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

FCFI

January 4, 2026

It’s a New Year – And during the New Year may you have enough happiness to keep you sweet – enough trials to keep you strong – enough sorrow to keep you human – enough hope to keep you happy – enough failure to keep you humble – enough success to keep you eager – enough friends to give you comfort – enough wealth to meet your needs – enough enthusiasm to make you look forward to tomorrow – and enough determination to make each day better than the day before. (Anonymous).

When I was in high school, my biology teacher, Mr. Taylor had a sign hanging on the wall under the clock in his room that read: “Time will pass, will you?” At that time I don’t remember time being an issue – I was more worried about getting a passing grade. In fact, the grade I received for my first 9-weeks of high school Biology was a big fat F. The problem wasn’t that I was stupid, it was that I didn’t apply myself. I realized that when my parents saw my report card, I would be in heap big trouble. So, (and I’m not proud of this) I intercepted the report card so they wouldn’t see it. Back then, nothing was done by computer. Everything was hard-copy and hand entered into a ledger. To top it off, the report cards were handed out to the students at the end of class on the Friday of the first week of the new grade period. We were expected to take them home and show them to our parents.

Well, my parents were busy people – they had eight children of which I was number four. That placement in the family rarely worked to my advantage, but on occasion it did – this being one of those times. Without a detailed record of which child was taking which class, they couldn’t possibly keep up with all of us. And on top of that, two of my older brothers were struggling, so my parents were zeroed on their grades, which pretty-much made me anonymous.

To make a long story short, they never saw the F I got on my report card because they never saw the report card. But I took the initiative myself to get a better grade. I didn’t want to have to take Biology again next year, so I put my nose to the grindstone and ground out an A for the second 9-weeks and received a C for the semester. Not the best grade in the world – but not the worst either.

While time wasn’t an issue in high school, now, almost five decades later, it has moved to the forefront. Back then I had all the time in the world at my disposal. And while I don’t believe I’ve wasted much of it in my life, it sure seems to fly by.

In Sunday school as a kid, one of my teachers had a sign in his room that read: “Only one life will soon be passed. Only what’s done for Christ will last.” That’s a Biblical truth for the ages.

I’ve spent my working career keeping track of time. For years I’ve gone to bed at about the same time every night and gotten up at the same time every morning. I set the alarm on my clock radio in 1982 and I’ve never changed it since. It is still set at that exact same time to this day. It rang every morning for decades at 4:34 a.m. That gave me just enough time to jump out of bed and turn it off and climb back in for a few minutes, get back out, get dressed and get to work by 5:00 a.m. For the last couple of decades I haven’t even had to use it. It just goes off in my brain. Only now, I don’t have to get up quite so early, but for some reason, I still put in just as many hours.

I was talking to a guy yesterday who said he just turned 65 and was thinking about retiring. But, he was planning to live to be 90 and if he retired he didn’t know what he would do with the rest of his life. I can think of other things to do besides work all day. Like maybe spend more time with your family and enjoy some of the time with their children that you missed with them when they were younger. It’s just an idea.

A few years ago I read an article about someone who came up with a clock that keeps track of how much time one has left to live. It calculates an average life span of 75 years for men and 80 years for women. You program in your details and it will tell you how much time you have left. It sold for $99.95. I didn’t buy one. Seems kind of morbid. But it is an intriguing idea. In fact, that’s what the Bible tells us to do – to number our days. “The length of our days is 70 years – or 80, if we have the strength … they quickly pass, and we fly away. Teach us to  number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom,” (Psalm 90:10). Our time on this earth is valuable because it is very limited. There are so many demands on us and so many good things that need to be done, but there are just 8,760 hours in the year,
 

A few years ago on New Year’s Eve, after our traditional steak and lobster dinner with friends, we sat down and together we set some goals for the new year. One of our friends’ goals was to attend church at least six times in the coming year (he never went to church – and by never I mean never). He decided to get those six weeks out of the way right at the beginning of the year. So, he started with the first Sunday in January, planning to finish up in February and be done for the year. But an interesting thing happened to him along the way, he liked it! And he’s been coming to church ever since. I don’t think he’s missed a Sunday in years. God got a hold of him. I hope you give God an important place in your life this year, and make Him a priority.

Happy New Year! May God bless your coming and going in 2026!

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