From the Home Place

May 19, 2026

Good morning. We were blessed with a bit of moisture yesterday and then a really hard frost. Anything that wasn’t covered is probably dead. All I know is that Coffee was out and back in record time today!

I didn’t give much thought to the phrase that “anything that wasn’t covered is probably dead,” but it seems to be a good place to start today. The cold, hard truth is that every person and every critter that is alive today is going to die at some time in the future. For some of us that future probably isn’t too far down the road.

Death will come knocking for each of us in the time He has allotted to us, and if we are not covered with the blood of Jesus Christ, it will be a chilling experience. Usually, for the person who has walked with Jesus during their life here on earth, there is a sense of peace at the time of passing. Believers are headed for a much better place when they leave this ‘ol ball of dirt behind!

Yet for the person who is not covered in the blood of Jesus, death is most often a fearfully cold experience. Of course, after death, they warm right up, spending eternity in the fires of hell! A place of constant torment, pain and desperation. Why anyone would choose hell over heaven is beyond me, but the Bible tells us that many will choose to reject rather than receive Jesus.

The quote “Life is the sum of all your choices” is attributed to Albert Camus, the French-Algerian philosopher, writer, and Nobel laureate It appears in various compilations of his works and is often paired with the follow-up question, “So, what are you doing today?” 

Camus, a central figure in existentialist thought, believed that individuals are responsible for shaping their own lives through the decisions they make. His quote emphasizes that: Values and principles guide your choices, and aligning actions with them can lead to a more meaningful life. Every choice contributes to the overall narrative of your life, whether big or small. Camus went on to state that personal responsibility is key — “you have agency over your destiny.” (Web search result)

To some degree Camus is correct, our life choices do impact our life. Yet the part Camus neglected is the fact that choosing to follow Jesus Christ transforms a person’s life here and now, and for all of eternity. When Jesus died upon the cross, He paid the penalty for all sin; past, present and future. (Rms. 8). As Romans explains, the blood of Jesus does not give me a license to sin, but it does give me forgiveness when I confess my sin. (1 Jn. 1:9)

For you see my friend, I accepted Jesus in past tense, but I also accept Jesus in the present tense. Each day, my past decision to follow Jesus impacts today’s attitudes and actions as well. You might say that a decision in the past to truly follow Jesus, “covers” the rest of my life and eternity, protecting me from the chill of death.

How about your life my friend? Will you choose to reject or accept Jesus? Please realize that refusing to accept Jesus is a choice to reject Jesus, thus sealing your eternal fate. Grasp this, “God does not send anyone to Hell, we choose to go there by refusing to choose Heaven through faith in Jesus!”

Covered under the blood of Jesus with you, Neal