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Ramblings from Retirement – Scaredy-cats By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen April 27, 2021 There is a little grey cat that lives next door that thinks she is a mighty bird hunter. In fact she has already killed at least 3 birds at my front yard feeder and at least 2 in the backyard. So we have begun to keep an eye out for her and when she heads into or across our yard we chase her away. The other day she was in the midst of stalking some finches who were feeding. In the middle of her final stalk where she was bunching up to jump I opened the door and hissed real loud. She jumped about four feet, twisted in the air, and ran off like she was shot out of a cannon. It was hilarious and reminded me of a passage that the Apostle Paul wrote his friend Timothy: “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7 NIV84)” Paul was writing a young pastor who was facing all kinds of struggles within the local church and outside of the churc...

Ramblings from Retirement – How to Live! By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen April 10, 2021 There are some truly disturbing trends in Christianity today; one is where folks think that God just winks and smiles at their “discretions”, otherwise known as sins, and those who think that if they follow a set of rules or guidelines then they will be loved by God. Neither is correct and will result in a false sense of spiritual security that will ultimately end in eternal death. Peter writes believers when he tells them to “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’ (1 Peter 1:13-16 NIV84)” Sure the writer of Hebrews tells us that we are t “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be h...

Ramblings from Retirement – Get Dressed! By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen April 9, 2021 Man it can be tough to try and get kids dressed, ready, and out the door on time. It can be especially if one of them is a preteenager (tweener) who moves at the pace of a snail or if one is so concerned about what she wears that it is impossible for her to make any decisions. Then there are the arguments about “why” “how come” and “where are we going”. I remember well when my father would come and tell us three kids to “Get dressed and ready to go. You’ve got five minutes!” My brother would grumble around bumping into things and looking for something clean to wear, my sister would gripe about that she didn’t have anything to wear, and I would just hop out of bed and get dressed and eat breakfast before the other two were dressed. I loved getting up and going places and you did not have to ask me twice. In Luke’s gospel he relates that Jesus told the crowds “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lam...

Hebrews 2:1-4 – Dude, don’t drift! By Pastor Lee Hemen June 24, 2012 AM Recently, just as there is every year, there have been a lot of people killed boating, kayaking, or canoeing. Often it is because the folks involved did not wear proper safety equipment such as a life jacket. It is easy to be caught in the swift current of a river and be swept away to your death. The same is true spiritually for those who refuse to heed the Word of God. They can get caught in the swift current of life and be swept away to their spiritual deaths! We live in a day and age whereby everything we involve ourselves in wants to drag us away from our faith in Christ. What may seem so innocent at first can become a major undercurrent ready to pull us under into sin. Let’s discover how and why we should give heed to what Hebrews says and not drift away… READ: Hebrews 2:1-4 I will never forget many years ago challenging a young man to be careful of his involvement with a certain young lad...

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...