Pastor's Devotions by Tim Harris

One of the highlights of my childhood was watching my father put up the flag on Memorial Day and Independence Day (and probably for Veterans’ Day). Since he didn’t fly the flag year-round, when my father did take out the flag I knew it was a special day. And for me, it wasn’t merely seeing the flag flying from the front of our house as much as it was watching my father take the flag out from where he had stored it, unfurl it from its pole, and place it in the holder that was attached to the house. I just loved watching the whole process. I loved watching my father put up the flag.  From early on, I determined that one day I would bring the same experience to my own household. Thus, each year I make sure that when Memorial Day and Independence Day arrive, my flag is ready to fly. This year that meant putting up a new flagpole holder. And as of today, my flag is flying from the front of our house, ready to greet those who may arrive and to remind everyone that this weekend is a speci...

A few months ago, Kim and I noticed that although, when we leave the house for the day we leave out a full bowl of water for our dog Sadie, she rarely drinks any of it until we arrive home. In fact, no matter what time it might be that we come home, whether it is lunchtime or later in the day, Sadie doesn’t touch her water. And when we do enter the house, after excitedly greeting us, she goes to her water bowl and laps up the water as if she has been out in the desert for days and we finally gave her some water. If I could get her to understand, I would tell her there’s no need to wait until we get home. The water is always there. All she needs to do is go and drink whenever she begins to feel thirsty. But she won’t understand.   I’m reminded of the invitation given through the prophet Isaiah, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters….” (Isaiah 55:1 – ESV) And Jesus’ words found in John 7 where he says, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believ...

We’ve all heard it said, “The grass is greener on the other side.” Well, this year that is not true when it comes to my lawn. After fighting for the past few years with the crabgrass and other weeds that were taking over (and wasting money on products that either didn’t work or that I didn’t apply properly), I gave in and hired a company to do the weed-killing and fertilizations. The result is, this year my lawn looks better than ever. In fact, the grass is not greener on the other side; it is greener on my side (as if it’s some kind of competition!).  I think we would all agree that, if we are not careful, it is easy for us to fall into a “the grass is greener on the other side” mentality. We look at our lives and see all the troubles and difficulties that we are facing. We think about the things we wish we had or the things we wish we could do. At the same time, we look at the people around us and get the impression that everyone else’s life is put together, filled with fun and f...

For some reason, it seemed like this year it took forever for the cherry trees in our yard to blossom. From the beginning of April on, I kept on looking and checking for the pink blossoms to arrive, but they seemed so long in coming. Eventually, however, they did blossom, and our yard became surrounded by big pink balls hanging on the trees that encircle it. It’s quite a sight to behold!  Now however, a few weeks later, the blossoms are falling, and the ground has become a carpet of pink. It’s as well beautiful to look at, but admittedly a bit sad. After all, the fallen blossoms signal another passage of time, another passing of a season. It will be another full year until the cherry trees blossom again. A lot will take place between this year’s blossoming and next year’s. It makes me wonder, what will take place in between those two points in time. I don’t know…nor do you. Surely, the time between the blossoming of the cherry trees is quite uncertain.  There is One who knows,...