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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 – 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: Give Thanks! By Lee Hemen (Retired Pastor) November 21, 2020 Thanksgiving is coming and it is one of my favorite holidays. The reasons for me are many because I not only love the food and family time but I enjoy what Thanksgiving represents. It is truly an American holiday where we are encouraged to pause and give thanks to God for the blessings He has given us. We discover that the early Pilgrims encouraged this with not just a one day celebration but with their entire lives as well. And far from being the black and white dressed grim faced people many think they were the Pilgrims were actually very joyous and colorful people. They came to these shores not to inflict slavery, as some would erroneously have you swallow, but they came here for religious and personal freedom. We discover that within a very short period of time that their communal form of governance caused huge problems with their colony and they decided to give each person the freedom to produc...

Ramblings from Retirement: How should a Christian vote? By Lee Hemen (Retired Pastor) October 21, 2020 I have always found it kind of humorous when people get all excited about voting as a Christian simply because your definition of what makes a “Christian” might be quite different form another’s definition. If we can’t agree on who to vote for what makes you think we will agree on what the definition of Christian is? So like any good editor, writer, or researcher we must define what being a “Christian” is and there is no better place to begin than the Scriptures. (Bible for those of you who think that any mystical writing is “Scripture” and it is not.) The very first place where we find the word “Christian” being used is in Acts 11:25-26 where Paul is describing a man named Barnabas who was a godly man that helped Paul with new churches: “Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the ...

Confess! – Micah 2 By Pastor Lee Hemen October 16, 2016 All of us have likely heard the truism, “Confession is good for the soul.” It’s an old Scottish proverb but there is a word missing. The proverb actually reads, “Open confession is good for the soul.” Perhaps it supports open and honest confession from one caught in their transgressions or it could come from Catholic guilt. I believe its roots come from Jesus who declared, “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32 NIV) King David declared, “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”-- and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” (Psalms 32:5 NIV) Micah teaches us that confession is good for the soul; not just for individuals but for nations and its leaders as well. The Hebrews had forsaken their God, their faith, and their own people for selfish gain. Micah wanted to restore them before ...

Corruption: A path to nowhere! - Micah 3:1-12 By Pastor Lee Hemen June 23, 2013 AM One of my assignments for a course in seminary was to observe different kinds of worship services. They do this in order for students to not only experience different kinds of worship, but to also see how not to do worship. In one instance, students went to a church that met in an old theater. The service began with upbeat music that lasted about 30 minutes. The pastor came out following the music and announced he had received a vision from the Lord that 20 people would give him $20 and those who did so would receive a special blessing. He asked everyone to close their eyes and told those who would give the $20 to raise their hands. He then pretended to count and announced falsely that 20 had raised their hands. He then made the same false claim for those who would give $10! We live in a world where greedy people use unscrupulous methods to reap dishonest gain. Pretended good is often an ef...

Following God includes loyalty -- Esther 3 By Pastor Lee Hemen April 21, 2013 AM Sandra struggled with two seemingly irreconcilable forces in her life. She believed God had called her to be a missionary but she could not believe He would send her to such a dangerous place. Like many Christians Sandra has falsely assumed God’s primary function is to protect, preserve, and prosper His people. They focus on Scriptures that affirm God’s love and care for His own. These believers assume God would not lead them to serve Him where they would be uncomfortable, much less, where there is potential danger. However, God’s objective is to carry out His purposes through His people. Those purposes may require His people to serve Him at great personal risk. The Lord expects His people to exercise faith as they serve Him in the risky situations into which He leads them. Perhaps we forget that following God includes loyalty even when there is risk involved. The plot of the Book of Esther t...

When Politicians Fail to Follow God - Jeremiah 34:15-17 By Pastor Lee Hemen August 2, 2009 AM During election time it often seems that politicians will say almost anything in order to garner votes. Selling one’s soul for political gain is nothing new. David did it when he was running away from Saul. He made a pact with those who had been enemies of Israel (Moab) and later he would have to honor his decision. While we expect this kind of underhanded behavior from kings or politicians, we should be shocked when we discover it in the lives of God’s people. We find that "The word came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom for the slaves. Everyone was to free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female; no one was to hold a fellow Jew in bondage. So all the officials and people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their male and female slaves and no longer hold them in bondage. They agree...