Pastor's Devotions by Tim Harris

One of the biggest challenges of coming into a new church is getting to know a whole new group of people by their names.   It’s not that the names themselves are so difficult or unfamiliar (although at times that can be the case). It is about being able to put a person’s name with their face.   It is about getting to know people by their name; being able to call people by name.   Most people say, “I’m really bad with names,” or, “I never forget a face but I can’t remember names.”   I think that’s the case for most of us. It probably has to do with how our brains work.   Learning names seems to take a lot more work and repetition.   For me, I find it most difficult to learn the names of people I only see once in a while—e.g. Sunday morning as they leave the sanctuary with the crowd. I do better with the people I see a couple of times per week or with whom I have repeated contact.   Thankfully, there are some people who have aided me by coming up to...

With the New York Mets having made it into the World Series, most of here in this New York/New Jersey area have baseball on our mind, me included. Although not all of us are diehard Mets fans, we’re excited about having one of our home teams make it this far. In fact, we are hoping to see them win the whole Series.   After all, we love cheering for our home team!    It makes me think of the old baseball song that we love to sing during the seventh inning stretch: “Take me out to the ball game. Take me out with the crowd…let me root, root, root for the home team….”   The song conjures up images of a stadium filled with people cheering on their team.   Whether it’s their local professional team or their kid’s little league team, the crowd is standing and cheering and rooting for their home team.   And, it is often the cheering of the crowd that fills that team with the energy and confidence they need to keep on playing, even when they find themselves dow...

This past week I decided to do a little outside cleanup at our new home.   That meant cutting back overgrown branches and raking out leaves and debris that had collected.   As I did so, I began to realize that wrapped around many of the trees were vines that had begun to choke the life out of some of them—and had actually killed a few.   Thus in order to salvage that which was still alive, I spent most of my time chopping back the vines as close to the root as possible.   This was not the first time I’ve had to deal with vines such as these.   Growing up, there were vines that would grow around our lilac trees, blending in so well it was difficult to distinguish the leaves.   A number of years ago I had to deal with vines that would grow around our forsythia bushes.   Our neighbor at the time called them, “bad boys!”   In each case, the vines twisted themselves around our trees and shrubbery, blending in, and choking the life out of the tree ...

After a week of waiting, the Verizon technician finally came yesterday to hook up our phone, TV, and Internet.   And, yes we still have a landline in our home!   I know many people no longer feel the need to have a landline—after all, most people just use their cell phones.   But, I can’t take the plunge and do away with it. Thus, I justify why we need it.   And thus, we once again Kim and I have a new phone number.   I’m not sure how many phone numbers Kim and I have had through the years, but just about every time we’ve moved, we’ve ended up with a new number.   That, of course, can be a bit inconvenient—one needs to memorize the new number, send it out to friends and family that may need it, etc.   On the other hand, a new phone number makes me feel like I’m really beginning a new chapter in my life.   It’s a sign that not only has a new phone line been run, but so many other aspects of my life have changed.   In this case, my new pho...

This week we finally moved to our new home in Eatontown, NJ. Tuesday the movers came and packed up the truck. Wednesday they delivered it.   And, the fun of unpacking has begun!   Although we did our best to accurately mark the boxes and pack up in as organized a fashion as possible, each time we now need something, a new search begins.   Even things we have unpacked and have already made use of are easily misplaced in the midst of shifting boxes, furniture that is being arranged and rearrange, and just the overall commotion of trying to set up a home.   Yesterday something as simple as walking the dog became a challenge. First I needed to find a plastic bag to take along the way (to pick up after her). That took about ten minutes of going from room to room wondering where the bags may have been stored.   Then, I needed to find the leash. Although I had used it the night before, somehow it got moved out of my line of sight.   Finally, I needed to find ...