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Ramblings from Retirement – Jesus and Freedom of Speech By Pastor (retired) Lee Hemen April 14, 2022 My father would remind us that “Words mean things”, usually when my brother and I were in the midst of calling one another morons or some other teenage moniker. Words are important. Many in today’s America have forgotten a fundamental right that is guaranteed by our Constitution: Freedom of speech. This is a core right that should be protected at all costs. You may not like or agree with what someone else says, writes, or films but you can turn it off, not read it, or respond to it. It is your freedom to do so. Lease we forget this is why Jesus was persecuted as he was. He openly proclaimed the truth of God which stood in stark contrast to the false narrative of the religious leaders of his day. Over and over, we hear Jesus telling his detractors, “You say” and then telling them the truth. Using his free speech eventually cost him his life. In Matthew’s gospel we find a perfect example ...

Ramblings from Retirement – Coffee and Lilies By Pastor (retired) Lee Hemen April 8, 2022 I’m sitting here with my cup of coffee looking out my dining room window. I need to go out and put more birdseed in the birdfeeders. However, I enjoy this time away from the news and concerns of the world. It is the simple things in life that should cause us to pause and enjoy the moment. I have always enjoyed a simple cup of coffee, black, nothing else, ever since I was a child. Yep, I learned the joy of coffee when I was about five or six years old from my mother. Now her coffee could grow hair on a bald dog. She learned how to boil it in a skillet and make it about the consistency of thick black mud. A peculator pot was a new-fangled invention that she began to begrudgingly use and later we convinced her to use a drip coffee maker - a necessity electrical appliance that was constantly on from sunup until bedtime in her house. Interestingly, she drank her cup-o-Joe with lots of cream and two to ...

Ramblings from Retirement – Get Out There and Share Jesus! By Pastor (retired) Hemen April 2, 2022 It is a beautiful day today and I am sitting here thinking about going for a bicycle ride. I like to get exercise by riding my bike and I’ve learned that I cannot simply think about it, I have to get up and go ride my bike. You know it is the same thing as far as witnessing to others about your faith. You can’t simply think about it, you have to get up and go out and do it. However, much of what we have been taught over the decades about witnessing is completely not found in Scripture. Let’s find out what I mean by this shall we? Every gospel from Matthew to John talks about Jesus’ followers going into the world and telling others about Jesus and who he is. In fact, even the Book of Acts speaks to this issue as well. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have c...

Ramblings from Retirement – Meditating On God’s Word By Pastor (Retired) Lee Hemen April 1, 2022 I was thinking about a notion that I have heard my entire Christian life, namely that we are better believers if we hide God’s Work in our hearts by memorizing it perfectly. Mainly this teaching comes from the words of the Psalmist who wrote, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you (Psalms 119:11 NIV84).” Except this is total balderdash. Now do not get me wrong because if you want to memorize the Bible verse by verse, go ahead and do so. It might be good for you to do so but this isn’t what the Psalmist meant. In fact, nowhere in the pages of our Bibles did the original authors want you to be able to quote a specific passage at any given time in order to be a better Believer in God. Certainly they encourage us to know the words of the Lord but what did they really mean? First and foremost we often forget in our haste to impose certain spiritual concepts that we...

Ramblings from Retirement – Words Do Mean Things By Pastor (Retired) Lee Hemen March 29, 2022 The other day I was outside working in my yard getting things ready for spring, and the growing season, I began to think about how people today think that by using the right words or phrases will solve our problems. Now I know that many of them do not truly believe this, and they are simply endorsing their own politically correct propaganda in order to bring about a change in the world that fits their own paradigm. However, I suddenly realized that these social misfits do not realize it but they are endorsing what Jesus taught. And, I am sure that many of them would be horrified to realize this truth. One afternoon while Jesus was berating the hypocrites in the crowds that constantly followed him, he bluntly told them, “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil ...

Ramblings from Retirement - No Starfleet Future Awaits Humanity By Pastor (Retired) Lee Hemen March 28, 2022 I’ve been watching the latest installments of “Picard” on Paramount+ and have just gotten a huge dose of Hollyweird’s notion of what it thinks of the world at large and mankind in general. Picard and his crewmates have to go back in time to the year 2024 to fix the timeline. While there Picard meets up with the character Guinan, an alien being that lives a long time and is affected by time. Anyway, she is saddened by what she is witnessing here on earth and is getting ready to bug out when Picard enlists her help. She sees humanity’s hatred, pettiness, and greed but nowhere is the real reason given: Mainly mankind’s sinful nature. The Apostle Paul related that the only fix for mankind’s problem of sin was the righteousness found in Jesus Christ. He writes, “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have si...

Ramblings from Retirement – You’re gonna die By Retried Pastor Lee Hemen August 24, 2021 There are several quotes, memes, and statements floating around online and on TV that I have come to utterly hate and therefore disregard because they have become meaningless. They are: “We’re all in this together” and “If we can save even one life…” Both have become “pithyisms” – a new term that defines a statement that is made that means nothing but sounds pity. Politicians use them all the time to sound intelligent and to skirt the truth. First of all we are not all in this together because we do not know one another, we do not mingle in the same groups with one another, and most of you have absolutely no vested interest in who I am or what I do, except you are kind enough to read or listen to my ramblings. I know it is supposed to make us feel like we are part of a community, a family, or all in the same leaky boat but frankly we are not all in this together. Can we be supportive of a concerted...

Ramblings from Retirement - Do Not Fear By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen August 13, 2021 Are you fearful? Are you afraid? Some people like being scared or the feeling of fear. They will even do things in life to make themselves feel fear. Like bungee jumping from high places, climbing cliffs without any pinions or tie downs, or skydiving. Some will go to horror movies but then there are also those who keep themselves in a constant state of fear simply because they do not trust themselves, others, or Jesus to keep them. This is truly sad. Today is Friday the 13th and some folks are fearful of the date; kind of silly, if you ask me, but they are. Perhaps it is because they would rather live in a state of fear rather than peace. The news brings in to our lives a constant barrage of tragedy, horrors, and dismal happenings. My advice is to turn the news off and go read your Bible or listen to some good music. The world is full of fear and will not change until we go to our eternal rest or Jesus ...

 Ramblings from Retirement – Real Dads By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen June 21, 2021 My father was one of those quiet dads that didn’t say much but when he did you usually listened. My older siblings had a hard time with this which I could never figure out. However we all knew that if Dad said, “don’t” it was don’t, if he said, “yes” it was yes, and the same with his “no”. No was no and we didn’t dare go ask Mom. My father had advice he would offer up to us once in a while that I kind of tucked away. He would tell us that “Nothing in life is free.” Meaning that there is always a “catch” and we needed to be aware of this fact. Another was similar when he would remind us that the “Government never gives you something for nothing.” He would also remind us that “Freedoms are easily lost but hard to regain.” This last one I did not understand until later in life. He would offer up humorous ones as well, like “Do not be so open minded that you let your brains fall out of your head” and that ...

 Ramblings from Retirement – Trust By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen June 2, 2021 Sometimes we can become so myopic in our daily lives that we forget the people around us or the Lord who made us. Jesus reminded his listeners that the two greatest commandments were to love God totally and others like you love yourself. Fussing or fretting about things you have no control over can lead to anxiety and frustration with your circumstances. Yet when we focus on loving God as we should and loving others as he commanded the things we have no control over seem to fade into the background where they belong. I used to fret about family members who did not know the Lord and I began to wonder if God was actually listening to me when I prayed about my concern for them. I was gently reminded by a brother in Christ that perhaps my prayers were not really for the benefit of those I was praying for but to satisfy my selfish needs. Of course at first I was offended that he would claim I was being selfish w...

Ramblings from Retirement – A Whole New OS By Pastor Lee Hemen June 1, 2021 I recently have been trying to load a new OS (operating system) to an old laptop I have. Doing things like this is enjoyable for me. I also just replaced a hard drive, reformatted it, and loaded the OS for an Xbox system. It is like when my father in law would find joy in his carpentry and a job well done. Doing computer or cell phone geek stuff and having it go right gives me enjoyment. However with trying to get this old laptop working with a different OS has proven a bit frustrating. I am sure the final outcome will be fine but the work and the constant failure for it to load properly is frustrating. Life can be that way for some of us when it seems like we are constantly rebooting ourselves and it seems as if nothing is working. Perhaps the answer is using a better OS for your life? I’ve learned that trying to do the same things the same way with the same results is foolish. Perhaps your life needs a reboot...

Ramblings from Retirement – The Bigger they Are By Pastor Lee Hemen May 30, 2021 Have you heard the old saying “The bigger they are the harder they fall.”? Did you know that it is a reference to what occurred with a young shepherd boy and a military giant? His name was David and his advisory was Goliath. Recently there has been a real attempt at rewriting the history of our Nation. I was dismayed to recently read a story about how WWII would have been won within several months without D-Day or the USA getting involved. This simply is not true. We were a nation in the throes of Democratic socialism that introduced some of the largest budgets ever seen, until Presidents Obama, Trump, and now Biden. In fact, only WWII would bring us out of the malaise of a flat economy and joblessness we were suffering. It was the USA’s ability to retool, manufacture, and rebuilding so quickly that brought about the destruction of both Japan and Germany. Russia could not have stood up to the Nazi onslaugh...

Ramblings from Retirement – Who Is Your Neighbor By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen May 29, 2021 Sitting here this morning I did what I always do, I prayed for my neighbors. I pray for them by name and street address. I use the Bless Every Home app. You can also go onto their website and do it that way. I like it because I can edit the names to keep them as up-to-date as possible. I also try to walk three to four times a week throughout my neighborhood with my grandkids or by myself, for exercise and to keep up with what is happening in my neighborhood. I’ve met more neighbors on my walks, waved to them, said “Hi.” or stopped to talk with them. I pick up concerns and blessings which I pray for when I pray for them and this brings me to one of my favorite passages of Scripture. In Luke’s gospel we find Jesus speaking to a very intelligent young man: “On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ ‘What is written in t...

Ramblings from Retirement – Unity and Peace By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen May 27, 2021 I watched the movie Mortal Engines the other day. It is a post-apocalyptic movie about a mysterious young woman, Hester Shaw who emerges as the only one who can stop the giant predator city London on wheels devouring everything in its path. Feral, and fiercely driven by the memory of her mother, Hester joins forces with an outcast from London along with a dangerous outlaw with a bounty on her head. Thousands of years after civilization was destroyed by a cataclysmic event, humankind has adapted and a new way of living has evolved. Gigantic moving cities now roam the Earth, ruthlessly preying upon smaller traction towns. It is a Chinese-backed film that was supposed to be a condemnation of corporate society but fails miserably on this score and instead is a perfect example of a socialistic society headed by a dictatorship. You know, just like communist China. Surprisingly there are those who actually th...

Ramblings from Retirement – Lost! By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen May 10, 2021 Have ever been lost or have you had a child get lost? I’ve had both happen to me. When I was little, about 3 years old, my family was visiting the downtown area of the small town we lived near. They met another family that they knew and began talking to them and as they did my father reached over and placed me on the hood of a nearby car. No one thought anything about this in that era because cars were made a lot sturdier and out of sheet metal. It was a sunny spring day, the car hood was warm and I fell asleep. Waking up a short time later I realized that my family was nowhere to be seen. About this time a policeman came walking by and asked me if I was lost and where my family was. We were taught to trust any policeman. Shortly my family came running around the corner; my father first, then my brother, sister and mom. Of course they asked me where I had wandered off to but then realized that they were the ones...

Ramblings from Retirement – Take Time to Ponder By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen May 9, 2021 Before the birth of her first child my daughter was kind of scared; you could see it in her eyes. She did not know what to expect but everything turned out fine and she gave birth to a sweet baby boy. During the birth of her second child she was a little bit late in heading to the hospital, called me to rush over, and I helped her give birth to her tiny daughter there on the floor of her apartment. Her husband was rushing home as fast as he could. Her son helped direct the EMS and firemen to where the baby was being born. After both births it was amazing how she cuddled and kissed each newborn. My mother was not always what you would call a “loving” person however she would find the time to put together a picnic lunch, take us to the park, and tell us stories while eating our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the grass sitting on a blanket. As a young child she would have me sit next to her and ...

Ramblings From Retirement - Spare the Rod? By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen May 8, 2021 Mother’s Day is tomorrow and I’ve been writing a few remembrances about my mother. She stood at a mighty 5 foot 2 inches but she was full of life and none of us children crossed her. She could get a terror on in nothing flat and was not afraid to spare the rod. In fact I have planted lilacs in our backyard in remembrance of her because she loved them a lot, however they were also her favorite tool for “whippin’s”. More than once I heard from her say, “Here’s a sharp knife, now go out to the lilac bush and cut me off a sucker so I can whip you.” Now lest you think that she was being abusive, she was not. A few whacks was all it took to get us into a proper frame of mind. None of us suffered from her ministrations and in fact all of us learned respect and discipline from her. She would remind us that to “spare the rod is to spoil the child” which of course is not found in the Bible but we learn from Prover...

 Ramblings from Retirement – Find Your Peace By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen May 6, 2021 For me there is nothing better in the morning than to sit listening to the squirrels chattering outside, the red-winged blackbirds singing, and the sounds of people mowing lawns while I begin my day drinking a black cup of coffee. I grind some Guatemala Antigua beans, make four cups of the smoothest tasting dark nectar there is. My mother taught me to drink straight black coffee. Except her coffee was often boiled in a pan of water on the stove and had the consistency of crude oil. Instead of pouring it you cut off a chunk and swallowed it whole. She would often let it cook on the stove or in her newfangled peculator all day as she wandered back and forth getting a new chunk in her cup. She learned to make coffee as a young girl in Wyoming cooking for cowhands. Lest you think it had a detrimental effect on her, she lived into her early 90’s and continued to drink plain black crude oil of coffee all...

 Ramblings from Retirement – Words Mean Things By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen May 5, 2021 Recently there was a video played on national TV that displayed a black woman pulled over by a sheriff deputy for driving while talking on her cell phone. She claimed she was a teacher, had her child in the car sitting next to her and luckily the officer had his own body camera filming the whole scene. By the way the officer remained completely professional, courteous, and did his job while the woman went totally berserk berating the officer with racial slurs, vulgar language, and name calling. It turns out she has a history of doing this and tired to file a police report of the incident claiming that the officer profiled her for no reason. Good thing the deputy had videoed the whole incident. I was reminded of when Jesus related to the crowd that “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyon...

Ramblings from Retirement – Forget About It By Lee Hemen May 1, 2021 I shared before that I’ve been going through pictures and stuff my mother had for decades at my brother’s house. A huge trunk now converted to four medium sized cardboard boxes. She passed away several years ago at the age of 92 and lived a pretty full life. She only had a 7th grade education getting her education in a one room school, lived in a circus tent in the Wyoming wilderness, survived the Kelly Flood in 1927 in Wyoming when the Gros Ventre River broke through a natural earthen dam caused from a mud slide several years earlier, and she could ride, shoot, and roll her own cigarettes with one hand. Later she left home at the age of 15 or 16 and followed her sister to Alaska, another wilderness. She worked in the newly built Coca Cola bottling plant and there met my father who asked her to marry him several times refusing him every time but the last. All of that to say this that she lived quite a life. However wh...