Pastor's Devotions by Tim Harris

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 ...

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 o...

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 em...

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 ...