Pastor's Devotions by Tim Harris

This past week I participated in my first triathlon, the New Jersey State Triathlon. With about 1,000 participants, the race included a 500 meter lake swim, 11.5 mile bike ride, and a 5K run. It was a very exciting day for which I had put in just over 8 weeks of training.  In fact, it was one of the most exciting things I have ever done, but also the most physically exhausting thing I’ve ever done (and the heat and humidity of the day didn’t help!).  Through the course of the race there were many times when I began to question whether or not I’d be able to finish. At those times, however, I would remind myself that this race was in the end, all about endurance. Could I endure riding 11.5 miles after having just swam 500 meters in, what for me was, a very difficult environment? Could I complete the 5K run after swimming and cycling? Or, would I give up and give in to the feelings pain, tiredness, and weakness that had begun to take over my body?  During my times of trainin...

Every so often, when Kim and I have a bit of free time, we will play the game Scrabble. Those who know the game, know that each player is hoping to form words from the letters on their rack and those already placed on the board. Get the right letters in hand and the words can be many. Get the wrong letters in hand and there’s a chance you might get stuck or end up forming words that bring no more than a few points.  Of course, the larger your vocabulary the better chance you will have of looking at the letters in your rack and the available letters on the board and come up with words that can be formed. That’s why people who read a lot often do well at the game. The more words they have in their head the more they have to draw from when playing the game.  Depending upon whom I am playing with, I can feel as if my head is filled with lots of words or I can feel as if my head is void of any real vocabulary at all.  It makes me wonder, what am I putting into my head? After a...

My grandson Jack, who is now 14 months old, has decided that he wants to spend most of his traveling-time on his feet. In other words, he has begun to walk! It’s not that previously he couldn’t walk at all. It’s just that he felt much more secure on his hands and knees—and he could get around much faster by crawling than walking. Most recently, however, he has begun to make the transition from his knees to his feet.  Jack has begun to walk.  It seems to me that Jack, like most babies, is very pragmatic. Why walk when it feels much safer to be closer to the ground? Why walk when one can move much faster on their knees than on their feet? Why walk when there is yet so much instability in an upright position compared to being down on one’s hands and knees? But as the instability has begun to fade and the pace has picked up, the transition is being made from crawling to walking.   Of course, we are all very much like Jack and most other babies. We like our safety and sec...