From the Home Place

March 11, 2026

Good morning! It is white outside, the temperature if presently at 18, headed for 44 for a high, with wind gusts to match that high temp. According to “Accu Weather,” we are still looking at 76 mph gusts tomorrow; there just isn’t anything exciting about that forecast.

For several years, I have not found much “Christian” music that I enjoy. In my opinion, too often the instrumentation is so loud that I can’t hear the words; or the singer ends up screaming instead of singing; or the entire song is a feel-good song that boasts of my advancement instead of a statement of who God is. I know, I’m a grumpy old man, but if I’m going to listen to music, I prefer to be able to understand, and enjoy what I’m listening to.

This winter has found Miss Deb and I working on a puzzle during the long, dark evenings. As we work on a puzzle, we have started playing a station that plays “Worship” music. As such, I have taken a likin’ to several newer songs that are understandable and very focused upon who God is, or what He has done.

For my musical taste buds, “Made for More” is such a song. Here is how the song starts, “I know who I am ’cause I know who You are. The cross of salvation was only the start. Now I am chosen, free and forgiven. I have a future and it’s worth the living. ‘Cause I wasn’t made to be tending a grave. I was called by name, born and raised back to life again, I was made for more.”

I know, in a real sense, this is a “feel good” song. However, for me this song challenges me to be who I am and to be who I was created for. If I may, let me run sideways on a bit of a rabbit trail. As you know I get to have a zoom meeting with a group of young men every Thursday evening. We are studying our way through the book, “Wild at Heart” and many different biblical passages.

One of the primary things each young man has been challenged to discover is to answer the question “Who am I?” You see, a man must know who he is before he can know what he is supposed to do. When two men meet for the first time, one of the first questions asked is, “What do you do?” I have come to realize that men talk about what they do because in the eyes of our culture, what you do determines who you are.

When last names were first developed, names like Carpenter, Plumber, Farmer, Cook… were all names that described what the man did for a living, thus it determined who he was. The same is true of today. Yes, our last names were settled long ago, yet today when a man asks another man, “What do you do,” he is attempting to determine who the man is.

O.K. so, we are in the process of helping each young man determine, “Who am I.” Elements of this discovery process are: 1) “Who do you think you are?” How a man sees himself is extremely important. The problem is that most young men have a greatly inflated or an extremely deflated view of who they are. 2) “Who do the people around you think you are?” Remember Jesus asked His disciples “who do people say that I am?” Regardless of if he shows it or not, every young man desires to be valued in the eyes of those around him.

3) “Who does God say I am?” We primarily allow Scripture to speak into this question. Each of us greatly values what the Bible says about our Heavenly Father and about each of us. 4) After I determine who I am in Christ Jesus, then I know what I am supposed to do. This last element takes the cultural norm and turns it around. Our young men no longer ask each other, “What do you do,” instead, they now challenge each other with the question of “Who are you?” The answer to this last question determines each week’s discussion.

One more quote from the song we began with: “So why would I make a bed in my shame, When a fountain of grace is running my way. I know I am Yours, And I I was made for more.”

You see my dear friends, every young man is asking the same two questions, “Who am I?” and “What am I here for?” The problem is, our culture is giving American young men the wrong answers!!! These are not questions that a culture should ever attempt to answer. No, in my opinion, these are the two questions that culture should give every young man the opportunity to discover for himself, by himself.

Oh, and by the way, his first response to these two questions is greatly influenced by his relationship with his earthly father. Yet when said young man is led into a relationship with Jeus Christ, then, and only then, will he be able to determine who his Heavenly Father says he is. Every young man must know who he is and who his Heavenly father is, then he can determine “why” he is here!

Hopefully, now you better understand why most American males are so extremely confused, and more importantly, you see the value of introducing young men to Jesus??? If you want a godly young man to marry your daughter or granddaughter, we have much work to do. And by the way, culture doesn’t know the correct answer to either of these questions. The true answers are found only in a genuine walk with Jesus, “The way, the truth and the life.”

By God’s amazing grace, “I know who I am, and I know that I am made for more!”

Living what I was made for with you, Neal