From the Home Place

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  • “His word”

    October 28, 2025

    “This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise.” Psalm 56:9b-10 God’s “word” consistently reminds us that when we walk with God, His “word” will remind us of His desire to walk with us.

    I’m sorry to start our visit with a string of questions, but I must ask each of us, “What value do I really place on God’s word?” Do I “praise” His word? Do I really trust God’s word enough to allow it to change who I am and what I do? Or do I read His word, lay it aside and go on to live my life as if I had never read His “word?”

    I know around our house, we have close to twenty Bibles, but does one of those Bibles have me? I recall reading the words of D.L. Moody, “We don’t need to get more people into the Bible, we need to get more of the Bible into people.” Perhaps if those of us who claim to love God’s “word” would live what we read, just perhaps, we would have an extremely positive impact upon the culture in which we live? What value do you and I really place upon God’s “word?” Have I stopped recently and praised God for giving me His love letter from Heaven, a Bible?

    Over my years in the pastorate, I have used God’s “word” as a tool for counseling, for encouraging, for challenging, for a sermon text and for leading others to salvation in Christ Jesus, but have I used His “word” as He intended it to be used, as a means of transforming my life?

    2 Timothy 3:16-17 informs us, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” After hours and hours in the Bible, am I trained in “righteousness?” Am I doing “good work?” Am I just in the Bible, or is the Bible in me?

    O.K. enough questions. Allow me to share one of my hobbies with you – I enjoy collecting old Bibles. Bibles that reveal not only old age but also reveal that someone has used them. Dr. Derkson once told me, “A Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to a person who is not.”

    You can tell a lot about a person by looking at their Bible. Is it falling apart, or are they? So, for today, I am going to assume that your Bible is falling apart from use, and that your life is not falling apart from proper application of God’s “word.” As such, your life and your Bible both give “praise” to God for his “word.”

    Now, here’s one more question, “Who will read your Bible after you have passed on to eternity?” I have a box full of old Bibles that evidently have meant a lot to their previous owners, yet I found them at a yard sale or a thrift store. Tattered and torn, full of underlines, highlights, and personal notes. Each Bible appears to have done its job well, yet it ended up being discarded at the end of its owner’s life.

    When your life comes to a close, who will inherit your prized possession, your Bible? May I suggest that you put a very visible note in each of your used Bibles to give its next owner instructions about the great value of God’s “word!” Tell them your favorite verse or passage. Tell them why you left that Bible to them. Tell them to use it for “training in righteousness.” Tell them that it has been a good friend to you, helping you to get to know its Author, whom you are now with in Heaven!

    Praising God for His “word” with you, Neal

  • He’s Here!

    October 3, 2025 (This didn’t post on 10/3, so I’ll try again today 10/27)

    Yesterday I traveled 150 miles south of here to Cheyenne for a day-long meeting with eleven other pastors. We all serve God’s kingdom under the direction of Converge Rocky Mountain. We spoke of the growing hatred toward religious groups in America. We spoke of the spread of false religions and false beliefs. We spoke of the difficulties of planting new Bible-believing churches in Wyoming and all across America. We spoke of the report that today there are more people claiming to be Satan worshipers, than there are those reporting to be Jesus followers.

    But, then we spoke of God’s amazing grace and power! We spoke of the three new congregations we have planted in three small towns of Wyoming! We spoke of how we are seeing many new faces in our churches across the district! We spoke of people committing themselves to follow Jesus Christ! We spoke of new ministries impacting communities in very positive ways across our great state! We spoke of how Jesus Christ continues to fulfill His promises of building “His church!”

    At this present time in America it is quite easy to focus upon what is wrong, and to become fearful. Yesterday we reported what our churches are doing right and celebrated! We spent a lengthy time in prayer, praising our Heavenly Father for drawing new believers to Himself. We prayed for every pastor to be “strong and courageous” as they continue to serve their communities across Wyoming, and for protection for them, their families and their congregations. We prayed to and praised the living God!

    You see my friends, as bad as things are within our nation, things are not as bad as they could be because of the presence of congregations who are living out the Bible right in front of their neighbors. These gatherings of Christ-followers are standing up, speaking out, reaching out and loving others into the Kingdom of God! I am so grateful that your home church is such a congregation!

    As America grows darker and darker, it constantly amazes me how much brighter the Light of God is shining. A light that was light at Pentecost over two-thousand years ago is still lighting the path back to God, and hundreds of people are walking upon that path across America each and every day!

    Yes, my friends, God is here! He is here in Wyoming and around the world. God is alive and well, doing that which only He can do, changing lives for the good of all! Yesterday, we gathered to praise God for allowing this small group of pastors, and the churches they represent, to join Him in His work of helping people walk out of the darkness, into the light right here within our great State!

    So no matter what tragedy the news will report today, let us not forget that the Good News of Jesus Christ is here! Even though we may not be able to see Him as a person, we get to see Him working in and through His people each day. People who are genuinely and impactfully letting their light shine!

    Believing in and trusting God with you, Neal

  • The End!

    October 26, 2025

    The next morning, day three, starts a strong hour before the sun wakes up and we are on the road again, ten miles to the Lusk sale barn. The biggest issue of this day will be getting the cattle to cross the asphalt road just east of Manville so we can come into the sale barn on the north side of Lusk. Oh yea, we will also have to drag some cattle across the railroad tracks before reaching our destination. Cattle hate asphalt and railroads, and so do young horses and tired cowboys.

    By mid-morning we reach the holding pens at the sale barn and now the work begins. Every critter has to be sorted by brand, gender and age. This day is much like the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15) that will take place at the end of time. Believers will be separated from the non-believers and judgments will be handed out.

    Let’s stop here and make it very clear, God does not send anyone to Hell, people will be sent there because they refused God’s offer of salvation through Jesus Christ! Just as God allowed Adam and Eve to exercise their free will, He allows every person to do the same – we all get to accept or reject God’s gracious gift of salvation. To refuse said grace means to choose eternity in Hell.

    So, our cowboys will spend the rest of day three sorting cattle, this is a Monday, and the sale is on Tuesday. Every critter is sorted, put into the appropriate pen and fed. Our horses too are penned and fed. Cowboys and some of our families will go to the city park for supper. Everyone will head home, in a vehicle, or stay the night with a friend or relative in Lusk. Day Three.

    Many will gather the next morning at the sale barn, check on cattle and horses. Right after lunch, several of us younger cowboys will saddle up our horse and lead someone else’s horse and head back to the home ranches. It’s a four-hour ride and we have to get home before time to do chores. Our parents will usually arrive after dark, yet in time for supper and with a check from the sale. Day Four.

    I believe the date was September 1962, this was the last time this annual trip was made. From this date on, all of the cattle from our community would be hauled to market in stock trailers or trucks. This would mark the end of another era of my life, a life that has seen many amazing ends. And one of these days my life will end here on earth.

    But the end of life here marks the beginning of life in eternity! Where will you spend eternity, Heaven or Hell? It’s your choice, choose wisely my friend. Please believe that Heaven and Hell are both as real as the Grand Tetons!

    Awaiting the end so we can start forever, Neal

  • Almost There!

    October 25, 2025

    Let’s travel back sixty-plus years to a September morning, the sun is lighting a small glow behind the hills to the east of us, the air is crisp, and Mother Nature is just starting to wake up. My dad is holding the lead shank of a halter, the halter is on a colt that I rode for the first time the day before, and we are traveling south in a fairly nice swing trot. Dad will keep this youngn” snubbed for our first five miles, and if all goes well, he will turn me and my student lose for the rest of our fourteen-mile ride.

    We are headed down south to start the annual cattle drive to Lusk. You see, we will pick up our first cattle at the Schamel and Johnson ranches, dumping these cattle onto the county road and starting the fifty-two mile journey to the north and east.

    We will pick up a few more cattle three miles up the road at the Brownrigg Ranch, and then more from Ferguson, Sudberry, Smith and Orr ranches. Before we travel five miles back in the direction we started from, we will be trailing nearly one-hundred head of cattle ranging for weanling calves to yearlings and all sorts of old cows and bulls. If we are lucky, we will usually gain two or three more cowboys as well.

    Sticking to the gravel county road, we will let the cattle mosey on north at a slow walk, picking their breakfast as we go along. Conversation is light among the hands as we attempt to keep all of the bulls separated from each other. When they get to fighting, there will almost always be fence to fix, and none of us have any desire, nor the tools for such a job.

    An occasional rattle snake will be fuzzed out of his bed as we stick to the ditches as much as possible. After the morning jog south and now pushing cattle back north, my colt is starting to figure out what he was created for.

    We gain cattle as we pass the Bass, Archey and Robinson ranches. By the time we get back to Meadowdale we are now pushing well over two-hundred head of cattle, and every cowboy can smell the fresh cinnamon rolls and coffee my mom will have ready for us within the next hour. We dump the cattle in our east-pasture and jog our horses to the barn. Each horse will get a scoop of oats and some fresh hay for their breakfast and then it’s a race to see which cowboy can get to the house first!

    After eating a couple dozen of rolls and using two big pots of coffee to wash them down with, the cowboys will jump into a pickup from a couple of the ranches we traveled by earlier and they too will go back to their homes for a day’s work and a night’s rest. Day One!

    An hour before daylight, the cowboys will all return to our place, catch and saddle their horse, and then head for the kitchen for more fresh rolls and coffee, a lot more! By daylight we will gather the cattle and head north. By now we have thrown our cattle we want to sell together with the bunch and off we go, once again just as Ma Nature is waking.

    Johnson and Schaffer Ranches are first to add to our collection of cattle and cowboys. Then we gain more at the Smith, Blackmore, and Lamb places. We will usually gain a milk cow or two from Kennedy’s and then some more yearlings from my uncle Bud’s outfit. By the end of the day, we will have a dozen tired cowboys, tired horses and very tired cattle as we have traveled nearly twenty miles!

    Our string of nearly two miles of cattle will dump into a pasture just south of Manville. Horses are brushed, watered and put into corrals with fresh hay. Cowboys will eat a pot-luck supper, having eaten sandwiches on the go for lunch. Bedrolls are rolled out in the barn and after a few stories recounting the excitement of the day, the snoring and (well we’ll leave that one alone) will begin. Day Two!

    Now, let’s pause here for a moment for our theology lesson for the day. By the end of day two, we were really close to our destination, yet it was necessary to hold-up in a pasture for the night. Now remember, we have a thousand-plus head of cattle that have never been together before, but they are chosen for this journey. This holding pasture with cattle from a dozen different ranches are very much like a Christians journey to heaven. You will be put into a place with others who have also been chosen.

    Grab your Bible and read the story about Lazarus and the rich man from Luke 16:1931. Follow that reading with Luke 23:43, 2 Corinthians 12:4 and then read Revelation 2:7. In each of these readings you will find “Abraham’s bosom or Paradise.” These are the biblical terms for what we Christians usually call heaven. However, just like the cattle in the holding pasture, Christians who die and leave this world, don’t really go to the final heaven, yet. They are gathered in a place called the “intermediate heaven,” or Paradise, while unbelievers are sent to Hades, neither group in their final destination.

    Though this intermediate heaven will be amazingly wonderful, it isn’t the New Heaven nor the New Earth awaiting Christians (Revelation 21:1-8) as their final destination. Yes, you will recognize loved ones, but no one there will have their resurrected bodies as of yet. It will be a glorious place because Jesus will be with us there! Just remember, this isn’t the end of the story, yet.

    Because of the lack of space, we will pick up this story tomorrow.

    Waiting to reach our destination with you, Neal

  • It’s cold out there!

    October 23, 2025

    Sitting here listening to our forced-air furnace cycle causes me to miss the old wood stove even more. The ranch house we lived in had ground corncobs in the walls for insulation, and very little, if any insulation in the roof. When the wind was howling and the snow was flying, the inside of the ‘ol house was just about as cold as it was outside.

    We three boys slept upstairs, all three in a full-sized bed. Momma would spend every fall making quilts out of our old jeans and most anything else she could sew together to make something warm. I think that us boys must of had a half dozen quilts on our bed, plus an old tarp on the very top. The tarp was to keep the snow, that would blow in around the window, from piling up on our bed and getting the quilts wet. Also, the tarp made it easy to gather the snow up and throw it back out the window.

    Yep, the old house I grew up in wasn’t much for warm, that is until Dad and us boys would light the wood stoves. While someone was getting the heating stove to crackling, one of us would then go to the kitchen and light Momma’s wood cook stove. The main purpose for lighting the cook stove wasn’t just for a little extra heat, but more importantly to get “the coffee on.” Of course, all of this had to be done as quietly as possible so that we didn’t wake Momma and my two younger sisters.

    Back to the coffee pot – it would be made ready the night before. Seeing how the ‘ol house was so cold in the winter, the water in the coffee pot was usually frozen a tad bit, but it would melt while the cook stove was warming up and getting ready to make the day’s “first cup!”

    I can still smell that old percolator making coffee. These new coffee machines are faster, but there still isn’t anything like a cup of coffee that has been perking on a wood cook stove! I have plenty of fond memories of Dad, my two brothers and myself setting around the kitchen table quietly planning the day before us, sipping a cup of fresh brewed coffee, that was by the way, strong enough to keep a feller running for several hours.

    Application: Our old house was lacking insulation – the Bible is our insulation as Christians. Just get a cup of coffee and spend a few minutes reading your Bible. That time of reading will help insulate you against the attacks of Satan and this world as you go through the day.

    Next, the wood stove is the power of God. Though it may be cold and uncomfortable on the outside of your life, knowing that God is in control brings much comfort. And the coffee, that is the working of the Holy Spirit. Miss Deb has a sign above our coffee pot that reads, “Coffee gets me started, Jesus keeps me going.” I tend to enjoy both at the same time each morning – a cup of coffee and some quiet time with Jesus.

    Oh yeah, the time around the table with Dad and my brothers, that is the fellowship that you will enjoy today with those who love you. Now those who love you may be a pet, a spouse, children, a friend, or a fellow Christian. It really doesn’t matter who it is that you share life with, just so you share it with someone, including Jesus.

    So, turn up your thermostat, get a cup of coffee and praise God for His many blessings in your life today. But, please, don’t forget to spend at least a part of this day with someone else – they need you and you need them. That could even include the folks you spend some time with at the coffee shop.

    Enjoying life with you, Neal

  • But it’s a really big mountain!

    October 22, 2025

    Ever since I was just a short-legged feller, I have loved being in the mountains. That is, until I had to climb one to get to a certain destination. Back in the early 70’s my brother and I were both blessed to harvest two cow elk, right smack on top of a mountain. Because we could each carry only one quarter of the meat at a time, we had to make three more trips up that mountain to get the meat safely into the back of the pickup. We were not in bear country, so all we had to do was to get the meat down the mountain. The temperature was below freezing and there was about 18″ of snow on the ground where the pickup was parked, but up on top, the snow was way over our knees.

    To make things even worse, we not only had to carry a quarter of elk on our shoulder, while tromping through a couple of feet of snow, but once we were about halfway down the mountain where the elk were, we then had to climb up another really big mountain before descending to the pickup. Needless to say, it was a very long, difficult two-day job.

    Spiritual application: We have all been reminded of Jesus’ words telling us that if we had “faith the size of a mustard seed,” we could move mountains.. I’m quite sure that Jesus wasn’t talking of throwing a literal mountain into the sea, they seem to be really well rooted right where God put them.. I think that Jesus was telling us that if we have even small faith, we can deal with any obstacle, even a big one.

    On our elk hunt, we both could have handled climbing one mountain to get to our elk, but having to climb another one, with a hundred pounds of meat on our backs, in the snow, was extremely difficult! But sometimes, we just have to climb the mountain, even if it’s uphill both ways, in the snow.

    So, what obstacle is in your path today? Your mountain may be medical, relational or spiritual. Whatever it is, trusting Jesus will help you deal with it. My experience is that faith in Jesus doesn’t remove the obstacle, but faith in Jesus makes it possible to deal with said obstacle in a proper manner.

    There’s an old Dutch saying that states, “God doesn’t take us out of the storm, but He does walk with us through the storm.” Remember, the storm was still raging when Jesus walked out, took Peter by the hand and pulled him to safety. Pete taught us that faith is keeping our eyes on Jesus, not on the storm.

    Whatever obstacle you may face today, take the hand of Jesus and deal with it. Oh by the way, it usually helps to trust fully in Jesus before you start to sink.

    Trusting Jesus with you, Neal

  • I need some wind!

    October 21, 2025

    Here we are looking at the tail end of another month, man time sure is going fast! As I told a friend just the other day, “When you get to be our age, we know that we have seen way more sunsets than we will ever see sunrises.” Nothing morbid, just a simple fact.

    Yet, as I visit with different folks who read these writings, I’m constantly told that their favorite writings are those about my youth. Well, I would love to write more about that season of my life, but I can’t remember most of it. And what I do remember, I’m not sure if I’ve written of it before or not. After all, I’ve been writing these posts for over twenty years. That’s a lot of stories about one ‘ol fellers’ life!

    But, let’s take a run at one more shall we? Yesterday’s writing about the cup in the windmill tower caused me to remember many a day spent turning the wheel on a windmill in an attempt to water cattle.

    You see, there four main parts of a windmill: The tower holds everything up in the air so that the wheel – that big shiny round part – can catch the wind. The tail – the long part protruding from the middle of the wheel, is used to turn the wheel into the wind and the gear box – located directly above, and a little behind the wheel is where the gears are that make the pump go up-and-down to pull the water up out of the ground. (You will be able to see each of these parts in the photo at the end of this post.)

    And yet, there is one very major part of this whole system that is absolutely essential to make a windmill work – the wind! Without wind the tail cannot turn the wheel into said wind. Without the wind the wheel will not go round-and-round which is needed to turn the gears in the gear box. Without the wind the tail can’t turn the wheel so that the wheel can catch enough wind to turn round-and-round which turns the gears in the gear box, which causes the sucker rod to go up and down which causes friction on the leathers inside the cylinder, which sucks water into the cylinder, pumping water to the surface, so the cows can get a drink! Wow, I guess there are more than four major parts to a windmill!

    But back to the wind – when the wind doesn’t blow, the cattle drink the tank dry. And because gasoline driven pump jacks were few and far between back then, I had to crawl up the thirty-foot tall tower and manually turn the wheel for several hours, so the cows could get a drink.

    Oh, and by the way, I rode summer pasture for several other ranches and when there was no wind, I had lots of towers to climb! Climbing the tower was the easy part. At the top of the tower there is a very small platform which is possible to stand on, if your courage will allow such a maneuver. Once on the platform (did I mention that it was usually 30 feet in the air?), I would stand on the platform and turn the wheel round-and-round until I could get enough water pumped to water the cattle for today, usually a couple hundred gallons per windmill. Oh yah, there could easily be two or three windmills in each pasture, for each rancher.

    I would spend the entire day standing on a platform, using every muscle I possessed to turn a ten-foot wheel so a bunch of momma-cows could get a drink. (And you thought you wanted to be a cowboy.)

    As I stood on a twelve-inch board, turning a ten-foot wheel, wishing the wind would blow, the last thing I wanted was for the wind to blow! Because if the wind suddenly blew out of a direction other than the one I had the tail turned to, I would be swept off my perch! Or, if I hung onto the wheel, I could end up going round-and-round until it spit me off, something like a salad shooter!

    O.K., I admit there are way too many possible spiritual applications here, so I’m just going to pick one: the wind. Remember that on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), there was a sound “like a mighty rushing wind”? That which could have killed me physically when I was a kid, is now my best friend spiritually. Without the Holy Spirit working in and through our lives, we would be like that windmill without the wind, not much use.

    Oh yeah, our human nature would try to physically do what we could do to cause something good to happen, but without the Holy Spirit we would be pretty much as useless as a windmill with wind. Perhaps that is why Jesus told His disciples that He was going to ask His Father to send them a “Helper,” – because Jesus knew without the Spirit, not much good was going to happen. The same is very true for today.

    So, every time you read your Bible and feel God leading you to do something – that’s the Holy Spirit blowing. Every time you get to share the Gospel with someone else – that’s the Holy Spirt blowing. Every time you find yourself in awe during a song – that’s the Holy Spirit blowing. Every time you pray, and you know that God has heard you – that the Holy Spirit blowing into your life!

    You see my Christ-following friends, without the Holy Spirt at work in our lives, we couldn’t even pump enough fresh water to give the “least of those” a drink of water in His name!

    Praising God for His Spirit with you, Neal

  • Tin-Cup Theology

    October 20, 2025

    Yesterday at church I had a fun visit with a great lady. During our visit she asked that I consider writing about the tin-cup on the windmill tower, so here goes:

    If you were blessed to grow up in ranch country, you probably already know where we are headed. Especially on bigger ranches, most of the windmill towers were wooden towers. As such it was easy to run a nail through an old soup can and then drive the nail into a windmill tower a few miles from home and then hang the can on the nail for a drinking cup when you were in that area.

    So, imagine with me – A cowboy rides up to the windmill with his trusted steed, on a hot July day, and they are both thirsty. The horse sticks his nose into the tank and begins to enjoy the cool, fresh water. The cowboy grabs the tin-cup nailed in the tower and gets himself a drink of cool, fresh water by placing the cup under the waterspout that is filling the tank.

    That is, he gets a good drink if the wind is blowing enough to turn the wheel on the mill that pumps the water out of the ground. But for today, let’s say there is enough breeze to turn the wheel. So our cowboy takes the cup and runs his fingers around the inside of the cup to break lose any dead bugs or a spider web in the cup. He then will let the cup fill half full, empties it out and then he can have his drink.

    Here’s the theology: That tin-cup is you, the cowboy is the Lord. The Lord wants to use you to bless Himself or someone else, so He takes ahold of you, and the first thing He has to do is clean out the dead bugs, spiderwebs and rust (sin) so that He can enjoy a refreshing relationship with you.

    The cleaning doesn’t hurt the real tin-cup, but when the Lord gives you a good scrub to cleanse the results of past sins, sometimes it can be a bit painful. As such, we usually want to tell the Lord, “I don’t feel qualified for such a use,” or we will tell Him to find a different cup. Either of these responses leave us feeling “empty” and “unfulfilled”(clever use of words, right?).

    Anway, allow the Lord to put you where He wants you, even it means being nailed to a windmill tower. When He shows up to use you, willingly and gladly take a good cleansing and then give Him a great, cold drink of fresh water. A drink, that He is known to share with someone else (like the woman at the well).

    So be like the tin-cup in the windmill tower.

    Waiting to be used with you, Neal

  • It’s all about attitude!

    October 19, 2025

    Well, yesterday presented us with our first snow for this season. Though I’m not even close to being ready for winter, it will be here in full force soon. The oncoming winter is like all of the other undesirable events in our lives; we are seldom ready for it to hit. But, as the Bible tells us, it does absolutely no good to focus upon the bad and ignore the good.

    So, for today, look for something good in your life, and then thank your Heavenly Father for it. Maybe it will be something kind that someone says to you, or perhaps, it will be something kind you say to someone else? A kind action, a good attitude, a special blessing that God drops into your life – then pause and praise Him for it!

    Can you imagine what it is like for God to hear about nothing but the “bad” stuff that is going on in our lives? We complain about this, and grumble about that, asking for, asking why, asking what if. But how often do we praise Him for even the little things of life?

    I just spent the last 30 minutes attempting to get the furnace to come on in our camper, which we are still using during our construction phase. So, at 24 degrees outside, a camper with no heat is a bit cold on the inside. In the midst of attempting to get the furnace to work properly, I had to stop and ask forgiveness – forgiveness for allowing the cold of the outside world to impact my “inside” temperature.

    In Philippians 2:5 we read, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.” What “attitude” are we supposed to have? Reading further down the page you will find that the attitude we are to copy has three elements to it: 1) Jesus lowered Himself to our level which implies we are to do the same with folks that Jesus brings into our lives. 2) Jesus humbled Himself, we (I) way too often “think more highly” of myself that I should. Remember, we are told to “humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God.” (1 Pt. 5:6) It would appear that humility comes only when we place our lives under the “might hand of God” and realize that we are not so high-and-mighty. 3) Jesus was “obedient to the point of death.” We too, should be willing to die to self so we can live for God.

    All of that challenges me, and I hope you as well, to be like Jesus today, lowly, humble and obedient. I once read a story written by Dr. D.L. Moody’s barber: He said that when Mr. Moody left his barber shop, “everyone there felt as if they had been in the presence of God.” As we go to church and go through the rest of this day, may those around us know they have been in the presence of Jesus, working in and through one of His servants.

    Seeking to be like Jesus with you, Neal

  • “Wow, that was almost a disaster!”

    October 18, 202

    In the late 1970″s Miss Deb, our three little ones and I oved back to the home ranch after my dad’s death. The winter of 1977-78 was an extremely tough one. We received a foot of snow on Thanksgiving Day and we never saw the ground again unity mid-May. In March the weather man was predicting a really ugly blizzard, so I strung two-hundred feet of rope on steel fence posts from the back door of the house to the calving barn. By midnight, my rope was snowed under, yet the cows had to be checked every couple of hours. So outside I went; I found the barn and shoved a new baby and his mommaI into the barn, After looking the rest of the ‘ol girls over, I headed for the house. Standing at the east door of the barn, I set out heading straight east, which would walk me right into the house.

    Well, somewhere in the fifty mile-per-hour wind, and swirling snow, I drifted south about fifty feet, missing the house completely. I stumbled around in the dark, feeling for something familiar when I finally bumped into our cake-shack. From there I knew I had to go back north, which allowed me to find the porch litht on the house. Cold, tired and wet, I put another long in the wood stove and sat quietly for a few minutes, realizing had I not found that cake-shack, they would have eventually found my frozen carcass under a snow drift.

    It is really easy to get disorientated when you think you are in one place in the dark, but in reality, you are in a different place. I would suggest that same logic is true with heaven. We humans live as if this earth is our eternal home, but in reality, we are disoriented. It is no sin to be disoriented, but it sure can put a healthy fear into a person when we realize just how close to a disaster we really were!

    If you read the post from last week, you read this phrase, “This earth is all of the heaven the non-Christian will ever know, and it is all of the hell the Christian will ever know.” But you see, we Christians often live like this earth is all of the heaven we will ever know, but it is not. If as a Christ-follower I lose focus and start chasing the darkness of this world, the Holy Spirt is here to help us get our lives back on track, if we just ask.

    I’m convinced that God guided my steps during that March blizzard back in 1978, and now I know that God is with us in the person of the Holy Spirit. I mean after all, just think of the times that you have seen the Holy Spirit at work in and through your life, giving you a glimpse of heaven. And that is exactly what your Heavenly Father wants you to see!

    In Ephesians 1:13 we are told that when you accepted Jesus as your Savior, through faith, you were “sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.” Remember Jesus’ promise that He would send a “helper” to assist His disciples in their spiritual journey on earth, and the same promise holds true for a Christian’s life as well!

    I remember studying this passage in Bible College and realizing that the Holy Spirit is given to believers as an engagement ring. Now put on your thinking cap with me for a moment and let’s look at it: The church, consisting of all believers, is the “bride” of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is given to every believer as an engagement ring is given to a “bride-to-be”. Yet in biblical times, when a young couple became engaged, they were considered married at that moment, they just didn’t live together yet.

    In John 14:2 we read, “In my Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you, but I go to prepare a place for you.” Here, Jesus is speaking of the tradition of a Jewish wedding where the groom would give his bride a promise of marriage and then off he would go to prepare their new house as their dwelling place after the formal wedding ceremony. Jesus, our Groom, is preparing our permanent home for us – in heaven!

    Now go back to Colossians 3, verse 3, “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Jesus, who is at the “right hand of God” in heaven, is where you are spiritually! As the Jewish bride-to-be would return to her home and hide herself from the groom as much as possible, so are you “hidden” in heaven. But on your wedding day, the day you leave this earth behind, you will be revealed as the bride of Christ!

    Within the pages of the Bible, things that are “hidden,” are concealed for only a brief time, and then according to God’s plan, the” hidden” is revealed. That is the idea behind the New Testament word “mystery.” It simply means that which was once hidden is now revealed. So, you, as the bride of Christ, are presently “hidden” – like a bride behind a veil – soon you will be revealed as the bride of the Groom, in heaven.

    Scripture challenges us to live like we possess the Holy Spirit, the engagement ring, here and now. “Set your minds on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” (Col. 3:2) In another words, live like you are already in heaven, not in hell.

    I agree, there are times that this life feels like we are in the middle of a severe blizzard. However, just like getting disorientated on a cloudy, dark night, it is extremely easy to not recognize where you are on the road of life! As a Christ-follower, you are already in heaven, now go live like it. No more grumbling and complaining about how bad things are, instead let the evil around you (the dark), drive you to living like “a light” in the darkness. “Let your light so shine that the people around you will see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven.”

    As Christ-followers we are to live now, like we will live in heaven – in the presence of our Father through the guidance of the Holy Spirt!

    Keeping a heavenly focus with you, Neal