Happy New Year!

 

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

I have been on social media this evening reading a lot of posts from people that are reflecting on the past year. I have gone back and forth about writing a “year in review” post myself. At first I really didn’t have any desire to do so, but then I thought about God’s goodness this past year and all of the amazing things that we have been through and thought I might share a little.

This past year has truly been an amazing journey! God has stretched me and my family in ways that I never thought were imaginable.

One of the areas where we have been stretched is our ministry with teens. Especially some of the down, out and forgotten teen boys that live in our small town. This ministry evolved into a ministry with boys in two different group homes when some of the teens were put into foster care. God has given us a love for these boys so much so that we are preparing to become foster parents to three teen brothers that need a family to love and nurture them for a while. Please pray with us in this awesome new journey that God has us travelling on.

Another area where we have been stretched is not a new area but it does constantly evolve and change. That is our ministry to low income folks in our area. God has brought us through and continuing to bring us through dealing with some really crazy situations. God has lead us to be bold in our ministry to these people and we often have to give a little tough love. I am not a tough love type person but He has led me to be very feisty at times.

In order to enlarge our family, we have to find a larger place to live. Thankfully, due to some inheritance money that we got from Sarah’s mom and some retirement from a previous job that I am cashing in, we are able to buy a new home. The journey has been super interesting and has certainly had a lot of ups and downs. Once again God has been faithful, though, and He led us to an awesome place for our family. Barring any problems we should be moving in the next month.

I can’t forget all of the great friendships Sarah and I have forged this past year. Some folks we have known for a long time, some we have just gotten to be friends with. But God has done some miraculous and amazing things this year through our friendships here at home, in Canada and elsewhere with folks I have never even met in person (this is a shout out to my crew family ). We thank God for our faithful and praying friends.

Last, but definitely not least, has been my spiritual journey this year. I have grown so much through my lifetime, but this past year has been a season of real growth. Perhaps someday I will write a separate post about everything that God has shown me, but it would be too much to post it all right now.

Well I guess I did what I thought I wouldn’t do. Write an “end of the year how God has blessed us” post. Tomorrow is another day and another adventure. Thank you for all of your prayers, for your friendship, and for continuing to read my posts. Until tomorrow . . .

God’s Still Small Voice

Lucas (left) and Skiler (right)

Sarah chose to listen to it – God’s still small voice.

It was last week while Christmas shopping.

We have had the great pleasure of shopping for many folks this year who would otherwise not have had a very fun Christmas. Several of them were boys from the group home that two of our future foster sons, David and Skiler, are presently in.
One of the boys there, Lucas, hardly ever gets to see his family. He is really a good kid and, although Sarah has never met him, I have told her a lot about him. While shopping, Sarah passed some shelves of fleece blankets. One of them caught her eye and God immediately stopped her and told her that she was to buy that particular one for Lucas. As I mentioned before, she had never even met Lucas let alone knew what he liked and disliked but she felt strongly that she was to do that.

It was a blanket with a picture of a dog on it.

Although Sarah had the task of shopping for the boys at the home, I had the fun job of delivering the gifts to them on Christmas day. When I got to the gift for Lucas I told him the story of how God had told Sarah to buy that blanket just for him. He looked at me with a quizzical look but gladly took the bag and walked a few feet away.

I watched him as he was opening up his gifts. When he got to the blanket he opened it up and unraveled it to get a good look at what was on it. He got the strangest expression on his face and began to shake his head. He looked as if he was about to cry.

He walked over and told me that he used to have a dog exactly like that when he was younger. With a big smile on his face he wrapped it closely around himself and commented on how warm it was. It seemed as if all of the cares of life were falling away and he was remembering better days of time gone by.

Sometimes it’s the little things in life that make all of the difference to someone. Sometimes you just need to listen to God’s still small voice that is urging you to do something. Maybe it’s just to give a smile and a hello to someone that is passing by. Maybe it’s going over and having a chat with an elderly person who looks lonely. Maybe it’s to pay for someone’s meal who is behind you in the drive-thru. You never know what it might be or to whom it might be. Just remember to listen to God’s voice and obey. If you do, it will never fail to be a blessing to others.

And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. I Kings 19:12

The Sickness is Among Us!

I know. I know. It’s kind of lame.

I really shouldn’t use a post like this to fill in a day just because I have given myself a “post a day for a year” challenge. But, the truth is that sometimes it is just plain hard to do a post a day – especially when there is a sickness among us!

I personally am not sick, but my youngest is and it has taken a toll out of both me and Sarah this evening so my brain is fried.

I really need to do one of those schedules where I have a theme a day so I know what to write. Or, I could do like some bloggers and spend one evening a week at a coffee shop or some other quite place and write all of their blogposts for a week in one night and schedule them to be posted throughout the week.

But . . . I’m just me. I don’t do either of those things. I just blog! So, I am stuck writing about not knowing what to write about because I am exhausted!

Thanks for reading my little rant.

Until tomorrow.

Tim

Get Ready for a Week of New Year’s Goals for 2017!

Resolution – A firm decision to do or not to do something

Goal – The object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result

I don’t know which one I like better. A few years ago I remember reading something that stuck with me and seemed to speak to me back then about the difference between a New Year’s resolution and a New Year’s goal. For the life of me I can’t remember why that person liked goals instead of resolutions but they did and I began calling my New Year’s desires goals. So that’s what I am going to call them once again.

I’ve decided that I’m going to do a five part series on what my personal goals are for the year. I would love if you would join in. Hey, I might even do a link-up type thing. I haven’t done one of those in quite a few years.
A
t any rate, I will probably begin next Monday and go for the whole week using the following themes.

• Monday – Spiritual Goals
• Tuesday – Health Goals (Eating, exercise, and even stress relievers)
• Wednesday – Learning/Educational Goals (Reading, learning, that type of stuff)
• Thursday – Living Goals (Chores, home improvement, things like that)
• Friday – Ministry  Goals

I realize that several of these things overlap – all of life does. I’m not sure where I’ll put the overlapping things but I’m sure that it will come as I am writing, praying and thinking.
So, get ready for next week. If you want to know more Tim secrets tune in for my five part series. If you want to join in then please do. Start thinking about what God wants to do with your life this next year and join in. It’ll be fun!

I have never been one to pick a word for the year or anything like that, but God has laid this verse on my heart at least for right now. Maybe it has something to do with my New Year’s Goals.

Romans 12:1,2

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

It’s Back! It’s Back! Florida Bible College is Back!

I was very blessed to have been able to go to one of the best Bible colleges in the world. I don’t have time to tell you all of the story, but God does work in miraculous ways. Instead of me having to go to Florida Bible College, God moved Florida Bible College (FBC) to me! In the early 80s FBC found itself needing to move its campus from the location that they had been in for many years. They ended up buying a hotel, office complex, and a five model homes that were located less than two miles from my home. In the fall of 1982 I found myself enrolled and the rest is history. In 1986 I graduated with a degree in Bible and in Education with a minor in Christian Education.

Florida Bible College changed my life in so many ways it is unbelievable. I can honestly say that if it weren’t for all of the miraculous things that God has done through FBC I wouldn’t be where I am today.

In the late 1990’s FBC had to close it’s doors but through it’s graduates its ministry has never ended. Recently FBC reorganized and reopened its doors. I have been following all of the details closely and am so excited by what I am seeing.



If you are looking for a great College to earn a Certificate, Associates Degree or Bachelors Degree in Biblical Studies or degree in one of their seven majors then I would encourage you to look into Florida Bible College. If you want to get your feet wet they are offering three online classes beginning next month. If you are interested in attending or would like more information on what the college is like you could go to their upcoming college for a day.

For more information on the college itself, the online classes, or the college for a day click here to go to their webpage!

Ephesians 2:8-10 New International Version (NIV)

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

It’s Time To Let it All Out!

 

Dear faithful financial and prayer supporters,

I know that I have been quite vague about some things on Facebook the past few months and I have promised to fill you about what was going on when the time came. A few people that need to know already are aware, but many are not. I feel that since it is the end of the year and many of you are making your financial giving decisions for the next year that this is the time to reveal the exciting things that are happening!

First off let me tell you that we are not leaving BCM International nor our ministry here in Livingston, TN. Our ministry, as you are about to read, is going strong and we feel strongly that God is going to continue to bless our efforts in this next year.

  

The bus that was generously given to us has had its ups and downs, but is working once again. We had a wonderful summer doing 5-day Bible Clubs on the bus where we saw three children trust the Lord. We also began using it for adult Bible studies where two were saved. Late in the summer the bus once again broke down but is fixed again. We continued doing the one established adult Bible study in a home, but we were unable to start the planned Bible clubs. Now that the bus is fixed we hope to begin the Bible clubs after the Christmas break and also use it for other adult Bible studies.

We have continued to serve the low income folks with much visitation and help with needs. I (Tim) have a vibrant ministry of taking folks several times a month to local food banks. I also visit, encourage and pray with many adults in the low income areas where we minister. The adult Bible study held in a home in a trailer park has been very successful and the folks are growing in number and spiritually.

The one ministry that has been overwhelmingly successful this year has been my ministry to teen boys. It began about a year and a half ago with three boys attending a Bible study but has grown to many more that are being ministered to. I say “ministered” to because this past spring and summer four of the boys have been picked up by DCS and put into foster care for various reasons. I have been able to visit them all since they were taken. Three of them were put into boy’s group homes because they needed more help and guidance than a regular foster home could provide. One of them has been able to go home but the other two, brothers, are still in the group home. The fourth boy is a third brother and was in a regular foster home but was moved to a group home because of some problems he was having. So, all three brothers are in two different group homes. I have been able to visit them almost every week since they were taken and have been able to continue to minister to them as well as other boys in the home. If you read my blog regularly – www.familiesagain.blogspot.com – you know that I periodically will write blog posts about my ministry with these boys and will be writing another post in the next couple of days about our ministry at one of the homes this past Christmas. Be on the lookout because it is a story of how God laid a special burden on Sarah for one of the boys she has never met.

This brings me to one of the exciting announcements. God began speaking to me last summer about possibly taking the three brothers that are presently in foster care into our home. I didn’t really say much to Sarah about it because I thought that there was really no way we could do it. However, God had other plans. Unknown to me, God was also speaking to Sarah’s heart about the same thing. A couple of months ago Sarah came to me and said that she felt that God wanted us to take “the boys”. When I told her that God had been speaking to me as well, we knew that it was of the Lord.

However, there was no way that we could do this in our present small apartment. We knew that we were getting an inheritance from Sarah’s mom and I had a retirement fund from my teaching days that I could cash in, so we began looking for a house. After a few months of looking and many ups and downs and twists and turns, we finally, last week, signed a contract for a house and barring any slight mishap, we should close by the end of January. Pray for this new, much larger home. We are excited that there will be plenty of room for our present family and future foster children and we are excited about the ministry potential.

DCS knows that we would like to be foster parents to the three brothers as well and the process for that has begun. Trust me, it was not a decision that we have taken lightly. Even after it was revealed that God was speaking to both of our hearts, we prayed continuously for God’s guidance and still are praying. We have had numerous discussions with John Allen, Joshua and Jacob about it, and have sought counsel with other Christian friends and mentors. Through all of that, God has made it clearer than ever that this is what we should do. I wish I could tell you every sign that God has given us, but it would take much more space than I think I could give in this letter. Needless to say, our boy’s are excited and so are we. So, soon after we move into the house our family will prayerfully increase by two as David (16) and Skiler (15) will be added. Robert (14) will be able to come after he has completed his time in the boys home where he is currently living. Call us crazy for taking in three more teen boys, but we are certain that God is in this and are looking forward to how He is going to bless. The three brothers have a lot of baggage that they are dealing with so prayer will be greatly appreciated for them and for us. Pray also for us because their family is one of the families that we minister to quite regularly. Their grandmother is the one who hosts the weekly Bible study in her home. Their family is aware of what is going on and is supportive, but I know there are going to be some bumpy times. I can’t go into all of the details why they will be coming to us and not going home but please be in prayer.

                       David                  Skiler                   Robert

So, there you have all of our little secrets. We have finally spilled the beans and, personally, I am glad we have because I know that all of you will be praying and we value that very much. Please continue to pray for our finances. Sarah is working at the hospital to supplement our income and we will be getting some assistance as foster parents, but we are still under supported as missionaries and having three extra hungry teens to feed will definitely increase our food bill. Thankfully, the inheritance and cashed in retirement will allow us to put a large down payment on the house and to also pay off most, if not all of our bills, so we will be debt free other than the mortgage.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and financial support. They are much appreciated. We could not do all that we do without you.

The Tinkels

Tim Tinkel – 904 Lee Drive – Livingston, TN 38570

Mission Address – BCM International - 201 Granite Run Drive, Suite 260 - Lancaster, PA, 17601  USA

To donate to our ministry or to our support please send a check or money order to our Mission Address and say that it is for the Tinkels - missionary number 642

Merry Christmas!