Pastor's Devotions by Tim Harris

The home we recently moved into is on “Applebey Street.”   And believe it or not, we have two apple trees on the property.   (I guess it only makes sense!)   At first we thought that they were crab apples, which are inedible. But after moving in and seeing the apples grow, we realized that these apples are “real” apples—that they are actually edible apples.   The problem is, however, most of what appear to be the good apples have all been out of our reach.   They are at the higher parts of the tree beyond where I can reach, even with a ladder.   Eventually, the apples fall off the tree and become food for the deer that live nearby, rather than for us. But, here is what we have found. Most of the apples that have fallen are really not all that attractive once we see them up close. Most of them are somewhat diseased or have insects or are just very, very ugly and hard.   The apples that were once beyond our reach and so tempting, no longer have the ...

One of the biggest challenges of coming into a new church is getting to know a whole new group of people by their names.   It’s not that the names themselves are so difficult or unfamiliar (although at times that can be the case). It is about being able to put a person’s name with their face.   It is about getting to know people by their name; being able to call people by name.   Most people say, “I’m really bad with names,” or, “I never forget a face but I can’t remember names.”   I think that’s the case for most of us. It probably has to do with how our brains work.   Learning names seems to take a lot more work and repetition.   For me, I find it most difficult to learn the names of people I only see once in a while—e.g. Sunday morning as they leave the sanctuary with the crowd. I do better with the people I see a couple of times per week or with whom I have repeated contact.   Thankfully, there are some people who have aided me by coming up to...

With the New York Mets having made it into the World Series, most of here in this New York/New Jersey area have baseball on our mind, me included. Although not all of us are diehard Mets fans, we’re excited about having one of our home teams make it this far. In fact, we are hoping to see them win the whole Series.   After all, we love cheering for our home team!    It makes me think of the old baseball song that we love to sing during the seventh inning stretch: “Take me out to the ball game. Take me out with the crowd…let me root, root, root for the home team….”   The song conjures up images of a stadium filled with people cheering on their team.   Whether it’s their local professional team or their kid’s little league team, the crowd is standing and cheering and rooting for their home team.   And, it is often the cheering of the crowd that fills that team with the energy and confidence they need to keep on playing, even when they find themselves dow...

This past week I decided to do a little outside cleanup at our new home.   That meant cutting back overgrown branches and raking out leaves and debris that had collected.   As I did so, I began to realize that wrapped around many of the trees were vines that had begun to choke the life out of some of them—and had actually killed a few.   Thus in order to salvage that which was still alive, I spent most of my time chopping back the vines as close to the root as possible.   This was not the first time I’ve had to deal with vines such as these.   Growing up, there were vines that would grow around our lilac trees, blending in so well it was difficult to distinguish the leaves.   A number of years ago I had to deal with vines that would grow around our forsythia bushes.   Our neighbor at the time called them, “bad boys!”   In each case, the vines twisted themselves around our trees and shrubbery, blending in, and choking the life out of the tree ...

After a week of waiting, the Verizon technician finally came yesterday to hook up our phone, TV, and Internet.   And, yes we still have a landline in our home!   I know many people no longer feel the need to have a landline—after all, most people just use their cell phones.   But, I can’t take the plunge and do away with it. Thus, I justify why we need it.   And thus, we once again Kim and I have a new phone number.   I’m not sure how many phone numbers Kim and I have had through the years, but just about every time we’ve moved, we’ve ended up with a new number.   That, of course, can be a bit inconvenient—one needs to memorize the new number, send it out to friends and family that may need it, etc.   On the other hand, a new phone number makes me feel like I’m really beginning a new chapter in my life.   It’s a sign that not only has a new phone line been run, but so many other aspects of my life have changed.   In this case, my new pho...