Month: July 2003

More emails from my soon to be roommate in Poland!

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Hi there a good couple of time zones away,

How are things going? How’s the emotional struggle to leave Alexis, friends and family for Poland- any prayer there needed?

I am so excited Travis. I have just come back from a Foursquare camp in Croatia full of visions for youth leading and just overflowing with the Holy Spirit. It is going to be my first year of youth leadership so your experience and help will come in handy. It’s going to be quite an experience for you culturally to be working in Poland but I am sure God will use this opportunity to help you grow and growth is always dramatic when you do something hard core for God so take courage and expect Him to work in you far beyond your imagination or expectations. Quite recently I have found a place for us (take a look at the other e-mail) and I am sure we will make some us of it for the glory of God. I also checked out your website and it was worthwhile as I got to know you pretty well it seems. How I wish I had been at Creation- I would have brought some extra yogurts 🙂 Tell Alexis I say ‘hi’ and that I am really impressed she is letting you go-it just shows you Travis how much she loves and trusts the Lord. I should be there at the airport to pick you up but I don’t want make any promises. Not that I don’t want to be there. It’s just some problems with my father that complicate my planning a bit. He’s not Christian and he basically disowned me when he heard the news (he thinks I’m abandoning him for good because I have fallen into the hands of some sect). He is not speaking to me now and won’t have any reasoning. He told me I wouldn’t have any place to go back to if I went. Well, I am pretty sure of what God wants me to do and I am convinced that God can heal my father. I can understand him a bit as after my mother died in 1984 he was the only one to raise and there has always been only the two of us in the flat. I have a half-sister from my father’s first marriage and although we have a wonderful relationship she is busy with her own life, husband and two kids and can’t counterbalance the void of me when I go that well. I trust God however. He will bring healing and will cement my relationship with my father even if it hurts so much now.

Gotta go now, sorry.

God bless you and see you September 7th

your brother in Christ

Chris

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This one is to me and the other missionaries (the Ladies)

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Hello ladies,

I hope you’re enjoying your time in Germany and look forward to spending fun time in Switzerland. I was exhausted when I got back to Poland and I have some serious respect for the elan vital you both seem to have : ) The Polish group took the bus drive relatively well although there were two serious conniption fits that I had to deal with and didn’t win any acclaim: “you’re not my dad and you’re overdoing it” I learnt before the two people finally managed to fall asleep. Ania Kozlowska was a considerable backup at that time. We got back safe and sound and rather smooth. The minibus was waiting for us when we crossed the border and it was much roomier than the one on the departure day. Everyone seemed happy to be back, although it felt sad when all those young people were talking about going home where their parents were waiting for them and find myself in a different situation. I spent two nights in Szymek’s place and I literally only slept there as there was no time to sip coffee and watch TV. Having a pre-arranged appointment with “Lektor” language school and acting on the Kozlowskys’ cue Weronika and I went to Zakopane to check out two potential apartments for Travis and I. The first place was the “Lektor” one and it turned out to be a two room apartment block thing with almost no kitchen facility and no central heating with a rent of 860zl. I was rather disappointed. The other offer was an utter surprise. When I pulled over and went to say hello to Ola and Ania Kozlowski, I could see some sort of excitement in their eyes. They told me that the apartment on offer was in the same house and just below their own floor. It was after I went in to check it out that I understood what they ment. The apartment has a seperate entrance and two large rooms (they’re monstrous) and an extra tiny but cozy sleeping/prayer room. It is mostly furnished though some extra furniture may be needed. The kitchen and the bathroom do not lack anything and somehow even seem luxurious in my eyes. Well, the bathroom is luxurious to tell you the truth. The central heating is not in place yet (it will be in August) and it’s going to be a geothermic treat (efficient and not expensive). There is basement space available to store things. There is even a small fittnes room in the basement that Alek and his ten buddies put together (a chance to evangelize some young people – plus get fit 🙂 In the backyard you’ll find a place to organize a BBQ party or play volleyball. It’s within a three-minute walk to College. The rent is 900. I was supposed to declare myself by Monday as there were some other people willing to rent it out basically on the spot. It was only thanks to Ola that I had a chance to make a decision – which I did. Feeling that it was from God and trusting in His provision I said yes. I trully felt peace about that decision and got the confirmation from Ola, Ania and Weronika. The landlady wants to sign the rental contract this Saturday. Fortunately, Ola is going to take care of it. According to the deal we are renting September through July. I hope you do not mind that I made this decision without you but I strongly felt God’s touch upon that place and His blessing – without it I wouldn’t have gone that independent. I hope you approve of it. This place has an incredible potential and I trully believe that God will use that location as His beacon in Zakopane. I am a happy guy who sees God’s blessing in so many things in his life and those blessings are so palpable. God is good and He is the most awesome Provider.

Love you and looking forward to your response.

brother in Christ

Chris

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I am so excited now… the apartment sounds great, and Chris sounds great too. His faith in the Lord sounds great, and I know i’m going to have some huge things happen in my life because of this whole trip to Poland. God is so good.

The following is all my own thoughts, of which you can agree or disagree, and please feel free to comment, I am open to what anyone has to say.

Now as some of you may have read I have dealt with homosexual lust, feelings, etc in my past, and to this day the temptation still arises. But these temptations are of a purely physical nature; I could never love or have a relationship with another male. I believe, in my case, that being sexually molested by a man caused my sex drive to be tweaked. But with the power of Christ, this is changing, as I realize that I am forgiven, for my past, and that it is not me doing the tempting, but Satan and his demons. I am a new creation, which desires to live in God’s will, which is to honor and love him. Because of this decision I now have an amazing girl friend, who seeks to only honor and love God.

With all of that said, here are my thoughts on homosexuality, from my point of view, and with my experiences.

The definition of “Sin”, by Travis ? Any act which specifically does not honor God, or his greatest commandments, love him with all your heart, mind and soul, and love others as you love yourself (a little hard if you don’t love yourself, and don’t love God). IE ? You put conditions on people for “loving” them, either physically or other. You put yourself before others. You put anything higher than God. With this definition, we are all sinners, we all fall short of the glory of God. We all need Jesus Christ. WE = All humans.

Homosexuality is simply two people of the same sex physically attracted to each other, and sometimes carrying that into a relationship. Heterosexuality is two people of opposite sexes physically attracted to each other, and sometimes carrying that into a relationship. In either case it is a physical attraction, which defines our “sexuality”. I believe when we are born again, into the Christian life, which is loving, and follows the natural way God has made us, we will want to keep our selves holy (or become holy again through Christ). As far as I understand, animals of the same sex do not have sex with each other, this is what makes humans different than animals, because humans have a soul, which can only be fulfilled by God. When we are filled with the holy spirit, our Spirits come alive, and with that we begin to know right from wrong, even stronger than before. God created us to seek him, when we are filled with his holy spirit, we know his will, which is to: Honor and love him. Therefore, especially in my case, I could not stand it any longer, I was being burdened so heavily by this sin I was falling into, that I had to change my life, I had to get out of temptation. My burdened has since been removed, simply because I have not fallen to that sin, and I know God is honoring that, since all I want is to honor and love God.

We as Christians, must realize, that condemning, making “straight pride” shirts, banishing gays and lesbians, and living in our own little “ghetto” (more on that later), we are NOT honoring God as a body of Christ, we are infact dishonoring God. I am ashamed when I have to explain this to nonbelievers, or new believers, but the Body of Christ is only strong when we are united, not when we are split apart. The death of the church will be in loving or hating homosexuals, not homosexuality. We must love the people, and show them the freedom which comes through Christ, it may be hard, and it may be a burden to them once they receive the Holy Sprit, but it honors God. We can not honor God by what our reputation is right now, which is one of hating homosexuals, and hating others who do not follow some kind of “moral standard” sounds a lot like the Israelites law. God’s law is love, and Jesus came to teach us the law of love and acceptance, so that all can have life with God forever.

In short, I believe Homosexuality is a sin, weather natural because of “original” sin, or not natural because of sexual molestation. We must live a life which honors God, and having sex with another person of the same sex, does not honor God because, it is not how God created us to populate the earth. Once we accept Christ and are filled with the Holy Spirit, we recognize the joy which comes from following Christ, although we still have a choice, that is why God rocks. He wants us to truly trust and follow him, nothing is easy. Sadly some will have his Spirit and still live in sin, and not live a free life.

I have a lot more to say, and I’ll be slowly putting more together, with actual verses to back up what I am saying. Until then, thanks for reading, and if you want clarification, just let me know…

So? remember the yogurt I was looking to having so desperately, whilst at Creation? NO? Well here’s the story? There was this great deal on yogurt at Top Foods last week when I was shopping for my Creation food. The deal was, 10 single yogurts for like 4 bucks or something, I forget exactly how much it was now, but that is beside the point. When we get to Creation I open my awesome REI soft sided cooler, and in utter horror I discover, I’ve left my yogurt at home. Very sad day, Thankfully, Miles, Carly’s brother’s friend, had some to share, but not the 10 great flavors I was looking forward too.

Well Creation is over, and I’m at home. I remember that I have this yogurt, so I go in search of it. Thy yogurt, where art thou? Not in thine refrigerator, I go searching, and I find 10 empty yogurt containers in the garbage, another sad day. My roommate, and/or others, taking advantage of our “everything is everyone’s rule”, ate all my yogurt while I was gone. Oh well? no yogurt for Travis. That’s okay, I’m sure I’ve eaten enough of his yogurt in the past? besides nothing really is ours, is it?

Pictures to follow. I had a blast at Creation Fest 2003 West. God is awesome, I had some prayers answered.

1. Am I going to be in full time ministry? ? Yes, but probably not a pastor of a congregation, but as a teacher in a high school, and volunteering at Secular colleges and universities in the Seattle area ? Eventually.

2. The next ten years? ? Poland, then work a year while going to Seminary/bible college somewhere, then get my vocational teaching certificate so I can teach system engineering at a public high school, volunteer for Campus Crusade or some other college/young adults ministry in the Seattle area. Sometime after Poland (at least a year), get married, and after school have children.

So, with all that said. I encourage everyone to realize their own faith, don’t live off of someone else’s, like your parents or whoever else, fellowship with other Christians, and read your bible, and I know that’s clich?, but since I’ve been having my “program” I have had the most amazing things revealed to me. Maybe your bored of reading your bible, get a new translation, maybe a different kind of study bible w/ footnotes which ask you questions, and is life applicable. God never stops working, so I will never stop working for him.

I completely feel like Paul in 2nd Corinthians 11:16-33, I have been going through many different things; preparing for a missionary trip to Poland, balancing relationships with my friends and with Alexis, and most of all maintaining my relationship with Christ. All of these things have been a drain on me and on my relationships, but I know I must suffer for the greater cause of Christ, and for others. I have not suffered anything near what Paul had, because my own selfishness has caused me to hold onto some of this word. I pray and pray for God to continue his work in me and in the lives of all my friends and family. I am closing this chapter in my life and starting an entirely different one, one with new characters, new experiences, new places, and most of all a different attitude. But the one character who is there, and will be there forever, and will not be changing is God. I will work for the glory of God, and be a slave to Christ Jesus, and serve his creation. Nothing is more important in my life than serving God and others, my life is nothing unless I can serve Christ and others, whatever that may be, let it be.

This time I’m off to Steamboat Rock state park, near the Grand Coulee Dam. I’ll be with 21 other brothers and sisters in Christ from my church. It’s going to be a lot of fun, it?s a smaller group that last year, although the actual group has grown, must just be a bad time for people to get time off or something. It should be great fun, hot, but fun. I’ll be back on Sunday, and I might blog, or I might wait until Monday.

For all of those wanting to know Creation details, well my parents finally gave me an answer to using their truck/camper, and the answer was no, because they didn’t want to be unfair to my brother, and they won’t budge? so that’s okay, we’ll just have to rough it. So gather up your coolers, tents, flashlights, etc? because we gunna be camping out the old fashion way. Bring water, and lots of it, I’m going to see if Costco has those 5 gallon water deals, that would be cool. Okay, I’ll be praying for ya’ll, so have a good night, and a great weekend. God bless.

That is what Paul told the Corinthians in 1st Corinthians chapter eight. He told them do not do anything which may lead another Christian to stumble, so if there is a Christian who was raised that alcohol is a sin to drink, then don’t drink alcohol with that person, even if you personally don’t think drinking is a sin. Do this because, drinking around that person may cause that person to lose their morals, and standards, or maybe he or she is more susceptible to getting drunk. There are many reasons, do not disturb someone for who they are, the only thing that matters is that he or she is honoring God. By not drinking, that person is not dishonoring God. By not eating meat, a person is not dishonoring God, by just allowing people to have certain standards, as long as they do not dishonor God, they are honoring God.

I’ve updated some of the sidebar pictures, take a looky. You can click on them to get bigger ones too. I’ll be adding pictures as I find ones worthy of permanently displaying, such as Poland pictures and such. God bless.

Just for the record: this isn’t a reaction to anything that thappened, just questions and thoughts, about nothing specific.

So here I am in my bedroom, with a thousand thoughts going through my mind. Who/What are these thoughts about well God and Alexis. I realize it is kind of late, and when its late weird thoughts go through my head, so I’ll just list them and answer the questions?. And see if anyone has advice? which I’m sure a few of you will. 🙂

Do I tell her I love her? ? I’m pretty sure she knows, but is this going to fast right now? I feel like this should be reserved for a special occasion, a special time when the meaning can be associated to God’s love.

Is Alexis my future wife? ? I would love to say yes, I know as of right now there isn’t any thing keeping me from saying no, except that we both know we must continue to grow together and closer to Christ, and take things in God’s timing. Right now, I have no doubt, but that in itself scares me, and is the only thing that scares me, this all seems to good to be true? must remain cautious.

Should I kiss her? ? NO, I already know this, not until the time is right, for instance, when I propose to her, or maybe when I return from Poland, I’m not sure but I know this is more than a physical connection being made, it will be the beginning of us joining together.

When to listen, and when to give advice ? My heart is to serve her, and I understand that a lot of times Woman just want to be listened to, while I want to help and make a plan to fix the problem, when really the best way to fix the problem is to just listen. But what about my need to want to give advice? When does that happen? This isn’t much of an issue now, but I can see myself thinking “Why doesn’t she just take my advice, at least give it a try?”

Our goal ? The goal of our relationship is marriage, we are I guess technically “courting”, but for the sake of our friends and questions we say “dating”. We are choosing to take things slowly, and to keep God at the center at all times, we both have accountability partners, and we both want to keep life centered on Christ and serving others.

So, this is what is going through my head, isn’t it exciting? All I want from our relationship is a relationship which honors God, keeps Christ in the Center and is made to serve others even more than we can separate. I ask for you to pray for God’s wisdom and strength in our relationship with him, with others, and with each other. Thanks? advice very much welcomed.