Pastor's Devotions by Tim Harris

This past week I’ve been dealing with a corneal abrasion in my right eye, such that the vision in that eye became completely blurred. Aside from the pain and the sensitivity to light that I was experiencing, I couldn’t even read the top two letters (i.e. largest letters) on the eye chart. When I covered my left eye, everything became a blur. Thankfully, with the treatments given to me by the doctor, as well as the prayers of my friends, my eyesight is almost back to normal. For about five days, however, it was terrible having blurry vision.  It made me think, however, how it is we actually see our lives and the world around us. The opinions and so-called knowledge that we so easily spout, as well as the answers that we tend to so quickly give, are all based on what we might call “blurry vision.” That’s true of any of us and all of us. Thus, the politician who thinks he knows how to solve all of our nation’s problems has blurry vision; the philosopher who thinks he knows the reason...

Last night I was watching the US Open Women’s semi-final match between Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka. At the beginning of the match, it seemed as if Williams had the match in the bag, winning the first set 6-1. Williams seemed strong and undefeatable; Azarenka was having trouble serving, was making a lot of unforced errors, and just seemed to be off of her game. I almost turned off the match thinking the ending was too predictable. I’m glad I didn’t. Azarenka, who had never beaten Williams in a major tournament, won the next two sets 6-3, 6-3! The player I had written off as the loser, became the winner! It was quite a comeback! That match last night, reminds me a lot of what it felt like 19 years ago today when we saw the World Trade Towers crumble, heard of the planes that crashed into the Pentagon and into the field in PA. It felt as if our whole world had collapsed as we realized the staggering number of deaths and experienced the aftermath of such an attack. The enemy seem...

When we were first told that we needed to wear face masks to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, it was almost impossible to find any. I remember going on Amazon and ordering a few for Kim and me at a price I thought was outrageous. Then, a friend of mine in NYC heard that I was having trouble getting my hands on some, and knowing someone who had access to them, sent a couple packs of masks to my house—hand delivered!   Today the situation is quite different. One can find masks readily available in just about any store. And, they are being made and sold by all kinds of companies and stores—and with all kinds of designs. In fact, a couple of weeks ago I bought a package of three denim-looking cloth masks from GAP. I have seen sports masks, funny masks, statement masks, and even masks to be worn with formal wear. It’s amazing to me how quickly the mask industry has grown and thus the variety of masks that are available today—all within a relatively short time. Yes, today there a...