Pastor's Devotions by Tim Harris

The last time I wrote this Pastor’s Devotion blog, I was on a plane, on my way to Leon, Nicaragua with a team of ten people.   Well, we arrived at the airport safely, made it through immigration and customs without a hitch, and picked up our minibus for the week.   Since it was lunchtime (actually past our lunchtime), we stopped where I have stopped dozens of times in the past: a Tip Top chicken restaurant within a little strip mall on the way out of Managua.   It was there that the “fun” began! As we were getting out of the vehicle to go into the restaurant, some of us decided to leave our backpacks on the floor and under the seats of the bus rather than take them in with us.   Even our driver did the same. We figured they would be out of sight, it was broad daylight, and the parking lot had a guard.   In the past, however, I have never done this. I’ve always taken my backpack with me. I knew better!   I’m sure you know where this story is going.   When we finished eating and

I'm currently aboard my flight from Newark, NJ to Miami, eventual headed to Leon, Nicaragua.  There's a team of ten of us that will be down there this coming week.  We will be painting classrooms at Promise Christian Academy, preparing the school for the new upcoming school year; deliver backpacks and school supplies to the children of Promise Kids Foundation; and thanks to the generosity of the people of Shrewsbury First Assembly, the church I currently pastor, we will also leave them with the monies needed to purchase uniforms and shoes for the children!   Oh, yes we will also be able to deliver "Christmas" gifts to the kids (again due to the generosity of some people, including La Vid Verdadura (thanks Pastors Jose and Madelyn Rivera!), along with Christmas cards made by the children of First Assembly! So, what exactly are we looking to accomplish as we paint, work with the kids, and minister in the churches we will attend?  Is it a feel-good moment for those who

I’ve heard the expressions before: “Tend the fire” and “Stoke the fire.” But aside from an annual campfire up in the mountains, I never really had a reason to tend or stoke a fire much.   That was until now.   In recent weeks, I find myself much more preoccupied with tending a fire than I have ever been before.   As some of you may have seen on Facebook, the home we purchased this past year came with a wood-burning stove in the family room.   It’s especially great on a cold night to get the stove going and feel the warmth coming from it. In fact, sometimes it can get the room as warm as 89 degrees—at which time we need to crack some windows open so that we don’t shrivel up in prunes!   On the other hand, if one doesn’t keep an eye on the fire and periodically stoke it, it will go out sooner than we may want it to.   I have found that it is important to tend to the fire in order to keep it burning strong and long.   In the same way, there are many things in our lives tha