« Going out of contact | Main | DRC, Goma »

May 11, 2004

TTR "The start of it all"

April 2004 Kabul, Afghanistan
>
>“Lock’n load.” Sergeant Hoyt said those words like he had been saying them
>his whole life. No bravado, and not like a cool line from a movie, he
just
>said it like business. The men of Renegade squad stood silently in the
>night and responded to the sergeant with the, “click-clank” cocking of
>their M-4 rifles. Hoyt looked at William and I and told us what to do if
>we take fire on the two hour patrol. I went through the list again in my
>head as we walked to the main gates of camp Phoenix (Task Force Phoenix is
>based outside of Kabul and is one of many coalition bases operating in
>Afghanistan). Duck, find cover, and don’t move until the situation is
>under control. As we approached the gates I tried to adjust the 30-pound
>Kevlar vest from rubbing against my throat, but I gave up quickly,
>realizing that body armour isn’t meant to feel like a comfortable
cardigan,
>it’s meant to protect your vital organs from high velocity AK-47 rounds.
>As we neared the entrance the rusted gates of the old Soviet era complex
>the gates creaked open with a haunting sound. Sergeant Hoyt, his eight
>squad members, and us, two missionaries, William Decker and myself Timothy
>Scott peered into the dark Afghan night, and then set off into the inky
>blackness not knowing what might lay ahead.
>
>So how did we get into this situation? How did life take such a turn to
>bring us to a war zone? Well our story certainly doesn’t start in
>Afghanistan, but six years ago almost to the day.
>
>April 1998 Prague, Czech Republic
>
>The waters of the Vltava flowed smoothly under the Charles bridge, and the
>spring sun did little to warm the air. The cathedrals and brick, clock
>towers jutted upward from the cobble stone streets like massive
>stalagmites. Czech touts scrambled from tourist to tourist in annoyance
>trying to sell, “original oil paintings” of the cityscape. I was
relishing
>my last days in Prague before I was set to journey home to America and get
>on with my life, but something didn’t feel right. This trip, of ten days,
>with my parents, to the Czech Republic had been short, but that wasn’t it.

>We had a blessed time ministering and encouraging the churches in the
>countryside near the border of Poland, so why did I feel like something
was
>amiss? I walked to a small cafe’, ordered a potent espresso, watched the
>cable cars pass, and tried to figure out why my heart felt down. I had a
>lot to look forward to in the States. I had just finished my two year
>Business Administration degree, as well as completing my Bachelors in
>Theology, and I was only 19. I knew most people my age didn’t have a clue
>what they wanted to do with their life, but not me, I was on my way to
>becoming a stockbroker.
>I loved the market. Since I was sixteen I would wake up at 6:00 AM switch
>on CNBC and watch the Squak Box report while I skimmed through the Wall
>Street Journal. At 7:00 AM I would have to leave for school, but never
>forgetting to put in a buy or sell order. In-between Math, Science, and
>History class I would run to the pay phones and call to check in on my
>status for the day. I loved the anticipation, the risk, and the challenge
>of finding a diamond in the rough. At 3:00 PM I would hurry home to watch
>the market wrap up and scour the internet for more news. I was a small
>time day trader, but in my imagination I was convinced I was just a few
>trades away from becoming a name like Trump, Buffet, or Gordan Gecko from
>the movie Wall Street. After high school, when I entered college I found
>that was far advanced from my peers in economic knowledge. This, of
>course, went to my head, not in the scene that I would treat people badly,
>but that I was proud of myself for knowing what I wanted to do for the
rest
>of my life. Through out my days at Business College I also completed my
>Bachelors in Theology. My heart was always for the Lord, and being raised
>by parents who were in fulltime ministry also helped rein in any thoughts
>of me becoming the next billionaire to grace the cover of Forbes. So I
was
>grounded in the Word and reared in holiness, and I attributed my success
in
>business as a gift from God.
>When my collegiate career ended I took the next logical step and looked to
>find an internship at a brokerage house. Paine Webber offered a summer
>position in my home town in Colorado, and after that was finished I
decided
>to take my life to the next level. So, at the tender and foolhardy age of
>19, I was already making plans to take the world by storm, and I knew my
>next play was to move to the business center of the world—New York City.
>But before I would take a bit out of the Big Apple, my folks asked me if I
>would come on a mission trip with them to the Czech Republic. I said yes,
>not knowing my life would ever be the same.
>As the dusk turned to twilight, a purple huge set upon Prague. The lights
>of the cafes’ flickered to life, and like moths to a flame the tourist
felt
>an irresistible pull to eat dinner and socialize about the beauty of the
>city. And why not? It was a fantastic city, one of the few European
>capitols that survived the devastations of World War 2. But for me I
>couldn’t enjoy where I was because something wasn’t sitting right in my
>Spirit. I walked to the Charles bridge once more and looked at the
waters,
>and then asked God an important question. “Lord, what is your plan for my
>life?” Now, when I asked this, I asked with preconceived ideas of what
the
>answer should be from God. I was fully expecting Him to say into my
Spirit
>that everything I was doing in life was perfectly on track. And why not,
>to the natural everything looked like it couldn’t get any better? But I
>knew if I wanted truth, and to hear His voice, I would need to come unto
>Him not with selfish motives, but in complete surrender.
>So I asked God again, “Lord what is your plan for my life? Not my will,
>but let your will be done in me.” As I said that the Lord began to show
>me, in my Spirit, two paths I could take in life. The first, I saw myself
>moving to New York, getting a job, making money, finding a wife, having a
>family and then one day... I would die. This pierced my heart. “Lord!” I
>said to myself, “Is this all I have been created for?”
>The Lord then spoke to my inward man, “No.”
>So I said, “What would you have of me to be?”
>And He spoke saying, “Go and preach the gospel in all the world.” And
like
>a thunderbolt to my body I knew this was the path I was created for. My
>heart pounded hard, and a chill came from the river. What was I going to
>do now? I had been preparing my whole life to become a stockbroker and
now
>this happens. And at that moment I knew this is where true men of God are
>made. I could still go back to the life I had been planning, but now it
>was time to see if I would be a man who hides from the calling, or if I
was
>a man who lived completely by faith like the men of old. Abraham, David,
>Noah, Paul, the Prophets, the Apostles and all the other heroes of Faith
>heard the call, dropped everything, and followed Him. That is true life!
>And what would I be loosing? I would be loosing a life in the world that
>is dictated by attaining things to bring myself joy. What would I hope to
>gain in becoming a stockbroker? Money, a good home, new cars, big screen
>TV’s? What would I have in the end? What would I say when I was old and
>grey.
>Psalm 39:5-7 “Behold Thou hast made my days as handbreadths, and my
>lifetime as nothing in Thy sight, surely every man as his best is a mere
>breath. Surely every man walks about as a phantom; surely they make an
>uproar for nothing; he amasses riches, and does not know who will gather
>them. And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in Thee.”
>What would I live for? Should I amass riches for that will not last?
>Should I live the path the world has ordained for me? Or would I say,
>“Lord, my hope is in Thee.”
>I knew then, as Prague stood before me, life was about to change in big
>way. I choked through the lump in my throat and said, “Lord, my hope is
in
>Thee, and as you have called, so I will follow.”
>
>William Decker, 23, who was just about to turn 24 was a close friend. I
>had known William since ’92 when he attended Photography school with my
>brother in Colorado. The two of them hit it off right away. For two
years
>William and Michael were a tandem of hard working photo students and even
>harder skiers. Sometimes I couldn’t tell if they were studying to become
>artist or ski bums. Even after school was finished the two of them stayed
>close and when Will moved to Los Angeles it was only a matter of time
until
>my brother moved to the sunshine State. William worked hard in LA. He
>worked on auto shoots as an assistant and made good money doing it.
>Michael also moved west, knowing to make real money as a photographer one
>was required to work in either New York or Los Angeles.
>In 1998 when I returned from the Czech Republic William was grinding it
out
>in LA. We were good friends at this point, but I could have never guessed
>what the Lord had in store next.
>I knew when I returned from the Czech that I was going to sell everything
I
>owned and leave my world behind. It’s strange, because you would think it
>would be a burdened decision, maybe some point of regret, but for me I
>couldn’t wait. I didn’t know where I was going, or what would happen in
>the months or years to come, I just knew I had to do it. And it was
>exciting! It was an adventure for the Lord and finally something worth
>living for. I remember looking at the map of the world and tracing my
>finger across countries like Laos, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Ethiopia and
>tons of others I had to sound out like a school child. I was so eager to
>be a witness for the Lord; and to be honest, I didn’t care if I lived or
>died doing it, because I knew God was for me, and therefore, who could be
>against me. But in all of this I knew it would be much more difficult
>alone. So I prayed for the Lord to send me someone who would push just as
>hard as me to take this epic adventure for the Gospel. Then the Lord said
>in my heart, “William.” At this point I was beyond disagreeing with God
>about life decisions, and William was the perfect person to travel around
>the world with, except one problem, he wasn’t a believer in the Lord. My
>concern wasn’t if God had made a mistake, but how would I tell others I
>would be going on a mission trip with someone who didn’t believe in the
>message we were going to speak. First things first, William would have to
>say yes.
>“Will how’s it going?” the phone had a slight crackle.
>“Pretty good, just working hard.” Will responded wearily
>The conversation had the normal salutations and the quick witted jokes we
>would always say to each other, then I worked up the courage and spilled
>out everything that had happened in Prague. It came out of me like clowns
>coming out of a circus car, disoriented and colorful.
>“So what do you think?” I asked hoping I made some sense of things.
>“Sounds amazing! I wish I would have done something like that when I was
>19.”
>I offered back, “Will it’s not like you’re an old man you’re still young,
I
>mean you’ve just turned 24...And the reason I am telling you this, is that
>I want you to go.”
>Within in two months William had moved out of his apartment, sold or gave
>away all of his possessions, and took out a major loan to help pay off
>school debts and fund his one-year journey to the most remote parts of the
>earth. William planned and studied the regions of the planet like
Columbus
>studied his nautical routes to the new world. We would stay awake until
>3:00 AM planning routes through the Himalayas, Middle East, and Southeast
>Asia. William had a fire and a passion that burnt strong. You could see
>it on his face. Life was about to change for us, each in different and
the
>same ways.
>Our friends dropped William and I at LAX at 10:45 PM on September 15th,
>1998. We walked down the concourse and boarded the Chinese Airways flight
>bound for Manila.
>“How do you feel?” I asked William, hoping I wasn’t the only one that
felt
>like this was a dream.
>“Doesn’t seem real...does it? It feels like we should be going out to a
>movie, or racing go-carts, seeing that it is the weekend.”
>“You know, life is never going to be the same after this trip.” I said it
>as much to myself as to William and I knew it was true.
>
>Three months into our first missionary journey William Decker receives
>Christ in a small village in southern China. After five months the two of
>us have learned how to eat any kind of food and survive under any
>circumstance. After nine months we have traveled through Papua New
Guinea,
>Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, China, Nepal, India, Pakistan,
>Egypt and Ethiopia witnessing the power of the gospel heal the sick, bring
>release to the captives, and establish salvation. Returning to the States
>in ’99 had the same effect on both William and I—we only wanted to leave.
>Not because we didn’t like America, but because we had found that life
>consisted about more than cable TV, Play Stations, Guess Jeans, BMW’s,
>movies on the weekend, nest eggs, credit cards, fame or money, but it
>consisted of life to the fullest, not for self, but unto the creator of
all
>things.
>
>As I squatted in a pit with the other members of Renegade squad I search
>the horizon for Taliban fighters. I hear Sergeant Hoyt whispering, “Men
>lets move to position two, stay spread out and don’t give them a lumped
>target.” We rally at position two and then, “Ba-Boom” a close shotgun
>blast sends us all running for cover. No one is hit and the shot seems to
>be more of a warning, or foolish fire, than anything else. We again find
a
>hiding pit and wait patently for terrorist’s to reveal themselves. I look
>at William through my night vision goggles and he looks back at me. “Just
>another day.” He offers looking to break the tense mood.
>“Just another day.” I say echoing his thought.
>Over the month and a half in Afghanistan William I traveled from Kabul to
>Kandahar, and to the Pakistani frontier regions, living with the US troops
>and sharing the word of God at Chapel services. Off base we walked to
>nomadic encampments delivering Bibles and preaching the good news to the
>people of Afghanistan who have been shut out from the message of the
gospel
>for so long.
>From Afghanistan to Cambodia to South Africa we have traveled the world
for
>6 years preaching the message of Christ. We have survived stalking lions,
>Taliban fighters, altitude illness, murders, thief’s, Islamic extremists’,
>Burundian rebels, Durian fruit (If you taste it you’ll know what I mean),
>months in jungles, treks through deserts, and persecution from men who are
>opposed to the message of the Lord. We have traveled through 48
countries,
>produced a television series (Travel the Road), seen the sick healed, the
>deaf hear, the cripple walk, people receive back the dead, and most of all
>we have seen thousands accept Christ Jesus. Like I said before, “Life
will
>never be the same for us” and I don’t think we could imagine it any other
>way.
>
>Timothy Scott

Posted by Admin at May 11, 2004 11:06 AM