Pastor's Devotions by Tim Harris

Today in the Northeast, even as I am writing, we have heavy winds and rains and are expecting to feel the effects of tropical storm Nicole as she comes up the coast. The Midwest has experienced its share of flooding this week. Then there were the mudslides in Mexico. And, that is probably just a few of the areas around our world that have had to deal with storms in recent days. We live in a world that is constantly experiencing one storm after another. Of course, when we speak about the “storms of life”, we use that phrase not only in a meteorological sense, but also in a metaphorical one. The phrase, the “storms of life” often refer to the difficulties that we face within our lives: sickness, pain, broken relationships, the loss of a job, sudden catastrophes, the death of a loved one. All of these things and many more can be referred to as a “storm.” At times it can feel as if we are living from one storm to the next. Unfortunately, none of us are exempt from storms – not the mete...

The other night I was going through some old videos that we had stored in a closet. Becoming a bit curious, I popped a couple of them in and began watching the first few years of my children’s lives. We watched Jonathan visiting the hospital just after the birth of his brother, Nathaniel. On the next video were Jonathan and Nathaniel visiting the hospital upon the birth of their sister, Joanna. We watched the three of them at a young age have their first “jam session” with their toy instruments (some of which were improvised from kitchen utensils). We were reminded of some of the cute and funny things they said back then, things that we had forgotten. And, we were reminded how much work it can be to manage three children four years old and younger! Most of all, I was struck by how innocent they were. Although they could be stubborn at times, they were trusting of us as their parents. They quickly came running to us when we came into the house. They looked to us to meet their needs (a...

Rain delays happen in many sports, but most especially in baseball and tennis. Some sports like football, are played in all kinds of weather. Baseball can tolerate some rain, but once it really starts coming down the game has to be stopped. In tennis, however, even the slightest amount of rain can cause the courts, and especially the lines, to become slick and dangerous to the players. Thus, even a drizzle can cause play to stop and the game to be delayed. Such was the case yesterday with the US Open. Even before the men’s finals match was started, the match had to be postponed a whole day due to rain. Of course, it was a great disappointment to the fans who were planning to spend their Sunday afternoon watching the match either at the stadium or via television. But, how much more disappointing it must have been to the players who I am sure spent the whole night before and the whole of that day pumping themselves up for the big match. I’m sure it was quite a letdown when they were to...

For our household, September 6, 2010 was quite appropriately called “Labor Day” for that day also happened to be our son Jonathan’s 19th birthday. In other words, as I told Kim and our family, for her it really was “labor day” for it was on that day, nineteen years ago, that she was in labor giving birth to our first son. Thus, if anyone should have been honored for their labor it would have to be Kim for all that she went through bringing our son into the world. Yes, for her it was a day of hard labor. Thinking back to that day, I am always amazed, however, of not only the stamina that Kim had throughout that process but even more so of how, once holding that newborn in her arms, this new mother forgot all of her pain. Once the baby was handed over to her, it was as if there had never been any struggle. She went so quickly from labor to rest as our new son, Jonathan, was placed in her arms. Jesus said, “A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when h...