My name is Thomas Chapman, but I usually go by Tommy, TT, T-Chap or whatever works for you. I am from the small town of Thibodaux, LA, where everybody knows everybody. I am currently in my senior year at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA. GEAUX TIGERS! My major is political science with a concentration in international politics. I have one brother, who has the most adorable little girl you'll ever meet. My mom has recently moved up here to Baton Rouge, and my father has stayed in Thibodaux. They separated after I graduated high school.
I'm a pretty simple guy. I love me some good food. The Food Network is my favorite channel. I never go a day without laughing. Humor is a huge aspect of my life. I try to find something funny in everything that I do. I am human too. I face the same temptations that most guys my age face. Some that I'm not proud about, but I know with the power of Jesus on my side, I can over come them.
College has been a real trying time for me. I joined the LSU Golden Band from Tigerland my freshman year and have remained a member throughout my college career. I've met some great people while being in band. I did the whole drinking and party scene. It was fun in the beginning, but it started to wear down on me. It started to become evident that I was using alcohol as a way to forget about everything that was going on back home between my parents. This is when I knew I had to find stop.
I got involved with our BCM on campus. I started to get back into church and started to build a relationship with Jesus Christ. Last year, I decided to take a plunge and go on a mission trip with the BCM to Mexico without knowing anyone on the trip. That trip really changed my life around. I met some of the best friends I have made in college, two of them are my roommates right now. I went on the trip with the purpose of wanted to better the lives of the people of Mexico, but instead God worked in mine and blessed with with an awesome network of friends.
This past summer I spent 10 days in Mt. Rouis, Haiti. I felt a calling to visit the nation of Haiti after the earthquake. I looked for a while at trips that I could afford, but only found ones that were out of my price range. One of my friends heard me talking about my dilemma and told me that her friend's church was going in August. We talked and got the ball rolling. Truly a God moment where He just placed that trip in my hands. My intentions for going was to help out the people of Haiti, but again, He had a different plan. This is where I first heard about the World Race. Team Sol was staying at the same orphanage we were at. It was great meeting the team. They had some great stories of how God was working in them. This is where I first felt the desire to go on the World Race.
After getting back, I put the idea aside and concentrated on my last year at LSU. I knew I wanted to make this year about getting closer to God. I got more involved in the BCM and put aside the organizations that where taking up too much of my time. I stated a new organization on campus, IJM at LSU with my friend Adisyn. IJM at LSU is a campus chapter of the International Justice Mission. The IJM strives to eradicate social injustice from the world. This includes human trafficking, illegal property seizure, police brutality and illegal detention. IJM funds lawyers who fight for people who can't fight for themselves. They make the perpetrators accountable for the terrible things they are doing to this people doing.
Over my time at LSU, I've struggled with figuring out what I want to do with the rest of my life. I've prayed about it for a while. Where I feel God calling me is to helping those involved in human trafficking. This issue has become such a huge passion of mine. If I had the money, I would go out right now and buy all the girls who lost their childhoods because someone sold them into sex slavery when they were just 6 or 7 years old. I know that this is the area that God wants me to choose a career in.
So why the World Race? What would make me want to spend 11 months of my life in 11 foreign countries? The answer is the wonderful, enormous, unmatchable, unimaginable love of Jesus Christ. This journey is a calling from God for me to go out and spread his love to the world. If you had the cure for cancer, would you just keep it to yourself? Of course not, so why would I not want to share the life-changing love of Jesus Christ with the world?
What's so cool about preparing for my trip is putting total trust in the Lord to provide. My first trust exercise was choosing my route. I knew that my own intentions would play into picking when to leave, so I blindly chose the August 2011 route. The best part, it's all countries that are involved heavily in human trafficking. BOOM! God is so intentional. My second and ongoing trust issue is that of raising $15,000, but not even one day after I heard that I was accepted I got an unexpected gift of $1,000 from a friend! How awesome is that!? You know who you are and I am still blown away by your generosity. But what's even more greater than the money donated was the faith that my friend said he had in me. That will always mean more to me than any amount of money.
Well I think I've hit about all of the aspects of who I am. I am so pumped to start this journey of my life. I cannot wait to see how the Lord will work through to change the lives of others, as well as, myself. Thanks for reading this and God Bless.
Some of my favorite verses:
"Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow." Isaiah 1:17
"Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." Romans 5:3-5
