From the Home Place

June 2, 2026

At 4 a.m. the temp is 48 degrees, reaching for 76 for a high. Yesterday as I was walking home from the funeral that was held on the far east side of Lusk, it rained enough that my shir felt wet. By the time I hustled myself to the center of town, everything was dry, no rain at all. That has been the pattern since January.

For whatever reason, the rains go East or South or West or North of us, but here in the center of town we haven’t received an inch of moisture total for this Spring. But our Lord is blessing those around us with some decent moisture, and we praise His name for His great blessings.

As seems to be the normal for funerals anymore, there was a slide show. I appreciated yesterday’s family for playing the slide show before and after the official service. It has been my experience that unless I knew the person really well, the hundred+ pictures contain a whole bunch of faces I don’t know, doing things I’m not familiar with, in places I’ve most likely never been. But you see, the slide show isn’t really for me anyway, it’s for the family members to enjoy one last summary of a life lived.

If we were to stop right now and I was to ask you to summarize your life using 50 words or less, what would you say? What would those closest to you say, keeping the summary under 50 words? It would most like be difficult for most of us to do that until we really thought about it. I’m of the opinion when push came to shove, we would all get it done with way less than 50 words.

To summarize the life of a friend or family member, I’m thinking that we would probably use a phrase like, “She genuinely cared for those in her life.” Or perhaps, we would say something like, “He showed respect to everyone.” Someone would quite likely comment with this, “She loved the Lord and her family with all of her heart.”

As Jesus challenged His disciples when He asked, “But who do you say I am?” maybe we should all think of a couple of phrases we would like people to use when they summarize our life in 50 words or less? What would some of those summaries sound like?

I’ll let you chew on that for a bit while I mention a couple of verses out of 1 Perer 3:8-9 that are a summary as well. Peter writes, “To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.”

You know, if we were all to allow those two verses to summarize our lives, I reckon the folks at our funeral wouldn’t have any trouble giving a 50-word summary of our lives. If twenty people were able to give a one-sentence summary of your life at your funeral using such words, would that not be a life well lived?

So, maybe today is the day that each of us should start diligently working at living the summary Peter gave us for proper conduct, not just to improve the words spoken at our funeral, but to improve the words spoken about us today. Peter even gives us the motivation for tackling such a task, “For the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.”

Do you desire God’s blessing? If so, then take an honest run at developing the actions mentioned in 1 Peter 3:8 and 9, and then, watch the blessings come to you and through you. Not only will you receive the blessing God’s word clearly states, but you will also be a blessing to be around during the rest of your journey across this ‘ol ball of dirt!

Summarizing our lives well with you, Neal