Tim Harlow

It is Good

I'm doing it. I'm listening to a 'River of Tears' by Eric Clapton. Call me sadistic, but I just couldn't help myself. If you were around a year and a half ago when we got back from the college visit out here to LA, you heard me talk about playing this song on the plane on the way home – glad for the cover of darkness and the half full flight that gave me the freedom to drown in my own river without causing alarm. The thought of my baby girl this far away; the thought of my baby girl all grown up, it was more than I could take at the time.

So I guess I’m not any better than a woman re-watching Sleepless in Seattle for the 20^th time. 

I’m a guy – it’s Clapton - it’s okay.

But this time, no one around me feels awkward. I am not drowning.

Oh, we’ve had our share of tears. There was a phenomenal communion service last night where the President shared a fantastic message about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – leaving home to follow God.

^“By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country…looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Hebrews 11

And afterwards we celebrated communion together as a family, something we haven’t had the opportunity to do very often in her 18 years, because I'm usually leading others. It was quite moving. We’ve had our moments.

But I’m good. It’s good. This is what we lived, worked, and prayed for. 

Okay and California is probably the Promised Land, so the theme works. I may drown in a river of tears, but it’s going to be when she gets to come back here in January and I have to stay home. :)

And she’s at a great place. Biola was founded in 1908 as the Bible Institute of Los Angeles.

 
It has a rich history of training Christian young people.

This is the sign erected when they relocated to Orange County.

 
It was recently listed by U.S. News and World as one of the 30 up and coming colleges in the country.

The main reason for Becca’s choice is the Intercultural Studies (Missions) Department; it’s probably the best in the country. She wants to help save the world somehow and this is the right place for her, especially with her Spanish background.

She started this journey not really having anyone she knew at the school in the area. But in God’s great care, it turns out that we’ve got some amazing connections. My cousin, who is like a nephew, just moved here with his wife and kids to get his PHD in the same department. One of my best friends from college’s daughter is on campus as a Resident Director. The church I interned at in 1982 is close by and my friend Gene Appel is the pastor now, they have a ton of kids at the school. My lifelong friend is an hour away and his daughters are close. Becca’s roommate is from Wheaton, etc, etc. just crazy God stuff that makes us feel like He really had his hand in this.

I’ll probably stop blogging about my life and my kids and go back to Jesus and stuff, but I appreciate the prayers and it is good. I’m so blessed and my kids are blessed.

And I’m ready to rock and roll. I see God’s vision for my kids taking flight, but I see the vision for my life and the next chapter, too. I feel such a passion for the rest of the south suburbs that don’t have Jesus.  We’ve got work to do!

I have to admit that Denise and I were a little envious of Becca and this time of her life and this amazing school (and southern California – did I mention that?). In some ways, it would be fun to be back in that place in time, with the world in front of you. But in other ways it’s great to see all the ways that God has moved in our lives since that point and to have SO MANY opportunities to serve here.

So, empty nest, here we come. It is good.

Tim

PS: Please keep praying for Lauren in Bolivia Lauren's Blog . She’s having all the health issues you would guess a person would have living in South America. She’s really been sick as much as she’s felt good.

 

It is Finished

Okay, maybe that’s a little dramatic.  But it’s my blog and I’ll be dramatic if I want to.

As I stood in worship with my wife and daughter, Becca, Sunday morning, I caught a glimpse of Becca singing “Our God is risen and reigning and we’re elevating the glory of our God and King” with all of her heart. And it hit me that “it is finished.”

I know you all think that my main job is being the Pastor of Parkview Christian Church, and maybe that even means a lot to you because you have found Christ here – or renewed your relationship with him here. I love that. But truthfully, that hasn’t been my priority. When I signed on as a parent, my first job was raising my kids to know Jesus.

Fathers…bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.   Ephesians 6:4

So while I’ve loved my calling as a Pastor, my wife and I made a commitment when we got married that no matter what church we were serving at the time, if they didn’t have a good youth program or if it wasn't a church that they wanted to invite their friends to, we were moving to one that did. Honestly 21 years ago, no one knew if Parkview would have a decent program or be a decent church at all. It was a mess. Really.

And we knew God was calling us here, but we had no idea for how long. When we moved here, we only had a 2 1/2 year-old and one in the oven. I don’t believe that you HAVE to have a good youth program to have Christian kids. But it sure helps. And along the way, Sean and Tarne, and Jason and Brooklyn, and Adam and Becca, and others came and the program grew and it has grown into something incredible and I’m so thankful for all the teachers, sponsors and people who have been in my kid’s lives.

So Denise and I completely acknowledge the work of God through all the people in our girl’s lives like their MDO teachers, children's teachers, youth sponsors, D-group leaders, youth worship leaders, etc. But I just want to say – IT IS FINISHED. I’m certainly not done PAYING for my kids, and I hope to still have a lot of influence in their lives (and yes, I know they may end up back here – you can tell me stories…) but our time of  "raising" our girls is finished. And this is where I wanted to be.

I know it’s the grace of God.  I know that some of you have kids who you are worried about right now because they didn’t follow what you wanted. Don’t despair, God is not done. Free will is free will. Kids have to make their own choices.

All we can do is agree with the Apostle Paul.

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace. Acts 20:24

We testify. We pray.

I’m really looking forward to the next stage of life; I hear the empty nest is great. But give me a minute to relish this place in life.

For those who care – Becca is headed to Biola University. She will be an Intercultural Studies major (which is a fancy word for Missions). They have one of the best programs in the country, and in LA she will have plenty of opportunity to expand her Spanish.

We head out on Wednesday.

And speaking of Spanish – Lauren was interviewed on Bolivian Radio today – in Spanish. She’s not sure why – but they wanted to interview her about why she was there doing “social work.” I’ll get a link if I can – for those of you who can understand it. And if you want to keep up with her work she’s at Cochabama.

And speaking of Parkview – we gave out 350 backpacks to kids who needed a head start as they go back to school.

So as they all go back – we pray that they will be blessed.  And if you still have some home – relish it, it will be finished sooner than you think.

Tim

We are not "beat to Hormah."

The richness of the book of Numbers to me is amazing. I know it's not on most people's list, but I'm getting so much out of the lessons learned from the Idiot Children of Israel.

Lessons that I need, because I am a recovering Idiot. Most churches are exactly the same.

So they get to the Promised Land and get scared and don't have faith enough in God to go take the land – and God gets mad at them and punished them. So they have a change of heart and decide to do what God asked them to do. But now God is no longer with them. He said that they couldn’t go forward now, and removes his presence from them.

But listen to Numbers 14:

Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the high hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the Lord’s covenant moved from the camp. Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.  Numbers 14:44-45

“Beat them to Hormah.” I love that phrase. I don’t know where Hormah is, but I know that I don’t want to be beaten there.

I see so many churches that are beaten to Hormah. God just doesn’t seem to be blessing their efforts any more. It’s so sad. God wants his children to follow him into the dream he has for them, but they get scared or lazy or selfish and he says, “Okay– forget it, I’ve got better things to do.” And then they try to do something and it doesn’t seem to work.

Why?

Key phrase – “IN THEIR PRESUMPTION” meaning they either thought they knew better or thought they knew God’s will and they didn’t.

I was in a deep conversation with two of my ministry friends who lead at higher levels than I do in the Kingdom today – and we were having this discussion. How do we know what God wants? What is the future for the American church?

Wow, it makes my head spin because I do not want to “presume” to know what God wants. I will not go anywhere that God or his presence (the ark) is not going to accompany me.

Pray for that, please. As we diligently try to figure out how to deal with being the fastest growing church in the 5 state area, I do NOT want to presume. I certainly don’t want to be beaten down to Hormah!

And we won’t, if we follow God everywhere he asks us to go – when he asks us to go there. His “ark” is with us right now and I want to keep it that way. So I will not say “no” to whatever he asks me to do the first time and then decide to come back later and try it on my own. I will try nothing on my own.

So if you are looking for proof of the “ark” – check out our Vacation Bible School from the last two weeks.

Lockport had over 170 kids and over 140 volunteers which is a 30% increase over last year. Orland had 712 kids and a record breaking 600+ volunteers. And we’ll be impacting the lives of many in Central Brazil with the $6,440 raised at Lockport and the $27,553 raised at Orland – that’s $33,993!!!

     
And the junior high STAND was a huge success with almost 230 kids and 75 volunteers which was a 30% increase over last year for them too. They collected $960 for an entire food palette through Elim, who distributes food to families in Chicago that live in poverty. They also filled up 50 ‘Hope Packs’ with school supplies that will be sent through Elim to students in Haiti and Mexico.

 
Thanks to all who volunteered time and support.

Tim

PS.  For those of you who were curious about my Rick Warren/Saddleback comments last weekend – I would encourage you to listen to John Piper’s interview with Rick.  Pastors.com