Pastor's Devotions by Tim Harris

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;...

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 t...

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.   (...

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   seaso...