From the Home Place

March 13, 2026

Good morning friends. Boy, we are all glad that today is a calmer day. Here in Lusk, Wyoming we are starting at 23 degrees, looking to reach 63 before the sun sets again. If yesterday’s wind didn’t beat you quite enough, today’s wind will be 21 mph with gusts of 55, and tomorrow is to be a duplicate of today. I guess the good news is that if you survive today, you will be practiced up for tomorrow.

Though I didn’t enjoy yesterday’s screaming 74 mph winds, it did improve my prayer life. I prayed without ceasing that trees and powerlines would stay in place. That buildings would hold together and that those who had to be on the road would safely reach their destination, and I prayed for those who are fighting fires and that our Lord will send sizeable moisture to help with the fight.

As we all know, yesterday was Thursday. For me, Thursday has become my favorite day of the week because I get to meet with an amazing group of young men. I get to be challenged by their deep desire to walk with Jesus in a way that brings Him glory, while it brings those around them blessings. We talked of how we each desire to “walk in a manner worthy of” our “calling.” (Eph. 4:1)

If you are a born-again believer in Christ Jesus, you have been called to salvation by the God of the universe. The One who spoke creation into existence has also called you into His service! Loved ones, that ought to excite every believer! It is so extremely refreshing to get to spend an hour with a group of young men who are excited about their calling. This group of men make their living through the ranching industry; others are building contractors and others are furthering their education. Yet the one uniting factor of each man is that every one of them wants to be faithful to the calling of Christ upon their life.

Over my years of serving “the local church” in many different states, I have noticed that it tends to be the longer a person has been a Christian, the less excited they are about being called into service by the KING of glory. It would seem that many have settled for “the same old same old.” It is so easy to live a faith that is well under control, predictable, and comfortable.

Allow me to ask each of us, “When was the last time I really risked something for the kingdom of God?” Or maybe another way to ask the same question would be, “When was the last time the Holy Spirit surprised me?” Perhaps He challenged you to give away something valuable to you so that He can use it for the good of others (Acts 2:44-45), or the Spirit of God requested that you make a significant attitude change so that others can easily see Him at work in your life (Matt. 5:16).

You see my dear friends, we must all be on guard that as we grow in knowledge about how to live as Christians, we don’t become more judgmental, quicker to criticize, and more standoffish. Oh agreed, that is never our plan when we set out on a new learning expedition, yet too often our knowledge causes us to “think more highly” of our self than we ought to. The book of Proverbs consistently encourages us to get wisdom with our knowledge. For me a simple understanding of wisdom is this: Wisdom is the proper application of knowledge.

If the Spirit of God has led you into a deeper understanding of God’s truth, pray for wisdom. For without wisdom, proper application of said knowledge, the tendency will be to become judgmental of others. You see loved ones, every time the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to a biblical truth, He expects us to obey it. That is, He expects us to put that truth into practice in our daily lives. The precious word of God is never intended to just further our station in life. Our Heavenly Father has revealed that certain truth to us so that we can have the opportunity to live it, allowing others the opportunity to fall in love with Jesus.

The Lord just revealed something to me: one letter makes all of the difference – add the letter “Y” to the word “our” and you completely change the meaning. Biblical knowledge is intended to impact “your” life so that it can then be a blessing to “our” lives. Isn’t that how God works? He takes the singular and turns it into a plural by making the smallest change to the singular! Often, we don’t need more knowledge, we just need to apply the knowledge we have at the present.

So, today, as you open your Bible to discover the golden nugget that your Heavenly Father has for you, stop and ask Him how you can best use that nugget to be a blessing to the “our” in your life. Regardless of where you work, regardless of your present knowledge, God desires that we each “grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Pt. 3:18a)

Note, “grace and knowledge” are tied together. May we each correctly apply that which we learn.

Seeking wisdom with you, Neal