The page sat blank for what seemed like an hour as I
reflected on ‘what experience (s) … event (s) changed my life?’ While I was
thinking I began a search to see what others had written online. As well, I
tried to think of movies or books that I’ve seen or read.
Perhaps I have no greater experience than that of living
this life because of a woman who dug in her heals and made life work…work for
me and my three siblings. What she did, how she gave has and will forever
change my path of life and living.
As I continued pondering and thought of my own career, one
of service. In part ... due to what I believe is a gift of God…which is service. But
as my mind wandered I remembered the day driving with dad down Soledad Canyon Highway
when we became the first upon a most horrible of accidents. There was a pickup
truck with a canopy and several children inside who were a couple miles from
their destination of Magic Mountain, the amusement park. A semi-truck had not seen
them stopped at a traffic light and plowed into them. I was thirteen; they were
seven and eight year olds and would be in their early fifties today. I don’t
think of that day often, but today as I recalled that event I realized once
again just how much that very moment changed my life.
The above thoughts are a result of reading through chapter
sixteen of the book of Acts. Talking about the apostle Paul, Luke
writes, “And he came also to Derbe and to Lystra. And behold, a certain
disciple was there, named Timothy”. The passage continues to tell of Timothy’s
upbringing, and how he would join Paul through many futures adventures and
missions.
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| He who never walked, began to walk! |
As I read this passage I couldn’t help but wonder if Timothy
had been mentioned prior to this moment? Or, had Paul previously been to this
area? We only have to go back two chapters, approximately five years of time and
we see that Paul had fled a stoning in the town of Iconium and wound up in
Lystra. It is here that Paul happens upon a “certain man” who had been lame
since birth, never having walked. And I ask, ‘Did Timothy know this man’? As
Paul was teaching, the man was listening. And I ask, ‘Was Timothy listening as
well’? Paul then gazes upon the man and sees that he has faith to be made
well. Paul then says, “STAND up on your feet”! Then Luke says, “He JUMPED up
and walked”! Don’t know about you, but just the sight of this…I’d have to say, ‘Hallelujah’!
‘Hallelujah’! And so I ask, “Was Timothy shouting ‘hallelujah’?"
So they story continues with the town folk wanting to
worship Paul and Barnabas as god’s. The crowds even bring a sacrifice in their
behalf. But Paul and Barnabas refuse this praise saying that, “We are but men,
the same nature as you”. And so…yeah, you know my question… "Was Timothy
witnessing this as well?"
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| Paul, left as dead in Lystra |
Well the crowds, you know crowds…they turn on Paul. They could have simply rushed Paul and his associates out of town, but no,
that would be to kind, to easy. No, the crowds in turn begin to stone Paul;
they stone him to the extent that it appears that Paul is dead. And once again, "Was Timothy watching this behold before his very eyes?" To be presumed or
appear to be dead…this had to be an awful beating, an awful sight to have seen.
And Timothy, he may have been the age that I was when the semi plowed into that
pickup. It’s not a sight you soon forget. No, it’s a sight you NEVER forget.
The impact (no pun intended) changes you, who you are, where you go from that
point forward.
In a similar vane as the tomb, or to the man who was the
subject of this story, or as Paul Harvey would site, “Now for the rest of the
story”. Acts fourteen twenty continues, “While the disciples stood around him,
he arose and entered the city.” Now, wait a second! Paul…appeared…to be…dead!
He was dead! Luke doesn’t provide sufficient time to even begin to grieve in
the story. Were there minutes, maybe even an hour before Paul arose? Or
perhaps, he just arose. But if it was the prior, I could see Luke being so
excited of what just transpired that his pen could not delay ... And so, Luke was
shouting, ‘Hallelujah’! Hallelujah indeed!
If Timothy was at this scene, had he walked away after the
beating? Was he distressed that this man who had given someone from his own
town, a man who had never walked, a new lease on life? Did he hear from others
what took place after he walked away with his heart deeply grieved? Or perhaps
he saw with his own eyes Paul standing up from this death defying experience?
Either way, I must ask, “How was Timothy changed from these amazing events”?
Timothy would never, no never forget this moment.
So, five years later … “There was a certain disciple”.
Timothy…had become…a follower of not Paul, rather the one for whom Paul taught,
He in whom the tomb was left empty.
I believe that it is very possible that Timothy was a
witness to the events that day in Lystra nearly two thousand years ago, an
event that forever changed how he lived. Sure he was raised in a ‘God-fearing’
home, but as we all too often have seen, that is not enough. Timothy
experienced something that made him a disciple.
You and I … we may never have this kind of experience, but
the same One who left the tomb empty … the same One who empowered Paul the
ability to give this man a new ‘walk’ on life (pun intended!), is the One who
can change you forever.
From this blog my hope is to continue to pursue that
direction that Timothy took. I want to follow his steps and the instruction
that Paul would give while writing two letters to one he called ‘son’. How many
blogs and how often will the life of Timothy find their way into this blog? Don’t
know! I just know that I get excited when I think about what Timothy, a young
man, a boy, might have experienced that day and how that experience forever CHANGED
the entire course of his life.
