Pastor's Devotions by Tim Harris

Recently I finished reading a book that I received for Christmas entitled, “Star Gazers: A History of the Telescope,” by astronomer Fred Watson. The book highlights not just the development of the telescope since its earliest years (e.g., Galileo), but as well the discoveries of the universe that have been made because of its development. Towards the end of the book the author states, it is believed that our universe is made up of approximately 100 billion galaxies, each made up of approximately 100 billion stars. That’s a lot of stars!  In Genesis 1 we have the description of the creation of the world. We are told that on day four God “…made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night.” And then we read this phrase: “He also made the stars.”  Such a short and simple phrase that one can almost miss when reading the passage. After all, our focus tends to be on the sun and moon. Yet we are told that God not only placed a sun and ...

In just a couple of days my daughter Joanna will be getting married. I can’t believe that day is just about here; it’s a day that I’ve anticipated from the time of her birth with both a bit of excitement and trepidation. You see, when I was told our third baby was a girl, I immediately thought of how one day I would have to walk her down an aisle and hand her off to another man to love her and take care of her for the rest of her life. And now, that day is just about here. I am sure it’s going to be a beautiful day. More than that, I know that Joanna is going to be a beautiful bride!  For me, there is always something incredibly special about the moment a groom first sees his bride in her wedding dress as she makes her way down the aisle towards him. As a pastor, I’ve been privileged to officiate dozens of weddings. At each one, I’m always filled with a bit of emotion as I see the look on the face of the groom when he sees his bride making her way towards him. In fact, I remember, ...