From the Home Place

February 10, 2026

22 degrees at 3 a.m. The high will be 20 degrees cooler today than yesterday’s high, but the wind should come in at 20 mph less! As my uncle would have said, “I reckon we can work with that.”

Yesterday, Miss Deb hosted her ladies Bible study group here at the house. It is always a blessing to hear laughter and know that hearts are reaching toward heaven. For when we look to God, He is faithful to reveal His presence, His power and His peace. In Psalm 34, David shares these words with us, “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul will make its boast in the Lord; The humble will hear it and rejoice. O magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and He answered me.”

One of the ladies who studies the Scriptures with the group has become a special friend. As she was preparing to leave our home, she asked me, “Do you actually sit in the dark at 3:30 in the morning as you visit with God?” She asked a question I would like to answer with you this morning.

As I sit quietly before the Lord, the darkness allows me to more clearly see the LIGHT! His presence is richer; His words are clearer. For me, sitting alone with Jesus in the darkness of this world, is to prepare to sit before Him in the glory of heaven. To me, to sit in the dark and bask in His light might be as close as I will get to death before it arrives. Though my body is in the dark, my spirit if fully illuminated in His presence!

Within the darkness of death there will be nothing that I “need to do.” Nor will there be any place that “I need to get to.” I will finally, truly “be still” before my Lord. For in that moment of stillness, my spirit will finally truly be alive in His presence. Today, I practice that stillness as I dwell upon Psalm 34 in my spirit, sitting in the dark, enjoying the LIGHT.

My soul boasts in the Lord – He is to be magnified, He is graceful, He is merciful, He is all powerful, He is all knowing, He is all present, He is GOD! I invite you to “Magnify the Lord with me.” Join me in exalting His name, the name of Jesus, the name of Emanuel, Jehovah, Jehovah Jireh, El Shaddai, Elohim, Yahweh, El Shaddai, El Roi, Adonai, Jehovah Rapha, Heavenly Father, the name of All Mighty GOD!

To sit alone in the presence of God, is to be surrounded by the men and women of Hebrews, Chapter 11. There will come a day when I will no longer study about Abraham; I will praise God with Abraham, and Paul, and Peter, and the friends of this world who have trusted fully in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what a day of rejoicing that will be!

Will you join us there? Will your name appear in the Lamb’s Book of Life? Alongside of the names mentioned above, and thousands upon thousands more! Come, let us magnify Him, Christ the Lord! Though my body is still, though the world around me is quiet, though I am surrounded by the darkness of this world, I am filled with the Light of Jesus. Praise God!

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me;” As the great saint of old asked, “If God is with us, who can stand against us?” For we truly “can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me.”

As I sit in the darkness, I see His light; as I place myself in His presence, I feel His peace; as I exalt His name, I am humbled; as I confess, I am cleansed, as I focus, I am filled; as I surrender, I am empowered. Today, I “shall rejoice and be glad,” for whatever comes my way will come for His purpose! “Not my will, but Thy will be done.”

It is now 4:42 a.m. and I have no Idea what this day will hold for me; I only know Who holds me; and that is enough.

Sitting in His light with you, Neal

February 9, 2026

Here we go again! It’s 37 at 4:30 a.m., headed for 61 for today’s high, with wind gusts that match the high temperature. It looks like cooler and windy on Tuesday and Wednesday. The good news is that we will gain 20 minutes of daylight over the next 9 days.

Yesterday was another busy day for us around here. We were both at church by 8 a.m., ready for Sunday School. We had a great class, said some “Hi’s” to folks and headed out the door to go across town to the church where I would preach. A dear friend joined us for that service, so we took her to lunch, and then Miss Deb went to a bridal shower at our home church, while Miss Joice and I attended a funeral. At the completion of those events, Miss Deb and I were both ready to throw up our feet and rest after a very busy weekend.

Up early this morning, prayed for a bit, wrote this note, and then we started getting ready for Miss Deb to host her ladies Bible study today. God has gifted Miss Deb with a great ability to lead the studies here in Lusk and another in Manville. It blesses my heart to see here excited about helping other ladies find joy in studying God’s holy Scriptures!

As Miss Deb and I went two different directions yesterday, it really dawned upon me that most likely, one of these days one of us will go into eternity, while the other one has to stay here and finish their walk on this ‘ol ball of dirt. With a wedding shower and a funeral at the same time, I was really reminded of what we call “the cycle of life.”

As one family wept tears of sadness, the other family wept tears of joy. While one group said “farewell,” another group said “welcome.” While one family was clinging to memories, the other family was clinging to opportunities. While one family was wondering why, the other family was wondering why not. Two families, at two different stages of their life cycle, all within the same small Wyoming town.

Loved ones, if your Heavenly Father allows you to get up and around today, praise Him, and pray for someone who is at the opposite end of their life cycle. Unfortunately, we all know that a life cycle does not require a certain number of years. Though we hope each person will be allowed to grow old, not all are so fortunate. So, for those of us who have seen an adequate number of sunsets, be sure that you stop today and praise God for His kindness to you!

In our Sunday School class, we are studying the life of Abraham. What a grand old gentleman Abraham must have been. Though he didn’t always do things as he should have, Abraham had a great walk with God. The two of them worked together to make a great nation that we know of as Israel.

In the younger years of Abraham’s life, he made some poor choices – sounds very familiar to me; yet each day Abraham desired to walk with God – this also sounds familiar. And through all of Abraham’s years of walking with God, he knew that God was always near him, because God had promised him “I am with you.” As Christ-followers, we too have each received a similar promise from the Lord Jesus. In Matthew 28:20, Jesus stated, “and lo, I am with you always.”

Yesterday I attended the funeral of a person who by all appearances didn’t know Jesus as Savior, while Miss Deb attended the wedding shower of a young couple who both are walking with Jesus. Two different lifestyles, two different faith journeys, one having completed a life cycle, while the other is just getting started with theirs.

So, regardless of where you are in your life cycle, live each day as a special gift from God to you, and to those around you. Do your best to allow someone see the love of Jesus Christ in and through your life. Give more than you get, love because you are loved, and praise God for where you are in your life cycle. And above all, if you know Jesus as Savior, praise Him for allowing you to walk with Him through another day!

May we each come to the end of our life cycle in much the same way as Abraham did, “Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life,” Genesis 25:8. You see my friend, regardless of the years in your cycle of life, you can still die “satisfied with life” if you spend each day walking with Jesus. The reality is that if you walk with Jesus as your Lord, regardless of when your cycle of life ends here on earth, your real life begins when the other ends!

Completing the cycle with you, Neal

February 8, 2026

Good morning! Right now, we have 28 degrees, headed for 62 with snow on the horizon for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Miss Deb and I were blessed to get away for a couple of days. We went to the Rapid City Stock Show and looked at a lot of high-priced items at the trade show. It always amazes us how many friends we tend to see every time we go there. It was very enjoyable to get to spend time with our beautiful daughter, Mandi, and her husband Mike. We are so grateful for the love those two have for eachother and for Jesus.

On Friday we bumped into some friends from over ten years ago. She and Deb used to work together in Platte, SD. A good visit was had by all. The next day we were grabbing some groceries right quickly, and there we were blessed to visit with a young lady we have known for nearly twenty years. Another good visit, and then we crammed groceries into our little car and returned home. We arrived safely in front of our house with the words, “Thank you, Lord, for giving us a good, safe trip.” For as we all know, “It is always good to be back home!”

As I have mentioned before, it is good to get to see old friends. For all who have committed to follow Jesus, just think of how awesome it will be to get to heaven and to be reunited with people whom you have had contact with here on earth. I suspect there will be some folks there who you didn’t expect to see, and some that won’t be there that you did expect to see?

I’m constantly reminded that God has His standards by which He will determine who is in heaven and who is not. As a professor once told me, “Hell will be full of good ‘ol boys and good ‘ol girls,” because we tend to use our standards of what good is instead of God’s standards. It’s easy to compare our life to those around us here on earth and determine what we are “good.” Yet we forget, God will measure all that we do to the things that Jesus did and from there He will decide if our works were good or not.

After all, “good works” are a result of salvation, not a means to. Yes, good works will have value when we stand before God, but only if our life has been covered with the blood of Jesus Christ. In Acts 4:12, Peter was speaking of the name of “Jesus” when he stated, “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

Believing in the finished work of Jesus, and applying that faith to our individual life, is the only means of entrance to heaven, but when we get there, our good works will be used as the standard of measure towards receiving rewards that we will then present to Jesus as a gift to Him, for His glory!

Bumping into old friends here on earth is fun, but spending eternity with them will be great! And once again, when we get home safely, we will shout, “Thank You LORD for getting us home safely!” “What a day of rejoicing that will be!”

As we go to church today, may we go to celebrate that which Jesus has done, looking for opportunities to do that which God will call good.

Being a good doer with you, Neal

February 4, 2026

Good morning. It’s a cold, white beast out there right now. The temperature is at 18 degrees this morning, looking to make it to 53 before the day’s end. A WSW breeze will add a bite.

Fifty years ago, today Miss Deb was headed for the hospital. It wasn’t an emergency, but we sure enough needed to make our way there rather quickly because my bride had just declared, “It’s time!”. Before the day was over, Miss Deb would give birth to a beautiful baby girl, who would soon join her big sister at home. Over the next few years these two beautiful girls would spend many hours being an amazing blessing; along with several “incidents” that we haven’t the room, nor the time to get into today. We shall just close this paragraph with the words, “Happy Birthday Sis!”

Yesterday, I spent my day attempting to make a batch of jerky. Because I was unable to harvest an elk this fall, I cleaned every kind of “old” meat out of our freezer, ran it through the grinder, mixed it with a pile of spices and smoked it into jerky. It seems that no matter how many different spices I used, it still tastes old.

In many ways that is an illustration for the faith journey of so many folks. These folks have most likely attended church for years. Over those many years, they have seen a plethora of changes in what their church experience looks like. Changes in the pastorate, changes in music styles, changes in electronics being used and Bibles being left home, changes in those who used to attend their fellowship, and changes in their family structure. Yet, too often, little has changed in their personal belief system.

Most likely this person is still living under the same belief system that they have held for many years. Though they have attended hundreds of hours of Sunday School, sermons, studies and special events, their faith is still the same “old” faith. The newness of life is often crowed out by the oldness of life, and the same can be said of their faith, it too has grown old and stale.

You see my friends, America appears to be full of churches that are full of old people living on old faith that says as long as you go to church each Sunday, you are mature Christians. It would appear that over the last 100 years there hasn’t been significant spiritual maturity within those faithful church attenders, or this nation would not be in the condition that it is in!

Had church attendance been producing mature Christ-followers, biblical Christianity would be the norm instead of the spurned. No matter how we try to spice it up, the faith of most American’s still tastes old!

That is why the Bible clearly states that a person must be “born again,” not just a church attender. Alright, pump the breaks – there are many Bible-based churches today. Churches where the application of the truths learned is strongly encouraged and facilitated. For you see my friends, if our claims of being spiritual don’t play out in our day-to-day lives, we are simply stale tasting religious people.

Just as giving birth to a child changed our family dynamics, spiritual re-birth means that old habits and attitudes will be done away with. No amount of spiritual “spices” (church attendance) can ever make sinners pleasing to the taste.

Oh, but the amazing thing is that a true relationship with Jesus Christ does make the old become new! Grab your Bible and start reading through the Gospels. Discover how often Jesus invited those who had been steeped in religion, to come to Him for newness of faith, resulting in newness of life.

It appears to this writer that coming to Jesus is the difference between putting new meat in my freezer, vs attempting to spice-up the old, stale meat that I have been protecting for too long. Friends, if my belief isn’t changing my life in a positive way, then it’s time to change how I live my faith. On the other side, if my faith is helping me to grow in Christ likeness, pushing me to live a real biblical based life within my community, then just a little salt is all the spice needed to make things very palatable. In Matthew 5:13 Jesus stated, “You are the salt of the earth.” Suggestion, get rid of the old meat of religion and fill your life with the salt of Jesus.

Celebrating new birth with you, Neal

February 3, 2026

31 degrees, 42 for a high with wind and snow showers, lovely day in the neighborhood.

This is the day that the Lord has made, we shall rejoice and be glad in it! We will ask the Lord to help us stay safe today, looking forward to Thursday with its predicted high of 64 degrees! This weather forecast reminds me of most spiritual lives.

There are days that my flesh pushes against the Spirit of God and my attitude is cold and cloudy, and then three are days when He blesses me with a beautiful warm day full of sunshine and cheer. So is it my spiritual temperature that makes the difference, or the circumstances of my life that makes some days bright and others dark, or a mixture of both temperature and circumstances?

One does not have to read very far into the Bible to find saints of old who were on fire for the Lord one day and then struggled in their walk with Him the next day. I have found that the days that I get to build into the lives of others, or someone builds into my life, are the days that seem to be filled with sunshine. While the days that I am shut up to myself, appear to be the cold and cloudy days.

I know, not long ago I wrote about the great value of spending a day alone with the Holy Spirit. I am still a great fan of solitude. For me, a day of solitude is a day spent visiting with the Spirit about life and faith. Those are glorious days for sure!

When I speak of a cold and cloudy day, I mean a day that my primary focus is upon that what I want to do. You know, the days that I’m just too busy to be bothered with people, or to take time to sit and listen to the Spirit as He speaks into my life. On such days, the temperature outside isn’t nearly as cold and cloudy as the spiritual temperature within.

So, when such a day shows up, what do we do the warm things up again? For me, I have to stop the business of life by taking time to pray, confess and to fix my eyes upon Jesus. On such days, He will often brings someone into my life who needs a blessing. You see friends when I become more concerned about receiving a blessing than giving a blessing, my spiritual temperature takes a dive.

Remember the words of Jesus, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” There comes a time in the life of all of His disciples that the Holy Spirit will help us to realize the value of this statement. Salvation, prayer, worship, fellowship, and even trials are all blessings from our Lord. And just like Abraham, when we receive a blessing, He expects us to pass that blessing on to others.

On the days that I determine that a blessing is for just me, the clouds roll in. Yet when I pass that blessing on to others, then clouds clear and the sunshine breaks through. It is in those moments that our blessings from God become blessings to others, and our spirit rejoices with the Holy Spirit!

Spiritual cloudy days are normal, but when we choose to stay there is when things become abnormal. To be a growing Christian, we must not allow circumstances to dull our walk with the Savior. Allow the Son to be your sun and bask in the Son-shine!

Oh, what a beautiful day He has given us, we shall rejoice and be glad!

Basking in the Son-shine with you, Neal

February 1, 2026

At 3:15 this morning, it is 21 degrees, headed for 53 for a high. Bad weather sure won’t be an excuse for anyone to miss church today!

Yesterday, Miss Deb and I were blessed to get to have lunch and then play cards with my niece and her husband, and a couple who have been a blessing to me for most of my life. My family and friends may be just a tad bit crazy, but that helps them to get along with me.

My oldest sister Lolly’s husband John used to run a sheep shearing crew many years back. Jimmy was one of the men who worked on that crew. When I was a youngster, I started by tying fleece for these guys. I can still hear the hum of four shearing machines running all at the same time. I can smell the stench of sheep enclosed inside of a building, each waiting for their turn to get their annual haircut.

I can see the sweat running off the end of the shearer’s noses as they pushed hard to attempt to shear their one-hundred head of sheep each, each day. Which meant that I would need to tie several hundred fleece of wool each day that I worked with this group of men.

For the most part, they were young men, in the prime of their life. Full of energy and mischievousness. These guys were constantly pulling pranks on each other. Yet, in spite of the constant teasing and the competition to see who could shear the most sheep each day, they were a band of brothers. A brotherhood that would last for the rest of their years.

I have been blessed to work with many different crews of men throughout my years. There is just something about a group of men who labor together to accomplish a job. Whether that be in the military or in every-day work, a band of brothers working for a common goal is great to be a part of.

Yet today, for a variety of reasons, the brotherhood seems to be lost among most men, and women. We have become such individuals, doing our own thing, that many today do not know what it is like to play a part in a group of people accomplishing something together.

Over my years in the pastorate, I’ve noticed the same kind of struggle within many churches. People may draw together to “worship” together, but it is very difficult to get them to “work” together. It doesn’t matter if it’s a church workday, a special event or a Sunday, it seems that the same small group of people do the majority of the work within and through the local church.

It has been proven over and over again that 20% of the people do 80% of the work and also give 80% of the finances to keep the church operating. Why is that? I mean if 100 people call this place their church home, shouldn’t 100 people consistently show up work, give and worship together?

I would suggest the answer lies in understanding a brotherhood, or sisterhood of if you prefer. For so many years, Satan has worked hard to convince people that their faith is a “private” faith. Yes, your salvation is your individual story, but from a biblical point of view, the moment you are born-again, you become a part of a much larger body of believers. A large group that is to have the common purpose of seeing others come to Jesus for salvation, and service.

A group that is to worship and work together to advance the kingdom of God. And there we may have just found the error. Read your Bible. Seldom does an individual accomplish great things for God, all by themself. Even Jesus had His band of brothers, we call them “the disciples.” This group of twelve men accomplished much, under the direction of Jesus. He taught these men, and us, that Christians are to be interdependent instead of independent.

May I suggest that we, the American church, need to get back to a brotherhood working, praying, giving, laughing and crying together to advance God’s life-changing work! For too long we have individually worked to do “my” part to build “my” church, instead of banding together to advance His church.

Remember these words of the Apostle Paul: We are to “encourage one another,” “build up one another,” “spur one another on to good works,” and “love one another.” It is extremely difficult to practice any of the “one anthers” of the Bible if my primary focus in upon the three stooges of my life – “me, myself and I.” Biblical faith needs to get back to being part of a brotherhood!

So, don’t just take yourself or even your family to church today, go there to be reminded that you are a vital part of a larger group. After all, “all of us together can accomplish much more that any of us alone.” God has called you to salvation not just so you can get to heaven, but so that you can be part of a brotherhood advancing His kingdom!

Celebrating the brotherhood with you, Neal