From the Home Place

July 30, 2029

We are starting this day at 52 degrees, headed for 92. We received just a few drops of rain yesterday evening, and a whole lot of wind. Around us there are reports of folks getting inches of rain! Looks like it will be cooling off Friday and scorching on Sunday!

With this ugly hot weather we’ve been having, I have been wearing a lot of T-shirts. Of course, all of the old football T’s that I have collected over the years don’t have a pocket on them, so I am unable to carry my little black book with we – I actually call it “my brain.” That little book keeps my life lined out, as it contains all of the meetings, activities, doctor appointments, and special events I need to keep track of.

I also carry “my brain” so that when a topic to write about pops into my head, I quickly stop and write it down so that I can remember it the next morning. Well, with no shirt pocket, I don’t have my brain and as such, I think of things to write about but don’t get them written down. And you guessed it, by the time tomorrow morning comes along, that topic has moved on to someone else, ’cause it isn’t anywhere to be found in my head.

Over the years, I have learned to write about most any topic, but I need to be able to think of a topic to write about. So, for today, I’m writing about having no topic to write about: When I first started writing “From the Home Place” stories (30+ years ago), we were living in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We had a nice little place where we were able to keep a few head of horses that I used constantly in the super nice arena on the place. With the horses, a few barn cats and a steady flow of grandkids around, we always had plenty of excitement that made it easy to find biblical truth in the events of each day, thus it was easy to find a topic to write about on a daily basis.

But now, we are just two old people stuck in town, working on remodeling a really old house and trying to stay connected within this community. This week is fair week here in Lusk, and each evening some group feeds the entire town supper. We have been able to make it there for the last two evenings to eat and visit with folks. This little town still has a great sense of community.

That community feel should probably be present in each of our churches as well? You know, a place where folks can connect, life-on-life. After all, isn’t that the way Jesus connected best with people, by being out in the community in which He was living at any given time? It seems to me that Jesus was most often to be found where the people were gathered. Could it be that He practiced my principal of “No contact, No impact.”

As Christ followers, we need to be around people. People on Sunday morning to “encourage one another,” and people during the week to develop relationships where we can have a positive impact upon their lives. The fun thing is, as we are connecting with people for impact, they are also connecting with us; and it seems to me that connected lives equal community!

You see my friends, I remember well when we purchased our first television back in the early 1960’s. All of a sudden, we started having less contact with the people around us because it was just easier to get bogged down behind the television and stay home. I’m so very grateful that in spite of a TV, our family and other families around us still made community a priority.

Yet for today, I fear that most of us have become accustomed to taking the easy road of staying shut up in our homes instead of being an active part of the community on a regular basis. Sunday morning is a good start, but may I suggest that we need to be involved within our community on other days as well. After all, none of us really knows when we might need a healthy community to gather around us.

Well, I guess I just found a topic! Have a great day.

Staying connected with the community with you, Neal