HEY EVERYONE!
My name is Travis Larkin and lately I’ve been realizing my parents named me well. My given name is one that is derived from the ideas of traversing, crossing, or being at a crossroads. The more I’ve thought about this, the more I’ve come to terms with the fact that a huge part of me loves movement, loves change, and avidly seeks out newness. It’s the part of me that analyzes every fork in the road and chooses the road with even more forks ahead. I relish in the solemnity of a carefully (or not so carefully) made decision. But I’d be lying if I said this affinity hasn’t ever led me astray, because it has. Fortunately, it seems in this more recent chapter of my story, this proclivity has fallen under a jurisdiction more divine than my own. Allow me to catch you up…
I was born and raised in San Diego, California where I lived until I was eighteen and moved away for college. I am a proud son of two incredibly loving parents who never stopped teaching me to be the best person I can be. I have an awesome little brother who’s been teaching me the meaning of family. And I am tremendously grateful for my extended family who have given me the honor of being their grandson, stepson, cousin, and nephew.
In high school I became involved with a local Christian summer camp that I had attended many summers prior as a child camper. Working there as a high school student was an experience that truly changed the trajectory of my life. I feel it was there and through the modeling of the Godly people I met there, that I fell in love with Jesus. In these years I developed a longing to live a life that was completely about Him. It was probably because of this I chose to attend a Christian university after many years in public school. I earned a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Colorado Christian University in Denver. My years there were magnificent in that I met many of my dearest friends there and had some of my most intimate moments with God there as well.
After graduating from CCU I enrolled in a Master’s program for clinical mental health counseling at Wheaton College in Illinois. As I write this, I have one month left until I graduate from this program. While I certainly have learned a lot in this program, what I have treasured most is my encounter of the most influential season of faith I have ever had. In the last two years God has destroyed my ideas of what I thought my future would look like. God has awakened in me old desires that I had given up on a long time ago. These desires are to serve people abroad, to live missionally, to make my vocation an explicit declaration of His goodness. In doing this, God has shaped me into the form of who I really am…and it is so freeing.
To see how this story continues to unfold, check out my “How I Got Here” post and follow the blog! I have no doubt God will be writing an incredible story in the coming months. Will you join me?
