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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 – How we handle hurt says a lot By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen August 5, 2021 I liked a TV series from PBS and the BBC that was called Downton Abby. In it one of the characters, Tom, tells another character Lady Mary that “being hurt is part of being alive.” He is correct and herein is a simple truth that many in our day and age have forgotten that life consists of a series of being hurt yet how we handle the hurt tells a lot about who we are as a person. Many try to escape being hurt at all and this is simply impossible. People get hurt. People die. People get sick. We are not guaranteed a perfect life, no one is and no one in all of history has enjoyed a perfect life except perhaps Jesus and he also suffered hurt in his life. The writer of Ecclesiastes wrote that “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to te...

We Can Confidently Trust In the Lord! -- Psalm 25:1-14 By Pastor Lee Hemen April 19, 2020 There are certain poets that I like; most are those who tell stories. Robert Service was called “The Bard of the Yukon” because he wrote a lot of poems about the north like “The Cremation of Sam McGee” or “The Shooting of Dan McGrew”. I also like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who wrote such poems as “The Landlord’s Tale, Paul Revere’s Ride” but of course one of my favorites is “There Was A Little Girl”: “There was a little girl, Who had a little curl, Right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good, She was very good indeed, But when she was bad she was horrid.” David from the Bible is also one of my favorite poets. He wrote many of the Psalms. One of my favorite Psalms is the one we will look at today. David boldly turned to the Lord for divine instruction and forgiveness from his sin. David knew he could because of God’s grace for Israel. This psalm is a meditation on the character of God th...

Overcome the world! - John 16:16-33 By Pastor Lee Hemen November 15, 2013 I have learned that the only certainties we have life are more than death and taxes; I also believe there is the certainty of our faith and that things in life will change. The radio host Paul Harvey stated, "In times like these it is good to remember that there have always been times like these." Life happens whether we like it or not and no amount of worrying will change the outcome; however, we can overcome the world and what it throws at us. There are those who struggle everyday in order to just get through the day, however, there are also those times when each of us wonder how we will get through another day. Jesus' disciples would face such a predicament soon and so Jesus begins to share with them not only how tough it will be but also how they can overcome the world they live in because of their faith in him. Let's see how we are to overcome the world… READ: John 16:16-33 Life is short wh...

Hebrews 11:17-40 – Faith Expressed! By Pastor Lee Hemen   December 30, 2012 AM What kind of heroes do we hold up to be emulated? Columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. writes about the need for heroes: “My middle son, Marlon, complained to me just the other day that his generation is coming of age ‘in a world without heroes.’ . . . His words tugged at me. . . . Our children have learned to wait for the other shoe to drop, for ‘heroes’ to be unmasked and values betrayed.” A survey by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University shows that 60 percent of adults have no heroes. It’s an unhealthy trend, according to former U.S. Education Secretary William Bennett, author of the best-seller The Book of Virtues: “It is particularly important for young people to have heroes. This is a way to teach them by moral example, so that we can point to someone as an ideal.” I believe this is why true heroes, heroes of our faith can give us a renewed vigor to live for the Lord. In a summar...