Tyler Community Member Envisions A 'Revolution'

Few individuals portray such a vibrant passion for serving the community as Travis White, local licensed professional counselor and executive director of Mission Tyler.

"Imagine if we, as believers, came together with one purpose, one calling, to connect to others with the love of Jesus Christ by meeting them at the point of their need," he said.  "It would be love the way God intended. It could start a revolution."
 

White runs the local christian non-profit ministry, Mission Tyler, that he said exists to help connect the resources of the local church to the needs of the local community. 

The organization of people works toward this ideal by educating, equipping, and empowering people in the community about being intentional with local service.  

WHITE

"(By) helping believers understand the needs in our community and how their giftedness, passion can connect," he said. 

This past Tuesday More than 150 community members gathered together at a Mission Tyler facilitated event called The City Gate.  Christians from 25 different ministries and 30 churches gathered together to worship, discuss the happenings within the different ministries and making connections with other people. 

"I'd like to think of it as a "collective" cup of coffee networking meeting but with many different like-minded people at once," he said.

One attendee said the night was amazing. "It was so cool to see all the people who showed up, not just physically, but with true hearts of 'connection.'" Others said they left feeling inspired and motivated for ways to serve in the future.

 Mission Tyler offers different outlets for service including:  reduced fee counseling for individuals, couples and families and other services. 

"We partner with other ministries and agencies in our community to address safe housing needs for low income, elderly and disabled through painting, basic construction, and yard, lot clearing project," White said.  

Most recently, the ministry organized and sent relief teams to Joplin, Mo after the tornado in May.  

"We have also used local experiences and networking to assist in mobilizing mission teams to other regional locations," he said. 

 For more information, visit www.oneloverevoloution.com.

Behind My Red Reporter Glasses: Thoughts On Student Grief

Have you recently lost a loved one?

Twenty-two to 30 percent of college students have lost a loved one in the last year, according to a study by David Balk.

I spent the last week and a half talking to various specialists on the subject of grieving, as well as students who recently lost someone, or who are still grieving, years after their loss. The information I came across was helpful, difficult to hear and impacting.

I spoke with a student who lost her brother in April of this year. Her grief was very real and transparent. She had one of the sweetest spirits I've encountered, but she bravely described the circumstances that have been the toughest throughout her loss. She said people often meant to offer consoling advice such as "it's been three months, smile and be happy," and "Ben would want you to be happy." 

The student continued by describing the pain those phrases inflicted, rather then the positive affect they were meant to have.

Local Licensed Professional Counselor, Travis White, emphasized the importance of a good support system after the loss of a loved one, but he also offered the following advice to the friends of the person grieving: Listen. Just listen.

White explained five common stages of grief including denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally, acceptance. Although he said everyone will go through the phases in different orders, and some may not experience every stage. 

Another Student I spoke with lost a loved one four-and-a-half years ago. She described her situation in detail, mentioning a period of depression following the loss. She said it affected her academically- she didn't return back to school for a week, and even still, it was hard. 

Presently, this student is a senior in college, and the death of her loved one motivates her positively in her academics and career goals.

Losing a loved one during college is especially difficult because student are often: geographically distant from their usual support systems, coping with academic pressures and forging one’s autonomy, according to the Students of AMF research.

Both students mentioned above offered the following advice to someone who has recently lost someone: "Don't blame yourself," and "allow yourself to grieve."

What has been your experience with grief? How have you dealt with it? 

To read the article the post is based off of, and to find out more about these students experiences with grief, check out the  Patriot Talon this Tuesday, Sept. 13. Their stories will engage you, and I believe, move you.    Also, check out LPC, Chris Legg. He recently posted a series of posts concerning grief. 

Exciting Changes and Untraveled Territory

It has been a while since my last post, and within the absence of posts, many changes have taken place in my life. 

I would love to share them with you.

The whirlwind of change began with making one of the toughest choices, perhaps the toughest choice, I've ever made. After months of thought, prayer, and council I made a choice to resign from a job that I held for five years, in order to pursue my education and related tasks. Leaving my job was much tougher than I thought it would be. I loved my job very much, and felt honored to have received the privileges and opportunities I gained over the years- but the struggle came in much more intimate ways then professional. Five years is a long time to spend in a repetitive activity, and within those years I invested deeply into the people I worked with, and the owners of the company. Also, I grew up behind those counters; I became an adult during my time there.

All things considered, the choice made for a tough transition.

“All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.” -Anatole France

 I currently work as a part-time nanny, and also teach dance a few hours a week, but I needed to find another part-time job to make ends meet this semester and next before I graduate in May 2012. So, I spent a week applying at every place I could think of that fit the hours I have available to work. I ended up finding a paid internship that doubles for an upper-division elective for my degree plan, which in turn cleared a little more time in my schedule.

Another change is I am newly serving as the Editor-n-Chief of the Patriot Talon this year. I am beyond excited for this opportunity, and can't wait to see what my staff can do.

I will continue to finish my higher education with expected graduation in May 2012, as I mentioned earlier, and will continue serving as a Young Life leader.

Reflecting on the past couple of weeks already amazes me. A million different emotions flew around in my mind as each choice came to fruition, and still continue to do so. Change is scary and requires hope and trust, and transitions can stretch someone very thin.

It's as though puzzle pieces are clicking together, and much differently than I would have pictured- well, truthfully I couldn't picture anything. I chose, and choose, to take it day by day, fully trusting him as I run this race. I am so excited for all of my new adventures.
Let's do it.

As life quickly unravels, we realize the things we love. We comprehend that melancholy thought and uncertainty actually enhance life with unique flavor, and sometimes this state of mind can be more valuable than a life of clarity. We cling to the constant promises that we trust to be true even if the promise is extremely vague in seasons. We find people need to be loved, and we are the souls to pour it out.

I'm Sorry, But I Just Don't See It.

There was a time in my life that I had such a disconnect concerning how to see spirituality in my very physical, everyday life. I would constantly intellectualize the concept as I sought to remove the wrench in the gears of my mind. I believe humanity is 100 percent physical and all the while 100 percent spiritual. If this is true, there must be some tangible way to see the spiritual while I work my job, attend school, socialize and so on. So, how do I see it?

The outpouring of my thoughts at the time: The infusion of the spiritual life into the physical.

We, the human race, are beings that have the unique possibility of containing the tantalizing spirit of God deep inside the crevices of our souls.
The spirit is of the God of the bible who created the earth, flooded the earth and restored it, who rescued the courageous trio from the fiery furnace, who sacrificed his son to save his people, and who will return to redeem them once and for all.
Whoever possesses this spirit has potential beyond anything in the material world. God uses his creation to display His beauty and perfection, and his creation includes humanity. Unique to all of His creation, humanity is the climax of his beloved masterpiece.
The concept of combining the spiritual with the physical is better comprehended when we realize the manifestations of the spirit of God in our lives; the fruit of our relationship with God- are tangible avenues of the spiritual within the physical.

I came to realize beauty and good conduct in our lives according to his word IS the spiritual. We could not exercise these things without the spirit of God within us, or simply God's grace on this world.

"Humans are amphibians - half spirit and half animal. As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time. " - C.S. Lewis

Where Home Really Is

Home is a familiar sensation.

Home is full of safety and raw, genuine existing; a place where breathing is easy and fear is unthinkable, for it does not exist.

 "The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned." -Maya Angelou

--
Over the course of my life I have lived in many different houses and two different states. I have done quite a bit of traveling, and consequently saw some beautiful places. Even still, "home" has nothing to do with a building or geographical location in my life.

"Home," to me, is the place where I am most myself. When I am at "home" I feel safe, raw, vulnerable and transparent in the healthiest of ways. "Home" helps me process, regroup my perspective and priorities, and most often inspires me.  Sometimes, a location feels like "home," but mostly actions, settings, or even people feel like "home." In my life, where I meet God is always "home," for God defines who I am.

The following are circumstances of "home" to me so far:

• Family.
• When I am dancing. On stage or in the studio with the lights off. 
• Writing, piano. 
• In community. People.
• When I am a part of something larger than myself.
• Adventures. Cities. Out of the ordinary. Travel.
• In the midst of outdoor beauty. 
• Reading with coffee.  Especially while its raining.

Home refreshes me and reminds me of who I am--so I may function smoothly.

So, today, I encourage you to identify where your "home" is.

“Home is a place not only of strong affections, but of entire unreserved; it is life's undress rehearsal, its backroom, its dressing room, from which we go forth to more careful and guarded intercourse, leaving behind."-Harriet Beecher

Share: what is "home" to you?

Imagine if you were SILENT (mature content)

Many precious lives are trapped into slavery: the abuse of their own personal sexuality for a strangers pleasure.

Children.Women. Souls.

Innocent children are forced to submit theirs bodies to repetitively selfish desires of others, and this becomes their lives. Their Identity.

"Human Trafficking is the fastest growing and second most profitable crime in the world. The majority of this multi-billion dollar industry exists in the form of sex trafficking, where women and children are bought, sold and exploited for profit in the global sex industry."

Many are sold, stolen, tricked, and manipulated into situations that radically change their lives stealing any sense of dignity or freedom. 

"Traffickers, pimps, pornographers and gangs are eager to supply the demand in this profitable marketplace and they prey upon the young, the weak and the vulnerable, exchanging their bodies for cash.Because traffickers threaten, abuse, brainwash and/or starve new recruits to condition them, victims often remain silent and force a smile in order to survive."

This injustice is huge, and happens all over the globe, as well as in our backyard: the United States of America.

These people, children- ARE SILENT.

Please watch this video, it will melt your heart.


Their Stories from For The Silent on Vimeo.

 It is estimated that 1.2 million children are sexually trafficked each year, and a 1/3 of those are boys. 

Analysts say 100,000 American children are sexually trafficked in the American sex trade each year.

Sexual injustices of any kind are in the dark. They are hidden because of shame.

Someone must step up and become THEIR VOICE.

How can you help?
For The Silent is an incredible organization that contends for victims of sex trafficking. The non-profit does many things to shed light on trafficking. The staff at For The Silent believe in awareness, and assist individuals in bringing awareness. We must drag this dark subject out into the light in order to see change. Another great organization is Not For Sale.

I have hope in redemption. 

So, today, I write FOR THE SILENT.

Addiction: A Thief In The Night?

In the fall 2010 semester I wrote a series on student addiction for the Patriot Talon. Writing the series has become a highlight of my life thus far. The privilege of conversing with different specialists on the subject, and the personal conversations with various people concerning their past, or present addiction truly impacted my thoughts and functioning invaluably.

The types of addictions I wrote about included: Drug addictions, body image addictions/ eating disorders,  technology addictions, and sex and pornography addictions.

Here is an excerpt of a final column I wrote to sum up the series:

"I feel pressured to look a certain way because ...

I don't have many friends, so I ...

I was lonely and seeking intimacy, so I ...

You fill in the blank; but whatever it is, college kids likely struggle with it and may even be addicted to it.
While writing the series on addictions in student life, I must have heard six different variations of the same cry, a cry of need in some way: "I smoke weed because it releases inhibitions and dulls anxiety," and "I didn't date in high school, so I sought intimacy with pornography."

My favorite description of an addiction I found while interviewing experts is the counterfeit concept that Chris Legg, licensed professional counselor in Tyler, told me about.
"I think, overall, addictions are usually about us trying to meet a totally appropriate need, a totally appropriate desire, just in an inappropriate way," Legg said. "All addictions are counterfeit versions, and so the real thing that you want, you're still not getting."

I love this perspective because it humanizes the people controlled by their addiction.
Often times, I find spectators of addiction speak of it in such a morally black-and-white fashion, and what I mean by that is people commonly consider addicts to be fools because they just need to stop, since it's obviously "wrong" or "bad" for them.

Common stereotypes simply do not do justice to the real transparent lives of addicts.
Looking at addictions as simply counterfeit, cheap versions of real, legitimate needs people may be looking for, allows for healthy people to relate and empathize rather than chastise or belittle.

What I realized is addictions are really all the same underneath the various manifestations.
People are looking for something whether it is intimacy, acceptance or a way to escape their realities because of hurt, shame and remorse or to supplement low self-esteem, loneliness, anxiety or rejection.

Addicts are people who struggle in life just like you and me, but instead choose the cheap, fake, quick version of the Rolex watch they really want rather than saving up for the real thing.
It's easier in the short term, but often it obliterates the long term.

It's almost as though I have had and continue to have a ringside seat in watching people struggle with addictions, as I'm sure many of you do also.
I have many people in my life that have or do meet the criteria of an addict, including my older sister who struggled with addictions to many substances.
I have to say several of my friends and family, who smoke marijuana use other illicit drugs, drink in excess or are addicted to the way they look, stand among some of the most unique, intelligent and beautiful people I know.

I sincerely enjoy them as individuals, but I don't enjoy their substance abuse or addictive actions.
Addictions are so relevant in this generation, and I feel as though I've observed addictions swallow up the potential of people I love.
I want to see people live life to its fullest and watching people become dependant on a substance or an action that is rapidly or slowly eating away years of their lives, or inhibiting their lives to any degree really hurts me.

I've seen addictions ruin dreams, families, relationships and personal health."
Find the complete column printed in the Patriot Talon here.

What are your thoughts on addiction? Leave a comment, or post on my Facebook!