When Gov. Brad Little spoke to Cindy Remington on the phone Tuesday, he told her, “You’re going to be waking up beside a legislator.”

Her response was, “You’re going to be waking up beside a pastor.”

As he recounted that exchange between his wife and Idaho’s top elected leader, Pastor Tim Remington laughed.

“I didn’t want to be a politician,” he said as he drove to Boise on Wednesday.

But now that he is and will be sworn in today, Remington is adamant his legislative decisions will be guided by the same principles as always, and not politics.

“I’m going down there to be pastor Tim. That’s all I can be,” he said.

Remington was selected to fill the Idaho House of Representatives seat for Legislative District 2B. He replaces John Green, who was in his first term representing Rathdrum but was expelled from the Legislature in mid-January by a 65-0 vote after being convicted in a federal courthouse in Texas on a charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Green was found guilty of helping a Texas couple evade $1.1 million in taxes. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Remington, who has never served as an elected official, had been asked if he would consider being an alternate for Green. He said yes, but didn’t believe it could happen.

“You try to keep up with everything going on, but you never think they’re going to get indicted,” he said.

Politics hadn’t been on his radar — until now.

“That’s why I think it’s God’s plan,” he said. “I didn’t want it.”

Want it or not, now that he’s appointed, he’ll give it 100 percent.

“I’ll do whatever I can for this state,” he said.

Remington, pastor of The Altar in Coeur d’Alene, survived after being shot several times outside the church in 2016. Kyle Odom was sentenced in November 2017 to a 10-year fixed prison sentence with an additional 15 years indeterminate for shooting Remington.

Despite lacking a political background, Remington said he’s long been involved in local issues doing “whatever I can.”

“I think we’re all involved in politics,” he said. “If you don’t vote, you’re still involved.”

At the Legislature, he doesn’t plan to just sit and listen, as Senate Bill 1099 already has his attention.

According to the bill’s statement of purpose, Idaho has a serious gap in substance abuse treatment for teens 13 to 17, and there are only two residential programs in the state to help “this overlooked population conquer the rising drug and alcohol addiction in our state.”

This bill offers an exemption from licensing to programs offering temporary alcohol-drug abuse treatment for teens, creating options that are needed, Remington said.

“Normally the government controls all the juvenile programs,” said Remington, who is also director of Good Samaritan Rehabilitation and has experience helping people overcome addictions. “If I’m going to do this, then I don’t want the government involved. I think it belongs to our community.”

Remington also hopes to be a voice of reason for both parties at the Legislature.

“I’m going to do my best to love on the guys and stop the fractures that are happening,” he said.

He hopes his background as a minister reduces political in-fighting and encourages legislators to focus on what’s important, which is serving the taxpayers.

“Go on your own integrity and leave on your own integrity,” he said.

Remington said he still deals with pain from being shot. His wife acts as his nurse at home, helping with exercises and physical therapy, but he’ll be going to the state capital without her.

“I’m a little worried about how I’m going to sleep,” he said.

His right arm, severely injured in the shooting, “always wants to fold in,” he said.

“My job is to keep it flexible until the nerves come back,” Remington said.

He added, though, that he still plays the piano.

“It’s all a miracle,” he said.

As for the leap from preacher to politician, he said it was commonplace “in the old days.”

“Nowadays, you have to be a politician to get your start,” he said.

Remington will hold the post until the term of office expires following the next general election. As for whether he might seek public office down the road, he couldn’t say for sure which path he’ll be on.

“I’ll fulfill whatever my mission in life is,” he said.