Pastor's Devotions by Tim Harris

Last weekend was a bit of a whirlwind for Kim and me (that’s why I missed writing these Pastor’s Devotions last week).   After Jonathan’s and Nathaniel’s graduations and Joanna’s return from her study abroad in Vienna, Austria, for about twenty-four hours, from last Saturday afternoon into Sunday afternoon, we had all three of our children as well as Jonathan’s wife, Danielle, Nathaniel’s girlfriend, Kylie, and Joanna’s boyfriend, Dan together in the house.   We all went out to dinner to celebrate on Saturday night. Everyone was in church together on Sunday morning. And, we had dinner together on Sunday afternoon.   Not long after we ate, however, Jonathan and his wife got on the road to get home, Nathaniel left to drive Kylie home, and Joanna and Dan went out for a bit.   Before we knew it, Kim and I were once again left in the house alone. Eventually, we decided to go take a walk on the boardwalk. And, as we did we asked ourselves, what had just happened?   A...

As a pastor whose job it is to encourage people to come to church and experience community, fellowship and corporate worship, it was always a bit disappointing to me that my own dad rarely attended church for quite a number of years.   Early in my life, he was the one who always made sure we   (the “kids”) were in church. But once he no longer needed to get us to and from church—or, when he felt we were old enough to decide for ourselves—he pretty much stopped going to church himself.   Because of his lack of church attendance, most people in the church questioned his faith.   I know I did too. Yet, even when he was there he didn’t quite fit in with most of them. After all, he liked to drink a beer on a hot day or a glass of wine with dinner. He didn’t mind his kids going to the movies.   He loved playing his sax in the Big Band—music that was considered by some to be “worldly music.” And, he was a pretty good dancer (I always enjoyed seeing him dance with ...