From the Home Place

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

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  • It’s cold out there!

    October 23, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Enjoying life with you, Neal

  • But it’s a really big mountain!

    October 22, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Trusting Jesus with you, Neal

  • I need some wind!

    October 21, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Praising God for His Spirit with you, Neal

  • Tin-Cup Theology

    October 20, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Waiting to be used with you, Neal

  • It’s all about attitude!

    October 19, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Seeking to be like Jesus with you, Neal

  • “Wow, that was almost a disaster!”

    October 18, 202

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Keeping a heavenly focus with you, Neal

  • I command you!

    October 18, 2025

    We have been blessed with some good Fall moisture, but then that almost always means wind on the tail-end of a front. Here, it is 3:30 a.m. and the wind is howling outside. It sure doesn’t make me excited about working outside again today, but outside is where of the work is right now.

    Allow me to wrap up the bull riding illustrations today. I mean, a feller can only take so much bull before having to move on to the next topic. As we also conclude our study of Colossians 3:1-4, I would like us to focus upon one small phrase that is really easy to skip over when reading. We find this little phrase hiding within verse 1, where we are instructed to “keep seeking.”

    “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking things above.” In the Greek language, “keep seeking” is verb, thus requiring action on our part. This word is also in the “imperative” case, meaning that it is a command, not just a suggestion.

    So, let’s return to the arena and take a bit deeper look at bull riding. If a person is going to be a good bull rider, you have to train, train, train, and then train some more. A good bull rider has trained himself physically and emotionally to handle the demands of the event. The coveted ride may be only eight-seconds in length, but it takes hours and hours of training to be ready for those eight-seconds.

    The Christian walk is much the same. Here in Colossians 3:1 we are told to “keep seeking.” The word “seeking implies a “deep desire” to fulfill the command. If a feller is going to be a good bull rider, he has to have a driving desire to succeed. If a Christian is going to live a life pleasing to God, that same driving desire is necessary. Neither bull riding, nor Christianity is meant to be a casual sport.

    As I said, the phrase “Keep seeking” is an imperative in the Greek. God is commanding us to develop a strong desire for the “things above.” Once again words are important. Note the word “things.” It is plural in nature, meaning that there is a plurality of steps in learning to have a strong desire for the “things above.”

    All of the good bull riders I have ever known, started as a kid, riding calves. Then when the want-to-be bull rider grows in size and desire, he will usually graduate up to riding cows and roping steers. After countless bumps, bruises and often broken bones, if the “desire” remains, our student will graduate to bulls.

    If he has any brains, he will not start attempting to ride PBR class bulls, but instead he will begin to ride what we call range bulls. Just plain old everyday bulls out of the pasture. No fancy buckers, but they will introduce our young rider to the extreme power of a bull.

    Now, let’s shift back to our young Christian. It usually takes time and training to become a strong Christian. Most Christ-followers will walk aways down the road with Jesus before they really experience the power of being “in Christ.” And once a person learns to walk with Jesus in humble dependance, then they have to “keep seeking” a deeper, more intimate walk with Him. It’s something we have to work at; it doesn’t just magically happen to us.

    Remember the words of Philippians 2:12, “then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Yep, the Apostle Paul used the word “work,” implying the constant training to be successful at whatever God is calling you to do.

    So, if you want to be a mature follower of Christ, then you had best “keep seeking the things above,” and working hard at it. (Remember, Ephesians 2:9-10 makes it clear that we are saved for works, not by works.) For you see my friends, up to the day we enter into heaven, there will always be something else to learn and experience in our walk with Christ!

    “Seeking things above” with you, Neal

  • Open the Gate

    October 16, 2025

    Yesterday we visited about keeping our focus “on things above,” by allowing the Holy Spirit to produce His fruit in our lives. I know this looks like a really big job, and it is. In fact, none of us can produce the Fruit of the Spirit apart from the Spirit. It’s a God-sized life change!

    We were at a high school rodeo when I was a freshman. One of the guys that I helped get out on his bull was having trouble find his “seat” just before he asked for his bull. We had pulled his rope and everything was ready to go, but he was shifting this way and then that way, forward and then backward. He was as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I could tell he was having a little trouble finding his brave, and so could the stock contractor standing on the back of chute, adjusting the flank strap. Finally the contractor said, “Well you’ve done a fine job of riding this ‘ol feller in the chute, let’s open the gate and see what you can do out in the arena.

    When the gate was opened, my friend immediately looked at the ground, and the next jump of the bull, my friend proved that gravity was still working. The clowns got the bull’s attention and my friend made it safely back to the top of the chute.

    As I said, he was just a bit fearful of the task before him. It takes a lot of brave to tie yourself to 2,000 pounds of fresh hamburger! It also takes an equal amount of brave to fully yield your life to the Holy Spirit.

    Let’s take a gander at Colossians 3:3, “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” You see friends, because of your faith in the Lord Jesus, you are “dead” in Him. Now that’s a phrase we are not accustom to. We like the phares that remind us that we are “alive in Christ.,” but here we are told that we are “dead.” You know, that thing we are all trying to avoid.

    But you see, if we are dead in Christ, that means that we are already with Him in Heaven spiritually speaking. Right now, we are just waiting for the reality of said event. You see, verse 3 is in the “aorist” tense in the Greek language. This tense refers to a fact that is past, present and future all at the same time. That means we have died with Christ, we are dying with Christ, and we will die with Christ.

    The moment you accepted Jesus as Savior, you were “hidden” with Him in Heaven, are being “hidden” with Him in Heaven each day of your life now and you will be “hidden” with Jesus in Heaven at the moment of your death. The word “hidden” is in the perfect, passive, indicative form. meaning that it is a fact that happened to you by God’s power, not yours.

    Perhaps we would all do well to realize that we are already “hidden” with Jesus in heaven, now all we have to do is live like it here and now. Kind of like my friend put up a great bull ride in the chute, but now it was time to open the gate. For each of us, it’s time to open the gate, keep our eyes on the Lord and allow His Spirit to produce His fruit in and through our lives.

    Let me encourage, at times the ride can be rough, but it really is an amazing ride! For according to verse 4, “you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” The reason cowboys attempt to ride bulls is because of the thrill of hearing the roar of the crowd! The reason we need to yield to the Holy Spirit is so that we can fully experience the “glory” of God, now as well as when you walk into His presence and you hear the God of Heaven declare, “Well done My good and faithful servant!”

    Looking forward with you, Neal

    Cowboys watch as a bull rider attempts to hang on when the bull leaps out of the gate.

  • Keep your eyes right there!

    October 15, 2025

    Good morning dear friends. It’s cloudy, cold and wet here in Lusk this morning, it feels like Fall!

    When I was right at sixteen years of age, a friend convinced me that I should attempt riding bulls. So I took a run at it. I had been riding cows for several years and thought that bulls couldn’t be that much tougher. WOW, was I ever wrong!

    Bulls are so much quicker, stronger and meaner than cows! As such, every part of the rider’s body has to work in perfect harmony. When a bull really learns how to buck, the rider needs to be able to move his free arm, his feet, his shoulders, even his head in an exact direction at a precise moment. Move too soon or too late and the rider will get to test gravity.

    As important as it was to keep adjusting all of those parts, it always seemed to me that the most important part of riding a bull was to control one’s eyes. When I first started riding, an old-timer instructed me to “Keep your eyes on the top of his head, wherever his head goes, his tail will follow.” To me the most important element of making a good ride, was to keep a great focus!

    Thus, in Colossians 3:2 we are to “keep your mind on things above.” To me that means to keep my eyes fixed upon Heaven, “not on the things that are on earth.” Much like riding a bull, we are to keep our focus upon heavenly things, and make needed adjustments as the ride progresses.

    So, one must ask what are the “things above?” May I suggest that at least a portion of the “things above” involve the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control against such thing there is no law.”

    During our earthly journey, we are to learn to walk with the Holy Spirit in such a way that His fruit begins to permeate our lives. This is accomplished by keeping our eyes fixed upon “the things above.” In Heaven, we will be so in tune with the workings of the Holy Spirit that we will exhibit the Fruit of the Spirt in a perfect way!

    Just like riding a bull, we have to keep our focus. Remember the wise instructions from an old friend, “Keep your eyes on the back of his head, for wherever his head goes, his tail will follow.” Well, the same is true of us, “wherever our focus is, our tail will follow.” In the words of Jesus Christ, we cannot serve both God and money. If getting rich is our focus, we will prove 1 Timothy 6:10 to be true, “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” Where your eye are, your tail will follow!

    When Jesus was about to leave this earth, He told His disciples that He was going to send them a “Helper.” As humans bound to this ‘ol ball of dirt for a season, there are so many distractions. Satan and this world system will do everything they can do to cause us to lose our focus. One again, like riding a bull, if a rider looks at a distraction, gravity takes over. When we as Christians lose our focus, we too will fall. And that is exactly why we need the “Helper.”

    By learning to walk with the Holy Spirit here and now, we are preparing to walk with Him through all of eternity, where we will enjoy perfect “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,” the “things of above.”

    Heaven will be a perfect environment, with perfect “fruit,” enjoyed by perfect people, all in the presence of GOD. So as Colossians 3:1 states, “Keep seeking the things above.” Because wherever your eyes go, your tail will follow!”

    Learning to produce fruit here and now with you, Neal

  • I found Him!

    October 14, 2025

    A few years back, I started watching videos of a certain horse. He belongs to a lady that I consider to be my little sister, and as such, she and her horse have always been special to me. I watched video after video of Opus winning contest after contest. In my eyes he was a star! Then one day, I finally had the opportunity to see him in person. He was in a stall at a large horse show where he was competing.

    I had been given clear instructions as to where this wonder horse was stalled, and that she would be showing another horse at the time we were set to arrive. As such I was to follow the directions and introduce myself to a horse I had longed to meet. I followed the instructions, walked down the long alley of stalls, each containing a beautiful horse, but none containing the horse I had come to see. Something wasn’t quite right, maybe someone else had him out for some exercise, maybe I had misunderstood the instructions???

    The reality was, I had walked past the horse, twice. The horse that I had waited years to meet, the horse that I had watched in dozens of videos, the horse that I knew I knew, I didn’t recognize. I walked right past him, looking for him. I didn’t recognize the anointed one I was searching for.

    The same thing that happened to me, also happened to the Jewish religious leaders during biblical times. Most of them didn’t recognize the Messiah (the Christ), whom they had waited for generations to meet, when Jesus stood in their presence. Because Jesus didn’t fit their pre-conceived notion of what He was to look like, Jesus didn’t do what they thought He would do, because Jesus came on the scene in a way they didn’t think He would, they too walked right past their Anointed One.

    Per our topic on Heaven, I fear that many will do the same as the Jewish leaders awaiting their Messiah, and the same that I did awaiting a special horse, I fear that many will miss the door to Heaven because of their preconceived ideas.

    Some folks think that being good will get them into Heaven. Others think that because God is so kind, He will allow everyone to enter. Some are determined that because their membership is in a certain church, they will be allowed in. Yet others think that if they give enough money, or if they serve the “less fortunate,” God somehow owes them entrance into Heaven. The reality is that folks with such ideas will walk right past Heaven’s door, while they are looking for it.

    OK, lets understand one primary principal – Heaven is where GOD is. After all, if a person has even a smattering of religion in their life, they have most likely prayed, “Our Father who art in Heaven…” The entire Bible is filled with page after page informing us that Heaven is the abode GOD, yet many will walk right past the entrance, while they are looking for the entrance.

    In John 14:6, Jesus said of Himself, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one come to the Father but through Me.” Jesus is “the way,” the door, the entrance into Heaven, but most religious people of our day will miss finding Him because of their preconceived notions of what the entrance into Heaven looks like.

    In Colossians 3:1-4, we are told twice to keep our focus upon “things above.” Why? Because if we lose our focus upon Heaven, we are quite apt to walk right past it, all the time looking for a different door than the One GOD has provided for us.

    Even a good Jewish leader of the Old Testament would have told us that there is only one Messiah and that there will be only one way to enter into His presence – obedience. But then they would have told you that not only do you have to obey God’s holy Law, but you also have to obey their man-made laws.

    Loved ones, may we not allow man-made ideas keep us from finding Heaven. Please, do not allow your preconceived ideas of how to get into Heaven keep you from finding the “One” who is “the way” into Heaven. Accept Jesus as your Savior, and when your time is up, He will take you directly to your Father who is in Heaven. For you see, if we keep our “eyes fixed upon the author and the perfector of faith,” we have already found Heaven’s door!

    Keeping a biblical focus with you, Neal