. I was conflicted. My mom was the one that believed, but my dad, who was this highly intelligent person that thought things through, did not. Why was it that the quote “intelligent person” was not able to grasp the concept of God? It was difficult for me to reconcile. Although I was invited to go to church in Orlando one Sunday, I had such a personal struggle that I wasn’t willing to be receptive to anything when I went.
I spent about a year in Orlando going through training as an electrician in the Navy nuclear program before being transferred to Charleston, SC. When I got to Charleston, my roommate was 21 years old, and he was the only one in our class that was of age. Since he was able to purchase alcohol, our townhouse became the party house. We had pretty regular gatherings at our place, and I began to drink. We spent these nights partying and drinking, but when I went to bed, I felt this incredible shame for it. I knew it wasn’t who I was, but I was like a lot of 19 to 20-year-olds that were desperately trying to fit in with the crowd.
After six months of training in Charleston, I went home for about 45 days on leave. I remember coming back and going to that same Baptist Church with my mom that I went to in high school. She was still going there. As we walked out of there one Sunday, I looked at my mom and told her, “It’s no wonder everybody’s leaving the church. This is so boring.” That was how I kind of viewed it. I wasn’t getting anything out of the message. I felt bored. It wasn’t impacting me.
After about a month and a half, I left home to head to Norfolk, VA where I got stationed on an aircraft carrier with the Navy. There I continued to pick my life up where I left off. I went back to partying and going out on the weekends with people.
One Friday night, I was at, of all places, a party at a house. I can’t even tell you whose house it was. I have no idea. I was out with a group of guys that went to this party. At some point, I went out to my truck to get a pack of cigarettes. As I opened my truck door, I looked down and saw the Baptist church bulletin from back home. It was sticking out from under the front seat of my truck. It suddenly hit me. In that moment I knew that I was being a phony. This wasn’t who I was supposed to be.
Right there I dropped to my knees at the side of my truck, and I started praying. I asked God that if He was real, I wanted this. I didn’t really know what I was getting into. Even though I grew up active in church, I did not have a strong theology at all. I knew some basics, but I didn’t understand much about my faith. I just felt like God really convicted me. Looking back, I can think of all the years my mom poured into me and how much she had planted those seeds. Yet, for some reason, it was something as simple as seeing that church bulletin that was what broke me. I gave my life to Christ right outside that party. Then I got in my truck, and I left.
To be continued.
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