C. Tim Swan

I was born in 1956 two months prematurely. I grew up on a farm in central Michigan, having fun and enjoying life. I became a "rebellious teenager" and that continued into young adulthood - but God got my attention. When I was twenty-three years old the nephrologist told me that my kidneys had failed and that I would need to go on dialysis soon. It rocked me to my spiritual core. “Why, Lord? Why Me? Why now? I have plans.”

Before my kidneys failed, I was pursuing what I thought would be an illustrious career as a police officer. I was living my life and having a pretty good time doing it. But God had other plans. I was His child through faith in Jesus, but I wasn’t living the kind of life that He wanted me to live, and He got my attention.

After getting a Kidney transplant (that worked for twelve years), I began to understand that God had a plan for my life; that He wanted to use me for a different purpose. He began to show me where He wanted me to go and what He wanted me to do. I went to Bible School at the beloved Grand Rapids School of the Bible and Music in Grand Rapids, Michigan and to Dallas Theological Seminary. I served in pastoral ministry for fourteen years until my health took a downward turn. It has been a process, and God is not finished with me yet. I can say, however, that I’m gaining a better understanding of the heart of God.

I can identify with the story of Jonah. I would say that in some ways Jonah is a metaphor of the story of my life. I was a child of God from an early age through trust in Jesus’ death on the cross as the payment of my sin penalty, but I spent many years of my life on my own path, running away from God, resisting His plan and purpose for my life. I finally found myself thrown overboard, as it were, and sinking into the depths. God’s chastening got my attention. I repented and returned to Him and have been seeking to follow Him (although imperfectly) since that day. God gave me a second chance, just as He did for Jonah.