Episode 5 Transcription- Tim

spk_0:   0:02
And now for the next episode of Letters From Home, sending encouragement to your doorstep by capturing the heartbeat of God’s people. One story at a time.

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Today’s guest is Tim Walton. He and his wife merrily have been married 44 years, and they live in Snohomish, Washington. They have four adult Children and three grandchildren. In his story, you will hear a bit about his early childhood, how, as a teenager got tapped him on the shoulder to be a pastor, what he loves about during funerals, what is left on his bucket list, what he would do over in life if he could, and many other negative wisdom. Thank you so much for letting me

spk_2:   0:46
talk with you today. The reason I want to hear your story and I think so many people would like to is I have been to some funerals the last couple of years with some friends of mine. You’ve been at the last three funerals. You share the message at all three of them, and I have left funerals, which sounds surprising. I have left so encouraged thinking I can’t wait to go to heaven. It’s hard to lose someone and to be there and they hear their memories, and it’s a tough transition time. But I just see that the Lord’s really used you to lift people up, and I’m excited that you’re willing to share some of that today. Can you give us an idea of where you’re at now in life?

spk_3:   1:29
Well, right now, I’m transitioning into another season of life. I’ve been a pastor 46 years, and I started here at older would community Church right out of Bible school. I retired from Alder Wood a year ago, and I was invited to come back to the church. I was a founding pastor of outed Snohomish Community Church, so now I am semi retired. I work half time primarily with senior adults, and I keep in or in the water, working with both older would and snow homage on future church planning projects. That’s been a delightful time for May, so my wife and I are well into the empty nester years and enjoying Yeah, her name is merrily we’re excited about this new season of life were just on the edge of it. We don’t know what it’s gonna look like in the next few years, But the change in the transition is actually exciting to us.

spk_2:   2:22
Absolutely. It’s encouraging for me to say to Travis sees, and the Lord’s gonna use our heart and passions and every stage. Can you tell me a little about your upbringing?

spk_3:   2:31
I was raised in a Christian home, a decidedly Christian home. My mother and father both were involved in Christian College and high school ministries up in Bellingham, which is the hometown for our clan. My father is a graduate of Multnomah School, the Bible He did some lay pastoring In his early years. He was always an adult Bible teacher in every church that we attended. I’m the oldest of five kids, and my mother was tireless in exposing us to the truths about Jesus and salvation. So I accepted Christ consciously and knowingly right around my fourth birthday and all the years of my life. It was just a non negotiable that the Bible was central. The authority of God was unquestionable. I knew Jesus says my savior and Lord. Serving him was was, ah, high value. Into this day, I’m thrilled to say that all five of the wall Children love Jesus and are either full time Christian ministry or aggressive lay ministry in our churches.

spk_2:   3:30
Wow, what a blessing. I pray that, for my God knows as well what is your faith? Journey looked like from childhood, of their bidding bumps along the way or any real moments of depth.

spk_3:   3:43
There were some some of what I would say decisional moments in my life. One of them occurred at about fifth grade, just a za kid my dad had. I was a voracious reader. I read lots of fiction. My library card was my most treasured possession, and my dad kept encouraging. May or may be, you should say, bugging me to read a few books off of his bookshelf in the home. And they were books like Hudson Taylor, Special Secret, the founder of China and the Mission of the Triumph of John and Betty Stam, a young married couple with one little baby girl who were beheaded in China. Fox’s Book of Martyrs was on on the shelf, and those books confronted me with a form of Christianity that we don’t normally see in America, where people had to trust God literally for their next meal, trusted God all the way through martyrdom and paid the price so that that really sobered me and challenged May from my late great school years. Another juncture in my life was right about that period of time, even though I accepted Christ when I was a preschooler. Every time I heard a sermon on hell, I would pray before church dismissed. Lord, if I didn’t do it right, and if you didn’t hear me, I just want you to know I really want to be a Christian A If you want to be one of your Children and somewhere around age 10 after having re committed my life to the Lord and just want to make sure my name really was in the Lambs Book of Life, I came to a settled assurance that I really was a child of God and got past that sense of insecurity. Another critical moment in my life was about eighth grade. I was going through a season, a life where, even though I wanted to be viewed as a good Sunday school boy, there was a lot of temptation and worldliness going on in the privacy of my own mind, and I became convicted of my duplicity and I remember once I was home alone one evening and I got down on my knees by my bed and deliberately surrendered my life to the Lord. I knew I was saved. I knew it was going to heaven. But I knew I was conflicted in terms of my loyalty and my appetites. And I asked the Lord to fill me with his holy spirit and that I wanted to live my life for him. That was a very important time. And it was a turning point in my life. The next juncture was in my senior high school. A. To that point, I’ve been taking a bunch of honors courses. I was trying to decide between three career past. My dad was an aerospace engineer. I thought I might become that I was flirting with the idea of becoming a medical doctor or architect. It one day I was sitting in my chemistry class in this thought came to my mind as I thought about my three choices. And how am I gonna choose one of those? I thought, consciously, Tim, you will never be happy doing any one of those things. And I went home and I asked my parents were Two people go to school if they want to go into the ministry. I didn’t even know. In the next few months I homed in on Moody Bible Institute, applied and was accepted, and that completely changed the direction of my life. I really believe God tapped me on the shoulder.

spk_2:   6:56
Is that where you met? Merely And

spk_3:   6:58
no, I didn’t. I spent three years at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Then I transferred to Biola College and L. A. At that point, I was confident God was leading me toward becoming a pastor. So I began to seek some kind of a pastor lantern show. And through an interesting series of events, I ended up at this church at all Do with church under my mentor, Pastor Pastor, Low went, I came in as a one year in turn, which extended into a five year associate position before I took a church in Oregon for a while. By the way, I did come back older, what after that, and have served this church all together. I think about 25 years out of my years in the ministry, and it was here that I met merrily She was a student at Seattle Pacific. She had a girlfriend that had grown up here and Alder Wood. The girlfriend began bringing her to some of our singles college age ministries. And that’s where I met Merrily Pastor went buried us. We had our first child here. Our first baby was dedicated here. So this this place was seminal in our married and family life with the most challenging times of our life as a family was at five year ministry in a smaller church in Oregon.

spk_2:   8:13
And you wait, kids with you.

spk_3:   8:14
We had one baby boy when we went down there. When we came back, we had four kids. Eso in a very difficult, virtually a crucible experience in Oregon, we were raising our family away from our best friends away from our families. Got used those years down there too, I think, deepen our relationship is a couple because we didn’t have much outside support. We leaned heavily on each other. We came back with a full family, re entered this church hiss longtime beloved friendships close to our families again.

spk_2:   8:53
Now you work with the elderly? Yes. How many funerals would you say you’ve gotten to Dio,

spk_3:   9:00
I keep a little book or to keep a record of the dates and the people that I’ve done service for from the very beginning of my ministry, and I just went past number 170 now when I was in Salem, there were a lot of senior adults in that shirt, so that’s where I started doing a lot of funerals. Then when I came back to older would as the years went by, I ended up spending the last 10 years of my ministry before I retired from older would was largely with senior adults.

spk_2:   9:31
In some ways, it’s It’s hard for the young people to connect to the elderly. And I think sometimes we feel for gotten in. It’s it’s It’s a blessed ministry, not really thankful that you you do that. Where did you get your inspiration? Todo if you

spk_3:   9:46
When I first came this church, I was a kid right out of Bible school. I can’t remember if I had been to a funeral and Pastor went, they practically wrote the book on funeral. Other other pastors. Look to him is a great resource for how to do funerals. Fact, I think he wrote a manual that he used in pastoral theology training at Dallas Seminary. So is a young guy. I would sit in the back of the auditorium here in older church with the yellow legal tablet. I would take careful notes, including time notes in the margins of everything he did the tone of what he did, what scriptures have. He spoke about the person that had died, that began to shape my early understanding of how to do a service even to this day, when I do funerals, air preach sermons some of my senior friends that knew Pastor went and have known me a long time will say, Tim, when you speak, we can hear, Pastor went on, and I consider that great honor. He was a man that I greatly admired. I do regard him as my primary mentor in the ministry. He shake me so as as I’ve worked on preparing funeral messages, the older I get, the more riel heaven becomes to me because of getting closer to a um, less than one year shy of 70 myself right now, I haven’t awful lot of friends that are in heaven now that begins to change a person’s perspective. So my own taste for heaven has increased. That makes doing funerals more tender. Personal to me, as I’ve grown older, my value of relationships has deepened someone. A. When I speak on the behalf of an old friend at their service, it’s not just a pastor doing a funeral. It’s a friend honoring a senior friend that I blocked with many years and honoring their family. One of thing that I love about doing funeral services is I have the opportunity to preach the gospel to what I would call a captive audience every time there’s going to be somebody there that doesn’t believe in Jesus. It may be a grandchild, maybe a kid of maybe a business associate or neighbor, and they’re hearing the gospel that perhaps they have never heard before. And it’s coming through the context of the testimony of someone they knew personally and maybe love deeply. That was a personalization of the gospel message. It’s the legacy of that person’s life. I consider that a great honor in a tremendous opportunity to share Jesus through the lens of one who walked with him.

spk_2:   12:20
Are there certain passages that come to mind that you tender refer to our share.

spk_3:   12:24
Yes, there are. There are some key passages. One that is frequently my mind. Is that the Apostle Paul in Corinthians where he says I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far. That is a very rich scripture to me. The passage in Thessalonians about the hope of the resurrection. How Jesus is coming back to snatch away those of us that are alive. But we’re number to those that have preceded us who have died in the Lord will be resurrected first. And then we joined with him in the air. That passage is very meaningful to me. Jesus, Statement I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me shall never die. Passages like that are always on my mind.

spk_2:   13:08
Do you remember the sailboat analogy that you shared?

spk_3:   13:10
Oh, yes, Yes. That one is particularly touching to May. I think it expresses more clearly than just in explanation. Stories are vivid in our minds in this particular story about the ship. Sailing sort of grabs us by the throat, catches us E Motive Lee. I got it from Randy Alcorn. I can’t remember now, whether it’s his story or if he was quoting somebody else. But it’s in his wonderful book called Heaven three goes like this. We’re standing at the dock. There’s an old fashioned sailing vessel there. It’s unfurling its sales. There’s a breeze comes up, people are on board in the boat, pulls away from the dock and begins sailing out to the ocean. And we’re standing there watching the ship get smaller and smaller in the way, expresses a. The vote finally gets to that place where the sky and the sea mingled together. It’s just a white speck, and then it disappears. Someone next to me says, there she’s gone and he says, God, where gone to me. But she’s still strong and capable of carrying her human cargo to where it’s going. And at the same time that we are saying there she’s gone. There’s somebody on the other side that says There she comes and he says That’s what death is like from our perspective of surf. Survivors were saying of her loved one there. Here she is, gone, but from the standpoint of there, welcome into heaven there, people standing there saying Here he or she comes. And it’s a joyous reunion and revival.

spk_1:   14:46
Thank you so much. Here is your P s. Some extras about our guests.

spk_2:   14:58
Are you ready for some questions? Yes. What was your favorite book? As a child?

spk_3:   15:03
I would have to say it was the Sugar Creek gang. Paul Hutchins was the author. These were Christian adventure stories for boys. It was a real setting, a farm culture. And this this gang of boys were all Christian fellows and had all kinds of adventures. So it was. It was a kind of a story. Siri’s that through an adventure and danger and humor, but all in the context of biblical values that were illustrated through lives of boys that were not perfect. But we’re serious about the claims of Christ in their life. Those were the first books I remember. My mother actually read them aloud to May until I learned to read so I could read further volumes on my own.

spk_2:   15:49
I’ll have to pass that went on to my sons. That sounds great. White book. Have you read in the last year that has impacted you?

spk_3:   15:55
I recently read Reflections on the Psalms by C s Lewis. There are some memorable quotes in that book, which were floating around in my mind, and I picked up a copy and reread it just to see those quotes in context. What one of things I most appreciated in that particular book is the importance of sharing allowed with others the things that deeply impressed us about God. Hey, makes a comment that if you walk up with a friend to the edge of the Grand Canyon, you just don’t stand there. Look at it silently. You can’t help but to express your wonder, your amazement where you’re looking. And he says, That’s the way it is with praise and worship of God, we just have to articulate. And he says, Praise is not complete until it is expressed.

spk_2:   16:43
Is there something you wish you could do over in life?

spk_3:   16:46
I would say the first thing that comes to my mind is I would like to have a second run at parenting. I came into parenting with very high ideals. I was going to do it better than my parents did. And then when the dust settled after raising four kids, I looked back and I could see mistakes that I made. It’s like, How did I do that? I remember telling friends, men, if I had a chance to rewind the tape and do parenting over again, I have some things I would really work at. Come out differently. Well, now I’m a grandpa. And in the case of one of my grandchildren, I am a surrogate father because there’s no dad in his life. I have had the privilege of replaying a rewound tape and living out some of the things that I learned, and it’s been really rich. I consider it a great privilege to have a chance to impact a young fellows life with the things that I learned not only through my successes, but maybe even more poignantly through my mistakes. And we’re having a great relationship together of discipleship, laughing and playing in building a relationship.

spk_2:   17:57
That’s great. I love being a grandmother as well, and two, and the 3rd 1 on the way actually do in a couple weeks for parenting or they’re a couple of just tip it that you would say. And if you did have that redo,

spk_3:   18:10
yes, couple of thoughts, one value that’s very, very clear to me. now is to go overboard and catching kids. Doing good thing yes, to to work. I mean, it’s so easy when we’re parenting, too. Catcher kids where they do things wrong and to have too much of a corrective emphasis in their lives. Well, one of the illustrations that’s powerful to me is you don’t grow. Ah, beautiful, lush front lawn just with weed killer. You need copious amounts of fertilizer and water and sunshine. We need to work harder at affirming and celebrating, demonstrating love and admiration. Of course, there’s correction, and there’s guidance. I would say the air I made was was being overly corrective and not affirming enough. That’s a huge value that is on my mind. And I’m doing that with my grandkids celebrating, having fun together, really, really working a building, an enjoyable relationship of friendship with kids. Do

spk_2:   19:15
you have any pet peeves?

spk_3:   19:17
One of my pet peeves is sanctimoniousness. Yeah, I believe with all my heart in righteousness and holiness. But sanctimoniousness is very off putting where you feel like people are putting on some kind of a godly show that lacks authenticity. It’s more like a vase on a shell rather than a holy life in frail skin. I look at my life as seriously as I take my Christianity. I readily admit I am a defective follower of Christ. I’m very aware of my short followings. As serious as I am is about following Christ, and I just love hanging out with people that will say I’m a defective follower of Christ to even the Apostle, Paul said. I count not myself to have attained, but one thing I do. I press on toward the mark of the high calling of crisis a man. If the Apostle Paul said he hadn’t attained yet

spk_2:   20:05
and it’s for her and people can read it when we’re not authentic, what do you see as one of the greatest needs in the church today?

spk_3:   20:14
I think the greatest need in the church today is a higher view of God. Years ago, a guy wrote a book called Your God Is Too Small on and it was a pushback against atheism, and I was just thinking the other day, that book title, if you turn around, it’s also true. Your small is to God, and what I mean by that is we have all kinds of small things in our lives that we have elevated to idols or almost God like status. And even in the book of Easy Kill, he talks about people who have idols in their hearts. It doesn’t take something sitting on a shelf that’s a casting or stone carving to be in I’ll. We all have idols in our hearts and to the degree that we entertain idols and her heart. Many times unconsciously, we are letting small things take on God like status. The greatest thing that can happen to any one of us is to be captivated by a high view of a holy, loving God, to be overwhelmed by his grace, to find that the passion of our heart is to serve him and love him and look forward to being with him in heaven, which is the greatest thing about heaven. Mercy Meat has this song. I can only imagine there’s a little couple it in there that grips me. He pictures them enough, standing at the throne room of God admiring Jesus Christ. And he said, Will I sing? Hallelujah. Will I be able to speak at all? And I love those Larry’s because I realized when I get to heaven, it’s not gonna be like, Oh, the first question I want to get answered is gonna be standing looking at Jesus. And I like that song because I may be so choked up, seeing for the first time most clearly more clearly than ever before how wonderful Jesus is, how much he loves me, her greatest graces. There’s be choked up and will be able to say anything at all. If we could bring that into our lives today, how much it would change us, change our values, changed our sense of what our treasures are, where we spend our time and our commitments. That’s what I think the church needs most right now. And it’s always needed that most

spk_2:   22:28
right now what personal adventure with the Lord do you hope to have left here on Earth for your bucket list?

spk_3:   22:34
I’ve always wanted my life to have significance. I mean, who wants to live a life of look back and say, Well, that was kind of a waste of time. I don’t look at my 46 years of being a pastor as a waste of time, but now that I’m coming pretty close to stepping out of the harness of being formally a pastor, that it’s ill defined. But but there’s something on my bucket list saying in my walk in Ministry for God, What will my significance be once I take off the pastor badge and of no longer part of a church staff? What will that be? And I don’t know how to color that yet I’m not sure what that will be, but I believe defining that and beginning to walk that road will be the next bucket. Last thing for me. What is the closing chapter off my significance in my my walk in ministry with Jesus Christ,

spk_2:   23:28
your favorite book of the Bible? And why,

spk_3:   23:31
when I think the favorite books of the Bible you, my mind is ricocheting around the table of contents in the Bible because there’s so many things I love about so many books. But there’s one book, I guess if I had to say I’ve had a favorite book, it would be the Prophet Jeremiah. I appreciate that book because Jeremiah was giving a no was given a no win ministry. Hey didn’t even want to be a prophet when God recruited him he said. I’m just a kid. What are you picking on me for? And and God said, Sorry, you’re my man and I will put my words in your mouth. There was one time in his life where he got so frustrated with his unsuccessful ministry in that he was not turning the nation back to God. He said, You know, I just wish I could have a B and B off in the wilderness and take care of travelers. And there are times of my life when I’ve gotten for a story saying, I’m with you, Jeremiah. I would just love to have a B and B someplace and just serve people breakfast and change the sheets. But God didn’t let him go. In fact, at one time he said, I’ve had it. This you got, You lied to me. This is not good occupation. And he said, I just purpose that I wasn’t going to speak the word of the Lord anymore. And then he said. But the word of the Lord was like fire in my bones and I could not contain it. So I’ve been through some very challenging times in my ministry, and I always go back and think of Jeremiah and how, despite the fact that ministry can be painful and in his life was excessively painful into fighting success by numbers and responsiveness escaped him. Nevertheless, he never quit being a faithful servant of God, even when they threw him in a sister and a sank into the mud and almost died. He never quit being God’s faithful servant.

spk_2:   25:23
That’s amazing. I know Mike and I have talked about David, who served his generation, and I I have that same passion that my life would be used for the Lord from start to finish. We have that one life. What are you most looking forward to about heaven?

spk_3:   25:44
Well, I would say on kind of the creature Li inferior side of my answer. I look forward to like it says, no more pain, no more death wipe away all tears from our eyes. I think about what it’s like, what is gonna be like in heaven to wake up in the morning if we do wake up in the morning and not know what temptation is anymore to live without temptation to sin. I just can’t wait to see what that feels like. now on a higher level, I realized that those air kind of like side benefits, and I really look forward to those things. But on the positive side, to be able to to really see Jesus Christ with our eyes to to stand around with admiring masses of people, connecting for the first time in our lives with an undistorted, unfiltered view off the beauty of Christ. To realize this savior and Lord of mine is by far the superlative treasure of our lives. And we will enjoy him forever and ever. I really believe that. In a sense, I’m saying that theoretically, I realized when I stand in the presence of Christ, all that theory is going to become brilliant reality, palpable reality. And I will realize just how great Jesus is. I think at our very best we only approach that valuation of Christ. John Piper stresses the question. Is Jesus your greatest treasure? When I get to heaven, I will experience Jesus, my greatest treasure. I can’t wait to see what that’s gonna

spk_1:   27:23
feel like. This wraps up another story of how our great God is at work in our hearts and in our world to find out more about Snohomish Community Church or this podcast Follow letters from home on Instagram. If you click, subscribe or follow on whatever venue you’re listening to right now, our next episode will go right to your library. Second, Corinthians 33 And you

spk_0:   27:49
show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, right? And not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God. No, on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts Uh