From the Home Place

June 5, 2026

There’s a bright half-moon is shining in the sky at 5:30 this morning. The thermometer reads a pleasant 48 degrees with a high of 86 this afternoon. It looks like today will just be sunny and hot, no chance of rain.

Yesterday was a long, hot day shoveling rock out front. Today, more rocks, a couple of post holes, some split-rail fence and perhaps a bit of relax later this afternoon. When you buy a fixer upper, there is always work to be done. Much like our spiritual lives.

People come to Jesus at different stages of life, with different levels of spiritual knowledge, but we are all a fixer upper spiritually. Wherever we start following Jesus as our Savior, every one of us should spend the rest of our life growing “in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.” None of us will reach full maturity in Christ until the moment He calls us home.

As a fixer upper, there is always something to learn about God, and something to apply in a better fashion as we learn to live a life that pleases our Heavenly Father. As we make advances in that process, we then find something else that needs to be renovated within our life. When it comes to following Jesus, change should be constant.

It seems that even the best prayer warrior will say that they could still do better at prayer. No matter how you serve Jesus, it could be done better – most likely this improvement involves more about attitude than action? Regardless of the expertise of our Bible study methods, there is always room for improvement in how we study, and there is always room for improving how we apply what we learn.

Every well-known Pastor and every high-quality Professor I have ever visited with says that they are “just beginning” to understand their Heavenly Father for who He really is and for how He really works within and through the lives of His people. You see friends, it seems that the more you know God, the more you realize that you really don’t know God.

So, for each of us, there is plenty of renovation to be done with increased knowledge. Usually, we can start with better application of that knowledge, also called wisdom, and the constant adjustment of attitudes and actions. It’s my humble opinion that I don’t really understand a biblical passage until I correctly, consistently apply it, thus I’m always a fixer upper.

Remember, Ephesians 2:10 reminds us that we are all saved for “good works.” How we serve our King reveals a lot about how we view our King. When we are commanded to “love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength.” The word “strength” is a verb, making it clear that I don’t really love God until I use my physical and spiritual “strength” to serve Him though His church, within my community, and properly manage His creation.

Say it with me friend, “Holy Spirit, I realize that I’m a spiritual fixer upper and as such, will you help me to be a good student of Scripture, a victorious prayer warrior, and a lover of people.” For you see, the people that the Lord brings into our lives are usually the people that help us recognize our need for constant renovation. Sometimes those folks are far ahead of us in our Spiritual walk and they stretch us to keep growing – kind of like building an addition onto our old house. Yet other times the Lord brings people into our lives to be a good source to test our patience and kindness. It’s a simple fact; God uses people to renovate His people.

You see, I can get to feeling really good about my spiritual walk, until He brings a certain person into my life to help me realize that I still have a whole lot of fixin’ to do!

Working on our spiritual fixer upper with you, Neal