Pastor's Devotions by Tim Harris

Last weekend I ran my first 5K race in well over a year! I ran it to celebrate six months since my spinal surgery back in February. Although my time was not my fastest, crossing that finish line felt pretty special.  After all, because of what was happening in my spine, this past year my running was sporadic, to say the least. There would be a few weeks or even a month or so when I felt well enough to run. But then there were weeks and eventually months when running, no less racing, was out of the question. Thus crossing that finish line was pretty special.  That finish line, however, was for me really just another starting line—another beginning.  When I crossed that line, I not only had that feeling of accomplishment—i.e., “I made it!”—that I usually do, but I very quickly (at least on my way home), began to think about my next step in my training: how I might increase my pace and decrease my time, and when my next race might be. For me, crossing a finish line is never ...

Recently, Kim and I, along with our family, spent our annual two weeks at our family cabin on Lake Pleasant in the Adirondacks (that’s in upstate New York). As we do each year, we took a few hikes up and down a couple of local mountains. Although the mountains we climbed were nothing too crazy (one of them just over a 1000 ft elevation gain), they yet required a good amount of energy and effort on our part—especially on some pretty steep inclines. Eventually, however, the light broke through and the peak of the mountain was revealed. And at that moment, the payback was well worth the trip: a gorgeous view from the top!   Of course, on the way up we were surrounded by trees and could only see the forest around us. On the way up, we were focused on the trail as we tried to keep course and not trip over rocks and roots. On the way up, we were our legs at times began to tire. On the way up,  we our destination remained unseen for our view was limited. Once at the peak, howeve...