Pastor's Devotions by Tim Harris

After a year of escaping COVID—and being as careful as I thought I could be—a couple of weeks ago I came down with the illness. That being the case, I’ve had to stay put in the house. Not that I’ve wanted to go anywhere since I’ve been pretty sick (I won’t get into the details!). Of course, Kim has had to quarantine with me as well. In fact, she also tested positive. So, we’ve been stuck in quarantine mode.  For me it’s been a bit discouraging in that I’ve still been healing from my back surgery. After almost a month of being home, I was really glad to be going to physical therapy, out for short walks, and preaching again at church. I felt like I was beginning to reengage in life. Then suddenly, it all came to a grinding halt. After weeks of being stuck in the house with a bad back, now I’ve had to spend another two weeks in the house recuperating from COVID.  Yes, I’m stuck in the house again!  I am sure, none of us likes being stuck in the house…or, stuck anywhere for that matter!  W

Like many of you who live in New Jersey (and probably elsewhere), our home is in a neighborhood that is surrounded by deer. In fact, Kim and I live close to an arboretum that is filled with more and more deer every year. And every day, those deer wander out of their patch of woods and onto our lawns and into our yards, destroying just about everything in their path, or so it seems.  Don’t get me wrong, deer are beautiful creatures. Their fawns make you almost want to take one home. And what they do is not their fault; after all, they’re just animals doing what comes to them by instinct. Yet, the truth is they wreak havoc in a neighborhood such as ours, pulling up flowers, eating away at bushes, eating the seed I put out for the birds—even hopping the fence—and leaving their droppings wherever they happened to be. In fact, the other day as I was sitting in our backyard I noticed that one of our bushes was half of what it was just a few days ago. Apparently, the deer had been there!   If

Due to my recent back surgery, and even in the weeks leading up to it, I have not been able to walk our dog, Sadie. When my sons and son-in-law were around, they would take her on some pretty long walks and even runs. She really had a great time with them. From the time they left, however, Kim has had to do both the early morning and late afternoon walks. But because Kim gets home a little bit later than Sadie is used to, Sadie keeps coming to me and looking up at me, as if asking me if I won’t take her for a walk. The best I can do is let her out into the backyard. But for her, that’s not the same. When Kim does come home Sadie is excited as can be, knowing that she’s finally going to get to go on a walk. For much of the day, however, Sadie just has to wait.   I can identify well with Sadie these days. I too am looking forward to being able to go for a walk. Not that I’m bedridden. But for me, walking around the house or just a block up and back with my cane is not really going for a