From the Home Place

December 14, 2025

Eight degrees with heavy frost, headed for 56 for a high, and I can wear my Stetson today!

From the time I was around seven years old, I got loaned out a lot. That is, I would leave our house at daylight, or sometimes the night before, to ride to a neighbor’s place to work for him for one to three days usually, sometimes for a week. It was always scarry sleeping at someone else’s place, usually in an old building or a barn. Every now and then, I would score sleeping in a basement. The even scarier part though was having to eat at some of the outfits I went to.

We had one neighbor lady who would place all of the dirty dishes and silverware on a board that stayed on the floor of their kitchen. After placing all of the dirty dishes on that board, she would open the door and let three coyote hounds in, they would lick everything clean. She would then wipe each item with the bottom of her crusty apron and put everything back in the cupboard, ready for the next meal.

Another ‘ol gal that I had to work for on a regular basis, carried a switch with her all of the time. If I wasn’t working fast enough or doing things the way she wanted, I got the switch. Boy, she could leave my legs and backside looking like a zebra, cussing like a crazy woman all of the time she was laying it on. But I reckon I survived.

The work done for a neighbor usually involved working cattle in some form, haying, or fixing fence. I enjoyed one of those and dreaded the other two. But I had been raised to do my part, no matter the task. I remember one time, I was handed a shovel, directed to the family out-house and told to dig a hole beside the present structure. It was to be four feet by four feet and six feet deep. Oh ya, it was also out in the open, in July, so it was terrible hot, and the ground was like cement. And to top that, the new hole was to be on the east side of the existing outhouse, of course, the breeze was out of the west. I would have quit if I could of, but that was never an option.

Every now and then, one of the neighbors would pay my folks for my labor. Those funds were always used by my mom to buy groceries or something needed. I learned at a very young age that we all worked to keep our outfit afloat, not for personal gain. I think I was probably in junior high before I was allowed to keep a paycheck for my own use. I cashed it and took both of my little sisters to the local ice cream shop the next time we were in town. Of course, we brought dad and mom both an ice cream cone back with us!

By the time I was in high school, I bought all of my own clothes, school supplies, and footwear. A pair of new boots would cost a feller twenty to thirty dollars, a week’s wages, if I got paid at all for helping neighbors. There was no need to grumble or complain about any of it, it was just the way things were.

Yet now as a Christ-follower, I marvel at how my Heavenly Father took such good care of me and how He always met my needs, and He is still doing the same! When I look back at some of the places I had to work, some of the folks I had to work for, and some of the conditions I had to survive under, I know that God had a plan for my life, or I would have been dust long ago.

And today, I get to teach the adult Sunday School at our local church! Not because I’m anything special, but because that is what the Holy Spirit has equipped me to do. He gives spiritual gifts and opportunities as He sees fit, and that excites me. I’m constantly amazed at the opportunities the Spirit has given me, to help, to encourage and to bless others. I don’t think my dad had any idea that he was training me to be “other” focused, but I’m sure glad that he did. After all, I get to keep today’s pay checks – no not money, but great hugs, smiles and the blessing of seeing folks fall in love with Jesus!

You see my friends, most often our Heavenly Father doesn’t put a dollar benefit with helping others, but He sure provides and protects. I constantly marvel that I get to serve the greatest King this world has ever known!

So, how about your life? Do you serve the King of Heaven, or the king of cash? When everything we do has to have a dollar amount tied to it, we miss the blessing of being a blessing. For you see, according to God’s promise to Abraham, we are blessed to be a blessing, not to get rich. After all, how was it that Jesus said it, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” A person’s soul is that part of you that makes you, you. Our soul contains several elements of who we really are, including our emotions and desires. Chasing money has a way of negatively impacting both of those.

Being a blessing with you, Neal