Childhood holds many happy memories for Tony Tinker, but, in his teenage years, a debilitating illness struck his mother. In its wake, neither his mother nor his father were able to provide the stable home environment he needed. Tony developed emotional problems, and became rebellious and bitter. After his first year of college, he joined the Marine Corps, and saw action in Viet Nam.
Tony: “When I got to Viet Nam and I saw some of the reality of what I saw there, I became very rebellious toward the government, the situation that I was in, the things that were going on around me. I turned to drugs because they were readily available, they had been available before…the whole time I was in the Marine Corps I used those, used my anger and my rebellion, I became a very, very hard, self-centered person.”
“As I stood there saying, 'Come on body, come on legs, let's go, let's get to safety,' which is a normal response, and it didn't take that response, I began to wonder what was going on and I looked to the other side, and people had actually gotten into the bunker much faster than I thought. And I went over, got into the line and I was the last one going through the door. As I stepped through the door the earth shook. The rocket that landing near us landed very close to us. Someone came around the corner with the remaining shell of that 188 and as he walked up there was a group of us standing there, he walked up and they said, 'Where did you get that?'
Tony Tinker
“We're not going to get through that bunker, into that bunker in time for all us to be in there safe.”
But God was reaching out to Tony. He recalls what happened one afternoon during an enemy rocket attack.
Tony: “We heard some incoming rockets — and after you had been in country awhile, you begin to be aware of how those were walked down the compound. They would start at one end of the flight line and come down aiming at different things. And you could almost time when the one that would be near you was going to land. We all knew we had about a minute, minute and a half before it would be there.
“We very orderly began to move toward the door. There was one door into this bunker. There was about 40 of us in the room. I looked at it and you just time it out and you say, 'We're not going to get through that bunker, into that bunker in time for all us to be in there safe.' I turned and looked through this open area which I was standing right next to, and across this street was a small two man bunker.
“And I looked and I said, 'You know what I ought to do is just jump out here and just run over there and get in that bunker, that's the logical thing to do, it's faster and I'll be safer.' I remember clearly to this day saying to myself that's what I want to go do. I tried physically to do that and was restrained from doing that, I don't know how and why I was restrained from making that move, but I was. This whole thing transpired in about 15 or 20 seconds.
“And he said, 'It landed right across the street there,' and the next words he said were, he looked at it and said, 'It's a good thing nobody was in that bunker. If they had been in that bunker, they would have been killed.' I stood there just like I had been struck by lightening. I was aware, very aware, that something had happened in my life. I was unable to — at that time — to understand what was going on.”
In spite of God's overwhelming intervention that day, Tony eventually fell back into his old lifestyle. After several more years of military service, he moved to Dallas, Texas, to sort out his life. Tony's brother Joe and his wife Bobbie had recently been attending prayer meetings and experiencing a dynamic renewal in heir Catholic faith. Tony observed the change in their lives. In time, he himself attended a prayer meeting.
Tony Tinker
“We hadn't gotten ten minutes into the prayer meeting before I just began to be overpowered, overwhelmed by the presence of God.”
Tony: “The prayer meeting started with some singing. We hadn't gotten ten minutes into the prayer meeting before I just began to be overpowered, overwhelmed by the presence of God. Amazingly enough, that's probably the second powerful time God tried to get my attention, tried to transform my life. The difference was this time I was among a group of people who wanted to help me change. I was with a body of people who also were seeking God.”
With the help of a supportive Christian community, Tony began to deal with many of the issues that had paralyzed him in relationships. He met Kathleen Darby and two years later they were married. Today Tony and Kathleen have a beautiful family and remain active participants in their prayer community, with its various ministries and outreaches. The love of God has reconstructed Tony's broken life. Now Tony seeks to share that love with others.
