The Pastor’s Piece, Pastor Kevin Cernek, FCFI Chaplain

FCFI

June 1, 2025

Sometimes people ask me what I am going to do when I run out of things to write about. Well, I don’t expect that to happen. There are just too many interesting facets of life taking place each and every day. A lifetime would not be long enough to process them all. Think about everything that crosses your mind in a day (that in itself, is an impossible task). The things you see, hear, touch, smell and taste – everything you experience each and every day goes into the mind and is placed somewhere in the subconscious. 

The human mind is an amazing thing. It observes, analyzes and holds so much information. The problem is that it only doles that information out in bits and pieces. Sometimes when I get home from someplace, my wife will ask me if I have any news. My usual answer is no. But then a couple of hours later, (or a couple of days) something will come up in our conversation and suddenly I will remember an important bit of information that I had picked up earlier and then forgotten.

Anytime someone celebrates a birthday, my wife tells them you are only as old as you feel. But I say, you are as old as you are. Feelings have nothing to do with it. Anyone who has any age on them at all knows what it’s like to forget the simplest things of life. Sometimes trying to remember someone’s name can become an insurmountable task. You can picture them in your mind; you know where they live and where they work. You know what kind of vehicle they drive. Their name is right on the tip of your tongue, but your brain just won’t release it. That is, until about two weeks later, when you wake up in the middle of the night and suddenly their name comes to mind. But by then, you’ve forgotten why you were trying to remember it in the first place. Our minds are simple and complex all at the same time. Two people can experience the exact same thing and walk away with two totally different points of view. That’s why the Bible says that it takes two or more witnesses to agree in order for their testimony to hold up in a court of law. 

Every experience is interpreted by one’s experience, one’s attitude, one’s outlook, and one’s expectations. They say no two fingerprints are the same, and no two faces are the same just like no two personalities are the same. Some are similar, but not the same. That makes for some interesting relationships. They say opposites attract. That is very true many times when it comes to friendships. Someone who is quiet and reserved may be attracted to someone who is very outgoing and loud all the time. In marriage, a person’s own self-perceived deficiencies are many times balanced in the strengths of their spouse. It’s kind of humorous, how God takes two very opposite kinds of people, man and woman, and puts them together under the same roof and says, “now live together in peace, love, and harmony.” In other words, get along and love each other in the process. To do that, we have to engage our minds through communication. To do that, we have to respect each other.  

I had an uncle who considered himself a very clever fellow, who used to have a sign hanging in the kitchen that read: “Caution:  Make sure brain is engaged before putting mouth in gear.” They say we only use 10% of our brains (some even less – you know who you are, then again, maybe you don’t). They also say that right-handed people use the left side of their brain while left-handed people use the right side, therefore making left-handers the only ones who are in their right mind. How do they know these things?  And who are “they?” Is there a group of people somewhere who have given themselves the title “They” who come up with all these “facts” that cannot ever be proved or disproved? What does the other 90% of our brains do? How can this be measured? They say the mind is a terrible thing to waste. They also say the waist is a terrible thing to mind. 

Another area of our minds that causes wonder is our dreams. They are an interesting element of life. Sometimes dreams confuse people. Everyone looks for some kind of meaning or message in their dreams. Back in Bible times God used dreams to communicate to people to make sure they took action in the way He wanted them too. Many of the patriarchs of the Old Testament had encounters with God through dreams.

Today God communicates to us through His written Word, the Bible. Everything we need to know about God and life can be found in the Bible. He gives us direction, guidance, wisdom, answers – everything we need – right on the pages of the Scriptures. Jesus told His disciples that when He left this earth He was sending the Holy Spirit to comfort us, and convict us of sin and to guide us into all truth. We can know God by reading the Bible. 

(Kevin Cernek is Lead Pastor of Martintown Community Church in Martintown, Wisconsin).