Family Man

Tim Miller had it all: an adventurous, high-profile career doing what he hadalways dreamed of doing. But there was a price.

by Chuck Holton

Tim Miller stood in the foyer of the White House and looked around. He hadreached the pinnacle of his career. As a Secret Service agent since 1991, Timhad recently been temporarily assigned to presidential detail — his childhooddream.

It was October 1994. He had just left the stairs leading to the President’sprivate quarters when he heard a rapid popping sound outside. Then glass beganshattering. Immediately, Tim’s earphone crackled to life with reports from theuniformed officers outside that someone was attacking the White House. Timsprinted around the sidewalk outside the fence. The shooting seemed to havestopped, but there was pandemonium on the street in front of the White House.Secret Service officers had a man handcuffed on the ground.

Francisco Martin Duran had remarked to friends that he was going to kill thePresident. No one took him seriously until he drove to Washington and, surrounded by tourists,opened fire on the President’s residence. As he stopped to change magazines,two civilians wrestled him to the ground and held him until uniformed agentsarrived to arrest him. Tim took the man into custody and performed the initialinterview.

Driving home that evening, Tim replayed the events in his mind. He feltgood, and this was right where he wanted to be — taking part in life-and-deathmatters of national importance, the culmination of his years as a Marine and asa policeman.

Costly success

Yet he could never dispel the nagging thought that maybe his job wasn’tworth it. His wife would be upset that he was late and that he had missedanother family dinner.

Tim loved his wife and children dearly, but it seemed that they always gotthe short end of the deal. Being a Secret Service agent was a lifestyle, sowhen his career conflicted with his personal life, the job had to takeprecedence. His family was paying a high price for his success. He worked threeout of every four weekends, missed his wedding anniversary while riding camelsaround the Egyptian pyramids protecting Tipper Gore and missed his daughter’sbirthday while protecting the President in Hawaii. But his family knew that he lovedthem, didn’t they?

Although the Secret Service has the highest divorce rate of any lawenforcement agency, Tim was convinced it would never happen to him and hiswife, LaDonna. But a knot formed in his stomach as he remembered her saying aweek or two earlier, “Tim, I feel like a single parent.”

This comment confused and frustrated him. He should have been enjoying life;he was right where he had always dreamed of being. Instead, the knowledge thathe was there at the expense of his wife and kids left a bitter taste in hismouth. And they weren’t the ones to blame.

Time for change

In the months following the shooting, Tim traveled more than ever. His jobcontinued to call him to important tasks and exciting destinations. He stayedin the palace of Saudi Prince Abdullah and protectedIsraeli Prime Minister Rabin just three weeks before Rabin’s assassination.

Then one day, on his way to the White House, Tim heard Dr. Dobson on theradio saying, “Men, if your career is causing you to miss out on your family,you need to pray and ask God to provide you a job where you can be a truehusband to your wife and a good father to your children.”

Those words represented the final blow to his dilemma. Tim found himself intears, and he immediately made the decision to find a new job. It wasn’t aneasy choice. He didn’t know what God planned, but his family would no longersit in second place.

Tim left the Secret Service and became a U.S. Customs agent. His position asa Senior Special Agent in the U.S. Customs Office of Anti-Terrorism gave himthe immense responsibility of implementing a nationwide plan to safeguard ourcountry’s borders from terrorist infiltration and attack.

He thought that he was making a sacrifice for his family at the time, but itbecame clear that the choice to put his family ahead of his career was likegiving up a fistful of mud for a chest of diamonds. Tim experienced greaterblessing than he had ever imagined.

Once Tim was prepared to give up his career, God not only blessed his familybut also gave him a job he loved. He now makes a better living and enjoysweekends with his family. Currently, as a Senior Department of HomelandSecurity Liaison to the FBI, Tim has enormous responsibility helping tosafeguard our country.

He wouldn’t give anything for the relationships he has built with his familyover the last seven years. “My son, Aaron, got married last year,” Tim says.“And one of the best moments of my life was the day that he asked if I’d be hisbest man.”

A father of five, Chuck Holton is a former Army Ranger and lives in Maryland with his family.