God's Wonders Awe Knicely

As the autumn weather approaches and the mountains that surround Blacksburg, Virginia are becoming even more radiant, Tim Knicely becomes excited for the shorter days, cooler weather, and wearing his much loved North Face jacket.

Autumn is Knicely’s favorite season since he wants to eventually live in the mountains and look for shooting stars at night—enjoying all of God’s wonders. Along with the wonderful weather, Knicely can take a stroll down “memory lane” remembering the times when he played the alto sax in the band at Hidden Valley High School during football games.

Tim Knicely is enjoying the gorgeous nature that God created in his favorite North Face jacket.

Timothy Joseph Knicely, born December 10, 1988, lived in Harrisonburg for the first three years of his life and then moved to where he currently resides, Roanoke, Virginia. “Roanoke is a big area but it did not seem to influence me much when I was growing up,” Knicely states. Although the size of Roanoke did not influence him, Tim knew that he wanted to attend a big college as opposed to a smaller one because “it would be easier to make friends.” Knicely adds, “There had to be a football team.”

Knicely has a connection with football because he played in eighth grade, but he quit since he was not willing to put forth the effort and time that was required in order to be successful, according to Tim. He switched to track and field and soon discovered that there were aspects about football that he missed. “I missed a team sport. Track and field was an individual sport and I didn’t get the team bonding.” Maybe Tim misses it partly because the season it is in—fall.

Although team bonding is important to Tim, he said he also misses “just being able to hit someone in practice.” But Knicely soon found that track was his best sport. Todd Lewis, Knicely’s track coach and teacher, explains that Knicely soon evolved into a great runner. “Tim was a person of high morals and character…He always worked hard, and as a result, he was very successful.” This was true for both on the track and in the classroom.

Knicely’s persistence with track practice lead to one of his greatest accomplishments. Tim was participating in the long jump at a competition between the AA schools. He placed seventh in all AA schools and he was “the first white guy to place in the long jump.” This was a great accomplishment for him. Coach Lewis states that Knicely succeeded in track because of “his work ethic, willingness to listen, and his good jumping ability,” all of which is important when participating in track.

Not only was Tim “willing to listen,” he was also a leader. He influenced fellow classmates and team members, even as a junior, by listening to the coach. Knicely’s mother, Karen Kennedy, agrees with Lewis that Tim was very influential, but also believes that he has been influenced by his friends. “He has been influenced in both good and bad ways. I think he has used both situations as a tool to learn and grow from the situations,” Karen explains.

Although Knicely was successful in track, the most influential part of his life was church. Tim remembers going to three different churches over the past fifteen years. For the past five years, he has been attending Calvary Chapel of Roanoke, a nondenominational church. “I play in the band at church for the little kids, but our band only consists of guitars,” Knicely states. Having a church to attend regularly has helped him avoid peer pressure along with helping him “grow in his faith in God.”

Karen Kennedy believes that Tim’s belief in God has grown over the past five years. She cannot say that it has definitely grown because his “relationship with Jesus is personal and only God knows Tim’s heart.” But she can see the “fruits” of his faith. The main “fruits” that Knicely has been producing is the desire to connect with his fellow believers, read more of God’s word, and to serve Jesus.

One way Tim plans on studying the Lord’s word in more depth is going on a trip to Israel in the spring of 2008. This trip is “to have studies exactly where the stories of the Bible were taking place and to see first-hand what is still present today and to understand the situations of when the Bible was written.” This trip will be very beneficial for Tim to further expand his knowledge of the Bible and God’s wonders—not only the wonders of the mountains here, but the land in Israel.

Although Knicely plans on further expanding his trust, he admits that in the past, “the hardest thing has been attending a public school and still trying to live a Christian life.” Karen realized this as well. “I think he struggled with many of our decisions but could see we were trying to steer him in the best direction,” Karen states. Knicely’s parents tried not being “overly” strict, but at the same time, strict enough to where he knew his boundaries.

Although his parents were not too stern, there were many things that his fellow Christian friends were allowed to do that he could not because of his parent’s rules. Karen said that she is not exactly sure “how he handled a lot of this because he did not talk much about it…a typical teenaged guy.”

The great involvement in church was always apparent to Knicely’s friends and they knew that God was a big part of his life. One of his good friends, and his current roommate, William Hopkins, states that “church has influenced Tim the most in life.” Although Knicely and Hopkins have stopped going to the same church, it has not become a barrier in their friendship.

With church being the center of his life, Karen states that he has always had the “desire to ‘keep peace’ and will use his ‘people skills’ and sense of humor to reduce or remove tension.” William Hopkins agrees that his greatest characteristic is his sense of humor. But one of Tim’s characteristics that Karen admires most is his ability to be “laid back” at all times.

Tim is putting his “people skills” and his “laid-back” characteristics in use by meeting a new friend.

As God’s wonders are even more visible to Knicely as the years have progressed, he is still amazed by the wonders of the land that God has created. He wants to not only travel to Israel, but also to New Zealand and Switzerland to admire God’s creations in other countries. No matter where he goes, if he only has the ability to take one object with him, Tim says he would take his Bible.