It's never too early

I gave my heart to Jesus on April 6th, 1988. That day, my grandfather, Tommy (my pastor), had just finished preaching, and my dad (the first Timothy) and my uncle came to me and asked if I wanted Jesus in my heart. I said yes, at 5 years old. Since then, I have been active in church and played on praise and worship teams. (I'll talk more about my early years of music and worship another time.)

Up until high school, I had never given any thought to "missions". I knew of missionaries, but never really thought I would be one. While attending a private Christian High School in Oklahoma, we were taught about missionaries, and how they had impacted different areas of the world. Our school was smaller and didn't have an athletics program. Instead, we had a flag team composed of male and female students. We were asked to pray about the nation we felt God wanted us to intercede for, and that would be the nation's flag we would pray for, carry and twirl. That was my first realization that, maybe, I was called to reach nations. I prayed and twirled for the nation of Kenya, throughout my high school years. I still desire to visit there someday.

I've been on a few mission trips over the years. My first, being Costa Rica, with the flag team. The second was a trip with a praise and worship team going to do a conference in Guyana and Suriname, South America. I visited Costa Rica two more times after that, one of which, I stayed three months to teach music to younger members of the church.

Later in life, I met Misty (my wife). She had a heart for Thailand. In 2018, we were able to visit, and I made my first trip there. I not only fell in love with the food, which my wife had already introduced to me, but the people. Since then, I have made three more trips to Thailand, each one a little longer than the last.

My love for the nations, and the people groups I have met, have changed my life. Mission trips are a lot like tattoos...once you get one or have one, you want more. Not because it's the Christian thing to do, or for self, but because that is what I was placed on this Earth to do - reach people, and show them how to worship and fall in love with the One who created and loves them.

Timothy Jr