Pastor Tim Remington leads by example when it comes to forgiveness

It would not be a stretch to think that if someone tried to kill you, you would not wish them well. Rather, you would want payback. You would want them to suffer. You would at least want them to spend their remaining years in a small, dark jail cell. 

To forgive someone for trying to take your life, and even try to help that person later, would seem unfathomable. 

Yet, that is what Pastor Tim Remington has done. 

Forgiveness is in his heart. As a follower of Christ, it’s part of who he is. It is what he believes. It is what he preaches. He wants Kyle Odom to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and be saved. That is Remington's primary concern with Kyle Odom. 

After all Remington went through, his beliefs are not easy to understand. For him, they are. Not so for most of us.

Consider, it was just over 10 years ago that Kyle Odom, using a .45-caliber handgun, shot Remington outside The Altar Church. The pastor was struck six times. Yet, miraculously, he survived. Yes, the recovery was long and painful. Remington still has aches from those wounds. He lives with pain every day from the bullets that pierced his body. 

He refused to let that pain turn into anger. 

When Odom was in prison, Remington visited him. They talked. They played chess. They shared stories of their lives.  

This week, Odom was released. He will be at a transitional home in Post Falls, wearing an ankle monitor to track his movements.  

Remington, when interviewed by The Press on Tuesday, expressed disappointment at not being given the opportunity to speak at Odom’s parole hearing, but that was his only reservation. During a 20-minute talk in his office at The Altar, Remington was relaxed and engaged, smiling and laughing. There was no sense of bitterness or hostility. No worries.

He did not fear having the man who shot him living about 10 miles away, which would be unnerving to most. He did not say he was going into hiding behind locked doors. He said he planned to continue with life as he knows it and his work as a pastor. 

Tim Remington wants Kyle Odom to get the help he needs. Remington hopes, one day, that he and Odom will even stand together and share their stories of what led up to the shooting March 6, 2016, what happened that day and what happened in the years that followed.  

Cynics would call that wishful thinking. We would not disagree. But Remington would. God, he argues, can use anyone, any situation, to put people on the righteous path to heaven. He believes Kyle Odom is one such person. 

"I want people to see what God's going to do with him," he said. 

That is the heart of forgiveness. No matter the hurt, whatever the wrong, do not condemn. Do not hold a grudge. Let it go. 

Few can live up to such standards. 

These days, many of us won’t even speak to someone who did something we found offensive years ago. We refuse to meet with those who don’t agree with us. We don't forget what someone once said. 

We can do better by forgiving. We can move on with a loving heart.

If you need proof of that, meet Pastor Tim Remington.