Hi friends! On today’s episode of Draw Near to Me, we will begin part 3 of Travis’s faith journey. For those who prefer to read, today’s content is also posted below. As a recap, part 2 ended with Travis and his wife, Kristina, deciding to leave the security of the life they knew in Charleston to move to TN to help start a church. At that point, Travis was still searching for a new job in TN and was unsure how he was going to support his family. Even though they did not know how everything was going to work out, they were determined to take a step of faith and go where God was leading them. Since this is a man’s testimony, my husband, Jeff, will narrate Travis’s story. If you enjoyed this post, please share it with others using the share button below. If it moved you, it would likely move others. Also, please consider doing a free or paid subscription to Draw Near to Me so you do not miss any future content. With that, let’s dive into part 3 of Travis’s story. Enjoy!
Regardless of the financial uncertainty, Kristina and I remained committed to moving to where God was calling us. Soon after we confirmed that decision, I got a phone call. It was from a headhunter that I was working with to find a job in Chattanooga. He said, “Hey, we’ve got a guy from Watts Bar Nuclear Plant that is with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). He said he has got a copy of your resume from four years ago. He wants to know if you’re still interested in a job.”
I sent that resume to the TVA way back in 2004. Back then, I never received a reply, so we moved to Charleston instead. Suddenly, out of nowhere, my resume came up and they reached out to me. I told my headhunter that I was absolutely interested in a job.
In the Navy I was an electrician in the nuclear program. We used reactors to generate power. The TVA was a nuclear plant as well, so they did the same things we did on an aircraft carrier but on a bigger scale. They provided power to an entire region in TN.
I interviewed for the position and got hired in 2008. The timing of the job offer was perfect for when we transitioned to Chattanooga. It was funny because when I was in Charleston, I told my wife that I was not going to do nuclear or shift work when we moved to TN. However, God opened that amazing job opportunity and I ended up doing both. In fact, I worked in the operations group with the TVA and am still with them to this day.
When we got to Chattanooga, my wife and I volunteered a lot to help start the church. Kristina was over the children’s ministry, and I was over hospitality. In the early days, our church met in a movie theater, so every Sunday our team went in earlier to get everything ready. I did all the front-end stuff like setup, greeting, coffee etc.
I got really involved in the church to the point where it almost became life absorbing. I volunteered in the church every Sunday and helped everywhere else I could. If we were serving the homeless, I was down there. If we had a volunteer event at the hospital, I was there. I was so involved in serving at church that I hardly ever attended the actual service.
On Sundays, while my wife went in to listen to the sermon, I stayed behind in other areas of the building. I was busy helping to clean things up or tear things down. Even though the move was supposed to be a fresh start for us, we continued to stay separated with our church life. We loved other aspects of our lives together, like taking the boys outdoors, on trails and all kinds of cool stuff, but our church life was still disconnected.
I got kind of prideful about serving. It was funny because I did not feel it at the time, but looking back, I can see it. I remember one day one of the guys said, “You’re more like the pastor than the pastor is.” He mentioned that because I served at all these events. He recognized that I knew everybody, and that everybody knew and respected me. In my eyes, it felt like a great position for me to be in.
Without knowing it, we can get arrogant in what we are doing for God. We can almost feel and think, “God needs me.” I did not realize it then, but that outlook was starting to happen in me.
While church life was busy, other changes were about to happen in my personal life. One day, my wife and I went to lunch with some friends of ours, one of which was pregnant. After we left, my wife asked what I thought about us having another one. I said no. I told Kristina that the one fear I always had was having a special needs child. We already had two healthy kids, and I did not want to take that risk of having another one.
That fear started a long time ago. When I was in high school, there was a kid named Joseph who had special needs. Knowing what I know now, he probably had cerebral palsy. I remember coming home one night and talking to my mom about Joseph. Even though he was in special education classes, they would bring him in to do events with us. I told my mom, “It must be hard being a special needs parent. I can’t imagine what that’s like.” Then I said, “I’m kind of scared that will happen to me someday.”
As strong as my mom was spiritually, she didn’t often pray over me. However, in that moment, she intentionally prayed out loud over me to help calm my fear. It was one of the few times she did that, so that prayer stuck out. I shared all those thoughts and experiences with my wife, so she would understand my hesitation to have another child.
Over the next couple of weeks, I really felt God working on my heart. I started getting excited about the idea of having another kid. I had missed a lot of my wife’s first pregnancy because I was on an aircraft carrier. For our second son, I was on shore duty, but I hurt my back during her pregnancy, so I was pretty useless. I spent a lot of that time taking medications and laying on the couch. I thought about how my wife never really got that full, pampered, pregnancy experience and how that may be something she really longed for. So, one day I came home and told her that I thought we should go for it.
My wife got pregnant again with our third child. Things were going well and seemed routine. Per usual, I got up early on Sunday morning and headed out to help setup at the church. At that point, she was around 5 months pregnant.
As I was driving to church, I got a phone call from my wife. It was one of those calls you never want to get. I instantly heard the tone of her voice, and it was one of sheer terror. She told me that her water broke, and her umbilical cord had prolapsed and come out.
Without hesitation, I immediately spun around and went flying back home. Meanwhile, my wife called ahead to the hospital. Thankfully her brother was living with us at the time, so we were able to leave our two older boys with him. I picked my wife up as fast as I could, and we took off for the hospital.
When we arrived, there was a full medical team already waiting on us. Even though I knew it was urgent, seeing that team at the front was when the full gravity of it hit me really hard. They grabbed my wife and instantly took off with her.
I was a total wreck. Somewhere in the process I tried to call our pastor, who was one of my best friends, and explain why I wasn’t going to be at church to help, but I could hardly talk. Everything happened very quickly. From the time that my wife called me, to the time we got to the hospital and my son was delivered by an emergency C-section, it was right at about 50 minutes total.
Our son was born at 1 lb 6 ounces. I have a picture of him where he’s barely longer than my hand. When the doctor came out and talked to me, he mentioned that at one point they lost his heartbeat, but they got it back. He told me that our son was alive, but they couldn’t guarantee that he would make it.
After I got the news, I sat down on this little bench by myself. It was located in this hallway area of the hospital that was almost closet-like. I was crying and scared to death as I waited to see my wife. Eventually, someone appeared and brought me to see Kristina. Then, they brought my son out. He was in this big plastic incubator that was supposed to keep him warm and moisturized. I followed him down to the NICU, got him settled in there, and came back to get my wife settled in her room. Once we realized that we’re going to be there for a while, Kristina gave me a list of things she needed from home.
I honestly don’t remember a lot of that day; the whole thing was a blur. I just know that I felt numb and overwhelmed. I drove home to pick up the things that my wife needed. I happened to see my Bible laying there, so I grabbed that and took it with me as well. When I returned to the hospital and got to my wife’s room, she was asleep. They had her on a lot of pain meds by that point.
As she slept, I got my Bible out and opened it up to James. I always loved the book of James. It was kind of a quick go to, a pretty straightforward book. I started reading and hit James 1:2. The verse basically said to count it as pure joy when you face trials and tribulations.
I remember shutting my Bible and feeling a sense of anger towards God welling up. How in the world could He give me that verse? How was I supposed to feel joy right now? My son was down the hall in an incubator. I did not know if he was going to survive, and my wife is sitting here recovering from an emergency C-section.
In my anger with God I thought, “What could you possibly do with this? What good could you possibly do out of this situation?”
To be continued
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