Pastor's Devotions by Tim Harris

We all know that over this past month millions of people have had their lives left in shambles, to say the least.   Hurricanes Harvey, Maria, and Jose have swept through south Texas and the Caribbean, destroying homes, knocking out power, and taking lives.   Two earthquakes in Mexico, the greatest being close to Mexico City, left the city and surrounding towns in heaps of rubble. In Southern Asia, record monsoon rains passed through India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh killing at least 1200 people and leaving hundreds of thousands displaced.   And, let’s not forget about the, at least 400 people in the West African nation of Sierra Leon who were killed by mudslides triggered by unprecedented rains, as well as the thousands who lost their homes.   And, the list goes on! Looking over the rubble of his home in Dominica.   Jesus said, before the end comes,   “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in

A few months ago a friend came over and helped Kim and me choose paint colors for the interior of our home.   After a few days of holding onto them we thought we better put them in a “safe place” until we were ready to paint. Well, now that I’m about to begin the project of painting our downstairs rooms, I needed the paint chips in order to get the right paints. When I went to look for them, however, they were nowhere to be found.   In fact, for two days Kim and I searched for them—with me insisting she had placed them in one place and she insisting they were somewhere else.   Quite embarrassed, I called our friend and told her we had lost the paint chips and had to go through the process of choosing the colors all over again.   Later that day, however, I mentioned the paint chips to Kim again and described their size. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in Kim’s head! She knew exactly where they were!   The lost paint chips were found!   I quickly called our friend and told her the g

This past Monday I ran my first 5K Race. Back in June I decided I wanted to give myself a new challenge and start running. So, I began training to run our town’s annual Labor Day 5K.   After about a month of training, both on the treadmill and on the boardwalk, I could run the 3.1 miles necessary to complete the race. In fact, by July 4 th I could run 4 miles with my son, Nathaniel.   Now it was time to get my 5K time down below 30 minutes, then below 29 minutes; my goal was to run the race at a 9 minute pace.    In the end, not only did I want to complete the 5K, but to do so within a particular timeframe.   A few days before the race, my friend Gary offered to run with me. It was great to have someone to run alongside of me and push my pace a bit.   As we came down the final stretch, Gary encouraged me to give a final push.   I wasn’t sure how much more I could give, but then I heard the cheering of the crowd up ahead and eventually saw Kim and Gary’s wife Karen by the finish l

Yesterday I spent the day with my brother John at the US Open watching hours of tennis. It was a great day as we watched some of the veterans play as well as some lesser-known players, and even some potentially rising stars.   The level of play from all of the players is incredible. Each one of them hits so hard, moves so fast, and is able to make such tremendous shots. However, I have realized through the years, that there is often one major difference between those who consistently win and those who do not; there is one major difference between the champions and those who might win a set here and there or even a match now and then.   The difference is, stamina—both mental and physical.   It is not uncommon, as happened yesterday, for a player like Roger Federer (seeded 3) to lose a set or two to an unseeded player like Mikhail Youzhny. But, what happens when the match goes to five sets?   Once again, Federer won. Or, for example, as happened last night to Rafael Nadal (seeded 1)