Joy, Kindness, and the 'Cage with the Plastic Balls': My Lessons from Tim Timmons
As a lot of you know, I recently went on a cruise through Alaska. The cruise was hosted by the
band MercyMe – my favorite band, only 2nd to Journey in the 1970s and
1980s, Tim Timmons and Sam Wesley. I was able to personally meet all
the boys in the band, Tim Timmons and his lovely wife Hilary, along with
Sam Wesley and his beautiful wife Chloe. Having the opportunity to meet
and spend time with these wonderful, funny people was a life-changing
experience!
Over twenty-five years ago, Tim Timmons was diagnosed with stage 4
cancer and was given only 5 years to live. Since then, he and Hilary have
produced four children, he writes and sings songs, is a worship leader, is
out on the road touring with his music, and has co-written a book with his
wife Hilary, Waking Up Again.
After meeting Tim, I walked away thinking, ‘this guy is the happiest person
on the planet’. You just can’t help feeling the joy that surrounds him with
his actions, his bear hugs, his words, and his amazing laugh. So, I bought
his book and read it in two days while still on the cruise. It is an amazing
story. His humor had me laughing. His struggles with his health had me
sobbing and his constant belief and trust in God had me in awe. He is
always working and trying to find the positive and humor in all things. His
message of always being kind to each other regardless of the
circumstances, even mean people, is inspiring. The story he tells about
teaching his son how to deal with a bully at school had me laughing out
loud. The story follows Tim, being a human dad, with wanting to do cruel
things to the bully and the bully’s dog for picking on his son or to have he and
his son pray for the mean kid every day instead. You will need to read the book
to find out what path the two of them decided to take.
This story of defending the child you love more than life itself reminded me of the time, 34 years ago, I took my Goddaughter, Amanda, who is the child I never birthed, to Chunky Cheese so she could play in the cage with the plastic balls. She was having a fun time until a six-year-old boy came into the cage, climbed up to the top of a rope ladder that was hanging down from one of the walls and proceeded to jump down into the balls close to where Amanda was playing causing her to sink down into the balls completely covering her entire little dainty body with the plastic balls. The look of shock and fear on her face as she struggled to dig herself out of the balls had my blood pressure soaring from normal to 200 over 150 in a blink. I calmly asked the boy to stop jumping near her. He looked right at me, climbed back up the ladder and jumped into her space for a second time, again causing her to sink underneath the balls. When she emerged this time, she was crying with huge tears rolling down her red cheeks. That did it! I whipped off my shoes – because the sign says, take off shoes before entering the cage” – and climbed into the balls. I immediately discovered it is very difficult to maneuver through those 1000 + plastic balls. When I was finally close enough to this young man, he was so stunned that I was in the balls, he didn’t react. So, I grabbed him by the collar and crawled him out of the cage. Waiting for us at the entrance was his father, who by the way, was nowhere to be found when his boy was misbehaving, he was not happy that I had his child in my grip. When I explained what had transpired, dad was now not happy with his son. He apologized to me and to Amanda and hauled that little guy out of Chunky Cheese, ending his day of fun. What we won’t do for our children to keep them safe.
I have read the book twice now and will continue to read it as time goes
on to keep me inspired to learn and live the life lessons Tim and Hilary
have shared with the world through their words.
The movie, I Can Only Imagine 2, is about Tim’s story as well as Bart
Millard’s from MercyMe. If you haven’t seen the movie, you are missing
two great inspirational stories.
Kathy