From the Home Place

October 15, 2025

Good morning dear friends. It’s cloudy, cold and wet here in Lusk this morning, it feels like Fall!

When I was right at sixteen years of age, a friend convinced me that I should attempt riding bulls. So I took a run at it. I had been riding cows for several years and thought that bulls couldn’t be that much tougher. WOW, was I ever wrong!

Bulls are so much quicker, stronger and meaner than cows! As such, every part of the rider’s body has to work in perfect harmony. When a bull really learns how to buck, the rider needs to be able to move his free arm, his feet, his shoulders, even his head in an exact direction at a precise moment. Move too soon or too late and the rider will get to test gravity.

As important as it was to keep adjusting all of those parts, it always seemed to me that the most important part of riding a bull was to control one’s eyes. When I first started riding, an old-timer instructed me to “Keep your eyes on the top of his head, wherever his head goes, his tail will follow.” To me the most important element of making a good ride, was to keep a great focus!

Thus, in Colossians 3:2 we are to “keep your mind on things above.” To me that means to keep my eyes fixed upon Heaven, “not on the things that are on earth.” Much like riding a bull, we are to keep our focus upon heavenly things, and make needed adjustments as the ride progresses.

So, one must ask what are the “things above?” May I suggest that at least a portion of the “things above” involve the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control against such thing there is no law.”

During our earthly journey, we are to learn to walk with the Holy Spirit in such a way that His fruit begins to permeate our lives. This is accomplished by keeping our eyes fixed upon “the things above.” In Heaven, we will be so in tune with the workings of the Holy Spirit that we will exhibit the Fruit of the Spirt in a perfect way!

Just like riding a bull, we have to keep our focus. Remember the wise instructions from an old friend, “Keep your eyes on the back of his head, for wherever his head goes, his tail will follow.” Well, the same is true of us, “wherever our focus is, our tail will follow.” In the words of Jesus Christ, we cannot serve both God and money. If getting rich is our focus, we will prove 1 Timothy 6:10 to be true, “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” Where your eye are, your tail will follow!

When Jesus was about to leave this earth, He told His disciples that He was going to send them a “Helper.” As humans bound to this ‘ol ball of dirt for a season, there are so many distractions. Satan and this world system will do everything they can do to cause us to lose our focus. One again, like riding a bull, if a rider looks at a distraction, gravity takes over. When we as Christians lose our focus, we too will fall. And that is exactly why we need the “Helper.”

By learning to walk with the Holy Spirit here and now, we are preparing to walk with Him through all of eternity, where we will enjoy perfect “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,” the “things of above.”

Heaven will be a perfect environment, with perfect “fruit,” enjoyed by perfect people, all in the presence of GOD. So as Colossians 3:1 states, “Keep seeking the things above.” Because wherever your eyes go, your tail will follow!”

Learning to produce fruit here and now with you, Neal