Bill Harbeck's Blog

Sunday is the 10^th anniversary of a painful day in our history. We all remember
where we were and what we were doing when we heard of or saw the events as they unfolded. Those are moments frozen in time. It takes time to step back from them to really comprehend the magnitude of it all.

 I remember getting a phone call from a young man I had the privilege of coaching at Wheaton College in 1988. In the middle of all the chaos and confusion I heard a soft subdued voice on the phone say, “Coach…Todd was on Flight 93…t doesn’t look good”.

The nation would learn in the hours ahead that some courageous men had determined to thwart the plans of the hijackers on their plane after hearing by phone the fate of the planes in New York.  They huddled in the back of the plane and devised a plan of attack.  When they were ready, one was heard on a cell phone saying, “Let’s Roll”.  Minutes later, Flight 93 flew directly into the ground in a field in Pennsylvania far from its intended target, the WhiteHouse.  The impact of the plane was so great it left a 300 foot crater and nothing else.  Heroes…all…

I later learned that the young man who yelled “Let’s Roll” I had the honor of working with, in our camps and as a player for Wheaton College.  I met Todd when he was in 6^th grade.  Following high school he called and asked if he could come and try out for the team.  He was a quiet young man with an engaging sense of humor, loyal and filled with integrity.  As I reflected that day and today years later, I am not surprised at all at his courage in the moment of crisis.  His faith, his convictions, and his integrity were on display and I only wish I could know that I would have the courage to do the same.

Pray for Todd’s wife and children as I am sure thiswill be a difficult few days.  My friend
is walking the streets of glory ahead of us. I honor his memory and thank God I had the chance to know him.

Today, Jillian and I celebrate our 36^th anniversary together.  We have shared a lifetime together and have seen the ups and downs, the twists and turns, the happys and sads.  In a world of billions of people living in millions of contexts we have shared life together in a little corner of the world in a little space in time.  As each year passes we marvel at what we have experienced together.

Today we could not have wished for a better gift than to walk into the Doctor’s office with our daughter Julee and her husband Ryan to see the beating heart of a new grandson.  Jill and I reminisce about the blessings we cherish as a new life is about to emerge into this world and dream of what is to come.  We pray that 36 years from today, Noah will be traveling the road of truth.  He will be committed to our Lord, he will carry on the legacy of hope his parents and God will bestow on him.

Thank you Jaimee, Jason, Jeff, Alanna, Julee, Ryan, Joree; Jakob, Jaylin, Payson, Lola, London and Noah for making every anniversary for us a very special day.   

Last week I spoke to a Celebrate Recovery group that had the courage to invite me to address the devastation caused by sexual abuse.  Celebrate Recovery is a program where addicts of all kinds gather on a weekly basis to travel the road of healing together.  One
night a week for a couple of hours they share with each other their pain and struggles with addiction.  For a couple hours each week they are living community.

Followers of the King must live in community and I believe in this current time that community cannot be a once a week one or two hour gathering.  Another hour or two a week in selected smaller gatherings has little effect on the enormous forces of the enemy. How in the world are groups of people that meet for an hour or two a week going to stave off the onslaught of a 24 hour a day seven day a week orchestrated invasion by the enemy?  How are people of like minds but limited vision meeting in walled cities and houses and celebrating common ground ever going to reverse the course of evil that surrounds us twenty four hours a day?

For two and a half hours last week I shared healing in community with fellow broken followers of the Master.  Followers that are not afraid to admit that sin is in their lives.  Followers that chose to listen as I shared the power of evil to shape addictions through
sexual abuse and internet pornography. With all due respect to my fellow travelers; it is not enough.  Community means; “a group of people with common interests living together within a larger society”.  The church is not a community, it is a gathering.  The church is a domesticated, civilized gathering of like minded people that comes together a couple of hours a week to feel good and happy.  Yes, it is a generalization, but an accurate one.
If the message of the Master is to even dent this current culture it is time the followers get real about the pain in this world, the pain in their lives, and confront it in the definition of community.  Living together, hurting together, being honest everyday together is the way the power of the Spirit will bond together and witness a surge against the enemy.

Last week I witnessed community for a few hours and the power of confronting evil as a band of brothers and sisters.  Having the courage to confront the consequences of brokenness perpetrated by evil and having the courage to walk in it with fellow soldiers equips one for service.  Imagine the power generated and unleashed on the enemy if communities lived together every day?  Imagine the love and hope that the communities
and the movement would demonstrate to others by putting their sin and failures
out in the open for all to see and heal together.

I’m angry witnessing the power of the enemy to control fellow followers with the shame and history of sexual abuse. I challenge every gathering in this nation that claim to follow the Master to set aside the quest for happiness and step into the raw pain and suffering in your group and witness the power of real community. Thank you my brothers and sisters of the Desert Springs Celebrate Recovery chapter for sharing your courage.  Take it to the
streets.

If you just landed on this planet from Mars and the first thing you encountered was a television it would not take long to conclude that the people here are obsessed with sex.  Television shows, commercials, movies, and music reference sexual attraction or activity over and over and over.  “Why” asks the curious Martian.

Sex is the second most powerful human drive following self-preservation. Since self-preservation is rarely encountered, sex emerges as the leading drive and attention getter.  It is used in marketing, entertainment, and advertising ad infinitum.   It is portrayed as the component that defines love.  The powerful temptation drives a 14 billion dollar a year pornography industry.  It is believed by the secular society to be the most powerful path to personal happiness. 

Sex has a dark side.  The drive is so powerful that when used improperly it is more destructive than any other behavior.  Illicit sex substitutes for sanity with pleasure.  When the chemical reactions in the body are released the pleasure is euphoric. But the chemicals can never adjust nor compensate for the aftermath.  The instant bonding must be dismissed.  The emotional connection must be denied.  If it was sexual abuse the
victim is left to cope with the shame. Regular disregard for the power of this gift leads to lifelong dysfunction.  Today, beneath the surface of this culture, lies incredible loneliness, pain, and sorrow.  Do we address it?  Do we shout out against it?  Do we fight to help the sexual abuse survivors cope?  No, much like the sex addict, community after community pretends that the dark side does not exist.  The addict returns to the pleasure believing the pain will go away only to find the unending cycle continue.  The enemy wins the battle day
after day after day.

Muster the courage to speak out.  Challenge your community to address the lies.  Guard your heart.

INTERVENTION

The A & E show Intervention had a story on this evening that dealt with a 25-year-old Crystal Meth addict.  The first 25 minutes of the show chronicled her self-destructive behavior. Family members and the addict shared the pain and suffering each was going through as the drug use spiraled out of control.  Fifteen minutes into the program it was
casually mentioned that following her parent’s divorce at age 11, the young lady disclosed to her mother she had been molested as a child.  The show did not disclose the molester.  The show portrayed that following the disclosure of the abuse was the moment that the drug use began. The girl stated that immediately after disclosing to her mother the abuse, her mother went directly to family members to expose the abuse. The girl’s response, “I felt betrayed by my own mother.  I never trusted her again. I started using Crystal Meth when I was 15”.

For the next nine years she fought with meth addiction, abusive relationships, drug dealing and violent behavior.  The show then focused on all the pain the family members were feeling, the great need for intervention to stop the drug use.  Never, did the show,
the therapists, or family members suggest that the core issue, the original cause, was the catalyst for the drug use. Never was the damage done by the childhood sexual abuse considered or addressed.

The drugs are the SYMPTOM.  The sexual abuse is the ISSUE.  A & E makes a lot of money documenting the pain and suffering of symptoms and FAILS to address the cause.  It is much easier to sensationalize the pain and the physical suffering…so easy to document the broken-hearted family members.  When will A & E, or TLC, or churches, schools, the society start addressing the real issue.  It is frustrating when the cause is so clear, the reality of hope so present, and no one is willing to listen.

Incredibly, A&E aired a second program  immediately following show with the identical theme.  This time a 22-year-old heroin addict.  The common thread…she was sexually molested for several years.  She is convinced her mother knew about the abuse while it was happening but did nothing about it.  The show then focuses on the addiction, the
anger, the compulsivity and fails to return to the core issue of abuse, the
damage it caused, and the pathway it led to. If INTERVENTION would intervene on the root cause, they would begin to see true healing.  The problem? That takes time, lots and lots of time.  It takes relationships with meaning.  It takes a Savior.

The ideology of relativism has methodically replaced theism in our country.
It took 176 years to shift the culture from the acknowledged belief in a higher power to the present belief that every individual has a right to exercise his or her own truth as the only truth.  Relativism posits a future world of tolerance where every idea is valued and accepted by the culture without resistance.  A world where peace and happiness reign
simply by accepting every idea at its personal value to each human.  In theory, heaven on earth; in practice, disaster.  It is nothing more than the rejection of obedience and the elevation of each individual.  On a daily basis we now witness the singlemost destructive force in the universe…selfishness.

Relativism cannot be assimilated. It took nearly two centuries to be entrenched  in our society.  We are witnessing the Tsunami of consequences daily and our destruction is now within sight. The good news is the King, and the absolute truth will not wait long and this time he is bringing judgment, intolerance, fire and brimstone and will return man to his place.  Come quickly Lord.

I am sure you have heard of Churches called “Christ the King”.  We
often hear reference to the priesthood of Jesus and its importance in the
church and our individual lives.  I am not sure I have ever heard of a church called Christ the Prophet.  We love the baby Jesus, the nice story-teller Jesus who makes us feel good.  But when the prophet Jesus shows up…well, that changes everything.   

Jesus as the incarnate one embodied all three with equal authority.  Yet, we minimize the prophet.  His own people loathed Him as the prophet, the one who said “take up your cross”…the one who repeated that “unless there is suffering the Kingdom will not be yours” or “the blessings belong to those who suffer and those who care for them.”  Goodness, it was a way of life for the Old Testament prophets.  David had a real hard time when Nathan came visiting.  The whining and contempt reigned for Isaiah, Jeremiah and all the others.  “Please don’t confront us with the holy one of Israel” Isaiah, we don’t like it when we have to acknowledge the pain.

It’s 2011.  Sexual abuse and Internet pornography are systematically destroying the foundation of this culture both out…and inside the church.  Oh boy, here comes that
crazy loon with Holding on to Hope ministries. He just keeps stirring up trouble where there really isn’t any.  We can manage this in our churches and if we can’t well, God will take care of this for sure.   Maybe if we ignore him long enough, he will get discouraged and just go away.

“You know, if there is a heaven, I think it is a lot like this place.”  The last two weekends I shared four days with boys and girls that are living in the Foster Care system and are survivors of childhood abuse.  This was a common theme from each of the kids.  For 48 hours Teen Reach Adventure Camp with a cast of volunteer adults shared their time with wounded children.  The children in the system that have no hope for a bright future.  For two days we laughed, cried, and loved kids that have not had the chance to grow up as kids.  Their starving desire for connection and affection impacted all of our hearts for eternity.  It was hard to tell at the end of the day who had been impacted more, us or the kids.  Let’s just call it a wash…of heavenly joy.

Great job Terri.  The angels are smiling indeed.

The one certainty of time is how quickly it moves by.  On May 26, 2011 Joree graduated from Barry Goldwater High School in Phoenix, Arizona.  This marks quite a milestone for her, Jillian and I.  Joree has survived and surpassed expectations for 20 years now.  She blesses us and all those that interact with her every day.

On June 1st Joree will begin a new chapter in her life at a wonderful day program in Phoenix.  It she comes to your mind now and then, say a little prayer for her that her joyful spirit will continue to encourage everyone she knows and meets.

“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children heirs of God and fellow heirs of Christ, if indeed we suffer with HIm in order that we may also be glorified with Him.  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Frederick Douglas wrote, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”  Jillian and I are blessed to have four incredible children.  Each one is unique and special in their own way.  Each has been a joy to raise and now admire as they nurture their children and weather the seas of marriage and family.

We are also blessed to have broken men in our life.  Men who never had the security of parents and home.  Men who were abandoned, abused, neglected and cast off.  Men who did not have the chance to be little boys.  Douglas was right.  Mending the years and years of pain takes years and years of understanding.  Mentoring a broken man is accomplished with hours and hours of relational connection.  If every Christian would take just one broken man or woman into their lives and walk with them for a season, or two seasons, or however many seasons…just think of the tears of joy…and surrender…and healing.

Look around…there are wounded little boys in men’s bodies all around you.  Many times parents are all they need…