11.22.2006

They Call Me...

...Mr. Pig...Tater Salad. I have had a lot of nick names in my life, especially in the past two years: Travisay, Travisario, Travisty, Big T, T-scriggity, T-ro, and Sancho Gene Mc Spankycakes (ask Jaime about that one). All of the kids here in our neighborhood know my name and sometimes I want to be where everyone knows my name and people are always glad I came...ha ha ha ha did you catch the song (wow I'm funny)...uhh yeah. There are two little girls who don't know my name...well I think they know all our names but they want to call us something else. I used to be just friend. I would go to the community house to get stuff ready and I would here them yell out, “Hi friend” and I would look over and wave at them and they would smile and wave even more because I looked at them. All of our names have changed to these little girls and they're the only ones who have given us this new name (which I think is a good thing). For these two girls our name is Jesus. It doesn't matter whether there talking to Jesse Jaime Leo or I to them our name is Jesus. We've told them numerous times our real name sand said our name isn't Jesus but they seem to be stuck on that. I'm not going to complain that I am showing Jesus to a five and two year old I love it but I have never actually had anyone call me Jesus before, but I think I like it.

11.13.2006

I'm not a fan of the bus

I just got back (about twenty hours ago) form my trip to Gainesville, Florida (GO GATORS!!). I spent eleven hours on my trip there and fifteen hours on my trip back, but that because I had a four hour layover in Jacksonville. I didn't know that bus layovers could be as bad as airport layovers. The bus depot wasn't even close to a movie theater or restaurant or anything slightly entertaining so I couldn't even go out and find anything to do unless I had a car...but if had a car I wouldn't have been waiting in Jacksonville for four hours. Throughout the entire four days I think the bus ride was definitely a low point, but thats the price to pay to save money...wow half a sentence that's an oxymoron; that's amazing.

I know I didn't tell anyone in the blogger-sphere about this trip so I will fill all of you in now.
About six weeks ago I got a call from my mom late at night (just so you know late night calls from people are usually never good) to tell me that my grandfather (her dad) has passed away. It was news that I had been expecting for the past few weeks but it still hurt to hear. He had been battling Alzheimer disease for the past four or five years and he really had no clue who I was the last time I saw him; which was rough to deal with, because I loved spending time with him, watching football games or listening to the things he had to say and from his lifetime of experience and all his wisdom and I can't do that anymore. So I went down to Gainesville on Friday for the memorial service and I got a chance to see most of my family; some people I hadn't seen since Christmas but other people I hadn't seen for six or seven years (a lot of stuff happens in that amount of time...babies are born and people move to different states). I was thrilled that we all came together, but I wish it could have been for a different reason. So we had his memorial service and honored him and his life that he dedicated to God. After that we spent time together to love and support each other and I wondered why someone had to die in order for all of us to see each other again. I think my grandfather loved to see that the last thing he did was that he got us to have a family reunion. We should have another one...except we'll keep everyone alive for next time.

11.03.2006

PTB in Charlotte 614 style

So apparently noone likes me using another person's blog on my blog, or maybe it was just way too long, so here's my own stuff.

“Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes.” Isaiah 58:12 (NLT)

“And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of buildings that have laid waste for many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.” Isaiah 58:12 (AMP)

Pray The Bible has taken on a much different look here at 614 Charlotte. Usually we have a list of scriptures to speak out and pray through and there's main focus to those scriptures. That can last anywhere from fifteen to forty-five minutes. That is the way I have usually seen PTB done. We walk around a room praying scriptures with one goal: to have break through by praying like Jesus prayed. The past few weeks though PTB has been anything but the usual. There is an abandoned house right next to Rob and Heather's house which is owned by a black fraternity group here in Charlotte called The Omegas. This house was once boarded up (not very well), forgotten about, and empty. Unfortunately, it didn't stay that way. Some of the drug users in our hood needed a place to use during the winter so they could keep warm and other people would conduct their own business in that house. The windows are all broken, it smells, there's mold growing on the wall, there's piles of nasty clothes and needles and trash everywhere, and this is where we had Pray The Bible. We got some gloves, rakes, brooms and eighty billion trash bags (that was just for the inside) and went to work. We cleaned up the clothes the glass the trash and properly disposed of the condoms and needles and took out the carpet. It actually almost looks like it could eventually be a house. It still doesn't smell so great, but that will change too...maybe. We let the owners know what we did and they were thrilled. They said they would get the trash taken away and fix it up and get it ready to be rented. Toady we finished it by picking up all that trash on the outside of the house as a prophetic act of getting rid of all the junk that the enemy has put here. We became restorers of a home, we repaired the breach, we stood in the gap for this house and changed it from the way it was to the way it should be. Praise the Lord.