Pastor's Devotions by Tim Harris

It’s just a few hours away from the start of a new year, 2012 to be precise.   On an evening like this there’s always a bit of excitement in the air.   Times Square is beginning to fill up with those who seek the excitement of the crowd. Others are getting together with friends and family members for more intimate dinners celebrations. Some of us will be in churches, welcoming the new year with prayer and thanks to God.   Unfortunately, some will be alone.   But wherever we may be, when the clock strikes twelve it will feel as if we have reached another mile marker within our lives, as well as within the history of our world.   For some people the turning of the new year will mean leaving regret behind and making new resolutions. For others, it is an opportunity to believe and hope for better times. Still for some, it may simply signify just another tick of the clock, one more cycle in the earth’s rotation around the sun.  But, is there anything deeply significant about the turning of

For this week's Pastor's Devotion, allow me to share with you a quote from Max Lucado's book, "God Came Near" which I used recently in one of my sermons:  "It all happened in a moment, a most remarkable moment that was like none other. For through that segment of time a spectacular thing occurred. God became a man.  While the creatures of earth walked unaware, Divinity arrived.  Heaven opened herself and placed her most precious one in a human womb. God as a fetus. Holiness sleeping in a womb. The creator of life being created. God was given eyebrows, elbows, two kidneys, and a spleen.  He stretched against the walls and floated in the amniotic fluids of his mother.  God had come near. No silk. No ivory. No hype. To think of Jesus in such a light is—well, it seems almost irreverent, doesn’t it. It is much easier to keep the humanity out of the incarnation. But don’t do it. For heaven’s sake, don’t. Let him be as human as he intended to be. Let him into th

This year I needed to buy a new Christmas tree for our home.   Since it’s been quite a number of years since I had to buy one, I went to a few stores looking to see what kind of trees the stores had and what the pricing was like. (Of course, I’m talking about an artificial tree!) To my surprise, wherever I went, just about all the trees already had lights on them.   When I first saw them, I thought I could never buy a pre-lit Christmas tree. After all, part of the process of Christmas is taking out last year’s lights, untangling them, seeing which ones work and which ones don’t, throwing away half of them, buying new ones, and then struggling to get them evenly spaced around the tree.   (Wow, that sounds exhausting!)   After visiting three stores, I finally gave in and bought a pre-lit Christmas tree.  When I got it home, I put it together (it was just three pieces), shaped the branches, and plugged it in. And, what do you know? The tree lit up with just the right amount of lights, al

Some of my favorite decorations to put out for the Christmas season are the nativity sets.   Early in our marriage Kim and I made sure we had a nice nativity set to be used as part of our annual Christmas tradition.   Through the years, we have added to our collection with various sets.   Some of my favorite are those that come from various parts of the world.   Although we don’t have too many of them, we now have sets from Peru, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Bethlehem, Israel.   As I look at our international nativity sets I am reminded of the fact that when Jesus came to this earth as a baby he didn’t come for just one particular group of people or one particular nation.  He wasn’t born into this world to save a few select people.  Rather, he came because, “God so loved the world ….” (John 3:13) When the angels announced the birth of Jesus, they proclaimed “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”  (Luke 2:14 – NIV)  Notice they didn’t proclaim p

Now that our Christmas tree is up and decorated, I play almost only Christmas music in the house throughout the rest of the month.   Of course, the radio and the stores began playing Christmas music a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving Day – all in the hopes of getting us into the Christmas shopping mood.   But, the first Christmas music I heard was in Nicaragua! It was October 31 st when I arrived in Managua. After leaving the airport, we drove to one of the malls to get lunch at the food court. In the middle of the mall was a huge Christmas tree decorated like the nicest trees we’d see in our malls. Not only that, but our standard Christmas music playing!  The next day, we went to a supermarket in the small city of Leon. The supermarket had snowflakes hanging from the ceiling, little Christmas trees for sale (artificial evergreen!), a section called “stocking stuffers,” and again, American Christmas music playing.  That’s right, in Nicaragua I was listening to “White Christmas,” “

As I drove into our driveway last week, I came upon two squirrels feasting upon the large pumpkin that we had sitting on our front steps.   They had gnawed a whole in the side of it and were enjoying both the flesh of the pumpkin as well as its seeds. I chased them away but because my hands were full at the moment, left things the way they were.   Of course, the next chance possible, the two squirrels were back at their feast.   When I came out of the house, seeds and pumpkin were all over the steps.   I realized I had to do something or we were going to have a great big mess on our hands.   My first thought was to pick up the pumpkin and throw it in the garbage thinking, no more pumpkin, no more squirrels, no more mess.  But then I had a second thought.  What would be the big deal if I moved the pumpkin to another spot—e.g. into the bushes—and allowed the squirrels to continue their feast? Although I’m not crazy about squirrels, did it really make a difference to me whether or not th

As I was working on my sermon this morning, I heard a huge “thud” that made me jump.   At first it sounded like something or someone had fallen in the unit next to us.   Then it dawned on me to go outside and look at the roof. Sure enough a great big branch, one that had been dangling from the oak tree behind the house, had finally broken off and landed on the roof.   This was the second big branch that came down since our October snow storm.   Thankfully, I don’t think it caused any damage—just a lot of noise.   Some say that it can be good for the trees to have storms come through and blow down branches that are weak.  I’m not sure if that was the case with the October snow storm, but it may be so.  Of course, even if it is good for the trees it is not always good for us! After all, the trees don’t have to worry about the cleanup or the loss of power.  And, it is definitely not good for the individual branches. After all, once they are broken off from the trees, they quickly begin t

After having had a regular cell phone for about a year, a few months ago I went back to a   Blackberry.   Since then I have been able to once again not only talk on the phone but as well text, BBM, and email—all from the same gadget.   (Actually I didn’t even know what BBM was until a couple of months ago—that is “Blackberry Messaging” for you non-Blackberry people!)   And, being that the Blackberry is 3G I can go on the Web and thereby communicate on my Blackberry even through Facebook.   That is, of course, in addition to being on my laptop much of the day and having a landline in our home.   So, one would think that I’d have no communication difficulties.   After all, with so many options at my fingertips, I should never again have to struggle getting a hold of someone or having on-the-spot and on-the-go communication with the utmost of clarity.   But, is that really the case? With so many messages coming through via texts and voicemail and emails and Facebook and BBM, I am finding

Last night I returned from five days in Nicaragua. While there I spent time with the children and personnel of Promise International Academy, Promise Kids Foundation (PKF), and Promise Church – all in Leon and the surrounding area.   I also took a side trip to Matagalpa, a small city up in the mountains.   It was a great trip. However, traveling through a country like Nicaragua – i.e. a “developing nation” – is nothing like traveling here in the United States.  Aside from a whole different style of driving (to put it nicely), the roads tend to be filled with all kinds of obstacles.  Even when driving on what would be considered a “highway,” one has to beware of cattle suddenly entering the roadway, chickens that have decided to literally cross the road, and speed bumps that have had the yellow paint worn away and a sign that is placed next to it rather than before it.  And, when traveling to the outlying areas as we did to visit the children we support through PKF, most of our traveli

Since we got our dog Mabel, we have almost always put her in her crate when we leave her alone in the house. We don’t totally trust her for we are not sure what she will do while we are out. There have been times, for example, when we have found her on the living room sofa.   Of course, Mabel doesn’t necessarily love it in her crate.   When we arrive home, she always barks and makes a scene as if she has been suffering terribly.   Yet, we almost never have to tell her to go to her crate or force her in.   Rather, while we are still getting dressed to leave the house, Mabel begins to pick up on the cues of our daily routine, makes her way to the basement and go into her crate.   I think if she could lock it herself, she would do that as well.   The other day, however, she did seem to get our cues mixed up.   At one point, when she thought we were done with our lunch, she went back into the crate, then came out when she realized we weren’t leaving yet; then went back in; then came out

Although I’ve never been what you would call an official “bird watcher,” I have always enjoyed watching birds. In fact, I remember how when I was a kid, my grandmother bought me a bird watcher’s field guide to help me identify the birds in my backyard.   And, recently my son Nathaniel accused me of driving while looking up at the birds!   Well, who would have thought that one of my kids would be taking a college class in ornithology – i.e. the study of birds?   But, it’s true.   This semester, for his science elective, Jonathan has been taking a class about birds (note: I didn’t say a course that’s for the birds! ). Of course the curriculum includes required field work or, going bird watching.   So Jonathan has been keeping a journal of all the birds he has seen and been able to identify since the beginning of the semester.   I do find it pretty interesting.   Besides, it   gives us something more to talk about, and even argue about – e.g. Was that an American crow or a turkey vultur

Commuting between New Jersey and Queens is not always the easiest commute. With two bridges to cross and a choice between the Cross Bronx Expressway or the Harlem River Drive and the Grand Central Parkway, there are a lot of variables that can affect the trip.   One stalled vehicle or a minor fender-bender can easily turn the 18 mile, half-hour commute into an hour and a half trip. To make the trip as smoothly and as quickly as possible, I have become very dependent on my Google Maps app that I’ve downloaded to my Blackberry.   For those who haven’t used it before, when one brings up the map they can set it to show the flow of traffic. Green means everything is moving fine; yellow that the traffic is moving slowly; red that the traffic is at a crawl; red with a black line in it, that’s a really bad sign!   Before venturing onto the highway, I always check the map in order to figure out the best way to travel so as not to end up sitting unnecessarily in traffic.   (Of course sometimes

The Yankees’ 2011 season has come to an end. In spite of a pretty good run that propelled them into the post-season; and in spite of their effort throughout their series with the Detroit Tigers, they just couldn’t pull it off.   In the end, they had to pack up and go home (and maybe head off to the golf course!). Some of us are probably a bit frustrated with some of the players (I won’t name any names!). The players themselves are probably asking, how did this happen?   I’m sure that many of them are replaying plays and at-bats in their minds. In the end, however, it doesn’t matter. The truth is, leaving bases loaded twice, striking out at the worst possible moment, allowing two runs right off the top, none of that makes for a win.   At last night’s game, it didn’t matter how well the team had played throughout the year or how many wins they had on their stats sheet; all that mattered was winning that one game.   And, by not winning that one game, their   season (and chance to win the

Last week my family celebrated with my younger brother Chris the fact that he is alive and well one year after his open-heart surgery. Of course before and during the surgery, we were all very concerned for his well-being. After the surgery, there were times when things seemed to be a bit touch and go.  The recovery was hard due to some complications.  After being released from the hospital, he ended up in a second hospital due to an infection.  The days in the hospital and just after his release seemed very long.  But, here we are  one year later.  Chris is doing very, very well.  We thank God for the medical community. But most of all, we are thankful to God himself for his presence, care, and healing.  It’s as if Chris has received a new lease on life!  Thankfully his heart is now a healthy heart.  The odd thing about Chris’ difficulties with his heart and the surgery that eventually came about because of it, was that for the most part Chris always appeared to be very healthy.  Tho

This past Monday my son Nathaniel passed through another adolescent rite of passage: he got his driver’s license.   Since I was home that day and didn’t need my car, I let him take it to school. So, for the first time he drove without Kim or me by his side.   I’m sure it felt good to him, even if it was only a mile or so.   On the other hand, as I watched him drive away my heart sunk a little bite. I even think a tear came to my eye.   Not because I was worried about him driving, but because I realized another one of my children had become a little less dependent on me as their father.   For a moment, it was almost as if time was standing still, for it was a sign to me that in just a short time, my role as a parent would begin to wind down.   In that moment, I sensed that time was moving on and there was little I could do about it.   As we go through our societal rites of passage—either our own or those of our children—we are reminded of the fact that time is constantly moving forward

Last night Kim and I went to our son’s and daughter’s high school for “Back to School Night.”   That meant two and a half hours of listening to teachers try to explain their course syllabi,   expectations, grading systems, along with all the get-to-know-you information -   all in a space of about twelve minutes each.   In between classes, we had about three minutes to get to the next class through a jam packed hallway while trying to read a map of the school or find a student who could point us in the right direction.   Kim followed our daughter Joanna’s schedule. I went to our son Nathaniel’s classes.   Of course it really wasn’t “Back to School Night” as entitled. Rather, it was simply what I would call, “Meet the Teachers and Hear All About Your Kid’s Work Night.”   After all, we as parents didn’t learn anything about history or math or science.   We didn’t have to do any reading assignments or write any essays.   Nor did we have to take any tests or participate in any after school

Although it has been ten years since the destruction of the Twin Towers, those of us who have lived in the New York City metro area most of our lives still picture them as part of the NYC skyline. In my mind’s eye I still see them standing and expect them to be there when I catch a glimpse of Manhattan from either the west or the east. But when I look they are obviously not there.   The same is probably true for many of you. The NYC skyline has forever been changed. It will forever be a different skyline. That day ten years ago will forever be etched in our minds. We all know that since that day, life has never and will never be the same here in the U.S. – and most especially here in New York City.   Just as those towers will never be replaced and the skyline put back the way it was, so too there are pieces of us that cannot be rebuilt.   We may have learned how to move on with life; we may have learned how to cope with new security measures; we may have learned how to keep things as

Most mornings I tend to eat a pretty standard American breakfast. I like my coffee – usually two cups, strong with just a drop of milk and half a teaspoon of sugar in each – and a bowl of cereal with some fruit. A couple of mornings a week I might have a bagel with either butter or strawberry cream cheese.   And every so often, I might have eggs or French toast or bacon or all of it!   Once in a while I might even cook the French toast for my family. (That’s really just once in a while. And, I never make pancakes. I leave that to Kim!) This week, however, my morning routine was a bit different. I was taken to breakfast a few times by a very kind deacon from Promise Ministries and couple of the   pastors.   Although most of the time we went to a diner where I would get my normal breakfast foods, one day we went to a Korean restaurant for breakfast. When I asked what typical Korean breakfast foods are I was told, “The same thing we eat for lunch and dinner.”   So, one of the men I was

This past week, up and down the East Coast most of us felt the moving of the ground like never before. I was getting out of the elevator on the fourth floor of our office building when I heard a rattling in the ceiling and then felt the building begin to sway.  At first I thought it was just me getting dizzy from the elevator ride. However, when someone called out, “What’s happening? Do you feel that?” I knew it wasn’t just me. Sure enough, I had experienced my first earthquake! Thankfully the quake was minimal with little damage done, and no loss of life. For a few moments, however, it was a bit frightening as we wondered whether or not it would intensify or come to a quick end. For a couple of moments, none of us knew exactly what would happen next. That’s how  our lives are so much of the time. The ground beneath our feet begins to shake and we don’t know whether or not it’s going to subside or intensify. We don’t know whether things are going to get better or worse. And, it’s not

This week for the first time in about a year, my three kids and I went to the rock climbing gym.  After belaying two of them, I took my turn scaling the wall. As I did, it became quickly obvious that I was both out of practice and out of shape. As I climbed not only did I feel quite awkward moving from one hold to the next, but the muscles, especially in my forearms, began to quiver with pain. Quite a few times I lost my grip and found myself dangling in my harness attached to the top rope, sometimes thirty feet or more in the air. At those moments, I was really glad for a strong rope (and a son who knew what to do with it!). Without the rope properly attached to my harness , I would have surely fallen and seriously injured myself. Without the right rope, I would have easily plunged to the ground below. In fact, without the right rope, I would never scale a wall as high as I did, hanging onto small rock holds up to thirty-five feet or more in the air. Before I climb a wall like that,

One of the most exciting things about embarking on a new place of work and ministry is the opportunity to make new friends. Although I am grateful for all the good friends I’ve had through the years, and I hope to keep many of those friendships alive, I realize that I am in a season of developing new friendships. As I have begun to meet the people of Promise International Fellowship (PIF) and City Vine Church, sharing a meal or a having a cup of coffee, meeting in my office or at a table during  our post-service receptions, I have met some really great people who, up to this point, I didn’t even know existed. I know it’s early, but I can sense that God is bringing  a new set of people into my life – people with whom I can share life and do ministry; people whom I will soon consider as good friends. I thank God for all the friends I have had through the years, many who are still good friends. And, I look forward to making lots of new friends in the weeks and months to come.  But, I’m

Having moved recently, we as a family have had to get used to both saying and writing a new address. When asked in a store for her address, my daughter Joanna had to think twice before giving it. Just yesterday, as I was filling out some forms, three times I began to write down our old one.  Not only that, but since we are living fairly close to our former address, multiple times, as Kim and I have been driving home, we’ve started to turn down the street where we used to live. Even after close to a month, we are all still getting used to the fact that we have had a change of address. The Bible shows us that one day, we who are God’s people will all have a change of address. We will no longer live as part of this world, but in a new place—a world designed for us by God.  Jesus said, “In my Father's house are many rooms (i.e. dwelling places)... I am going there to prepare a place for you.” (John 14:2-3-NIV) By his words, Jesus gives to us the assurance that one day we will move as

Sizzling.   Steamy.   Scorching. These are just a few of the adjectives to describe the weather we’re facing here in the Northeast (as well as across much of the country).   To say that it’s hot outside is probably an understatement. Last night after the sun went down, it still felt uncomfortably hot out—more like Florida or Louisiana than New Jersey.   When driving along this morning, the air blowing through the open window was like a blast of hot air coming out of a clothes dryer. Of course this kind of heat means running the air conditioning, going to the pool, looking for cool places to hang out (that is “cool” as in cold), and finding as much shade as possible. Most people, like me, are only going outside if they have to. And when they do, they are moving very, very slowly. Everyone is in need of some relief from the heat. The prophet Isaiah wrote long ago, “O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name…You have been … a shade from the heat .” (Isaiah 25:1, 4—NIV

I recently moved into the office at the church where I am now pastoring in Queens, NY. The office is five stories up (although it’s on the 4 th floor). And, although it’s not the highest I’ve ever been in a building, it is the first time I’ve ever worked in an office that is not at ground level. Thus, from my window I have a different kind of view. Instead of looking straight out the window at my surroundings, I am now looking down on them. Of course, some of you may be used to working a few stories up or even higher. Some of you might even work in a high rise building or skyscraper. And, I’m sure that most of us have been up the Empire State Building or the former World Trade Center buildings or other buildings like them. We all know that, the higher up one is, the smaller the people, cars, and buildings below appear. When looking from above, one can’t help but have a different perspective on their surroundings.   Those things that seem so large from the ground, appear so much small

This week my family and I moved to a rental home and had all of our “worldly goods” delivered by the moving company that had held it all for us in storage for the past four months. Before we knew it, we had a house filled with boxes and furniture. Although we did our best to tell the movers where to place everything, in the end, it felt as if the whole house was in complete disarray. All we could do was begin opening boxes and try to put things away piece by piece. The only fun part of the whole ordeal was the fact that, because we hadn’t seen so much of our stuff for four months, as we unpacked the boxes each of us would react with expressions like, “Oh I remember this!” or “I’m so glad to have my _____ back!” or “Why did we keep this?” Just about each box held somewhat of a little surprise. I find that every time I go to God’s Word, the Bible, it is like unpacking a box filled with all kinds of good stuff (i.e. not the stuff that causes you to say, “Why did I keep this?”). And, of

While at the beach the other day, I couldn’t help but overhear a little girl call out to her mother, “Look mom. I found a shell. It’s a shell!” Apparently this girl hadn’t been to the beach too often for she picked up the very first shell she found in the sand, although broken and really not at all special looking, as if something very extraordinary.  As the day went on, she realized that there were nicer shells to be found, not so much up in the sand but down towards the water. So, most of the day she spent her time down by the water looking for that special prize that she could claim as her own. It was really quite entertaining, watching her run back to her blanket and call out to her mom every time she thought she had found another extra special shell. What really struck me, however, was how this one little girl out of all the people on the beach found such excitement in finding even the most common of shells. Whereas most people, including us, just walked right by them, this litt