Tim Harlow

Wind Shift

I’m writing this while I sit at what could be my last soccer games ever. The LWE season is over and it will conflict with music stuff next year, so it might be over. That is a crazy thought to think. Lauren had her last choir concerts this week as a High School student. I couldn’t add up the soccer games and concerts and shows and musicals that I’ve been through as a parent. And they will go on, but it definitely feels like a shift again. Kind of like when the wind changed directions in Mary Poppins (I had all daughters). It’s sad and exciting all in one.

Then I got word this week that my best man in my wedding died of a heart attack in Kansas. He was my age. We’d kept up with Christmas cards and a phone call every year or so, but you know how it is when you move away and aren’t together. I think I only saw him a few times after the wedding. Pray for Tom Underwood’s family, would you?

Wind shift.

Tom’s in heaven. Lauren’s going to a great college. Becca’s still around and I’ll have plenty of things to sit and watch. But it’s unbelievable how quickly the wind shifts. To top it off, Rachel turns 21 – in England – this week. What the heck? How did I get here?

I guess all my musing is just a good way to help you Mother’s out there to take the time to enjoy your day tomorrow. Before you know it there will be a wind shift.

There is only one thing that remains unchanged. God never changes. He never shifts. Put your trust in Him. If you are mourning a wind shift – trust that God is in control. If you are grieving a loss – trust that God is in control. If you are concerned for your future – God is in control. If you are a mom and you are concerned for your children – God is in control. If you want to be a mom and it’s not happening – God is in control. Whatever happens with the wind – listen to Psalm 146.

³ Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. ⁴ When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. ⁵ Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God, ⁶ the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them — the LORD, who remains faithful forever. Psalm 146:3-6

Tim

Do We Care Enough?

This most recent catastrophe in Myanmar (which used to be Burma) shows me a couple of things.

1. That I don’t care enough about people in other places. I mean 22,000 dead and that’s probably just the beginning of the count. And it didn’t really hardly bother me. When something happens in “my” country, it hits home. I might know someone affected, I may have been to that place. But do you realize how absolutely wiped out this country is? Can you imagine if a tornado wiped out 20-30,000 people in Illinois? And it’s worse there because they don’t have the resources to deal with it. We need to pray for them. These are every bit as much God’s children as we are. I just don’t feel it enough.

2. We never know when the end is coming. We should be ready. And I don’t mean stockpiling water and peanut butter. I mean ready to head over to the other side.

3. It’s not God’s fault. God could have stopped it, but he didn’t. I don’t know why. I don’t know why he isn’t stopping the cyclone in your life either. I don’t know why – about anything. That’s what I know. But I have to keep coming back to the fact that God did not cause sin to be in our world. He allowed it as a choice and we took it. Adam and Eve brought it. You don’t read any accounts of bad weather in the Garden of Eden do you? “Adam was walking with God and all of the sudden a hail storm came up and God went – “whoa, where did that come from?” NO. Didn’t happen. As a matter of fact, Jesus slept through a storm one time. He was so not bothered by it that he just slept, and when they woke him up he went “boo” and the storm stopped. Why didn’t God go “boo” to the cyclone? I do not know. I can’t help but think that when God let’s something like this happen – it should at least serve as a wakeup call to all of us that this world is not the paradise we think it is. And we should all be anxious for the day when we get to head on home.

I do want to ask you to pray for these people affected.

I’m also including two links to two different relief organizations that I respect and have worked with. Let’s do our part to reach out in prayer and in aide. And let’s remember that one way or another, we are all leaving here soon.

International Disaster Emergency Service

Samaritan's Purse

Tim

It's Not in the Strength of the Horse...

Psalm 147 says: ¹⁰ (God’s) pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man; ¹¹ the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.

Funny, but no one really delights in my legs. Not even God. That takes a lot of pressure off when I go to the gym :-) The point is that God isn’t all that concerned with our abilities or our strength. Even though he gave them to us. His delight is when we understand that it’s all about him. So with permission, I’ll relay a little dialogue my daughter Rachel had with God – that she happened to write down for me. She is in England and it’s not always easy. (She’ll be home May 27th :-) )

Rachel said, here was the conversation God and I had this morning:

God: Rach, where's your faith?

me: (long pause) I don't have very much.

God: Why?

me: (long pause) Because I don't stop and think about who you really are.

God: Ok then. Excuse time over. How about you remember now who the heck I am and get back to me.

(created earth out of nothing. breathed into adam. breathed into me. saved a nation over and over. repeatedly cheated death via Jesus Christ. grew a church in chicago from nothing. loved me when i was impossible. brought me to england. just...initiated existence and initiated love, which are basically the same thing.)

me: God, please help me have big faith.

God: Are you really asking?

me: Yes.

God: Big faith only happens when big fat situations shove into your little cotton tshirt faith and stretch it out, you know.

me: It hurts.

God: And...? You'll live. Literally. Relax, kid. I AM the Lord.

the end. Rachel.

Okay, I’m proud of her. But not any prouder than I am of anyone who is in a situation where they wish their horse or their legs were just a little stronger – and then they remember that God is big (fearful even) and we trust in his unfailing love. And then – to top it off, Bill sent me this picture he took of a rainbow over Parkview last night. that says it all. “Hope in his unfailing love.” (Click on the picture for a larger view!)

Hoping and Fearful,

Tim

P.S. The Harley is on Ebay...several have asked about it. Whatever we get – is going to God, I don’t get a cut (I read Acts 5). And one other thing – someone suggested that it might possibly get bought and given back to me. Please don’t. I won't have a bike for these three years...it’s a part of my deal.
(PT's Harley on Ebay.)

P.S.S. Steven Curtis Chapman. Now that we added the second show we have plenty of tickets. Actually too many. We need to unload more tickets for Thursday night. Please encourage anyone you know to come. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see one of the most important and most popular Christian artists ever, in a venue that is personal and comfortable. Normally you’d have to go to a big stadium to see SCC. We will be selling tickets this weekend. Or you can get them online. (Thursday SCC Tickets.)

Remain in Me and Bear Fruit

What a great time we had with Dr. Kevin Leman.

Maybe by now, you can believe that you can trust me when I tell you I’m bringing someone GOOD in to speak. We will have cds available of all the seminars if you missed them. He sold out of those and of many of the books he brought. Then he went on Moody Radio and talked up Parkview in a VERY positive way. The link isn’t up yet, but we will pass it on to you when we get it. What a great guy.

We also commissioned Brian Hunt to be the Campus Pastor for our new Lockport location which will start in the fall. I just want to say how proud I am to have him on our team and to have him as the lead of this new campus. And I’m proud of those of you who have signed up to be pioneers for us as we try another campus for the first time. Some day you will be able to say you were a part of the first one! Lockport Blog

My college roommate and best man from my wedding - Greg - was in last night and I was showing him around. He hadn’t been here in 5 years and he was blown away. “How did you get the land?” “Someone GAVE you a building for a campus?” “You raised HOW MUCH for the capital campaign?” I was so proud to show you and God off. Dr. Leman was the same way. He went back with a bunch of ideas for his church in Tucson.

This scripture is a theme for me and just happened to be where I was reading this week.

5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15

That is my prayer for me and each one of you. REMAIN. We are bearing fruit and showing the Father’s glory, because we are attached. Let’s keep it that way!

Don’t forget the National Day of Prayer on Thursday night at 7 in the Sky Room. It’s even in the paper. Our leader, Paula, was interviewed in this article about it. Southtown Star

Feeling Fruity

Tim

Let's Get Out of Here

I have a friend who is suffering from MS. He's waiting to find out if he will get into the chemo treatment or the regular treatment.
Just in case, his wife asked some of his friends to write something to him to encourage him if he is stuck in the doctors office for 8 hours a day for 5 days in a row.

This is what I wrote:

The Global Work of God

I’m at a conference for a few days called “Exponential” - which is mostly about church planting. At the same time I got the e-mail below from one of our girls, Mindy Jackson, who is working with the poor in Kenya. And I talked to my own daughter, Rachel, in England today.

The work of God really is “exponential.” Our friends from the northeast, who are helping us plant in Manhattan, NY, are here and we’re working on what Parkview will do in church planting there as we partner with another church to be exponential. Our lead Pastor from Kansas City is here and so grateful for what Parkview has done to help them get off the ground. He says it’s going fantastic. Our local church planting organization is here and the partner churches that we are going to work through to plant in the Loop.

It is amazing. One of the guys today said that China has seen Christianity go from 2 million believers to 120 million believers in just a few short years. Because Jesus said, “When I am lifted up – I will draw all men to me.” John 12:32

And our design builders are here who are helping us with our own project.

It does seem exponential. It feels to me like two things are happening.

1. Christians are getting less stupid. The people that are here are talking a lot about cultural relevance. These are church planters who are trying to figure out how to make things work in a culture that is no longer “judeo\christian.” We can gripe about it all we want, but we can’t keep doing church like Ozzie and Harriet are still living next door. These people get this. Rachel gets this in England as they go to pubs to reach the college students. In China – they don’t even have church buildings – it’s just a movement of cultural relevance.

Funny – kind of like Jesus. Did I ever tell you how much I loved the way Jesus did ministry?

The Full Extent of His Love

Would you like to know how Jesus demonstrated the “full extent of his love?”

It might surprise you to find that this phrase is NOT used in the bible to describe his going to the cross to die for us.

It was used before he died. I’m not saying that the cross wasn’t the ultimate love gift. I just found it interesting to see this phrase where I did, in John 13:2…

Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.

And then he washed their feet.

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him

The full extent of his love – was that he washed their feet.