From the Home Place

August 16, 2025

Good morning dear friends. Here we are at the end of another week. Allow me to bring a bit of summation to these writings thus far. We started our visits by looking at the step-by-step process of remodeling the structure of this ‘ol house. Then we sat aside talking about construction of the house to look at the construction of our spiritual journey by developing seven essential spiritual disciplines. How does all of this fit together?

May I suggest that you look at your spiritual life in this manner: We each begin by taking care of structural issues – working on the inside, on the outside and on the covering. We then work on disciplines that will help us to move forward at a consistent pace.

We have spent months getting the structural elements of this house in place, and this last two weeks we have worked on cosmetic elements. Things like new windows, new doors, brick on the front of the house along with a new porch. All things that do not really improve the “structure” of our home, but things that make it more usable, and things that improve the appeal of our home.

Hopefully your spiritual life is structurally sound, built upon a solid faith in Jesus Christ. Because of that faith, you have made significant biblical improvements to your life by developing spiritual disciplines. Your life, and your testimony, are becoming a beautiful display of what it looks like to follow Jesus Christ!

Remember, you need to rebuild your life (house) in accordance with the vision the Holy Spirit has given to you. There will always be folks who will drive by and take a long look at what you are doing, the “lookie-loos” of life. They may even think that the cheese has slipped off of your cracker, but you must continue to build your life. Sometimes you will need your community members to help you in that process, other times you have to do the hard work all by yourself, always remembering that progress is progress.

Yes, remodeling our soul is a life-long process. Sometimes you work had for long periods of time with little to show for your labors. But then on one day, all of a sudden you will step back, look to God and exclaim, “Look at what we have done together!” In the words of our great grandson, you too will exclaim, “Oh WOW!” At that moment we get to see what faith and hard work have produced within and through our lives. At that moment, we will realize that it has all been worth it, “Well done My good and faithful servant.”

Walking by faith with you, Neal