From the Home Place

March 18, 2026

We will be starting this day with 36 degrees at daylight, reaching to 77 degrees by 4 p.m. and looking at 56 degrees at sunset. If we are having 80 degree days in March, what will July be like?

Yesterday was the 44th anniversary of Miss Deb and I committing our lives to Jesus! We both gave our lives to Jesus on the same night miles apart from each other, both concerned that the other wouldn’t understand. Yet, by God’s amazing grace we were both serious about our commitments to live the rest of our days with and for Him. We will both quickly admit that we haven’t always done our part perfectly, sometimes even badly, but God’s faithfulness has always remained spot on.

You see my friends, when a person is born-again (Jn. 3:3), the Holy Spirit begins the transformation process, a process that God the Father considers “done” at the time of conversion according to the Apostle Paul’s writings in Romans. When a person confesses Jesus as Savior, their name is written in “the Lamb’s Book of Life.” As such, that person’s salvation is complete, but they will spend the rest of their earthly existence learning to love God more and more. On the day of a person’s salvation, God’s love says “done,” our love says, “begun.”

Like all babies, a baby Christian must learn to walk and talk: to walk with Jesus, and to talk like Jesus. The old lifestyle fades away, and a newness of life is adopted. Both of us would quickly tell you that the new life in Christ is by far much grander than the old life in the flesh. We still get to do everything we want to do; it’s just that now our want to, reflects the life of Christ.

Yes, we are still learning what it means to walk with Jesus, but what an amazing journey it has been! To get to serve the King of kings has been a grand investment of our lives. Each time we get to share the love of Jesus with someone else, our joy abounds. Each time we get to teach another person the joys of following Jesus, our lives are fulfilled. Each time we open our Bible we find new golden nuggets that the Holy Spirit reveals to us. We now realize that each day is a gift from our Heavenly Father, instead another day of troublesome labor.

Yep, for 44 years Miss Deb and I have walked with Jesus. How about you? Are you walking with Jesus just because you love Him and you know that He loves you? I didn’t ask if you have been baptized or if you have completed any other human work, I’m just asking do you know Jesus as your Savior? If not, why not bow your knee to the Savior today? We can tell you for sure, walking with Jesus is the grandest journey any person will ever take!

The amazing thing is that if a person learns to walk with Jesus on this ‘ol ball of dirt, one day that person will just continue their walk right on into eternity with Jesus! For on the day of our passing, we will proclaim the words of 1 Corinthians 1:55-57, “‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

As the ‘ol hymn proclaims, “There is victory in Jesus.” Do you know that victory?

Celebrating God’s amazing grace with you, Neal