Pastor's Devotions by Tim Harris

--> Recently, we’ve noticed a little sparrow (or maybe there’s more than one) that keeps coming to sit on or near the sideview mirrors of our cars when they are parked in the driveway.   It will look into the mirror and then into the car window and then into the mirror again. It will begin to chirp at its reflection or move back and forth towards its reflection. It seems that the sparrow, when it sees its reflection, thinks that it is interacting with another bird. It is really quite amusing to watch. The sparrow doesn't realize it is seeing itself! Like that little bird, most people seem to be attracted to mirrors. Think about how you respond or what you do when you pass by a mirror. I’m pretty sure most of us can’t help but at least take a glance at ourselves.   And, mirrors are a help when we are fixing our hair or getting dressed for the day. We have a mirror right by our front door that is great for making sure one is ready to step out into the day.  Im

The month of June is a month of birthdays within my extended family.   It began with my sister Faith whose birthday is on the 11 th .   Then came my first nephew Matthew, born on June 2 nd .   His sister, Mariel has her birthday on June 20 th . My daughter Joanna was born on the 17 th . And another nephew, Danny, was born on the 18 th .   My brother John’s second son, Nathan was born on June 16. Then, when my brother John and his wife were expecting their fourth child, Levi, who was due around June 20, I told them they should have him on June 19 so that we would be able to complete the sequence (i.e. June 16, 17, 18, 19 , 20)—which, they graciously and unexpectedly did! In total that makes seven birthdays within the month of June for us as a family!   (And, it is hard to keep up with them all!) A number of years ago my Greek grandmother told me that on each of our birthdays she read Psalm 91 on our behalf and prayed it over our lives. It was something she did for

Some of you may remember the old song, “Leaving on a Jet Plane!” Well, yesterday I would have done anything to have been leaving , as I was sitting, waiting for my flight from Charlotte, NC back to New Jersey.   Instead, we first got notice of a one hour delay due to air traffic in the New York-New Jersey air space. Once we boarded, the pilot apologized for the delay and said we would be leaving shortly. Soon, however, he came back on the loudspeaker apologizing that we would be sitting on the plane for another 30 – 45 minutes, depending on when we got permission to take off.   So, rather than leaving on a jet plane, we all found ourselves sitting on a jet plane! And, there was nothing any of us could do about it.   On a positive note, although we were delayed, we knew that we would not be there forever. The pilot assured us that eventually we would be taking off, albeit a bit later than originally planned.   He assured us that we would be making the flight to Ne