Pastor's Devotions by Tim Harris

I can hardly imagine what moving must be like for the couple who has lived in the same house for thirty, forty, or fifty years! We have been in the same house for just over twelve years and it is taking us a full three weeks to prepare to move. This has included cleaning out closets, the garage, and the attic. We have been sorting through twelve years worth of paperwork, photos, toys, clothing, kitchenware, etc. We have thrown out what we no longer need, donated to the Salvation Army and Goodwill bags of clothing and items too good to throw away, and boxed what we are going to keep. At this point, the house is filled with dozens upon dozens of boxes. After a while, one can begin to feel as if their whole life is represented by the boxes that fill the house – and the stuff that fills those boxes. I guess, it isn’t until a time such as this that we end up realizing how much stuff we actually have – and how much we can probably do without. I think most of us can admit that in our cultur...

Recently Kim and I have come upon old pictures, videos, and audio recordings. What strikes us  is how much just about everything in life changes. As Kim and I look at the pictures or listen to the tapes we say things like, “Remember how much fun it was when…?” Or, “Wow, I can hardly remember what it was like when….” Or, “Weren’t the kids so cute when they were little?” (Not that we don’t think they’re cute now…only in a different way!) As our children look at some of the pictures they say things like, “That’s what you wore back then!” Or, “Why was your hair like that?”   Yes, the clothing we wear and our hairstyles take on different looks every few years. The technology with which we live and to which we adapt changes at a constant, almost dizzying, pace. The kids grow up, becoming a little less dependent on us every year. Our bodies remind us a little more each year that we are not immortal. Through the years we find ourselves working new jobs or living in a new house or fa...

As I’ve recently driven through New York City, both on the highways and local streets, I’ve felt as if I’ve been driving through a video game called, “Watch Out For the Potholes!” After all, you never know where the next pothole is going to show itself. Unless your reflexes are quick enough to either swerve around it or straddle it, you can easily find yourself barreling through it and possibly blowing a tire or wrecking the front end of your car. On one entrance ramp to the Grand Central Parkway, there was such a huge pothole (which I fortunately missed), that just after it eight to nine cars were parked along the side of the road checking their tires, all apparently having bounded through the massive hole in the middle of the roadway. The news reports have confirmed what any of us who have driven in New York City know. This winter the City has a pot hole crisis. In spite of the fact that the City has thus far fixed over 45,000 potholes, it is now taking an average of six days, rath...