Tim Redovian Memorial Fund

Dr. Jim Johnson, Pastor

"There is a phrase to describe people like Tim. He was a “piece of work”, a good work, a God-given work. He was his own person.

"And I cannot remember ever being a part of a service when friends and family and ministers have been able to capture in humor and in such an articulate way the wonderful things that make up a young man. Although I will say that Danny, usually we don’t talk about scorin’ babes, you know, up from the pulpit, but since he was only nine, ok, that’s all right. You know I would like to add my part to his character and to his mischievousness. I learned subsequently this past week that in reality Tim was a preacher’s worst nightmare because he timed my sermons every time he came to church and when I ran overtime I was done, you know; that was it. In every area of his life he had a unique and a life-giving way of seeing things.

"One person who is well acquainted with grief said this, “It is a shame that dying is the last thing we do because you can learn so much from dying.”

"And earlier Larry Parsley quoted to you the psalm that I would like to again use as a springboard for my remarks. When the psalmists say: “Teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” And what the psalmist understands is that it is in dying, in recognizing that our days no matter who we are are numbered that we are able to learn some of the most valuable and precious lessons of life. ‘Teach us to number our days’ really means to be aware, remember again, know in your gut, that our days are limited. The death rate in America is still 100%. Every one of us will one day die. Our days are numbered. Candy Lanin was a seven year old who lived in Dodge County until last night when a tornado ripped apart her home and she died. And her family will be sitting in a place like this in a matter of a couple of days. Just a few short weeks ago 3 high school students from Sprayberry High School, in a prank went bad, lost their life. You see, it is a myth that only old people die. Young people die too.

"And one of the great bits of wisdom about life is we must remember that life is brief, and it is understanding that that we learn some of life’s greatest blessings. The first one is this: Life is not measured by its’ quantity, it is measured by its’ quality. From the door of a young cancer patient came these words: “Whatever it is that fills up life and fills it to the full, it is not time. Years are not life.” And as we have celebrated again Tim’s gifts, his abilities, his love for life, we are reminded that though the quantity of his years will be short, the quality of his life is immeasurable by human standards.

"Another bit of wisdom that numbering our days brings to us is this: That life does not ultimately belong to us. We can run and stay in shape. We can eat low fat, high protein, we can make sure that we stay out of the sun and do all of those things that we can to try to prolong our life, we can be a good manager of it but in the end life ultimately belongs to God. And like Danny, I have never seen a more compassionate group of doctors and nurses than I saw at Egleston Children’s Medical Center. And they did and we did, we sought, they sought for every possible way that science can give us to save his life but it could not be done. Life ultimately belongs to God. And those of us who tie ourselves in very strongly to God and to the spiritual ways, we, too, were reminded again that life belongs to God.

"As I sat with the family, I believe it was Monday evening, when the surgeons came in after a last ditch effort to really make things happen, you could see the look in the eyes of the surgeon and the family and I knew that things were really desperate. I couldn’t stay there. I had to leave. I had to go and I said I am going to go and call everybody I know who is close to God and have them pray for Tim, and I had all the deacons in our church called, and I had all the people that I knew to be Godly called, people in Idaho and Iowa and people in Texas, the people that I understand have had their prayers answered. You may not know this. I wanted to tell you but there is a high school class in Waco, Texas. The teacher is a great friend of mine and Wednesday morning she took the whole hour and a half, it’s a Christian school, and they prayed for one and a half hours for Tim. And she told me that no matter they didn’t know him or were not aware of him, they wept and they cried and they prayed for someone they did not know. And in spite of all those prayers, and in spite of all of that effort, God doesn’t ultimately allow life to belong to us. It belongs to Him. There is something you need to be aware of that is that God is still with us in the worst things. I cannot think or imagine of any life experience much worse than what the Redovian family has been through and what many of you have shared with them. But one of the things that we need to be aware of and one of the things that Jim wanted me to tell you that in the middle of the worst things God was there. And he would tell you that he loves God even more today than yesterday because without Him he would not have been able to make it through this worst thing.

"One of the most meaningful things that I have ever come across in my life is the funeral sermon preached by a minister by the name of William Sloan Couffin who was pastor of the Riverside Church in New York City. Let me share with you some of his thoughts and experiences. He began the service for his own son like this: 'As almost all of you know, a week ago last Monday night driving in a terrible rain storm my son Alexander, who to his friends was a real day brightener and to his family fair as a star when only one is shining in the sky . . .', that’s Tim. That’s Tim, in a lot of ways. 'My 24-year-old Alexander who enjoyed beating his old man in every game and in every race beat his father to the grave.' And he went on to share some of the experience. He said he was sitting reflecting and there was a woman who came in carrying about eighteen quiches, you know, for the family, and as she walked by him he heard her mumbling 'I just don’t understand God’s will! I just don’t understand God’s will.' And he said I jumped up and I swarmed all over her. And he said the anger did me some good and the instruction for her was well overdue. And I said 'You’re exactly right, you don’t understand God’s will because it was not God’s will that Alexander drive over the edge of the highway into the Boston harbor. It wasn’t God’s will that he hadn’t fixed his windshield wiper. It wasn’t God’s will that the way was not lit very well in those turns. It is not God’s will that there were no guard rails there. It is not God’s will that he probably had one two many frostys before he headed down the road. It was not God’s will.' Then he said something that has brought tremendous comfort to me. He said the only thing that as a father that brings me comfort is to know that when the waters of Boston Harbor closed over my son’s sinking car, God’s heart was the first of our hearts to break. And last Wednesday when we gathered as a family in PICU at Elgeston and brothers and sisters and mom and dad and compassionate nurses and doctors gathered around Tim’s bed and we turned off the life support, the thing that gives me the most comfort is that it was God’s heart that was the first heart to break because all of us had our hearts broken, too, but in that room there was a resilient peace and presence and God was with us with a broken heart in that room. And the thing that got us through that day was God’s presence but there was something even more important than that that will get us through--- it is the promise of the New Testament that the worst thing in life is not the last thing. The worst thing in life is not the last thing. Is that in our lives, through the grace of Jesus Christ and through our faith in Him, that whenever the curtain goes down that is not all there is. That in heaven in fact the bible tells us that there is one huge cast party that is such a blow out that all the parties on this earth seem like slow leaks. And there is a cast party of the faithful going on in heaven today because of Tim’s faith and because of the grace and the love of God who refuses to let the worst things in life be the last thing in life. The New Testament puts it like this. God demonstrates his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. I know Tim loved the theatre. There is no greater epic drama in all of history than the drama of the Son of God who lovingly and gladly gave up His life for others. And in that drama of redemption our sin, our penalty, is paid. And the sin which would lead us to the ultimate consequence of death and separation from God has been eradicated by God’s grace and now we have the opportunity to have the free gift of life in Christ the Son of God. And it is through God’s great grace, it is through His love that for those of us who respond to that love, the worst thing is not the last thing. But one thing must be remembered--- one bit of wisdom if we are going to number our days and if we are gong to gain from numbering our days--- the wisdom, the one thing we must remember is is that we must make the necessary preparations ourselves for when the day comes.

"Tim was a great actor, he had great gifts and he made great preparations every time he went on stage. In fact, some of the family were remarking that he even made preparations singing his scales upstairs not knowing what exactly he was doing at first when he started that process. He studied, he read, he prepared at home. He was a great actor because he was a great preparer. He read, he studied. And he never would have dreamed about going on stage unprepared or without knowing his lines. And we all prepare in different ways. We prepare for our retirement, we prepare for our families, we prepare for all of the great occasions in life but the thing that we must never forget is that we will spend a much longer time in eternity than we have spent in this life and yet so few people really prepare for the life that they will live forever. There will be an ultimate audience and there will be an ultimate judge and critic and what he is most concerned about is how we have responded to his play of redemption, of how we have responded to his love and his grace and his offer of life. And when we do, there is no final curtain, there is nothing but an eternal encore for those who prepare. And God would have us to learn this day from having Tim’s days numbered these great pieces of life’s wisdom. Thank God this day for Tim. There will never be another one like him. And thank God this day that in Christ we will enjoy the life and the gifts and the love of Tim again in that eternal encore.

"Let us pray. Lets pray together. Father, thank you so much for life and I especially thank you for the fact that Tim is someone who lived life to the fullest in such a way that he drew the rest of us in to want to live it fully like that as well. And Father, in spite of our sorrow and our deep sense of loss, I pray that we will understand that in Christ there is yet another act, another scene, another encore and may the hope of what you have done for us and the hope of our faith that you give us allow us to live with great confidence and great purpose and great hope for the future. We pray these things with grateful hearts. Amen."