RECONNECTion #6: Rob Tims

That summer, he was enamored with a young woman named Holly. She was what he talked about most, dreamed about often, and longed for deeply. I’m surprised he made it as long as he did that summer before dropping to one knee to ask the big question.

Rob was the director of the camp team in 2000. He was the boss, the head honcho, the big cheese, who had done the director thing before. He had his game plan down and knew how to produce great results. It was to him something like a formula or an art form rarely seen nowadays. His was the masterpiece of leadership, embedding thoughts and ideas in each of our heads how to think big, challenge others, and be tired at the end of the day.

As a young rookie camp pastor, who had the job Rob wanted, I was less of his wingman and more of his apprentice. We read books together, challenged each other, and truly developed one of those friendship/working relationship combinations that transcend time. Indeed, it has.

I watched him get married to that Holly girl after that summer. I ate a Sunday lunch at their first apartment. I visited them at their first ministry gig in south Florida two years later and even spent time with the two of them last Friday. It truly is a wacky ride we’re on, this small world, this sphere of reconnection called Earth.

Because of these seemingly random chances to keep seeing each other, I’ve seen Rob evolve from theological junkie to husband and now father. While he remains passionate about the intricacies of the Christian faith, his top priority now is his family, the obvious highlight of the last five years. He is father to Trey, and will soon be father again, welcoming the second child into the Tims’ home. Rob has correctly placed his priorities on being the best father and husband he can be. He maintains a strict schedule, free from overwork, he capitalizes on free time, and he isn’t afraid to take a one-year-old to a restaurant.

Years ago, as apprentice, Rob was my benchmark of dedicated study of Scripture. Now, he is fast becoming that for fatherhood as well. Still quick with an immature joke, he is the same Rob I knew and have continued to know over the years. But now he is embarking on the greatest journey of a lifetime: developing a family legacy. Such impact far outlives the written revelations on dusty theological library shelves. Although there is still the possibility he can be known for the second, the biggest difference he’ll make will be in the first.