From the Home Place

June 27, 2026

Good morning, friends! Wow, in the last three days we have been blessed with almost two inches of rain! The amazing thing is that there are no puddles, the ground has literally consumed every drop! Today, we start at 62 degrees, headed for 82, with another 55% chance of some more rain this evening. The 30 mph winds will be a bit though today, but that’s what He is sending us.

Today, we are having a Garage Sale, or as I so fondly call them – Garbage Sale! Moving from a 5- bedroom, 3-bathroom house into this much smaller house, a lot of our “stuff” has to go. As such, we will start setting up at daylight and hopefully lots of folks will come and make “amazing” purchases.

For me it will be a bit difficult to sell my 15 boxes of books. Books that I have collected over the last 40 years of ministry, but they need to find a new home. I pray that they will be a great blessing to their new owners, yet it’s kind of like saying farewell to old friends. But such is life.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to sell our personal emotional and spiritual garbage? Much like today is a day that we hope to make some space in the garage, it would be amazing to have a spiritual “garbage sale” and make more room for the Holy Spirit within our lives!

Well, the great news is that we can do just that. If we are truly willing to “let go” of the garbage, Jesus will haul it off for us. Remember His words, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” Much like cleaning our “stuff” out of the garage, Jesus invites us to give Him the things of this world that weigh us down – you know, the things that are in the way of our spiritual growth.

The word “weary” carries the idea of laboring to continue. It is safe to bet that each of us have something or somethings that make our life difficult. That burden that makes living life more difficult than Jesus wants it to be.

“Heavy-laden” is like stacking all 15 boxes of books upon your back and trying to live a normal life. You know, like the boxes of guilt and shame that most of us try to carry while we exist. The things we should have or should have not done. Those things that are literally “heavy” when we think of them.

This verse in Matthew 11:28 is Jesus’ invitation to us, to let Him buy our garbage. You see, He has already paid a premium price for every person’s “heavy” burdens. So instead of making a dime-on-the-dollar like our garage sale will be, Jesus paid more than any of our “stuff” is worth. Giving our “weary and heavy-laden” lives to Jesus is actually a Hugh profit, with no loss.

When we are willing to give Jesus our past burdens, He hauls those negative moments to the dump for us the moment we surrender them into His nail-pierced hands! Remember the old hymn, “I surrender all, all to Jesus I freely give.”

Our enemy, Satan, loves it when we carry past sin, guilt and shame around like a very heavy burden that keeps us from becoming all that Jesus wants us to be. So how about it, perhaps each of us needs to find a quiet place to “confess” and “release” those past burdens to Him? After all, Jesus is big enough to carry the extreme weight of this universe on His shoulders, I reckon He can handle our burdens as well.

As Peter reminds us, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” To “exalt” you means that our loving Heavenly Father wants to lift us up when we are willing to unload the burdens. So, let’s have a great “garbage sale” today! Thank you, Jesus!!!

Unloading our garbage with you, Neal