An Introduction
Do you ever think back on trendy sayings and funny words that you use in different periods of your life? You sometimes learn a word and you fall in love with the way it feels as sneaks out amidst your conversations? I had a friend in high school who never really used the word "regardless" correctly, but he sure did love to say it. He started sentences with it, he used it in arguments that did not "change direction". After some time, I called him out on his...interesting use of the word, and it didn't seem to matter to him. "Regardless" was a word that meant something to him a bit deeper. The word "intentional" has been much like this for me over the last year where I found myself working a job that was way over my head. People were simply smarter than me; they knew bigger words and they weren't afraid to use them! The one thing that I took away from this was the importance of intentionality. You see, I don't remember too many of the specifics of those conversations because people like to just say things without having a real point. My personal take is that they liked what they were learning and they, like most of us, liked to hear themselves talk, so they would try to make connections between things that aught not be connected, and they tried to do so with fancy words, complicated sentences, abstract thoughts, yatta yatta yatta.
Hopefully the irony is emerging at this point...
I find myself guilty of these same scatterbrained conversations, but they typically don't happen outside of the confines of my head (only the lucky few are inclined to the jumbled mess that is my head...and I'll take a moment to thank you for sticking through by my side and looking past the crazy to see the real heart of my thoughts. A very special thanks goes to Mary, my alverjilla, who has seen literally the weird of the weird, the worst of the worst, the .... yeah ... but regardless, she has continued to listen to me and love me; I don't get it either). All of this has led me to want to start a blog! I'm in a time of my life where I'm learning a lot, a lot is changing, I'm reading a lot, I'm praying more than ever, I'm seeking and desiring direction for my future, I'm asking big questions with hard answers. As these things are happening, I've been desiring some sort of vent - somewhere that I can take my thoughts and drop them and if it makes sense, great! If not...well, then who cares? Chances are this will never be read by anyone but me. Truth be told, I could just as well start a diary but a blog is so much more manly, wouldn't you say? :\)
What You, As a Reader, Can Expect
I'm making no real commitment to this blog as an avenue for me to relay all of these thoughts, questions, prayers, ideas, etc.
I'm not guarenteeing that any particular topics will be written about or that this will be at all interesting.
All I have is the intention of creating a space where my innermost "raw" Travis can run free (a good deal of my friends from this last year would maybe call this the ultimate "safe space"). I'll spend a great deal of time writing about that which "stirs" me (thus the title of the blog). I will say now so that it is clear that this is especially inspired by time that I am/will be spending in scripture, time spent in prayer, my relationship with my family and Mary (and possibly her wonderful family as well). If you feel "stirred" to comment, ask questions, respond to questions, please do! Be bold! Be honest with me and more importantly, yourself! This is an incredible lesson I am learning and God has brought about incredible changes in history, and in my life, by instilling boldness in our hearts.
Thanks for joining me on this adventure (regardless of how long you intend to stay).
