From the Home Place

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

March 27, 2026

Here’s a sweet weather forecast for you: At 4:58 a.m. it is 28 degrees headed for 48 as today’s high with wind gusts of 38 mph. Miss Deb and I will be on the road for today, so we would appreciate your prayers. Thanks!

I have to admit; it is a tad bit spooky to be living in America today. With all of the evil, division and distrust surrounding us on most days, life in America isn’t as easy as it once was. And then on top of all those issues, it seems that we could be going into a very serious season of war.

Because yesterday was Thursday, I was blessed to have our weekly zoom meeting with an amazing group of young me. Last night, our topic was “spiritual warfare.” It is a war that everyone is involved in. It doesn’t matter if you are a mercenary or a passivist at heart, you are daily under attack spiritually. If you are breathing, you are at war spiritually!

Most folks are not really aware of the war that takes place within, and for their lives every day. Yet if a person spends much time watching this thing we call life, you will soon recognize the constant conflict between good and evil. Even as a believer in Christ, Satan and his crew will do everything they can to entice you to commit sin.

Chew on this one for a moment, God the Father is the great Creator. Everything He has ever created is “good” according to the Bible. Satan is the great imitator. Everything that God has given us as good, Satan will attempt to imitate for evil. Have you ever wondered how things can be so good for a while and then turn 180 degrees south so quickly – the realm of light and dark?

God has breathed His life into your lungs, just like He did for Adam on his day of creation (Gen. 2:7). God has given you life so that you can have the opportunity to accept His free gift of love in the person of Jesus Christ. As a follower of Jesus, you can know: liberating truth, love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, self-control, humility, honesty, and undefiled love, Satan, the father of death, will do everything he can do to make your life miserable; filled with lies, pain, deceit, greed, hatred, pride, selfishness, unrest and self-gratifying love.

The Bible describes God as light, and Satan as darkness. You know, like the light of day and the dark of night. Isn’t it amazing how so many folks are drawn to the “dark side?” Darkness is the realm of cultic practices, ghosts, death, and all sorts of evil. Perhaps America’s infatuation with the dark side is because so few have ever lived on the light side?

As one who has lived on both sides of this coin, life is totally amazing walking on the light side! To walk out of the darkness, away from practicing many of the evils mentioned above, and to walk into the light is very much like walking out of pitch darkness into a well-lit room, everything changes.

However, just because a person chooses to walk in the light of Christ, it does not mean that there is never an influence of darkness. Ephesians 6:10 makes it very clear that as long as we live on this ‘ol ball of dirt, evil will attempt to draw us to the dark side. Read the rest of Ephesians 6 to learn how to “stand firm” against the schemes of the Devil. May I encourage you though, don’t just read about it, put the process described in Ephesians 6:10-20 into practice in your life – daily!

Please, don’t go John Wayne on me and think that you have the ability or power to deal with Satan and his crew on you own – YOU DO NOT! Only through a healthy relationship with Jesus Christ can you possess the real “power” to stand against Satan and his “forces of evil.”

Once again, I will remind you of the old Native American adage: “Inside of every person there are two dogs, a white dog and a black dog, which one is the strongest? The one you feed the most.” It is up to you my friend, you can either walk in the light of Christ, or remain in the darkness of Satan, the choice is yours. But please note, the one you choose to walk with today is the one you will spend eternity with!

Choosing to walk in the light, Neal

March 25, 2026

Wow! Our weather is broken. Last night’s low in Lusk, Wyoming was above 40 degrees. Today’s high is predicted to reach 86 degrees, with 50 mph wind gusts! In all of my years, never have I seen such hot and dry weather, for such a long period. And finding some moisture in this area is like looking for a gold nugget in our living room. From what I can find, 72 is the present record high for this date with an average temp of 32 degrees. 2026 looks to be a year of many new records???

Yesterday we visited about our spiritual temperature. Wouldn’t it be amazing if all of us would set new record highs for our spiritual temperature this year? Lest we allow the ‘ol pride bug to creep into our lives, perhaps we should talk about how to determine our personal spiritual temperature.

James challenges each of us, “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” NASB translates the Greek word “paralogizomenol” as “delude.” As you pronounce the Greek word, you will recognize that it indicates that to “delude,” or to “deceive” appears to come from a word that sounds like a person who is struggling to be logical, and that would be accurate.

The Greeks were very proud of their very high intelligence. They considered themselves and their gods to be far wiser than any other group of people on the face of the earth. So, now we can understand what James was really attempting to help us understand when he used this Greek word in James 1:22. To listen to biblical teaching without applying it is like a person who has a paralyzed thought process, the ears work, but the rest of the body does not.

I have always said that if I were to apply every sermon and lesson, I have listened to, no one would recognize me. To stay with our thought process, my spiritual life would be at a way higher temperature than it really is today. I have often thought that instead of singing another song before we go home after Sunday’s sermon, perhaps we should break into small groups and discuss how we will apply what we just heard. Maybe we should talk about how to put hands and feet to the message.

Perhaps we should follow the example the Apostle Paul used in his writings of biblical texts. Read any of Paul’s books within the Bible and you will soon discover that the first half of his writings deal with doctrine, doctrine, doctrine. The second half of said writings deal with application, application, application.

For example, look at the first three chapters of the book of Ephesians. In Chapters 1-3, Paul wants each of us to understand our amazing standing as believers in Christ Jesus. Paul labors to help each believer to know in Whom they believe in for salvation, and why they believe what they believe! Now open to Chapter 4 where Paul’s first words in verse 1 are application, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” “To walk” deals with our day-to-day life; simply put, what we believe is played out in how we live.

So, I would suggest, to determine our spiritual temperature we should not be so concerned with how much we know, but that we should be determined with how much of what I have heard is transferred into how I live. If my spiritual knowledge isn’t transforming the way I live, I’m just attending church.

Stop here and read the rest of Ephesians 4, the application of chapters 1-3. Because of the great high calling God has placed upon believer’s life, we should “walk” with “humility, gentleness, patience,” and “tolerance.” You see my friends, the words “patience” and “tolerance” are how we are to apply our biblical knowledge with an attitude of “humility, gentleness,” and “patience.”

O.K. back up the turnip truck – By using the word “tolerance” Paul is not following today’s mindset of that word. Remember the first three chapters deal with proper doctrine, now Paul challenges us to be “tolerant” with folks who need help learning how to correctly apply what they have just heard. First, we have to make sure that such a person has heard correctly, and now we are to humbly and gently, invite others to “come follow me as I follow Christ.” Application, application, application!

Now, each of us is ready to read Ephesians 5 & 6, not so we know more about Jesus, but so that we will show more of Jesus to the world around us! For it is only as we correctly apply biblical truth that our spiritual temperature sets record highs.

Applying as we learn with you, Neal

March 24, 2026

Greetings my friend. Hopefully you were able to rest well last night and are ready for another busy day. Weather wise it looks like a nice day with a predicted high of 75 degrees. As of right now the outside temperature is 29 degrees, as such the sun has some serious work to do. I know that this daily weather report has humored some of you, yet it too has purpose.

Please allow me to ask each of us a question: “If your spiritual life was measured by degrees, like on a thermometer, let’s say that ranges from 0-100 degrees, what would your spiritual temperature be right now?” Using today’s physical temperature as a guide, let’s pretend that right now you are at 29 degrees spiritually, hoping to reach to 75 degrees sometime in the future.

Work with me now. If 32 degrees is the point where a person is either freezing or thawing; we will call 32 degrees where an unbeliever (below 32=freezing) determines to follow Jesus Christ now (thawing). As such, if you are anywhere below 32 degrees spiritually, you need to warm to 32 degrees through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. As Jesus stated of Himself, “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

If you placed yourself anywhere below 32 degrees spiritually, you may feel “frozen” spiritually. But by God’s amazing grace (Ephesians 2:8-9) you can immediately set your spiritual thermometer at 32 degrees by admitting that you are a sinner who needs a Savior. The moment you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, you jump to thawing at 32 degrees!

Now our goal is not to leave you at 32. Your Heavenly Father is calling you to reach a spiritual temperature of 100 degrees – totally committed to walking with Him through each day for the rest of your life. Hit pause: Not every day will be a 100-degree day even for the most committed follower of Jesus, yet that should always be your heart’s desire. (However, 100 degrees will forever be yours the moment you enter into heaven!)

So, for today, if you said you are starting anywhere between 32 and 100, you need to warm things up significantly. Just like today will need a good deal of sunshine to warm the air from its present 29 degrees to reach 75 degrees, spiritually you need a significant amount of Son-shine as well. And as warming the atmosphere will take the better part of this day, your spiritual life will take some time to crawl up the spiritual thermometer as well.

No, you probably won’t climb several degrees just today, though that could be possible. Yet in reality you will need to invest some time in Bible reading, prayer and application; a process called discipleship. For each of us we are in the process of increasing our spiritual temperature. To do so, we must be in a constant process of growing “in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It seems to me that to allow Jesus to be Lord of my life, I have to give all that I know about me to all that I know about Jesus, for the rest of my earthly journey. That knowledge should be constantly changing. You know, like the temperature on a thermometer.

The great thing about our spiritual thermometer is that once we reach a certain temperature, it does not go back below 32 degrees. If we have unconfessed sin in our life the temperature can drop a few degrees, yet confession of said sin and turning away from it actually increases our spiritual temperature. As such, if your spiritual thermometer reads 58 degrees when you went to sleep, it should be there at 58 degrees to greet you in the morning.

In reality your spiritual thermometer tends to increase slowly but constantly increasing as long as you keep your eyes fixed upon Jesus. You see, the temperature of this world is affected by swings of daylight and darkness. Yet 1 John makes it clear that if we are “walking in darkness,” at any time we have unconfessed sin in our lives, but Jesus invites us to walk in His light, thus never allowing our spiritual temperature to drop below where we started.

Reality is, each day that we walk in the light of Jesus, our spiritual thermometer warms up, getting ever closer to that perfect 100 degree day in heaven!

Warming up spiritually with you, Neal

March 23, 2026

Well, the ‘ol weather app shows that we are starting our morning at 35 degrees, headed for 64. There will be an east breeze at 10-20 mph. The best report of said app is that we will be blessed with 12 hours and 17 minutes of daylight today. It looks like a good day for an outside job that will allow a feller to soak up some sunshine.

Speaking of an outside job, yesterday afternoon I was blessed to help two friends do some repair work on a widow lady’s yard fence. We had to dig holes; our ground is so dry that it is like trying to dig through cement. We had to use pry bars to chisel our way down deep enough to set posts. It was difficult work, yet very rewarding work. It was such a joy to get to work with those two other men. One of them is older, the other younger than me, yet all three of us were able to work side-by-side digging holes, pouring cement and talking about life. What a blessing to get to be a blessing!

Both of these dear men have been a great blessing in my life, so for me, it was awesome to get to return some of the blessing. There is just something special about being around people who love Jesus and enjoy working hard to bless someone else. Perhaps, that is a portion of what the Apostle Paul meant when he stated, “Work out your salvation?” I know he was speaking literally of working out the result of our salvation, but to some degree that is exactly what we were doing yesterday.

Three men who could have each enjoyed a good nap, were working shoulder to shoulder to be a blessing to someone else. I am of the opinion that if we are going to claim to be a Christian, that such a decree requires us to be willing to give up some of our personal comfort for the good of others.

Remember the old missional statement, “People do not care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” What a grand statement. In our culture we tend to value knowledge over caring. For some reason, we are good at telling others how to fix their life, but not always good at just caring about the person. You see, the beautiful part of us three men fixing the fence of a widow lady, was that while we were laboring on the fence, each man’s wife was visiting with the sweet lady who owns the fence.

As such, the greater blessing wasn’t the fence repairs, it was our wives making time in their schedules to show someone else that we were all there because we care. They spoke encouragement into a lonely life. The shared wisdom and the greater gift of laughter. Each present wife, shared a portion of life with a widow, almost as if each dear wife was looking into her own future.

There is nothing like a good dose of future reality to help us appreciate present relationships! You see my dear friends, we are each just passing through this thing called life, and the older one gets, the more precious each day is. Oh my, the difference it would make if each of us would figure that reality out at a younger age.

When we are young, we seem to have a sense of immortality. We feel that we have the time to accomplish all of life’s possibilities. But then one day, we begin to realize our mortality, and that we have a limited time to just live. Yet the great thing of such a realization is that what time we have left is best invested by investing into the lives of others, the true wealth of life.

Look back at all of the funerals you have attended. When a person is remembered for only the vast amount of wealth they accumulated, it is truly a sad memorial. But when people share of how the deceased had been a personal friend who blessed the lives of others as an overflow of loving Jesus, that is a life well lived and greatly celebrated!

So, when your life closes, will those who gather at the memorial remember a person of great monetary wealth, or will they remember a great friend who impacted their lives with kindness? For as Jesus stated, we can either have money or friends, of which God is one, but it is really tough to love both. If I might rewrite Joshua’s statement, “As for me and my house, we will love on other people because we have first loved Jesus.”

Digging into the lives of others with you, Neal

Good morning. Today’s weather will be cool, cloudy and windy. At 4 a.m. the temperature is at 37, headed for 56 for a high. In another words, today’s weather will be more normal than the last two days have been.

Miss Deb and I were in Denver on Friday and Saturday. Oh my, I don’t understand why folks would ever choose to live in that place. On our way down on Friday, we sat in stop-and-go traffic for an extra 45 minutes. Yesterday it took us an hour to go two miles! The traffic is horrendous, the drivers tend to be rude and the smog was awful. Perhaps it is easier to say it this way, everything that Denver is, Lusk is not. I’ll take a small town over the big city most any day.

We traveled to Denver to attend then annual conference of the Converge Rocky Mountain District. That is the group of folks we are affiliated with as our ministry partners. Miss Deb and I have served alongside these folks for more than 30 years now. What a great team! Our key-note speaker for the two-day conference was a man who shared great insight in helping us better understand some of the dynamics of being a small church.

In America today, the average church has less than 60 folks in regular attendance, compared to t he larger church with its thousands of attendees. For years, our culture has been so focused upon numbers, with bigger always being better, that we have caused many of God’s great little churches to feel like there is something wrong with them because that church doesn’t seem to grow much numerically.

Our speaker, Karl Vater, helped each of us understand that whether large or small, a church can still be successful or unsuccessful. Numerically, most of our churches in Wyoming would be considered small. Yet, as Miss Deb and I have visited several of these “small” churches, we have been blessed to see those small churches impacting their community in big ways.

Regardless of size, the local church is supposed to help people come to Jesus, to “grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and to provide an environment where people can enjoy fellowship with believers as they positively impact the lives of those who don’t know Jesus as Savior yet. Both big and small churches are to be busy about God’s work here on earth.

My favorite statement made by Mr.Vater, was that “there is not one problem within the local church of any size that biblical discipleship will not fix.” And therein lies the issue for any church that is struggling to survive – a lack of biblical discipleship.

We were challenged to quit looking at numbers as a measure of “success,” and to determine the success of the local church by asking the question, “Are we making mature disciples of Jesus Christ?” If so, our local church is successful in God’s eyes, yet if we are just attending church, with little impact upon the community around us, we are less than God wants us to be.

In my opinion, for too many years the local church has believed that information equals transformation. It does not! Think of the hundreds, or possibly thousands of hours you have spent listening to sermons and Sunday School lessons. The hours upon hours in “Bible studies,” which are usually a study of some book rather than the Bible. Have all of those hours of information transformed your life? Are you way more like Jesus today than you were five to ten years ago? Are you a mature disciple of Jesus Christ, consistently advancing His kingdom within your community? If so, praise God, you are attending a very successful church, large or small.

But if the above statement is not true for you and those who attend the church you attend, perhaps you need to reevaluate your disciple making process. Regardless of your church size numerically, is it being successful? Is your local church developing life-changing disciples? I don’t know, but perhaps Jesus had the best “church growth strategy” ever developed when He said, “go and make disciples.”

Remember our conversation a few weeks ago when we talked about the fact that information usually causes us to become prideful, as stated in Proverbs. Hopefully you recall this equation, “Information without Application = Inflation.” Our ego soon becomes inflated if all we do is gather information about any topic, including gaining biblical information. We must correctly Apply said Information before it will equal Transformation! As I have stated before, “Wisdom is the proper application of information.”

Summary, it doesn’t matter if you attend a “Denver” sized church, or if you attend a “Lusk” sized church, what matters is your answer to the question – “Is my church helping me to become a better disciple of Jesus Christ?” If your answer is “Yes!” then even a small church numerically is having a BIG impact for the Kingdom!

Making disciples with you, Neal