About ME!!!

I was born in a small town in Texas and lived there until I was 6 years old.  When I was 6,  my family moved to Oklahoma after my dad took a job working for a Christian summer camp called Dry Gulch U.S.A.  So from the time I was 6 years old until I left for college I grew up at a summer camp, I know it’s any little kid’s dream.  For college, I attended Oklahoma State University and majored in businsess. While in college, I worked at a restaurant serving people and had an opportunity to speak to several people about what works God had done in my life and just share with them the love that he offers to anyone who asks.  I graduated in 4 1/2 years and went to work for a bus company doing sales and marketing.  Although I was making good money, I felt a constant tug on my heart to serve people for God. Having grown up at a kids camp, serving people is what I did and I love it.  So I decided to pursue my opportunities to do that further.  I had heard about The World Race from Danny Stinson, another January 2010 racer/college bro, and had prayed about it a little bit,  but shelved it thinking I needed to use my college degree and work in a business right away.  But God had other plans, as The World Race continued to come up and the constant tug became immensely stronger.  Now here I am 4 months away from the Race and I could not be more excited about the opportunity and what God has in store for this trip!! (Read the story on how it all played out on my blog “How I was Called to the MIssion Field”)

About me spiritually…

Now that you know a little about how I got to where I am now, here is my story spiritually.  I was saved when I was 4 years old and grew up in a family that loves God and always puts him first in their decisions.  Like I mentioned earlier I grew up at a summer camp where all the people I interacted with on a regular basis loved the Lord and lived out that love on a regular basis.  So needless to say growing up being a Christian and loving the Lord was never a challenge or the unpopular thing to do… Although I did attend a public school and was by no means sheltered from the truth of what the world was like, I didn’t have to live out the normal public school life I was able to go back to the camp where my values and decisions wouldn’t be challenged.  Through this I feel like I just rode on the coat tail of my parent’s faith and didn’t try to hard to develop my own, in terms of a being really close to God.  I replaced working on  developing my personal walk with just being around other Christian people.  Well, that all changed when I left to go to college.  Don’t get me wrong, my parents had instilled values in me and I knew what was right and wrong and how to make the right decisions, BUT doing that, making the right decisions, had always been the popular thing to do growing up.

And for anyone that has gone to a public university you know making sound decisions isn’t always the most popular thing to do… Going into college I only knew a couple people, but I had made the decision that I was not going to comprise what I believed to meet people and have something to do.  With that I had a lot of nights just hanging out in my dorm room by myself.  I was offered by the people at work to go to parties, get drunk, etc. but I was firm with my decision not to compromise.  This is the time when I feel I began to develop a more personal, deep relationship with God.  I was no longer around all the solid Christian people I was used to or my parents whose faith I could live off, it was just me and God!!  It’s funny cause I would pray and read my bible and work on growing closer to God, and by doing that God blessed me with some of the best friends and best times anyone could ask for. He blessed me with friends who would not ask me to compromise what I believed and friends who loved God and weren’t ashamed to tell people about it. Now those friends, who I wasn’t sure I would ever meet in a crazy college atmosphere, are people I can count on for anything I need.  Through this I learned and am continuing to learn that God cares about every little thing.  God wants you to have friends, He wants you to have fun, but He also wants you to put Him first in everything you do, and If you do this He will bless what you are doing way above anything you could hope or ask for!!  Now preparing for going on the Race, I can’t wait to serve people for God’s kingdom and develop even more as a fully devoted follower of Christ.

God is good and if you put Him first and take care of HIs business be will over and abundantly take care of you!!!

Alright that is just a little about me hope you enjoyed….