From the Home Place

April 16, 2026

We will start warm and end with a hot day, starting at 45 and ending at 65 with wind gust close to 40 mph. There is the “possibility” of afternoon “thundershowers,” hopefully with no fires. Tomorrow is still calling for some snow!

Yesterday I went in for my annual “wellness check” according to Medicare. My blood pressure and heart rate are lower than that of most folks, I suppose it’s getting ready to quit all together one of these days. While visiting our eldest daughter and her husband last week, we had a good laugh about a message Mandi had received from her Mom. As you know Miss Deb and I were in Baggs, Wyoming helping with the grand opening of a new church there on Easter Sunday.

We spent the weekend helping the planter family in getting ready for the grand day on Sunday. A grand day it was indeed! The town of Baggs has a population of 409 people, on Easter Sunday 92 of those folks attended Battle Mountain Community Church! We were all so blessed to see such a large number of folks come to Easter Sunday service.

During the service, Miss Deb and I worked in the nursery with the little ones. There was one little girl, 8 months old, who immediately captured my ‘ol ticker. May I say, her momma is feeding her quite well, making this little gal quite snuggly. During the service, she and I rocked in a office chair that was in the room. It didn’t take too long before she was sound asleep in my arms! Deb snapped a picture and sent it to Mandi, with the title “Your father is in heaven!” Unfortunately, the picture took a while to join the note!

So, when our daughter Mandi opened the text, all she saw was “Your father is in heaven!” at which time her heart skipped a beat. For a few moments, she thought that my ‘ol ticker had finally quit. We all had a good laugh when we were together a few days later, but I suppose there wasn’t much laughter in her heart for a few minutes.

Unfortunately, we live in a time when we often receive partial information from our news agencies, and other folks as well. As such there are also those times within our lives that our “‘ol ticker” skips a beat after hearing a partial truth.

Yet so many live with just part of the truth from the Bible. Two major cults of our day often appear at your door with such a partial truth. Oh, they claim to read the same Bible that you read and to love the same Jesus as you love, yet in their doctrine they deny the truthfulness of the full Bible and believe Jesus to be less than God. They sow partial truth, about the greatest truth ever revealed to humanity. Theirs tends to be a salvation by works instead of by faith. (Rom. 5:1)

The Apostle Peter was writing of such folks when he penned these words in 2 Peter 3:17, “You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness.” Peter then gives us verse 18 as the means of not falling for spiritual half-truths, “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

Yes, loved ones, there are folks who sure would love to convince you that they are the only ones who have the “true faith,” while they deny the deity of Jesus Christ and the absolute truth of the Scriptures as inspired by God.

Stand firm in your faith, know what the Bible really reveals and live it each day of your life. If you are not sure of what you believe and why you believe it, find a Bible-believing church near you and ask the pastor to connect you with someone who will help you “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Grow and glow!

Daily growing in faith with you, Neal