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Ramblings from Retirement – Why Struggle? By Lee Hemen, Retired Pastor March 23, 2021 Have you ever known someone who seems to constantly struggle in life? They struggled on the playground trying to find someone to play with, they struggled through Middle School and High School trying to fit in, and they struggled in college trying to find themselves. When they get a job they struggle with coworkers, bosses, and trying to get ahead. When they look for love they struggle trying to find the “right” one to love and they struggle raising their kids and being partnered in a marriage. And they certainly struggle with their relationship with God. Esau was this kind of a person who struggled all through his life from his birth to his inheritance. We could make excuses for Esau and say that his twin brother Jacob was a grasping deceiver but we forget that we all make choices in life and perhaps this is where many of our struggles come from? Esau was impulsive and knew he should have safeguarded...

The Tainted Lady at the Local Watering Hole! -- John 4:1-26 By Pastor Lee Hemen November 16, 2014 Recently one of the local news outlets did a series on prostitution in Portland, Oregon. The people involved are younger and more dangerous than ever before. They enslave their victims, often abusing them physically, mentally, and emotionally. Police are trying to get a handle on the human trafficking in order to gain control of illegal guns on the street as well. Interestingly, no one ever mentioned the fact that the criminals involved did not register their weapons or submitted to background checks. I digress. Some call it the oldest profession, but it is a dirty, nasty, crime-ridden, and immoral blight on society that needs to be eradicated. In Jesus' day we discover that many women were placed in this horrendous position simply because they had no other means of support. Pimps, drugs, and illegal weapons were not necessarily a part of the trade back then, however it did carry a soc...

Malachi 1:1-5 – Being responsive! By Pastor Lee Hemen December 4, 2011 AM My Mom used to play mind games with us kids when we did something bad. A lot of mothers do this. Here’s what I mean: Right in the middle of scolding us over our bad behavior, she would innocently ask, “Don’t you love your dear old mother?” Or she would declare, “I work and I slave and what thanks do I get?” It was a form of psychological warfare to get a response from us and to have us think about the consequences of our actions. It’s called guilt. Malachi is kind of like my mother. His message is for God’s wayward children. Didn’t they love God? Didn’t God love them? If that were true, then why were they acting the way they did? Had they gotten spiritually soft? God’s chosen people had gotten so lackadaisical about their faith that they forget what their relationship to God meant! Malachi’s message from the Lord is to illicit a response from his people. Malachi’s message applies to us as much as it d...