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The Joy of a Father’s Heart By Pastor Lee Hemen December 12, 2021 I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart; I will enter His courts with praise! I will say this is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice for He has made me glad! The JOY of the Lord is my strength; it has to be especially now. This is both the happiest day and the saddest day of my life! But as you can see, I think I will focus on the happier part! Oh Lord, my Yahweh thank You for being the Lord You are. Thank You for my daughter, Miriam and of course Yoseph! A father knows this day will come but he never realizes just how fast it does come. Your daughter is one day playing with your beard, learning to walk, learning the Psalms and singing them sweetly around the house, and the next… she has growing into a fine young woman! Can it be that she is fourteen now? They grow up so fast! This last year she has learned to cook, sew, keep a household, and to manage affairs well like a good Jewish woman should. Just...

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 - Nativity By Lee Hemen (Retired Pastor) December 24, 2020 A couple traveling was nothing new especially at this time when everyone was required to head back to their ancestral places of birth. It was required and they had no choice in the matter. The government dictated that they had to go and be counted and so they went. To do otherwise would have brought the full force of the Empire down on them. This one couple walked side by side carrying a few meager possessions, food, and things for the baby that could be born any time soon. The young woman was pregnant. Her husband was worried because there were so many traveling and what if he could not find anywhere for them to rest and for her to be protected from the weather. She was pregnant after all and that alone was risk enough. Many women died in child birth but she was strong, young, and a lovely person who loved God and he was certain that God loved her. I wonder if he thought about what had transpired in b...

As Silent Nights Go By Pastor Lee Hemen December 19, 2020 As silent nights go, it was nothing new; Only noted by a chosen few. The evening breeze blew soft that night, And stars twinkled in heavenly delight.      Shepherds watched their flocks in fields, Covered themselves from the cold to shield. While in a little town in a manger lay, A small baby boy tucked in soft brown hay. Near his crude crib his father knelt, His young mother in wonder felt; Her son so tiny chosen to be, The one who’d come to set captives free. Back in the fields angels sing, Hallelujahs to the Godly king! Born that day in the tiny town, A baby wears a heavenly crown. The shepherds rush to the manger scene, To tell the parents of what they’d seen. The mother wonders at what it meant, About her son that God has sent. How could it be that one so small, Born in a simple manger stall, Could be the savior of all mankind That even wise men would seek to find? And yet the carols we still sing, Of the baby...

The birth of Jesus – Matthew 1:18-25 By Pastor Lee Hemen December 30, 2018 Matthew is the first of what is commonly called the “Synoptic Gospels”. “Synoptic” comes from the Greek adjective synoptikos, which is from two words syn and opsesthai, “to see with or together.” While Matthew, Mark, and Luke have distinctive purposes, they nevertheless view the life of Jesus Christ in a common way. There have been multiple arguments concerning why they are similar and yet also different. Everything from there supposedly being some mysterious other source document known as “Q” no one has ever found a single scrap of to the notion that it was all made up. None of these are correct. The Gospels are similar and yet different simply because they were written by different individuals who either used firsthand accounts they remembered or the testimony of others. When my brother, my sister and I get together we often share common stories of our youth. While we may share the same events we experienced e...

Christmas Is About Three Fathers... By Pastor Lee Hemen December 25, 2016 The other day as I was changing the diaper of my baby granddaughter it all of sudden hit me that Christmas is about so much more than a baby boy. It is about fathers as well. In fact it is about three of them that I know of. First, I cannot but wonder about the father of Mary who watched as his little pregnant daughter walked slowly down the dusty road leaving Nazareth. The trip would not be long by today’s standards but a huge undertaking for a new couple. Food, clothes, and necessities for a new baby and of course her care had to be carried. We forget people usually did not live past their 40s during this time and at a distance of about 89 miles would be a hard journey. I wonder if he looked at the night sky full of stars noticing that the one which shown brightest was in the sky near the place where his daughter journeyed to and thought about her. Was she safe? Had she given birth? Was Joseph taking care of he...

Family, what are you going to do? -- John 7:1-10 By Pastor Lee Hemen February 22, 2015 A comedian once quipped, "The problem with relatives is that they tend to be family." I am not sure exactly what he meant by that, but I am sure there are some folks in our families we would rather not relate to. Families can be close or they can be dysfunctional, sadly, far too many in our day and age are the latter. We know that Jesus had younger brothers; James, Joseph, Jude and Simon to name four (Mark 6:3), and some sisters as well. We also know that Mary was his mother was still alive and yet Joseph, his adoptive father, was probably dead by the time he began his ministry. And, we also discover that his family did not fully understand Jesus' calling nor who he was (Mark 3:21, 31) and tried to dissuade him from following the path God had set for him. I remember well when I decided to follow God's calling in my life, how my own family reacted. It wasn't all rose blossoms and...

The Traveling Carpenter By Pastor Lee Hemen December 27, 2009 AM A weary traveler comes into view, sets his one piece of odd-looking luggage and a carpenter's long metal tool box down, and sits heavily down on a long row of chairs of a nondescript airport waiting area. He sighs big, checks his pockets, finds something to eat in them, and opens up a granola bar and begins to eat it. Looking around he discovers that he isn’t alone and addresses the audience. (He is busily checking all of his pockets for his airplane tickets.) I know I put those airline tickets somewhere in my pockets, but which one? Gosh, Mama is gonna be mad at me if I lost them and then there will be the hassle of going to the ticket counter and getting them reissued… (Finds the tickets folded up in his hat band.) Oh… silly me… there they are! I am getting more absent minded everyday! Now, where did I put that airport map… Oh well… I will look on the wall or ask someone for directions. Airports! They are all the sa...