Happy Birthday, Tim!

Today is my "little" brother's birthday, so I can think of no more worthy subject for today's posting than he. He arrived on the scene about two-and-a-half years after me, much to my chagrin at the time, I am told. But both of us are all grown up now, with families of our own, and I am very thankful for his life and for the other two lives that now exist because of him and his wife, Zella.

There are so many stories I could tell as I reflect on my memories of my brother--some of them stories he would probably prefer that I not share (even though some of them are pretty funny). But there are also some very wonderful moments, and so it is easy to choose one of those.

Poor Tim grew up in the middle of two girls--one pretty smart and one very pretty. But Tim was no shrinking violet. Although he was not much of a student (even he would have to admit that he was one of those who probably could have applied himself a little more), God blessed him with a natural vocal ability that he has used to be a blessing to others. (He's also worked very hard to develop that natural ability with voice lessons during high school and as a vocal performance major in college.)

So the memory I will share today is one of his using his vocal abilities to bless me. In April 1996, Jon died. Jon and Tim had shared a good relationship--they were friends and brothers. Again, Tim had grown up the only boy with two sisters, so he saw Jon as one of my better contributions to our family. The two of them got along very well. They played video games together, teased Kristi (our younger sister) together, and just were the "guys" together. So when Jon died, it was a significant loss for Tim, too--especially in light of the fact that Kristi had died just six years earlier.

I asked a simple and hard thing of my brother all at the same time: to sing Jon's favorite hymn, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God," at Jon's funeral. I don't remember a lot about the details of that funeral service, but I will never forget watching my brother walk to the front, get the pitch from the organist, and sing all four verses of "A Mighty Fortress" a cappella, from memory. God must have been pleased, hearing His words of comfort and strength sung back to Him, and Jon could not have been honored in a more beautiful way.

Happy Birthday, my brother!