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

FCFI

December 28, 2025

Our daughter had recently moved to a new place in a distant city and her split unit furnace/air conditioner quit working. She was very busy so her mom and I decided to help. Since we live nine hours away, all we could do was call on the phone. Regardless, we found a local dealer and asked about checking on the unit and if they would give us a prognosis. They called back and said the unit was running, but it wasn’t producing any heat or A/C. They said the system was old and wouldn’t be worth fixing so we better get a whole new unit. I asked them to send me a bid and a couple hours later it came via e-mail for almost $8,000.00 – just about twice what I expected. So, I checked another place and the price was almost exactly the same. It was Friday afternoon and rather than rush into a judgment call, we decided to wait until Monday to take any action. I talked to our local HVAC person here and he told me that we didn’t need to replace the system, it just needed to be recharged. He was sure of it.

So I was sitting on the couch on Sunday afternoon thinking about all this. I mentioned to my wife that we needed to talk to somebody local that we could trust who would give us an honest assessment of the situation. We needed community. And so, as I was sitting on my couch, I asked the Lord to give me some direction. Then I remembered that I had a guy work on my car down there – a mechanic who was recommended by a neighbor. I had kept the mechanic’s number in my phone. When he worked on my car, he fixed the problem for a fraction of the cost I expected and to top it off, I just naturally liked the guy. So I rang him up and he answered his phone. I explained who I was and how I knew him and said, “I know you don’t work on air conditioners, but mine is on the blink and they want $8000 to replace it and I’m just wondering if you know somebody that could give me an honest evaluation of my situation.”

He said, “Yes, but it’s Sunday afternoon. I’m not going to call anybody today but I will call someone in the morning and get back to you.” True to his word, the next morning at exactly 7:30 he called and said there was a guy named Clayton who would call me. Sure enough, about a half hour later Clayton called. I gave him the address and he said he knew exactly where it was. He’d been to that neighborhood before and had worked on other similar units. He said he’d call back when he found out something.

A couple hours later, he called and said:  “I got your system up and running. It will be OK.”

I said: “OK, thank you so much! How much do I owe you and how do I pay you?”

There was a long pause and he said: “You don’t. You don’t pay me.”

And I said: “What do you mean? I can mail a check or put it on the credit card or send cash. Just tell me what you prefer.”

He said: “Well, our mutual friend – (the mechanic) – has done so much for me I could never repay him. This is a favor to him and you’re the recipient of it. Next time you’re in town, take care of him.  Besides,” he said, “I can’t guarantee that this will fix your unit long term. It might go down again and then you’ll have wasted your money.”

I said: “I’m so grateful I’m speechless. I don’t know what to say. Your generosity is over-the-top.” He wouldn’t even take anything for the service call.

I believe somebody is going to be getting some mid-west grown beef on our next visit!

God is very good to us!

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