Life is not always Care Bears and rainbows, a favorite saying of my friend Keith. Life can throw a curve ball at any moment on any given day. Your day can be going well, and a sudden phone call turns your world upside down. God never promised the Christian life to be a bed of roses. Jesus told us this world is full of troubles BUT He has overcome the world.
Men’s Encounter is a tool in God’s tool belt much like VBS, Women’s Encounters, men’s bible studies, women’s bible studies, fall festivals for kids, Upward basketball, and many other tools. God uses Men’s Encounters to cause a man to search his heart for weeds, (sins), and through an encounter with Jesus they can find forgiveness and redemption. He uses men to testify and teach about what God has done in their lives.
On February 9th I went to Men’s Encounter with four other men. Tim Evans, Keith Chafin, Bud Simmons, TJ Steed, and I rode together for 250 miles to be there together. It was a weekend that God had orchestrated. He made sure we were all there and in the same cabin. He made sure our hearts were purified by the Holy Spirit throughout that weekend. On Sunday morning we witnessed Tim Evans walk forward and rededicate his life to Christ. Tim had such an awesome weekend with Jesus and was on a spiritual high even in the days following The Encounter. Tim was also celebrating 60-plus days of sobriety. All of us had a great weekend at Encounter and I highly recommend you attend one if you never have.
Tim came home and shared his weekend with his girlfriend and on February 15th asked her to marry him and presented her with a ring. She said yes and life was moving in the right direction for Tim. He had told us how his girlfriend had played a role in helping him to stop drinking. Tim has been a very close friend of Keith Chafin for more than 25 years. They spent a lot of time together doing life.
God has His plan for everyone’s life. We have a plan for our lives. We must be willing to follow God’s plan because it is His plan that ultimately prevails. We must trust Him and have faith that His plan is the perfect plan.
Recently my friend Keith called me very emotionally upset. His close friend Tim Evans had just been killed in a car wreck.
None of us have any guarantee of tomorrow from God. None of us know when God will call us home. Billy Graham was asked in an interview once,” What is the most important thing you have learned in all your years of life”? Billy responded,” Just how brief it is.” Life can bring mountaintop experiences and it can bring valleys. It is in times like this we must lean on Jesus for comfort and understanding along with His Peace. Only God can provide us with His Peace.
Tim Evans lived on earth nine more days after his rededication to Christ. Tim was called home to meet His Savior and is safely in heaven with Jesus now. All the troubles of this world are gone for Tim. Eternity with God has just begun for Tim and I am very blessed to have met him even though it was for only 72 hours, he impacted my life, and I am thankful. Rest in peace, my friend.
Jim Everett
