Pastor's Devotions by Tim Harris

This Pastors Devotion Blog is normally written and published by Friday morning of each week.   As I write, however, it is now the middle of Friday afternoon…not the most creative time of day for me.   The way my schedule worked out today set me back a bit.   I am currently running behind schedule. Of course, the writing of this blog is not the only thing I may time-to-time fall behind in.   Recently, on my way to my office in Queens, I found myself about to be late for an appointment because of a sudden accident just ahead of me on the Cross-Bronx Expressway.     On another day, one appointment went longer than I had expected and sent me running to my next.   In spite of the fact that, I am a fairly punctual person who normally makes room for the unexpected, there are plenty of times when the unforeseen arises and I find myself running to catch up to the clock.   (After all, I really do hate to be late.)   Even when one does their...

Thankfully I’m about to switch over to a new computer.   The one on which I’m currently working has developed a terrible habit that is making me crazy.   When I try to bring up a new program or window, especially from Microsoft Office, a note will appear a the top of the screen: “Not Responding.”   At that point my choice is to either shut the program and try again or wait a bit longer and see if the program will finally respond.   Honestly, there are times when I’ve wanted to yell at the computer scream, “Who are you not to respond to me? How dare you not respond when I try to bring you up!”   But, yelling at a computer has rarely sped it up or solved its technical issues.   (In fact, I think it just makes the computer less responsive!) I’ve found, however, that this business of non-responsiveness is not only with my computer.  For some reason it seems to have become quite pervasive.  Like the many times I’ve called a bank or insurance company o...

As I was telling my sister Lois about “Skyping” with our son Jonathan who is currently studying in Costa Rica, she reminded me of the futuristic cartoon series we used to watch as kids, “The Jetsons.”   In “The Jetsons” the people of the future were able to speak to each other via television-like contraptions within their homes.   For them long distance communication was no big deal.   For us, however, that was something that would be only in the far, far future.   Guess what?   The future is here!   I know that for some who are younger and who may not remember life before PC’s, laptops, or cell phones, “Skyping”, emailing, “Facebooking”, texting, etc. may be no big deal.  But, I still remember when a call from our home in Rockland County, NY to my grandmother who lived in Manhattan was a “long distance” call.  Yet, even I have become so used to such quick and easy long distance communication that I can’t imagine not being able to communicate wit...