Pastor Toby

As I have mentioned in recent posts,

Troy and I made the long overdue decision

 to get our little family back in church

several weeks ago.  I have come to realize

it was by no coincidence the timing

of when we returned.  It was only a

couple of Sundays after, on October

14th that our Pastor announced that

he wasn't feeling well and had almost

called one of the associate pastors

to preach that morning.  He didn't

though...and so sadly, that morning

is now to be the last sermon he

will have preached to our church.

The very next day he went to the

doctor and started having tests run.

This last week, it was revealed

that our beloved Pastor has

a very aggressive brain cancer

already in stage 4.  He was

given the option of treatment that

will not give him much more time

and could actually make his quality

of life even worse.  It seems

that it didn't take much thought for

Pastor Toby to know he didn't want

to fight it...this is a man ready to meet

the Lord face to face.  Our dear

Pastor has been given three to six

months more to live.  He says he has

enjoyed a life full of blessings...

his marriage, his sons, his grandchildren,

his church family, his journeys all

over the world ~ all the while

SERVING the Lord with all of his heart

and soul and might.  Pastor Toby is a 

TRUE man of God.  When I think

of someone who has walked the walk,

and talked the talk, and lived the life....

I think of THIS man. 

When Troy and I were first married,

we attended a church in Robinson where

he knew everyone.  We attended there

because we both connected with

and loved the pastor and his

preachings.  That pastor then moved

on and to be honest, Troy and I

stopped going to church for quite

a while.  I thought FBC Woodway

would be a tough sell for Troy

because it is my church...where I

know everyone, where I grew up

in the youth, where I have so many

incredible memories.  THANKFULLY,

though, it wasn't a tough sell at all. 

Troy and I both love Pastor Toby and

his preachings and his passion for

the Lord.  We both saw in this man

all things Godly...a man who with every

word, breath and emotion is for God. 

It's like every word he speaks

he backs it up with scripture. 

Even today as we watched a video

he made for our church in which

you can see how the cancer has

already begun its unbelievable

effects on him, he spoke THE WORD.

I am so thankful that we joined

FBC Woodway as a family of five

(the long wait from my youth

days was worth it...I could never

join back then because my family

and I were members together

at a different church).

I am so thankful we attended a

new member's class under the leadership

of Chris Sammons who has

preached two AMAZING sermons

in the days since we have learned of

Pastor Toby's illness.  AND I'm so

thankful that we dedicated our little

family to the Lord and to the church

on stage with Pastor Toby...

 I'm beyond grateful for the prayer he

said for our family that June day in 2010. 

I hadn't a clue the turn my family's life

would take weeks later and how much

my church family AND Pastor Toby

would come to mean to me. 

Pastor Toby has been at FBC Woodway

for 35 years.  He is a staple in our community.

He is a man loved by many...

and he is a man who loves the Lord.

I was overcome with emotion today

as we watched his video.  I am so

thankful that he gave us this last glimpse

of him...so we could see his face

and hear his words one last time.

He spoke of how blessed his life

has been, how he woke each day

with JOY and worked hard at

serving the Lord until his head hit

the pillow at night.  I know this

to be TRUE!!!  He spoke of the verse

in Psalms about our days being

numbered...he spoke of the

excitement he feels knowing that
being absent from the body means
being present with the Lord! 
He asked us to be a "lighthouse"...
not just in our church and in our
community but in our world. 
What a charge!!! 

This whole ordeal has left me
praying more, thanking God more
and realizing I need to do more.
Yes, I feel certain that if I were told
I had six months to live that I'd
be going to Heaven.  BUT have I
truly been a good and faithful servant
for the Lord?  No, I haven't! 
I would feel like I need and must
do so much more......well, I'm
realizing I could have less than
six months to live, it could be tomorrow.
In fact, Jesus could come for us all
in the next hour!  I am searching in my
soul for my role in this lighthouse.
I often feel like trying to raise my children
right, honoring my husband, praying,
helping Travis, teaching and loving students
at school, just trying to be a good
person in general is enough.
But it's NOT. 
Seeing Pastor Toby's life
come to an end and witnessing
the BLESSED ASSURANCE he
possesses has taught me this today. 

I do keep wanting to cry and be sad...
and I am for the Toby family and for
our church family...but yet, after
hearing Pastor Toby speak today,
he certainly doesn't want ANY of us
to be sad.  In fact, he wants us to
be praying that his homecoming
is soon, very soon. 

God is good.  All the time. 
I thank Pastor Toby for fully teaching me
that in the last days of his life. 

I posted this message to Pastor Toby

on the Facebook page his sons have

created to keep everyone updated. 

I'm thinking writing must be my love language;)

It's just so therapeutic for me. 

Regardless these feelings are from my heart...

 

Pastor Toby,

My heart is so heavy and so in prayer for you and your family. You are a TRUE man of God. I grew up in the youth group of the church. I can remember as a silly little girl running around the church on Estates, seeing you and your smiling face and even then KNOWING what a man of God you were. Then many years later as a married woman with a family, I was finally able to officially join FBC Woodway. You so kindly took my husband and me to lunch before we joined. We left lunch that day in even more admiration of you than before. I can't count the number of times, Troy and I have discussed your passion for the Lord. It's like every word and every bit of your heart and soul speaks for and through and with a Godly passion. Whether it be in your sermons or just in sitting down to visit with a young family joining your church, your love and your passion is so overwhelmingly evident.

It wasn't but a couple of months after we joined that my nephew was in a horrible accident leaving him fighting for his life in ICU. I was shocked when you walked into the ICU and greeted me with such compassion and understanding in the darkest moments of my life. Then you prayed over my nephew. He was deep in a coma, but he stirred during your prayer. I knew God was with us in that room as you prayed. I felt His presence through you. I will never, for as long as I live, forget that moment. You continued to keep him in your prayers and I was so grateful for that. Your sweet secretary, Karen, would call and check on him and tell me that you were praying for him. In our huge and massive church, I felt loved and cared for as an individual by the Pastor...by you, Pastor Toby. I thank you with all of my heart.

I am praying fervently for you and your family (especially for Josh, my friend for so long). Pastor Toby, you are truly what it means to be a good and faithful servant for the Lord.  What blessed assurance!!! 

 

Mindy

"Teach us to number our days,

that we may present to you

a heart of wisdom."

Psalm 90:12

 

Thank you for praying for 

Pastor Toby and his family.