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

FCFI

October 18, 2026

Genesis 8:22 reads: “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” This verse was on my mind when I woke up this morning, I think because of the nice weather we’ve had around here lately. It’s been warm but not humid and has been good weather for accomplishing outside tasks. We all know winter is just around the corner so there is an urgency in the air to get certain projects done as soon as possible.

There are also wasps in the air. They buzz around like they’re the ones at the top of the food chain. I had one land on my shirt, and thinking it was a fly, I brushed it off only to get instantly stung on the tip of my finger! The pain was intense. I’ve heard your stories too – where your children and grandchildren are getting stung – one two year old was stung 10 times and his mom seven times! A few years ago I got stung 17 times! The other day, my wife found a gigantic nest in one of our rain gutters so I ruthlessly killed the wasps and destroyed the nest. I’m not sure if they’re worse this year than other years, but they are bad enough regardless.

Be outside. Get the work done. Be alert. Guard your heart and be careful!

We’ve been combining beans on our farm. Many of my brothers and I worked together to get our home farm acreage in the bin. It was fun. Of course, we’re all in our sixties (or seventies) but family ties have no age limit. Our cousin, who we all grew up with, even helped out one afternoon, along with our nephews and nieces as their children played together while we worked. We bonded over breakfast at Grammie’s, scrambled eggs and pancakes, apple pie and ice cream, conversations in the driveway, broken chains and clean grain augers, burned out bearings, and camaraderie and laughter. It kind of felt like we were kids again. When our almost-50-year-old combine broke down, two of our brothers with newer units stepped in and helped us get the crop out. The best part is, we still have all the corn to combine. So the fun will continue.

This is not a scientific study – it is simply my own cogitation. I am the fourth child in a family of eight children (seven boys and one girl). As a child, I was kind of stuck in the middle and it was up to me to create my own entertainment and challenges. When I was with my older siblings it was easier to follow them around, with the younger ones, it was necessary to lead.  When I grew up, I learned being the leader was where I wanted to be. I figure this must be something that is learned in life. Some people I know have no desire whatsoever to lead. They are content minding their own business, doing whatever job is at hand, and letting others take on all the responsibility and the stress that comes with it. After reading through the history of the Old Testament kings, I had to ask myself, why would anyone want to be king back then? Everyone was out to take over the throne and the only way to dispose of a king was to kill him – which they did all the time. Leadership had its price.

My grandfather was a self-learned man. He only had a sixth grade education but he was the smartest person I knew. By teaching himself, he became a licensed electrician and plumber, and made a good living at it working at the mill. He passed his knowledge and determination down to me in several ways. I learned from him, not only the value of hard work, but also the value of hard work with a principled goal in mind. He always said a job worth doing is a job worth doing right, and it’s easier to do it right the first time then go back and do it over again later. He also said that when he was challenged with a job that was outside of his level of comfort, he would remind himself that if someone else could do the same job, he could do it too – only better. That kind of confidence has carried with me all through my life.

I’ve been the Pastor at Martintown Community Church for over 33 years. I credit that longevity first of all, to the hand of God upon my life, of course, but from an earthly perspective, it is of the utmost importance to have a patient and understanding wife. It would be impossible without her love and support. It also takes a congregation of people who are able to look past my obvious flaws and accept me, imperfections and all. 

People always ask me how long I plan on preaching before I retire? My answer is that I hope I am still preaching on the last day of my life here on this earth. My idea is to preach on Sunday morning and then die on Sunday afternoon while taking a nap. That way I will have just completed teaching what I studied the week before and I won’t have wasted any time studying for next week’s sermon – which I won’t be able to preach anyway. We’ll see how that pans out, but at least I have a plan. I hope God gives me another 33 years – at least.

Lots of things play into who we are and what we become, but the Bible always gives us the best perspective: “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil,” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).

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