Pastor's Devotions by Tim Harris

Those who regularly read this Pastor’s devotion blog know that, the past few months have been quite difficult for me.   My dad’s illness and subsequent passing became the focal point of my life—and, in some ways still are.   One of the side-affects of his illness was that my regular routines and daily and weekly schedules were thrown into disarray.   For the past few months, I didn’t eat the same, go to the office when I normally do, or maintain my exercise routine.   I didn’t even write this devotional blog as regularly as I normally do.   It was quite difficult to do life as usual as long as I was in the midst of the crisis.   At the time, my dad’s care was all that mattered, and rightfully so.   It’s now been about three weeks since my dad went to be with the Lord.   And, with the passing of time, life is starting to get back to normal—although one might call it a “new normal.”   The routines and patterns are starting to reappear. ...

I don’t remember the last time I actually held hands with my father.   I must have been very young—probably crossing a street or walking through a store or in a park.   Whenever and wherever it was, it was surely a long time ago…that is up until this past month.   Of course, through the years we would shake hands and give each other a kind of awkward father-son hug.   It wasn’t like we never touched each other. But, to hold hands is different.   I’m talking about putting your hand in your dad’s hand, palm against palm and fingers wrapped around each other’s—and keeping it there for a while. Over the past few weeks, as my father became more and more ill, I found my hand in his much more often.   As he drew closer towards his final breath, it was as if my hand just gravitated towards his; as if I could find some comfort in feeling the palm of his hand in mine; his fingers maybe wrapped around mine.   And, I think I was hoping that he was finding com...

For those of you who have been following my Pastor’s Devotion blogs for any length of time know that I am pretty regular about writing and posting.   For the past month, however, it has been very difficult for me to write, both in terms of time and my emotions.   Even as I write this blog I am sitting in my father’s room at the nursing facility, hearing him struggle with his breathing.   When I come into his room in the morning, I never know what I will face.   On top of my dad’s decline, my mom now needs round-the-clock care, only making the situation much more complicated and difficult for my siblings and me.   Needless to say, at this moment, life is not the way we would like it to be.   I guess that’s the reality of life: it doesn’t always turn out to be the way we would like it to be.   Yes, there are the joys of life—e.g. the graduation day, the wedding, the birth of the baby, holidays spent with family and friends—joys we must never forget ...