Pastor's Devotions by Tim Harris

With only 28 days, February may be the shortest month of the year, but to me it feels like the longest month of the year.  After all, it’s the month that we just want to get through so that we can finally head towards spring. It’s the month that seems to tease us every so often with a bit of warmth and then plunge us back into the depths of winter. It’s a month that I really just want to come to an end—and that in and of itself, makes it feel very, very long.  I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining. And it’s not that completely I hate winter (although it is definitely not my favorite season). But at this point in the year I’m a bit tired of putting on the heavy jacket, hat, and gloves to walk the dog. I’m thinking about going out for a run in shorts and a tank. I’m practically dreaming about jumping into the ocean or the pool for a swim. But here we are still waking up to the cold and, today at least, a bit more snow. To me, February definitely feels like the longest month...

Today is Valentine’s Day. It’s a day to celebrate love, especially romantic love. Of course, we can celebrate the love between friends or siblings or parents and their children. But we all pretty much know that the day is really focused on the love between a man and a woman who, when they look into each other’s eyes, feel that so-called “spark of love.” It’s a day for flowers and chocolates, and maybe an excuse for a little added romance. For those who are in that kind of relationship it can be a really nice day.  Thus, today I will in some small ways celebrate the love I experience in my relationship with my wife, Kim who is for sure, my valentine!  I am keenly aware, however, that for others this may be a day to mourn the fact that they’ve lost a love or maybe never had what is called by some, a “true love.” For them, a day like this can be a very hard day as they wonder what happened to the “love of their life,” why they haven’t found their “true love,” and wonder whether o...

For the kids it’s almost as good as a snow day (well, not nearly!). For the parents it’s a bit of a nightmare. A delayed opening for school due to difficult weather may have the kids celebrating another hour or two at home, but it can be a bit of a headache for parents. I’m sure such was the case for many families this past week here in our part of New Jersey as many schools, including the pre-school which Kim directs, had a delayed opening due to the projection of snow mixed with ice and rain early in the morning.  Except for the kids who don’t mind a delayed opening of school, delays are not usually what we hope or wish for. After all, who likes to get to the airport and find out that their flight was delayed? Who enjoys standing at the train station waiting for a train that has been delayed? Who wants to get to their doctor’s appointment only to be told the doctor was delayed? And who of us enjoys being delayed as we sit in a traffic jam (which happens easily here in New Jersey)...

Have you ever felt like you didn’t know whether you were coming or going? It happens to all of us. Life becomes so busy that we can begin to feel as if we’ve lost direction, like we’re being pulled in a million directions, as if we’ve lost our bearings. As we say, we don’t know whether we are coming or going.   I’ve felt that way many times in my life. In fact, I recently said to someone, that’s how I feel just about every January. I come out of the very busy Christmas season thinking there’s going to be a bit of a break. Instead, I find myself thrust into a pretty hectic month as so many things need to be taken care of, prepared for, kicked off as we begin the new year. It’s for sure a time when I can feel as if I don’t know whether I am coming or going!  A couple of weeks ago, just as I was beginning to feel that way, I came to Psalm 121 in my morning Bible reading. There I read these words, “…the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forever more.” (P...

A couple of weeks ago I looked up into the night sky and couldn’t figure out what that “big light” was that was shining so brightly. At first I thought it was the top of a radio tower or something of that nature. But that didn’t make sense. I knew it wasn’t an airplane. Was it one of those infamous drones we’ve heard so much about lately? It didn’t seem so—after all, it wasn’t blinking or moving. Finally, I pulled out the app I have on my cell phone that shows the sky and identifies stars, planets, and constellations. (It can even give the location of satellites and the space station.) It turns out, I was looking at the planet Saturn!  In all of my years, I had never seen Saturn shine so brightly—at least not to my knowledge.  It's being called “The Parade of Planets.” This month we are being hosted to an incredible sight as, just after dark four of the planets can be seen by the naked eye: Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, and Venus. Mars is of course the one with the reddish color to i...

Last weekend Kim and I took down our Christmas tree and put away all of the Christmas decorations—the stockings, nativity sets, mistletoe, and all the other things that help us celebrate Christmas in our home. Then on Monday afternoon, I took down the lights that decorated the front of our house. It was the final part of the process of putting Christmas away until next year. To me, it felt kind of sad.  From Thanksgiving on, the anticipation and excitement of Christmas swells. And part of the process that feeds into that anticipation and excitement is all the decorating that takes place. As we put up the Christmas tree, hang the stockings, and set up the lights in front of our house, I am personally looking forward to being with family, exchanging gifts, having our traditional meals…and especially now, being with our grandsons. Then it happens. And then it is suddenly all over. Before you know it, ready or not,  it’s time to take down the tree and put everything away until nex...

This week we’ve all been reminded that, in spite of the fact there are so many things we are able to control, the wind is not one of them. In fact, there is almost nothing we can do about the wind.  Thus, there has been no way for the firefighters and other first responders to stop the blowing of the Santa Ana winds that were responsible for spreading the terribly destructive fire that hit Los Angeles this past week.  For sure, as some have said, the fire that brought so much destruction in its wake was seemingly apocalyptic. The pictures we’ve seen here on the east coast I’m sure are nothing compared to the reality of what has taken place. If anything, the before and after pictures of the communities that have been wiped out are quite telling. The pictures of the wind-whipped flames are horrendous, if not frightening. If only, there was some way that we could have stopped the wind. But there was not and is not.  Jesus said, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear i...

Happy New Year! 2025 has arrived and some of us can’t believe it.  After all, it seems as if we just rang in 2024…or 1998 for that matter (or whatever year is fresh in your mind).  For sure, time can seem to fly, especially as one gets to be a bit older. Nonetheless, here we are at the start of a new year.  Of course, this is the time of year that people are making their resolutions and setting their goals for the year to come. The gym will be a bit more crowded. Dieting begins. Career goals and educational goals will be laid out. Many people will begin new Bible reading plans or commit to a more consistent devotional life. And the list of resolutions and goals can go on and on. But the question is, how many people will continue to pursue their goals and fulfill their resolutions as the year goes on?  You know how it normally goes: By the end of February the crowd in the gym has thinned out a bit, old eating habits return, and many of the other start-of-the-year comm...