From the Home Place

A blog sharing insights, stories, and reflections on life from a Christian perspective.

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  • Red Flag Warning

    Today’s forecast is for 98 degrees, with wind and 14 percent humidity. Hot, dry and windy- the perfect recipe for quick spreading fires! A fire today is an extremely dangerous prospect.

    I awoke long before daylight; read Scripture, prayed and then decided to write. You see friends, these little notes that I write on a daily basis are intended to stretch each of us to be better at serving our Lord. It is my prayer and my hope that each of us will be challenged to grow, go and glow for His glory, and for the good of those around us.

    With that said, today our area of Wyoming is under a Red Flag Warning – hot, dry and windy. Part of my reading this morning was from Matthew 16:18, “and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” I have no doubt that Jesus is fulfilling His words even today, He is building His church.

    However, it is also possible that many churches in America are under a Red Flag Warning, as they too have grown “hot, dry and windy.” I believe it is our Lord’s desire that His church is to be red hot with passion for the lost and the least of our communities. Yet as I have stated before, whatever God has intended for good, Satan will imitate for evil. As such, many churches are no longer hot with the passion of Christ, they just appear to be what today is called “a hot mess.”

    Many churches have lost their purpose. They lack a Christ-centered vision, spend too much on processes instead of meaningful goals, allow division among members, and focus on easy topics in sermons instead of deeper teachings.

    Oh for the Holy Spirit to be free to work within and through the local church! Red Flag fires are always out of control, causing much damage. While the fire of the Holy Spirit seems to be well controlled and causes healing and strength!

    Could it be that we are in the time spoken of by Paul in 2 Timothy 4:3, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.” That sounds like a Red Flag Warning to me.

    Lest we run amuck, may we once again remind ourselves that Jesus is still building HIs church. Jesus continues to do that which Jesus does best – change lives. Here’s the deal, Jesus wants to change my life and your life to be more like His life. Are we willing to allow Him to complete His work within us so that He can then work through us? Perhaps we should pray as the missionary prayed, “Oh Lord, light my soul on fire so that people will gather to watch me burn!” Now that’s a “good” fire.

    Please, do not give up on your church and walk away. Instead, PRAY for your pastor and leadership to be ignited by the Holy Spirit, PAY with your finances and time, and PARTICIPATE in keeping your local church warm and friendly, true to the word, and on fire for the cause of Christ, and then PRAISE Jesus for the work He is doing – changing lives, starting with ours.

    Let’s join Smokey the Bear and do our part to in preventing Wildfires, as we join Jesus Christ in spreading the fire of the Holy Spirit across our communities.

    Doing my part with you, Neal

  • Way Back When

    One of the realities of getting older is knowing that I have seen more sunsets than I will ever see sunrises. Yesterday, I allowed my mind to take me on a “backwards” journey. I examined my life in ten-year increments. When I returned to sixty years ago, I saw a twelve-year-old, blond-haired boy who was expected to act and work like any of the other men within our community.

    You see, way back then, there wasn’t much room for childhood. By the time I was 12, I had already been breaking broncs, milking cows, digging post holes and fixing fence, killing rattlesnakes, butchering chickens, pigs and cattle, pulling calves, cleaning barns, driving, haying, being present for birth and death, and exposed to most every detail of life for several years. Growing up on a ranch didn’t leave much time for childish things.

    The Apostle Paul makes a similar comment in 1 Corinthians 13:11, “When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.” I have to wonder, what would our culture be like if our American males had a little less childhood and a lot more manhood? I’ve often made the comment, “One of the greatest travesties of America is that we have feminized the masculine and masculinized the feminine.”

    I would suggest that we need to get back to developing masculine men. Men who know how to do the hard things of life without blaming someone else for their lot in life. Men who were willing and able to accept responsibility for making wise decisions and can be trusted to follow through with completing tasks in a correct manner. Men who give way more than they receive.

    Many years ago, I read a book about manhood that really challenged me. Within the pages of “Wild at Heart,” John Eldridge made this statement, “Masculinity is endowed, not learned.” That means that boys need to have another man teach them how to be a man. Much of our modern-day version of men contains being macho instead of being masculine. Macho is self-centered, while masculine should be other-centered. Instead of bragging about how great and awesome of a person I am, masculinity always asks the question, “How can I help you become the person you were created to be?”

    Yes, I would agree that there is a certain amount of learning that goes along with becoming a man, but much of that learning needs to be guided by other men. Dads, and other men, need to be willing to invest time into our boys to help those younger men develop characteristics like honesty, respect, responsibility, accountability, honor, courage and gentleness.

    I was very blessed to have a dozen men from my home community who invested a lot of time into helping me become the man that I am today. Not only did they teach me the do’s and don’ts, they lived those elements before me on a regular basis.

    So, you are probably asking, “where do we find men who are able to train such men?” I suggest that you start by looking inside your local church. There should be plenty of godly, mature men within your local congregation. Men who are not critical of boys, but who are willing to help boys learn how to “put away” childish things and begin developing the characteristics of biblical manhood. Please understand, it’s not as much “where” a boy grows up that helps him step into manhood, it “who” he grows up around that gives him a better shot at that goal.

    Yep, “Boys will be boys,” but I would suggest “And men need to be men.” Jesus Christ was the greatest man to ever walk across this ball of dirt, let’s teach our boys to follow His example, with His attitude, as we men live out those elements, thus developing great men, husbands and dads!

    Doing my part with you, Neal

  • It is Necessary

    Good morning to all. It is another beautiful day here in Wyoming, another day of working around the home place. I have to admit, I really do enjoy working alone on most projects, but there are those times when help is required. You know, those times when you really need another set of hands, or another back, or another point of view to get a task completed.

    In Romans 12, the Apostle Paul makes it very clear that our Christian walk is very much the same way. Most of the time, we can work on it alone, yet it is absolutely imperative that each of us also have someone else to help us with maturing in Christ. Yes, we all need our personal quiet time, personal study time and personal prayer time, but equally as important is our time spent in community.

    As Paul states, “every part of the body is necessary.” Without community with other believers, we miss the other “parts” of our spiritual body that are “necessary” for growth. It is true that “iron sharpens iron,” so we all need someone else to push us to becoming sharper for Christ.

    Remember how Jesus prayed for His first disciples, “that they may be one just as We are one.” The fun element is that the word “one” here is actually plural. It speaks of a group that works together so well that they move as one, and we all need that kind of group.

    Working on this ‘ol house has required that we have such a group. Men like Jeff, Max, Ty, Ryan, Lane, Dalton, and another Jeff and Ryan, women like Nancy and Deb have all worked hard as one group to get many difficult tasks completed. Without their help, I would still be working on step one of this remodel.

    In a very similar way, we all need others to help us with our spiritual remodel. Do you have such people in your life? If so, be sure to acknowledge them – give them due credit for their part in your spiritual growth. If you lack a team to assist with your growth, why? Is it because you are a “lone ranger?” Remember, a burning ember will burn out if it stands alone. We all need spiritual teammates!

    Each day as we work on this house, we share meals together, we enjoy water breaks together, we sweat together. Yep, the house improvement requires a team of “one.” So does our spiritual remodel. We all NEED the community of other believers if we are to grow and glow for our Savior!

    Please realize, you need the other people that make up your community – your church family or your study group, and they need you. Every part of the body is “necessary!”

    Serving Him together with you, Neal

  • “Hey Look!”

    So far we have allowed the Lord to work on our inside, and on removing the excess layers. Today we will focus upon how our house looks from the curb – you know, curb appeal. Jesus stated, “Live your life in such a way so that others will see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven.”

    Each day that we have worked on this ‘ol house, there has been a regular stream of folks driving and walking by for a look. It’s like folks are excited to see what the crazy “old people” will do next. In fact yesterday we had a beautiful family stop and visit while they were out for a Sunday afternoon walk, inspecting what we are doing.

    You see, when we bought this place, the front of the house (facing the street) was for the most part just a plain white wall. For sure it was lacking in curb appeal. So for a while now we have been working on changing the entire front of our house. We have added two gables to the roof line and just this last week we added a “sitting porch” with a fancy roof over it. A place where Miss Deb can sit with a cup of coffee, or cold tea, and just plain relax. A place where she can smile and wave at the folks who drive by. Maybe even get in a good visit with those who are walking by. It seems like there here is always someone passing by our place.

    Here is today’s point. How our lives look to the outside world does matter. Jesus Himself said that we are to allow folks to “see” our lives from the front street. It seems to me that He is saying that we are to be mindful of what folks see when they pass by our life. Do they see just a plain white wall, or do they see a spot where we can sit, relax and enjoy each day our Heavenly Father has given us?

    One thing this project has proven to me, folks are watching what we are doing. That has prompted me to be careful to wave and smile when folks pass by. I want them to know that this is a welcoming home where friendly folks live. Nope, I have no interest in trying to keep up with the Jones’. We are not changing this old house into any kind of a fancy mansion. We are just breathing new life into the old girl so she can be a place where folks see the Lord leading us though our daily life.

    So, let’s ask the question: “When people pass by your life, do they see your good works?” (“Good works” according to God’s standards. They bring glory to Him and not us.) Do they see a smile and a cheerful attitude? Do they notice there is something different about you, in a good way?

    Dr. Howard Hendricks once told our Pastoral Ministries class, “Gentlemen, I am of the opinion that far too many Christians look like they have been weaned on dill pickles.” Smile, laugh, be friendly, let your light shine. How people see you from the street does matter!

    Letting folks have a good look with you, Neal

  • Covered

    After a Christian allows the Holy Spirit to do some serious remodeling on the inside, making the space livable and usable, it is then time to make sure that the remodeled inside is well protected from the outside.

    So, on our remodeling of this ‘ol house, we then went to work on the severely damaged roof. When we started taking the old shingles off of the roof, we found FIVE layers of asphalt shingles. Yep you read correctly, five layers. It would appear that rather than remove the old, damaged shingles, the previous owners would just add another layer of new shingles.

    We are also good at the committing the same infraction. Instead of dealing with old pains, we tend to just add a new layer, burying the old painful layer. When that layer is damaged, we add another layer, and so on, until we have a vast amount of excess weight upon our shoulders! We then often begin to medicate the excess weight, called stress.

    You see my friends, it was time for us to remove all of that excess weight from this old house and put on a fresh, new roof. Perhaps it’s time for you to allow God to remove the heavy layers of stress from the exterior of your life as well. Forgive where needed, confess where needed, and allow the Holy Spirit to bring the kind of healing that only He can provide. Allow Him to put on a brand new you that stands upon the truth of Scripture. That means that you have to dig into your Bible and find the biblical truth about who Jesus says you are.

    Here is a truth I want you to remember for the rest of your days: “God is the great creator, Satan is the great imitator.” That which God has given you for good, Satan will give you an imitation for evil. You see, the Bible is God’s love letter to you. Satan uses all sorts of publications, including social media, to attempt to convince you that he also loves you.

    That is why it is so necessary to remove Satan’s lies and replace them with a new covering of God’s truth.

    It’s your choice, you can continue to add another layer of worldly cures, or you can do the hard work of ripping all of the lies away and adding a brand new biblically accurate covering of truth. Believe me, it was extremely difficult to remove all of those old shingles and rotten decking and replace with all new. But in spite of the expense and difficult labor, we now have a beautiful, waterproof roof that protects everything inside of our home!

    So, roll up your sleeves, pull out your Bible and let your loving Heavenly Father replace the worthless lies of Satan with biblical truth! I guarantee you, it is worth it.

    Blessings, Neal

  • Remodeling the Inside

    7/30/25 – We are in the process of refurbishing an old house. Probably not the smartest thing to do at our age, but we are knee deep in it now and can’t turn back. Not only has this project stretched our faith, it has also taught us much about faith. The first order of business was to get some things done on the inside of the house – things like putting in appliances so we could store and cook food, making a place for us to lay our tired ‘ol bodies at the end of the long days, and completely remodeling the kitchen and dining room. Starting with new paint, we reconfigured the kitchen, added new counter tops and backsplash. A new sink and new lighting completed the kitchen for now. The dining room was once a bedroom, so we removed a wall, the flooring and lighting, and after replacing all of that with new, we now have a very comfortable dining room!

    You see friends, when we commit our lives to Jesus Christ as our Savior, He begins to remodel our lives in much the same way we have done to this old house. He begins with the inside by removing and rearraigning. He also gives new light and new life to our lives. Sometimes Jesus even has to help us tear down walls, remove stains and replace various habits and ideas. By God’s amazing grace we too can become amazingly new and different on the inside!