Friday, July 26, 2013

What a Difference a Few Hours Can Make

Friday morning:

I let the girls rest a while this morning (Friday) and now they are getting ready so we can drive north. We are only about 95 miles to Dunseith where we begin revival Sunday but we are going to leave the BoggsMobile here in this beautiful camp ground at Graham's Island State park until Saturday.

We are going to drive the Green Machine up to Dunseith and scope out the campground situation. We can not park at the church but Bro. Martin has parked at a little RV Park on previous visits. We want to check it out and find the church as well. Then we plan to cross over into Canada for a little while and breathe in some Canadian air.

If all goes according to plan we will come back to the bus tonight (Friday) and drive it to Dunseith on Saturday in preparation for revival. We are so excited to see what the Lord is going to do in Dunseith. It is a brand new place for us and a brand new setting to minister in but we know the Lord is interested in saving lives every where. The Gospel of Jesus Christ will speak to every human in every circumstance of life.

Friday Evening:

What a difference a few hours makes...

We drove to Dunseith today and located the church and RV Park. We drove a few miles into Manitoba, Canada and stopped in the nice little town of Boissevain. This is Coutney's first picture in Canada.



We ate lunch at a regional chain called Chicken Chef and it was pretty good. It was like a local diner. The folks were friendly and the food was good and hot.

The first picture is of a Ukrainian dish called Perogies that we ordered as an appetizer. It is cheese and potatoes mixed together, deep fried in dough and then topped with bacon and onions. Anytime you say cheese, deep fried, bacon and onions in the same sentence it has to be good!









We drove back through Dunseith and made arrangements with the RV Park to pull the bus in Saturday. They only had one spot and it was too little but they wanted to accommodate us in any way they could. It is always refreshing to run into true hospitality. They offered us several places to dry camp (park without electricity and water) and since the forecast is so cool and we would not have to run the generator much, we decided to do it.

As we were driving back to Devils Lake Bro. Martin called with bad news. The Pastor in Dunseith had received a call today from his superiors and his church is being shut down at least temporarily. The Pastor was forced to make some hard decisions recently and one of those decisions included allowing the insurance policy to lapse because of what he felt were more pressing needs.

Evidently the recent vandalism brought this decision under the scrutiny of those above him in his organization and they were not pleased. They informed him that there could be no more services in the building at all until the insurance was in place. 

If it were a matter of simply paying the premium then we would be willing to help with that since this is a mission effort on our part anyway. But even if the money was made available, the Pastor is now searching for a company willing to write the policy. There was nothing left to do but cancel the revival.

The Pastor felt very bad for us and Bro. Martin felt extremely bad for us as well. I told Bro. Martin not to worry about it at all. I do not hold him responsible at all. There is no way to plan for or avoid a situation like this. We are definitely disappointed ourselves but we know that God is in control. God knows what we are doing way up here in North Dakota even if I do not have a clue.

I told the young men and women working in the Kid's Crusade yesterday about Svea Flood. Many of you have heard me tell it many times and you will probably hear me tell it many more times. Svea was a missionary's wife that won one little 8 year old boy to the Lord before she died in the Belgian Congo in the 1920s. One convert was the sum total of the missionary effort of two couples in Africa.

To many, her life seemed wasted. But her effort was not wasted. She died. Her husband returned home and gave up his commitment to God. The other missionary couple died a few months later. But Svea had won that little boy to the Lord.

The little boy grew up in a village with no other Christians. As a young man he started a school. He won the students to the Lord. He won their parents to the Lord. Years later he became the superintendent of the church in Zaire (Belgian Congo) and personally testified that thousand of people were serving God and thousands of people were in Heaven because Svea Flood won one little 8 year old boy to the Lord.

Now, I am not saying I am Svea Flood or could ever have the courage, determination or selflessness to be the solder she was for Christ. No, I have seen myself and that is not me...yet.

But I did have opportunity to have very in depth conversations with two different men about the Gospel and the love of Christ on this trip.

Odie led a young girl to Christ yesterday in a neighborhood service.

All of us prayed with children concerning salvation last night in the Kid's Crusade.

I embraced a young man last night that covered his abject fear, helplessness and vulnerability with bravado, masochism and rebellion. I saw myself in that kid. That was very near me 30-35 years ago. I told him so. I told him that is why I could see right through his mask. I told him that Jesus was his only hope. He let his guard down for a moment, hugged me and then strutted away.

There are a thousand reasons why we are here and not preaching revival in any number of places. I may never put my finger on one reason, but we have promised God repeatedly that we will follow him blindly any where and any time. We have asked God to lead us and to guide us to minister to whoever and wherever He chooses.

Will we complain because we are now confused? I say, God forbid. I have put my sail in the air and asked God to blow us where He will. I have promised not to trim my sail and use His wind to sail my own course. We are hundreds of miles from any contacts and have no place scheduled to be until Omaha in 8 days. We are content to let God lead us where we need to be.

God is in control. Thanks for praying for us. I sure hope that nobody we know was trying to sneak up on us and surprise us in Dunseith. Wow! Will you every be surprised!

Davy



1 comment:

  1. Wow! Whether its rest to prepare you for your next move or if God has a plan He needed your schedule free to be able to fulfill . . . God knows best & is ultimately in control!!! All He needs is willing vessels & y'all are definitely that!! Praying He leads, directs, comforts, blesses. . . . We love y'all! Sis Karen

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