(Tim has been a blessing straight from God to his parents, his wife and children, to the Body of Christ and many others. I gladly share my Inside Out space this week for a testimony he gave at his church on Easter Sunday morning.)

My story is somewhat storybook on the surface. I am the son of a preacher. Not only the son of a preacher, but the son of a son of a preacher. So far so good. I was raised, therefore, in a very Godly home. I was in the church almost every time the doors were open and have fond memories of vacuuming the aisles of the church on Saturday afternoons and helping my Dad print the church bulletins midweek. Back in those days, the modern copying machines were not even close to being invented. Remember, this was back in the last millennium. I was blessed to have early exposure to the word of God and had numerous perfect attendance medals for Sunday school. At the age of eight, I made a conscious decision to TAKE Christ as my Savior. As a side note, His Lordship in my life would take awhile. I was raised in a small west Texas town without those bad big city influences. Now that I think about it, I was pretty good as a kid and was going to Heaven – remember, “the son of a son of a preacher!”

As God would have it, though, He wanted to make life interesting. As time went along, I witnessed my mother’s health continue to grow worse. That meant that we had to move to warmer climes. Well, that wasn’t too bad. I got to learn to make new friends in a “bigger city” and was doing all right. By now I was 12 or 13 and still a pretty good kid, although I was exposed to some other kids who were quite assuredly sinners. But life wasn’t quite going real swell. Mom’s health continued to fail and God moved our family all the way down to Sarasota.

Three days after I arrived here, I met my future wife and life became very good. Two and a half years later Mom died. Now what was that all about, God? Needless to say, God and I had some words about that. Now remember, I knew all the right things to say and quite frankly was sick of hearing all the right things from other Christians. I asked God “why” more than once and He chose not to answer for 18 years.

In the meantime I went ahead with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I did marry my childhood sweetheart and soon after children became a pleasant reality. As we went along, we went to church on a semi-regular basis, knowing God was an ever present help in tough times, but not a true daily thing.

I was thinking that I was doing God’s will by being a good husband, good Dad and all around good guy. We sent the kids to Christian school and, of course, it all looked very Christian. Well, this reminds me of the testimony of the Apostle Paul who in Philippians wrote this, “Though I also might have confidence in the flesh, I more so. Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the elite tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, [son of a son of a preacher thing]. Concerning the law, a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.”

Now, I only bring this up because he kind of sounds like me. A really good guy. But when was he was at the end of his life he declared that he was the chiefest of sinners. I hope that I am not at the end of my life. One never knows, though, but I can admit that I, too, am quite the sinner.

Well, this is my story, not Paul’s, so let me continue. As I was going along, being the good “Christian” guy, I had everything backwards. I figured that I could fix anything that was wrong in life with just a little more money. Therefore, I was worshipping at the altar of work and the almighty buck. I did this so well that I almost destroyed my marriage, family and everything else that meant anything to me. I may have looked good (success, money, stuff) on the outside, but I was completely empty on the inside. Eleven or so years ago, God, through His grace, gave me back my wife, my family and a passion to find His will for my future and pursue it. Around this same time we were invited to visit this church by Kevin and Laura Wooster, who are now our missionaries to Russia, serving in Moscow.

Remember the question I asked God when Mom died? WHY? Well, check this out. On the 18th anniversary of Mom’s death, Dad went to the cemetery to sit and think. After a while, he went to the 7-11 around the corner to get something to drink. Out of nowhere a woman tapped Dad on the shoulder and asked if he was really him. Of course, he had no clue who this woman was and could not understand her excitement in seeing him. She introduced herself and explained that she had been one of the nurses who helped care for Mom the last week of her life. (The timing is too much, right?) She continued to explain that Mom had led her to Christ three days before she died. The nurse then shared how as the result of that encounter with Joyce and Jesus, she’d taken more training and had been serving as a medical missionary for the past 15 years in the Philippines.

In the bible there is an extremely well-worn passage in Romans chapter 8 verse 28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who have been called according to His purpose”. You see that God owes no one an explanation as to why He runs His universe and all that is within it as He does. But in that one Moment in time He graciously opened the play book of eternity a tiny bit and showed our family that He is in control of EVERYTHING because He is God.

So, what was all this about? A waste of time or not? The thing I guess you could say about my life is that I came from good stock and was well-trained, but until I took Jesus seriously, my life was just empty. Christ is now not only my Savior, but Lord of my life as well.

Thank you. Amen.

SOME SELECTED RESPONSES TO “PLUGGING IN FOR POWER”

– Spiritual power in the church is what we see in the Book of Acts when the believers began to worship the Lord, share their faith and face persecution without fear. Energized by the Holy Spirit, they lived their faith in such a way to cause people to be drawn to the Lord. They were plugged in to the Source of all Power.

True “spiritual power” in the church can only come when there is humility and an acknowledgment that all power belongs to God. I think our churches today are powerless because they are plugging in to the wrong source, trying to use man’s ideas in an effort to fight a spiritual battle. Only God’s power can defeat the enemy.

Scripture says that no one can serve two masters (be plugged in to two sources at the same time). The church needs to get “plugged in” again to its Source if it is going to have power to overcome the world and its ideas.

– This is definitely a “think on this one”. “Pluggin’ into the power” is most certainly something that we Christians seem to too easily’ slip away from….or….even if we have the “power cord'” sometimes we just don’t push it far enough ‘into the plug’ [right?]

– Just a note to say “hi” and tell you that I enjoyed your story today. Those cords are sure something. It looks like spaghetti in the back of my desk. Kinda scary actually. A lot of power there. Lately it has been really windy here in spurts, we lost power because of it and then It’s reboot time. Hard on the computer to be suddenly shut down, especially if it comes right back on again.

– Now – my comment about power sources. Recently I read a Guideposts magazine and one article suggested sitting down with paper and pen and recording thoughts and insights gleaned from spending time focused on God. Well I know that I have a REALLY hard time focusing on God if I am just sitting or lying down and praying. When I used to walk early before work, I could speak my prayers out loud and that was great and I stayed focused. Or, if I pray with one other or even write out my prayers, I can focus, but just let the mind go and it wanders.

I have been sitting down, writing out thoughts and insights that I seem to “get” just spending time with God. I have the entire holy week full of thoughts and ideas about what the disciples and Jesus were doing and thinking that week – Who made the Last Supper; what were they talking about when they did; why were they so clueless having been exposed to the Master for three years? It has been a wonderful power source that I never have experienced before.

– Your window looks like my father in laws place did in the “80”s. boy could he grow violets in that window! Miss him.

– That’s a bunch of trees! Is that what you call “woods”? I love the hummingbird!

– You have a great ministry through your web site & contacts with others on your e-mail.. Blessings to you & your wife. So glad for your new house….a lovely place & what a beautiful view from your window!! It looks like you are in the country.!!

– I liked the piece about getting plugged in. There is probably a similar analogy to people who over-commit at churches and “blow a fuse” from trying to get too plugged in.

– Very often, the Church is powerless because the people inside of the Church have become lackadaisical, cold, uncaring, too busy, etc. It happens so quickly, so innocently. I don’t think most people realize it is happening, or how important it is for their children to be brought up in a spiritually strong Christian home. On the other hand, we can get so busy “playing” church, that we forget the everyday activities. I think people need a balance in their lives. I hope this makes sense to you!

– I read your article and thought about what I have been excited about lately. I have had little time on the computer…one of my most favorite things to do. However, I do check my mail for prayer requests. I belong to two prayer teams (groups) whatever you want to call them, besides prayer requests from family, friends and other people I meet and people in our church. But… how do I or anyone else, who have busy schedules in this great “fast… fast paced” world of ours stay plugged into God? Prayer? Worship? And so on…

God gave me a great idea last week. I said to myself “I don’t have time to pray for all these people (children with cancer, adults with cancer, people with diabetes, babies with tumors… etc. etc… really bad stuff! I only have time to pray for those close to me right now. Then I felt a little ashamed because so many people need prayer.) But I always get this picture in my head that I have to find a prayer closet some where and quiet!

The Lord said (not out loud) but to my spirit, “You can write them down and pray when you travel and pray when you have to wait at the doctor’s office and wait for tests to be done… and even pray on your short trips to town and back.” Well that is what I have been doing…. praying while on the run and praying while waiting. I have been so blessed and as you can tell I am very excited about it! God has been answering so many prayers.