[email protected]
pastorpaulfedena.weebly.com
Dear Praying Friends, March 29,2024
Greetings in His matchless Name!
I am writing this FEDENA FLYER on a very dark day on my calendar. The world labels it “Good Friday”, and there was nothing “Good” about Christ’s crucifixion for Him as He hung on the cursed Cross, but of course it was wonderful for all sinners who want to go to Heaven when they leave earth. But this year it is not a “good” day for me, since 5 years ago on this date, my wonderful wife Shirley left me for Heaven and I miss her every day and still love her dearly. Of course, I would not want her to return to her former pain, but I would gladly be her caregiver once again if she did return. (I tell her every night that I love her and miss her so much…but she never answers! Either she is too busy or can’t communicate or is too enraptured with her Savior or…. But the Scripture does say that we are “compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses”…so those in Heaven are apparently aware of events here on earth. Some object to this concept because those in Heaven would be so depressed on what they are witnessing down here. But we know that there are tears in Heaven, until they are wiped away at the Great White Throne Judgment.
One good thing has happened this week, however. My granddaughter Stephanie (formerly Lefevers) Sims, and her husband Andrew, and their 3 beautiful daughters came north from Pensacola, Florida for a wedding in his family, in New Jersey. It has been great having them here, especially on this gloomy date for me. The 3 girls are beautiful, and we celebrated the middle daughter’s birthday while they were here. Hannah just turned 7, Ariana is only 5 and Kenzie is 8. (Kenzie is on the spectrum and only communicates when she can or wants to or has to). They are all sweet and I really love them dearly. They are all very active and a handful for this old man, but my grandson Dylan (26) came to rescue me while we babysat them, when Stephanie and Andrew attended the wedding last night.
Shirley and I have had 4 children (Crystal, Dawn, Dan & Dean [in Heaven] ) who have blessed me (and Shirley) with 11 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren. Unfortunately, they mostly all live in Pensacola, FL, except Dan and his great wife Amy and their two children, Dylan and Taylor. I have been able to travel each year to Florida to see most of the family, and this year I was there for Christmas.
Now for the really bad news…I will turn 90 years of age on May 28th (are you taking notes? Actually I don’t look that old, I look and often feel much older! I have found out that there is no cure for old age. My vision, hearing and memory are fading… The good news is that I still get to preach and teach and so far as I know no-one has complained about my cognition or presentations. I still use PowerPoint for all lessons and messages because we live in such a visual society (nearly everyone walks around with a phone, has TV and computers, etc.) I was born back before radio! So technology isn’t my strongest point. But our Savior was very visual-oriented. Every miracle He performed was a visual object lesson. He often spoke using objects, etc. to capture people’s attention and illustrate His sermons and lessons: “Behold the lilies of the field…the birds of the air”, etc. We teach our children in S.S. and children’s church, etc. using flannel board, TV’s, etc. But it seems we abandon visuals in their teen and adult years. (?) I was taught in Seminary that we remember more of what we see and hear, than what we hear alone. Many of the old-time preachers used strong visuals in their preaching and teaching also. Now with all our technology we can place Scripture references and whole passages, sermon titles ,images, outlines, etc. on screens to help with attention and memory.
Sincerely in the Savior,
Pastor (e) Paul C. Fedena
pastorpaulfedena.weebly.com
Dear Praying Friends, March 29,2024
Greetings in His matchless Name!
I am writing this FEDENA FLYER on a very dark day on my calendar. The world labels it “Good Friday”, and there was nothing “Good” about Christ’s crucifixion for Him as He hung on the cursed Cross, but of course it was wonderful for all sinners who want to go to Heaven when they leave earth. But this year it is not a “good” day for me, since 5 years ago on this date, my wonderful wife Shirley left me for Heaven and I miss her every day and still love her dearly. Of course, I would not want her to return to her former pain, but I would gladly be her caregiver once again if she did return. (I tell her every night that I love her and miss her so much…but she never answers! Either she is too busy or can’t communicate or is too enraptured with her Savior or…. But the Scripture does say that we are “compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses”…so those in Heaven are apparently aware of events here on earth. Some object to this concept because those in Heaven would be so depressed on what they are witnessing down here. But we know that there are tears in Heaven, until they are wiped away at the Great White Throne Judgment.
One good thing has happened this week, however. My granddaughter Stephanie (formerly Lefevers) Sims, and her husband Andrew, and their 3 beautiful daughters came north from Pensacola, Florida for a wedding in his family, in New Jersey. It has been great having them here, especially on this gloomy date for me. The 3 girls are beautiful, and we celebrated the middle daughter’s birthday while they were here. Hannah just turned 7, Ariana is only 5 and Kenzie is 8. (Kenzie is on the spectrum and only communicates when she can or wants to or has to). They are all sweet and I really love them dearly. They are all very active and a handful for this old man, but my grandson Dylan (26) came to rescue me while we babysat them, when Stephanie and Andrew attended the wedding last night.
Shirley and I have had 4 children (Crystal, Dawn, Dan & Dean [in Heaven] ) who have blessed me (and Shirley) with 11 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren. Unfortunately, they mostly all live in Pensacola, FL, except Dan and his great wife Amy and their two children, Dylan and Taylor. I have been able to travel each year to Florida to see most of the family, and this year I was there for Christmas.
Now for the really bad news…I will turn 90 years of age on May 28th (are you taking notes? Actually I don’t look that old, I look and often feel much older! I have found out that there is no cure for old age. My vision, hearing and memory are fading… The good news is that I still get to preach and teach and so far as I know no-one has complained about my cognition or presentations. I still use PowerPoint for all lessons and messages because we live in such a visual society (nearly everyone walks around with a phone, has TV and computers, etc.) I was born back before radio! So technology isn’t my strongest point. But our Savior was very visual-oriented. Every miracle He performed was a visual object lesson. He often spoke using objects, etc. to capture people’s attention and illustrate His sermons and lessons: “Behold the lilies of the field…the birds of the air”, etc. We teach our children in S.S. and children’s church, etc. using flannel board, TV’s, etc. But it seems we abandon visuals in their teen and adult years. (?) I was taught in Seminary that we remember more of what we see and hear, than what we hear alone. Many of the old-time preachers used strong visuals in their preaching and teaching also. Now with all our technology we can place Scripture references and whole passages, sermon titles ,images, outlines, etc. on screens to help with attention and memory.
Sincerely in the Savior,
Pastor (e) Paul C. Fedena
RSS Feed
