Specialist Timothy Watkins
Noah has been moving barracks rooms every few days down at his base... They have started cleaning and refurbishing the barracks in preparation for the 3ID homecoming in 2006... so he moves what seems every few days so that one crew or another can work in the room he just left. Because of this, I know that Noah doesn't have regular access to the internet. He has also been busy with his medical routine and with visiting and assisting the families of the soldiers of his unit... so I figured he wouldn't see my post on the protest planned for Tim's funeral. Wrong.
Noah called me just spitting fire about Phelps -- wanting to know who was he? how dare he protest at a good man's funeral? what did Tim's death have to do with that guy's agenda? and some of the language he used was less than politic and certainly less than polite. He wanted to hop on a plane and go there and pop the guy a good one (see, Melinda, Andi and Stacy... I told you that would be his first response!) I assured him that I was trying to get the word out and that I hoped it would be successful in getting people out to counter the imbecile.
He said, "Write about Tim, Mom. People should know about Tim."
Tim's favorite movie was "Blackhawk Down" and he and Noah watched it together every chance they got... because Noah wants to be a Ranger and Tim wanted to fly helicopters.... Tim looked forward to meeting Noah's Dad who had flown helicopters in Vietnam.
Tim had gotten everyone into the nutty medical comedy "Scrubs"... He had picked up the first season on DVD at the PX (when they still had access to one) and he was hooked and insisted that everyone watch the episodes... then they were all hooked. "He had a great laugh, Ma. We loved to listen to Tim laugh.
I asked what kind of music Tim listened to... "All kinds -- you know just like everyone else -- whatever was playing right then." Noah says that Tim would talk about religion with the guys -- not just his religion but religion in general, his belief in God. When others doubted, Tim was there to console and convince them that there was hope. In assessing Tim's faith, Noah said, "He was always inviting everyone to go to services with him whenever they didn't have a mission... and even when others didn't go, Tim went. "He wasn't there to convert anyone, but he was a real Believer." Even though they knew that Tim's dad was a minister, Tim was still just one of the guys...
And a good soldier. "He's one of the reasons I'm alive today, Mom. If it wasn't for Tim and G., I think I would have been killed rather than just wounded that day." He tells me that when the VBIED went off collapsing part of the building they were in, they were taking secondary fire from the terrorists, and Tim and the other soldier brought a .240 [machine gun] up to Noah's position and together they took out a few tangos...
As Noah says, when you think that Phelps is here and Watkins is gone, it makes you doubt... but I tell him that this is just the situation where you have to put your faith in God's greater plan... He gave a short laugh, "Yeah -- that's just the kind of thing Tim would have said."
Tim, you fought the good fight. You kept your faith. You finished your course. We'll see you on the other side. Go with God... you have earned your Reward.
Copyright 2005. All rights reserved.
posted by Some Soldier's Mom @ 4:06 PM
10 Comments
10 Comments:
You can tell Noah that it was my first reaction too!! As well as Hubs' reaction and yes, his language was "colorful" as well.
Yes, when good people like Tim are lost to us and dirtbags like Phelps live on, it does make you wonder. However, Tim had a heart that was always ready and he was assured his eternal life through his devotion to his faith. In his passing and the subsequent happenings of his memorial service, people will reflect on him, his goodness & perhaps realize they want to be more like Tim and never want to be close to what Phelps considers as "right."
Thanks for sharing more about Tim.
Tim was a hero. He was a credit to his people, his nation, and his God.
I think it's terrible that young men have to die, but my son's on that line too, and I pray for all our boys . . .
May God grant peace to Tim, and healing to his family.
Semper Fi,
Bob Perrow
Noah, I think that was all of our first reaction. I have been reading about Phelps for some time now, and I honestly do not understand how he can do what he is doing to these fallen soldiers families.
We sure know our boys don't we SSM. Thanks for sharing a little about Tim with us.
I too have been reading about this guy for a long time. He certainly is no man of God. He spews hate and that is not the message that my God wants the world to hear.
I am so sorry and sad that we have such ugly people in this world. They try to hide their ugliness by preaching the word of God, in a devious way.
Prayers being said for Tim's family and for this misguided man (Phelps).
God bless our Troops is right!! I am so grateful to them all, and to all their families. Thank you so much for having this blog, and if you're ever down Bisbee way, let me know and I'll be very happy to show you around, and treat you to dinner.
Any word on whether ratboy Phelps and his litter of vermin actually surfaced at the funeral?
Thanks for sharing more about Tim, wew will pray for his family and continue to pray for Noah and yours. I know what they mean when they say our soldiers fight so peolple like Phelps can be free to spread hate. But my God and Tim's want us to spread love and Tim surely did that.
God Bless
Barb
Tim was more than a hero. His steadfast walk in Christ, his continual soul winning efforts, and his testimony are what this great nation was built upon. His life does not point directly to what a wonderful guy he was, although true, but rather to his wonderful and awesome Saviour he served. Bear in mind that with his family we grieve for Tim's departure, but we also rejoice in the knowledge that Tim is with his heavenly Father and that while he was here, he kept the faith and fought the good fight.
A Brother in Christ,
Brian Yost
1 Timothy 4:12
Let no man despise thy youth: but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
My cousin, Timothy, was killed in Iraq on October 15, 2005 when the armored vehicle he was driving was blown up by an I.E.D. I couldn’t help but wonder why God had taken him. He was so young, only 24, and still had a lot of life ahead of him. He could have done so much in the world if he could have lived.
I kept telling myself that God had a plan and purpose for taking Tim to heaven, but I couldn’t convince myself that this was true.
It wasn’t until I attended his funeral that I could see God’s hand in Tim’s death.
Tim’s funeral was very different than any I had ever been to before. People flooded into the church. When the church was full to capacity people flooded into the over flow room and even stood outside of the church looking in the windows.
Tim was so young, yet he had a huge impact on people’s lives. There were roughly around 570 people at the service. These people included people Tim had witnessed to or invited to go to church with him. People who, through Tim’s testimony, had come to know Christ, and people who looked up to Tim as a leader, were among the many.
Many things were said about Tim that day, how he had saved a man’s life even though it could have cost him his own, or how he had taken a new kid in school under his wing and befriended him. There were many more things said about him but the one thing each of these had in common was of how he had been an example of Christ and a witness in all he did.
God was glorified through Tim’s death. Many were saved and some decided to get back into the race that they had dropped out of many years before.
Through Tim’s death, God placed a few questions on my mind and they keep going around and around. “What will people say about my life when God calls me home?” “Will God be glorified when I die?” and “Will my life impact others’ as Tim’s did?”
Tim impacted people whom he had never met. This has shown me that people who I don’t know are affected by the way I act and the things I do when I’m in the world. My life is a constant testimony on both good and bad days.
Someone once said, “When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a way that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.”
When Tim died, the world cried and heaven rejoiced. Though I may never fully understand the reason God took Tim, I can see that God can take horrible things and make something good come out of it.
God used someone as young as Tim and made him an example for me to follow.
Will your life impact others for the best and bring them to Christ? Or will you push others away from Christ?
It is time for us to make a positive impact on the world.
We need to take an active stand in influencing others.
Tim died trying to free the Iraqi people. Why can’t we be willing to die to free the lost and sinful world?
This was written by my daughter for her dorm room and a speech in collage
hello,
i am trying to get in touch with timothy Watkins family to invite them to our event Memorial Day this friday May 28, 7-9pm tribute to our fallen soldiers: Portraits of the Fallen: Honoring Our Nation's Heroes. We have painted Timothys Portrait to add to the collection of beautiful faces of our heroes. There is a Facebook by the name above with info. All are invited. thank you for this blog, it really reenfored how we must all stay vigilant and never forget what these fine young people have given to us all.
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