From the Home Place

April 3, 2026

The wind is howling outside, no snow here yet. The temperature reads 37 degrees, but the weather man is saying that the “real feel” is 18 degrees, that will sure enough chill a baby cow. Sounds like the winds will roar at 53 mph, an inch or two of snow and a high of 30 degrees less than yesterday. On the bright side, the radar shows some good moisture over the Nebraska fire lands!

Last night was a very interesting evening for our young men’s group. The question was asked, “Why don’t today’s males want to be men?”” We then spent the next 90 minutes looking at Scriptures and discussing that question. Perhaps a quick look at a couple of those Scriptures will be beneficial for our morning’s reading? (Okay, I lied, this is going to be a long discussion.)

In Genesis 3 we find the person the Bible calls “the first Adam.” He lived in a sinless culture, had a beautiful wife, didn’t have to work extremely hard because God had provided for his every need. The Bible even tells us that Adam and his bride enjoyed evening walks through their garden, walking and talking with God. This first man had been given specific instructions that he could enjoy all of the garden in which he lived, except he was to stay away from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” (Gen. 2:16-17)

Oops, let’s back up just a few verses: May we start our journey in Genesis 2:15, “Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.” So, here we see that God want’s man to work for his living – no free meals even in the very beginning; man was to work for his living.

Now go to Genesis 1:27 where you will read that God created humans, “male and female He created them.” One thing we have to understand is that God created everything with, and in, order. By God’s amazing wisdom, He created everything that Adam and Eve would need and then He gave them their marching orders, if you will, in verse 28, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Now things get a little tricky but let me suggest there are three key words in Genesis 1:28: 1) the word “multiply” tells us that God never planned for Adam and Eve to be the only humans on His newly created earth. In fact, God expected Adam and Eve to “fill” the earth with humanity, poor Eve. 2) The next key word is “subdue.” This word literally means to “subjugate; violate” God had just instructed Adam and Eve to bring all life under control, by force if necessary. That sounds to me a lot like God knew that His first children would face conflict. 3) The third word is “rule over.” I know, that’s actually two words, but the original language requires them to be read a one, meaning to “have authority over, to have jurisdiction over.”

In the very beginning of time, before the introduction of sin, God introduced conflict and authority as realities of life. The first Adam was born into conflict, and was expected to use force if necessary to bring order into God’s creation, not worship it.

Enter Satan. Conflict is escalated to a level that Adam had never seen before! The Bible tells us that Eve was enticed to sin, she ate of the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:6) and then “she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” The term “with her” in the Hebrew means that Adam was right there with Eve. Most likely Adam was present to hear the whole discussion between Satan and his wife Eve (vv. 1-6). And just like that, our first Adam didn’t enter into the conflict, nor did he “rule over” it. He just ate.

Now we begin to understand why males do not want to be men. We would rather eat and have sex like our father Adam, than to “subdue” and “rule over.” I.E. King David – 2 Samuel 11:1, “Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem.” All of that is to say that instead of going to war as he was supposed to do, David stayed in the comfort of his home.

As you know, now David sees Bathsheba, has sex with her, she gets pregnant, and because of his ability to “rule over” the army, David has Bathsheba’s husband killed and everything falls apart because David did not do his part as king – he didn’t go to war, instead he stayed home. David, didn’t “subdue” as he was supposed to, instead he ate and had sex and then had to “rule over.”

Now let’s jump into the New Testament where we read of another Adam. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15 and read verses 45-49. The first Adam is the guy we just studied about in Genesis, the “last Adam” is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Oh, by the way, today is Good Friday, the day we recognize as the day that Jesus Christ was crucified – you don’t get any more conflict than that! Read any of the Gospel accounts of the life of Jesus and you quickly realize that Jesus was born into a world of conflict, and He subdued it as He hung on the Cross of Calvary. When Jesus uttered the words “it is finished,” He proclaimed to every “earthy” man (1 Cor. 15:47) that Jesus reestablished man’s ability to fulfill God’s command to the first Adam, to “subdue” and “rule over.”

Today, every male gets to decide if he will participate in that which Jesus made possible, will he be a man of God, or just a male? Will he do the hard work of providing and protecting, or will he just eat and have sex?

I would suggest that there is nothing new in the struggle of manhood. From the first Adam to today, all men would like to avoid that which they were created to do, fight the good fight and “subdue” and “rule over.” Instead, it appears that most males of today prefer to follow King David’s model instead of fulfilling their God-given responsibilities.

Summation, Unless the men of God rise up and show the males of our culture what it looks like to be a man of God, the kind of man Jesus died upon the cross for, Americal will soon lose her freedom because there will be no men to “go off to war” for the family or the nation, they will just eat and have sex!

Going to battle to subdue a lost culture, Neal

P.S. – By the way, the words “rule over” do not give men permission to be tyrants. Jesus lived His life before humanity as one who was able to “rule over” sin. Jesus lived His life as a servant and died as the Savior. Seems like this is a model all males would do well to follow???

If the Lord allows, tomorrow I hope to bring the “Paul Harvey” segment – I think there is great hope – when things seem the darkest, God’s light shines the brightest!

Yesterday was a very unusual day as there was this watery stuff falling from the sky, something we haven’t seen for many months in this area. The weather man is predicting that this strange event will occur again today! Thank you Lord for sending some rain, we greatly appreciate Your kindness.

I remember the Spring of 1964, we had been in a three-year drought, and then God opened the skies. He sent us several wet Spring snows which made calving a bit tough, but we sure enough were grateful for the moisture.

One day it would snow an inch or two and the next day we would receive a nice rain. By the middle of May we had green grass everywhere. I can remember digging post holes with just a spade, no pry-bar needed. The ground was damp all the way to the bottom of each posthole! The amazing part was that the rains continued almost weekly through July, which made cutting hay difficult. Speaking of hay, after finishing the hay fields, we mowed pasture grass and baled it. By the end of August, I was sick and tired of haying, but God knew what we needed.

With all of the rain, our cows spent the summer, belly-deep in grass, and then that next winter they lived belly-deep in snow, all winter long. Us kids didn’t attend much for school that winter because all of the county roads around our place were closed most of the time due to the wind and the snow. All of a sudden, the “great” moisture had become a sever threat to every rancher in our area!

Tonight I am to meet with the young men I am mentoring. We have enjoyed seven weeks of God’s great blessing! You might say, He has broken the spiritual drought of those attending our studies by allowing His Holy Spirit to send us plentiful spiritual rain. Now tonight, we will enter into our second week of the deep snow and cold as we talk about spiritual warfare.

As we gathered last week, our first week of dealing with said topic, each man shared stories of how the enemy had attacked his life the previous week. I had warned my young friends that when we started our study of dealing with our spiritual enemy, that Satan and his demons would do their best to keep us discouraged and defeated. A warning that each man experienced the following week.

Last week we studied Ephesians 6:10-20 and learned how to put on “The Full Armor of God.” I’m looking forward to tonight’s gathering. Please pray that each of our young men are able to be present and that this week we will hear stories of victory over “the spiritual forces of wickedness!”

Please be praying for this group of men as we join together in Spirit to continue our lesson of Ephesians 6:13, “Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

This verse would remind each of us about the necessity of being ready for battle with our spiritual enemy. We must do “everything” that we can do to keep our lives pure before the Lord. Sin confessed, cleansing applied, focus upon Jesus – His blood applied and His word obeyed – along with putting on “the full armor.”

You see my friends, when doing battle with “the spiritual forces of darkness,” we dare not focus upon them, we are to focus upon Jesus and His victory upon the cross of Calvary. The evil forces are always around us as Christians, so we need not look for them, nor should we pay them much attention. We are to “fix your eyes upon the Author and the Perfector of faith.”

For you see, much like aiming a gun, you tend to hit that which you keep your focus upon. That is why we must keep our focus upon Jesus Christ, even during the dark winters of life. We praise God for the moisture He is sending (spiritual blessings), yet we must all know that as those blessing continue, we should expect our enemy to attempt to cripple us spiritually, just like the winter of 64 crippled many ranchers. Yet, much like those old boys who made their way through the long, hard winter, we too will make it through our spiritual winter as long as we keep our focus upon Jesus, wearing our “full armor of God.”

One of the greatest blessings of every spiritual journey is knowing without any doubt, God’s team wins! So today, and each day, may we keep our focus upon Jesus (our part), knowing that He has won the war, even though the battle continues. Remember, we are to “not grow weary of doing good.”

Today we proclaim: “Reign Jesus reign; as You send us rain.” Praise be to God! Right now, may I encourage you to study and apply 1 Peter 5:6-11.

Standing firm with you, Neal

March 31, 2026

Well, the last day of March is going to be more “normal” than most of the month has been. I don’t remember a March that was made up of so many plain “hot” days as this one was. But today, is predicted to be 35 degrees cooler than yesterday, windy, and cloudy. Yesterday I ran around with just a shirt on, today the ‘ol coat will come off of its peg and get some mileage.

I woke up about the same time as usual this morning, around 4 a.m., but I didn’t get out of bed until nearly 5:30. I spent that gap of time visiting with the Lord, praying and remembering. As I mentioned to Miss Deb just the other day, “Anytime the Lord calls me home is fine with me, we’ve had a good run!”

Yesterday was a typical day around here: I crawled around under this old house for a bit, examining the foundation, the floor timbers, water and sewer lines. Just like me, those things have a lot of years on them and need to be checked every now and again. While I was under the house, I completed a heap of measurements in preparation of installing a mitigation unit to keep fresh air flowing down in the crawl space.

After that little duty, I went to the shop to dig through some boxes looking for a particular “little plastic box” for Miss Deb. I have to admit; it wasn’t too long before I was digging through some of my hunting boxes making sure all was well there. A feller also needs to keep a close inventory on his hunting clothes and “necessary” supplies you know. Miss Deb has often said that I could “open my own Cabela’s store.” Though I wouldn’t go that far, I reckon I have at least one of everything I need to have an enjoyable hunting camp.

Oh, hunting camp! I sure enough miss being in a good hunting camp, sleeping in a tent heated by a wood stove. For some reason grub always tastes better there. Perhaps it’s because in hunting camp we eat what we want to eat, with plenty of grease in it, instead of what’s good for us. I have a bad dislike for sandwiches, unless I’m eating one that has been in my backpack for hours, sitting at 10,000 plus feet elevation, soaking in some sunshine and watching for bugle cows to walk out of the timber below me! All of a sudden, that sandwich takes on the flavor of a perfectly cooked fillet.

At elk camp, each morning starts by 4 a.m. and ends after supper and a time of visiting around the campfire, accompanied by plenty of laughter. Yep, I do enjoy tromping the mountains flat looking for a bugle cow, but if I’m honest, I enjoy the evenings around a campfire the most. And that is what the Lord brought to my mind early this morning.

He reminded me of the many great hunts I’ve been on over the years. How He has always protected me and allowed me to come back to Miss Deb after each hunt. My Heavenly Father took my mind back to several occasions when things could have went really bad, but He protected this bag of bones and let me be a part of one more evening in hunting camp.

Though my Lord has not always provided meat for the freezer, He has always provided laughter and the ability to work hard at trying to find a bugle cow. I’ll let you in a little secret, just between us, I’ve already applied for my 2026 elk tag, and I’ve been practicing my elk calls every chance I get! Yep, Miss Deb every might be correct when she calls me an “elk-oholic.”

Well, all of that is to say, that I’m extremely grateful that our Heavenly Father made a creation that allows for such joy. And as each day, His protection and provision is an amazing gift for heaven. You see my friend, no matter where you live, no matter what brings you the most joy, both are a gift from God!

When was the last time you have laid in bed, or sat in your favorite chair and just thanked God for His amazing provision and protection? If you are still drawing air today, praise Him for it! If you are getting to share life with people who bring you joy, praise Him for it! And for sure, if you get to set at your favorite place and eat a sandwich, praise Him for it!

Along with all of that, early this morning, God reminded me of many of the people who have been a great blessing in my life, all by His loving kindness. My Uncle Clayton and Aunt Marie were most like two of my favorite people of all time. As I lay in bed this morning, my pillow got a bit damp as I looked back at how these two amazing people and their family helped mold me into who I am today. As I laid there, I could easily recall Uncle Clayton’s gentle voice reminding me of the value of “never being too busy to help someone else.”

So, my friend, regardless of where you are in your stage of life, remember that someone has helped you get there. And more importantly, God has given you life, love, joy and yes even disappointment because He loves you. Praise Him for His amazing grace and for allowing you to be who you are.

I sure hope you can take a few moments and remember the people God has used to shape you into who you are today. This morning my ‘ol carcus sure feels good after some time praising God and remembering where I’ve come from, perhaps you ought to try the same? Looking back and planning forward are some of His love gifts, enjoy them.

But for now, “Where’s my coffee cup?” Oh yah, and I sure hope that He will give me one more hunting camp!

Serving a gracious God with you, Neal

Picture of elk leaving the feed grounds near Jackson Hole. (I just want one!)

March 30, 2026

Today’s weather is very close to a duplicate of yesterday’s weather; hot, dry and windy. Please join me in asking our Heavenly Father to send His blessing of adequate rain across the northern half of America. Also, I encourage you to join me in praying for resurrection power!

“Gracious Heavenly Father, we pause to praise You for giving humanity Your great mercy. Instead of giving us the damnation we deserve, You have given us the opportunity of salvation in Christ Jesus. And not only have You given salvation, but You have also showered us with Your Holy Spirit so that we are able to recognize our own sinfulness, and our extreme need of a right relationship with Jesus!

“Oh Lord God, as we come to another Easter season that reminds us of the extreme price You have paid to redeem fallen humanity unto Yourself, we are humbled. Heavenly Father, we weep, knowing that our individual sin required Your extreme love to send Your beloved Son to the cross of Calvary. Lord Jesus, we praise You for being like us, while being fully God. We praise You Jesus, for willingly going to the cross as the perfect sacrificial Lamb of God on our behalf.

“Heavenly Father, You know the woeful sin of this nation: We truly are lovers of self and haters of good. We have proven Your word to be true as we exalt that which is wicked and vile, and wish to destroy Your bride, the church. Father God, knowing that we in no way deserve Your grace, mercy and love, we confess our sinfulness, and cling to Your righteousness.

“Father God, please bring Your cleansing to the American way of life. Give great boldness to those who have been blessed with Your amazing grace. Heavenly Father, may we truly be Your Joshua’s for this generation; may we too be ‘strong and courageous.’ Holy Spirit of God, help us to be humble in place of prideful, help us to be gracious in place of greedy, help us to be selfless instead of selfish. Holy Spirit, help each Christ-follower to give grace as we have been given grace, to forgive as we have been forgiven, to proclaim Your truth as You have opened our souls to Your good news!

“Heavenly Father, may each person who claims Jesus Christ as Savior find a genuine urgency to be a fully devoted followers of Jesus. May Your Spirit guide us into oneness with You and each other as Your children. Father God, help us to keep our eyes ‘fixed upon Jesus.’ Bring our spirits back to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ; and as You raised Jesus from the dead, raise us for the living. Father, set our lives at a standard far above where You find each of us this day – give us Your resurrection power so that we may infect others with Christlikeness!

“Heavenly Father, may this Easter season be one that ignites a proper spiritual passion across America. Oh God, resurrect me, resurrect us, as Your children to a newness of faith that drives us into the wilderness around this nation, so that You may be glorified by a multitude of genuine disciples of Jesus Christ. Oh Father God, take each of us to our personal cross, help us die to self and be resurrected to the fulness of the Savior!

“We love You Heavenly Father, and we praise You for first loving us. Now Lord, use each of us who claim salvation in Christ Jesus, to be a light in a dark world. For Father, to You belongs all glory and praise, and honor for ever and ever, which we acknowledge in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen!”

March 29, 2026

Good morning everyone! welcome to another Sunday! Today’s forecast reads this way: 38 right now, headed toward 74 for a high temperature, with winds out of the NW at 14, gusting to 25. I would say that the Lord has given you a really nice day to go to church.

As is my normal rhythm for Sundays, the Lord poked me in the ribs at 3:30 a.m., we visited for right at an hour, and now here I am typing on a computer at 4:30 a.m. One of the things I love about this time of the day is that it is quiet, making it easier to listen to our Lord’s gentle voice.

Today, He wants us to visit about a word that is found often in the New Testament – “Peace.” Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you, Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” (Jn. 14:27)

Allow me to begin by reminding us of the obvious, within the holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, there is perfect peace. They never argue with one another, and They never worry, nor are They ever fearful. Why? Because there is no sin among Them! Thus, the term Holy Trinity!

Today, Palm Sunday, we remember a day when Jesus entered Jerusalem, to die on a cross. While Jesus was upon that cross we find the only moment ever recorded that there was disunity among the Trinity. While Jesus was upon the cross, the sin of all humanity, for all time, was placed upon Jesus, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” At the moment that our sin was placed upon Jesus, His Heavenly Father looked away from Jesus and Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me!”

I believe at this exact moment, Jesus experienced the greatest pain of being crucified as the sacrificial Lamb of God, the moment when sin divided the perfect relationship between Father and Son. During that moment in eternity, God looked away from His Son, because of our sin! Yet, a short time later Jesus uttered another amazing phrase, “it is finished.” The death of Jesus paid the full price for peace, a gift that He gives to every believer. Yet, every minute of every day, sin attempts to rob us of the most precious gift ever given: To be at peace with God so we can know the peace of God.

In John 14, Jesus reminds humanity of the two major elements that destroy our peace: worry and fear. You see, we too often think of “peace” as the lack of conflict. Wrong! Real peace is an attitude of calm in the midst of conflict. Peace is what Jesus brings in the middle of a storm – Remember when Jesus calmed the sea with His presence in the middle of a raging storm that was threatening the lives of the disciples? Or look at John 19:20-21 where you will once again find fearful disciples, and peaceful Jesus.

The peace that Jesus brings, usually shows up in the middle of conflict, not in the absence of conflict. The peace of Christ always reminds us that He is in control. That He is always concerned for us as His disciples and that He is always victorious over the things of this world, even sin.

If you have worry and fear in your life, it is because of choosing to listen to sin instead of listening to Jesus. “Be still and know that I am God,” is spoken into our lives when sin is attempting to destroy our peace. “Be still and know that I am God,” is not spoken during some mystic time of prayer, God reminds us of His presence and His power when Pharoh’s army is closing in on us. Right when our world appears to be falling apart, and the sea of life is at its roughest, at that moment, Almighty God invites us to quit focusing upon the circumstances and to focus upon His Son, Jesus Christ.

Why? Because right in the middle of the worst circumstances engineered by sin, the “peace” of Christ is only one breath away. “My peace I give you.” You see my dear friends; Jesus went to the cross to provide peace between humanity and God; and to provide peace between you and those around you. Please, as we enter into this “Holy week,” do not allow sin to win. Allow Jesus to speak these words into your soul, “Fear not, for I am with you always.”

Celebrating peace with you, Neal

March 28, 2026

Today’s weather: 27 headed for 77 with a light breeze of 9 mph, with 30 mph gusts. I’m betting Miss Deb will be anxious for us to work on those flower beds again!

My Uncle Skinny (Ivan was his real name) would have said, “This weather is like one of those up and downy things (a yo-yo). He had a very unique vocabulary, most of which required interpretation to understand. On several occasions I was blessed to get to help him do some kind of building project. Usually, he would measure and I would cut. His measurements would be recounted to me as such: “It needs to be 32 inches and three of those little notches.” It took some time for me to come to understanding his tape measure, but I finally did: “Little notches” were 1/8″; while “shortest marks” were 1/16″, “taller marks” were 1/4″, and the “middle marks” were “1/2”. Usually, I would just sneak in and get my own measurement. But regardless, between the two of us we could get most anything built, at least according to his standards.

You see my friend, all of those different marks on his tape measure were quite common to both of us, we just both read the same marks in different ways. You know, much like reading the Bible. To most folks Romans 3:23 is read and understood in a very similar way. Yet, I have been around folks who understand that verse in different ways.

Here’s the point, often the way we have gained our knowledge, the time in which we have lived, the place where we have lived and usually, if we have learned more form experience rather than from education, all of these factors will often color how we see life. Especially our spiritual life.

Another way of saying all of that is this, “Our life experiences often determine how we see life, including our spiritual life.” That is why many folks think they are going to get into heaven, because “I’m not as bad as most other folks.” Their experience has helped them to come to this conclusion, and often, it is an accurate conclusion. That is, their lifestyle is not as sinful as the lifestyle of many of the people who live around them.

However, such an interpretation of Romans 3:23 is very inaccurate. You see, we have to understand every verse of the Bible within the context of the rest of the Bible. We can’t pull one verse out of a chapter of the Bible and give that verse our own understanding based upon our experience.

That is why Jesus said, “I will ask the Father to give you a Helper.” We need the “help” of the Holy Spirit to rightfully keep a verse of the Bible within its proper context with the rest of the Bible. Picking verses here and there and interpreting them according to my individual life experiences and preferences is how most of the cultish religions have begun. That is to say, they may read the same Bible you read, they have just taken certain verses out of context and given them their interpretation.

So, for you and me, we must be careful to allow the Bible to speak for itself. We need the help of the Holy Spirit to understand God’s holy word, not the help of personal life preferences. One of the laws of properly understanding the Bible states this as, “the best method to understand any text is to read it in the context of the rest of the Bible.” Using commonly understood methods of interpretation as we read our Bible is how we prevent trying to understand “32 and three little notches” in the Bible.

We must each allow the Bible to speak its own truth, keeping all within the context of the rest of Scripture and depending upon the Holy Spirt to help us rightly interpret all Scripture. Another law of reading the Bible sates, “There is only one proper interpretation, but perhaps many different applications.” Once I under stood Uncle Skinny’s method of interpretation, I then knew how to apply what he was telling me. Very much like properly understand my Bible.

It’s kind of like reading some of the blogs I write, you need to understand where I am coming from to understand where I am trying to get to. Otherwise, you will read and respond, “I don’t understand.” To understand some of the things I say, you need to know me. To understand some of the things God has written in the Bible, you have to know God – He will never say anything that is contrary to His nature. You see, usually understanding has more to do with a proper relationship than it has to do with knowledge.

Getting to know God better with you, Neal