We Must Persevere!

Earlier this week I was posting about our weekend and publishing pictures from the Boggs Reunion 2024. I spent time last week going through some of the old Mile Markers looking for pictures from previous years that other family members might be interested in seeing.

During that research, I ran across a personal story that happened in 1981. It has been over seven years since I repeated it here and I think it is time to tell it again. Not only for you but mostly for me. The theme is the importance of perseverance and I certainly need a good dose that right now.

Please stay with me a few minutes today. I will not be long.

In July 1981 our family camped at Carter Caves in a pop up camper for nearly two weeks. I was 14 years old and had just finished 8th grade. I ran all over the park, roaming the trails, touring caves, swimming and having myself a time. One of the reasons I remember the year is that we watched Prince Charles and Princess Di get married on a small  black and white TV sitting on a table outside our little camper. They were married July 29, 1981.

I remember Carter Caves about as far back as I remember anything from childhood but it was that trip that made it a part of my heart. I fell in love with Carter Caves that July. I hiked every step of every one of the main park trails and went into all the caves I could find. 

I re-learned an important lesson about perseverance that week too. I signed up for a spelunking tour through one of the caves. The spelunking tours go off the path of the regular commercial lighted tours. You crawl on your belly through the mud and water and squeeze through tight passages exploring nooks and crannies with nothing but a flashlight. I mean with a name like "spelunking" it has got to be fun!

The description sounded awesome to me even though I had a pretty good touch of claustrophobia. How bad could it be, right? 

Well, it turns out it could be pretty bad. I bought my ticket and showed up at the cave entrance with everyone else. I had my long pants, long sleeves, solid shoes, flashlight and I was ready to go. By the time the cave guide finished reading all the fine print about the impossibly narrow passages we would be slithering through I was completely convinced I would suffocate in a deep passage somewhere even IF the whole thing did not collapse and bury us all.

As the group filed into the cave, I slinked into the woods and followed the trail up the hill to the campground. Dad and Mom were surprised to see me back so early. I told them how dangerous the spelunking tour was but I could see right away that Dad was not convinced.

My Dad was not going to be a part of raising a bunch of quitters and I already knew that. "Once you start something you can't quit. Quitters never win and winners never quit." 

I pretty much believed it at that time but this was different. I was making a prudent decision based on accurate information given to me by a cave guide probably under 20 years old that was trying to scare everyone to death during this tour. I was saving my life by backing out.

Nope! According to Dad I was quitting and quitting was unacceptable. Plus I had wasted the $1.75 I had spent on the non-refundable spelunking cave tour ticket.

Dad never once said that I had to pay for another ticket and follow through or forever be labeled a quitter. He did drive the lesson home pretty good. I do not even think he suggested that I had to do it. But I knew when I was walking up that hill before I ever told my Dad about it that I would never be satisfied with myself until I spelunked through that cave.

The next time the tour was offered that week I slipped away and bought another $1.75 ticket, gathered at the cave entrance and listened to the impassioned speech about all the dangers that lie ahead. I ignored my cowardly heart beating visibly through my shirt and refused to allow my feet to turn and run. When they opened the gate and started inside I turned on my flashlight and marched with the others toward certain and disastrously painful death.

43 years later I do not remember much about the actual tour. I am pretty sure I was scared in some of those passages, I know I prayed the whole time but I am also sure I had a great time. 

I do remember how I felt when I walked out of that cave alive into the sunshine. I felt like I could do anything because I was not a quitter. I remember how I felt when I walked into camp covered in mud from head to toe. I felt like a world champion. I pretty much was a champion because I was not a quitter.

I am not convinced that I can do much on my own anymore. I have tried and failed way too many times to put much confidence in myself. But I am VERY convinced in the power of determination when combined with trust in God. 

The power of the human spirit is amazing sometimes. Men have completed some huge feats, almost unbelievable tasks because they refused to give up. If you combine that determination and no quit attitude with complete trust and faith in God then there is no telling what God can do in our lives. I Know that to be true.

The spelunking tour reinforced that in the heart of this 14 year old boy. I have bought the ticket and went home defeated more times than I care to remember but by God's grace I have raised up to go again. I did not quit.

Not quitting does not mean Not failing. A thousand times no! Not quitting means Not quitting. We may fall and stumble and make a complete mess but we are Not quitting. We are not going to stay down but we are going to get back up again by God's grace and help! Our mind is made up and we will not wallow in defeat and die in despair.

Micah 7:8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.

Amen!

Physically I feel pretty much defeated at the moment. But a little purposeful perseverance will go a long way by God's grace.

Oh, by the way. The three hour spelunking tour that was $1.75 in 1981.... Is over $30 now! OUCH!

Have a great day and do not quit!

Davy

Purposely Thankful!

Several years ago a Pastor opened up a revival service for testimonies and his young son was one of the first to stand up. We could see the lump in the Pastor's throat and apprehension in his face as he wondered what his son would say. He was probably questioning his own decision to open up the floor to testimonies.

The young man said with complete sincerity, "I want to thank God for my family. We are not a perfect family, but we are a family."

I know the Pastor/Dad felt like crawling into the Bible stand as we all smiled politely and laughed like crazy inwardly. We all had a good tease and laugh about it later but it has become a common phrase in the BoggsMobile.

We will look at one another quite often and say, "We are not a perfect family, but we are family."

That pretty much sums us up. Even though we might like for the world around us to view us without all of our warts and other imperfections, the truth remains we are not perfect, we are not whole, we are not exactly what we planned to be by now. Yet we are thankful we are not what we use to be and certainly not as low down as we could be.

We are very thankful as a family that God has been so very good to us. That does not mean that everything is rosy or that we can even begin to understand some of the things that are going on around us. It simply means we are thankful for the place that God has brought us to at the moment in spite of what we think about the present circumstances.

We are thankful every day. We must be. When Paul describes the perilous times we live in, he includes two words grouped together; unthankful, unholy. I do not believe these words are placed side by side on accident. When we are unthankful, unholy will not be far behind.

I am determined to be purposely thankful. God has been so good to us. He has walked beside us and blessed us every step of the way. Surely, His goodness and mercy follow us each day.

 

There is no doubt that we live in an evil world, infected with 6000 years of sin that will beat you up at every chance. But we are determined to trust God and allow Him to work things out for our good according to His will.

Thank you, God, for loving us and helping us and guiding us.

Thank you, friends, for walking through this life with us.

Davy

A Look Back At An Important Day

In this post, I am looking back four years to a hugely important day. It needs nothing more than an introduction. 

I am looking back to August 17, 2018, the day we dedicated the house we built for Odie to live in. I have laughed and cried as I have read over this post concerning that special day.



Today's post is long and has lots of pictures. Many of the pictures came from friends that graciously allowed us to post them. We were a touch to much in the moment to take many pictures.

Friday, August 17, 2018, is a day that will bring a smile to our faces and joy to our hearts for a long time to come. It was a beautiful day adorned with family and friends from across the country as we celebrated the completion of the house, praised God for His provision and dedicated the house in prayer. Yes, it was a super great day indeed.

We invited all the churches, families and individuals that had helped build the house for Odie to live in. There were at least 35 churches across 16 states and 2 countries that contributed and we knew that only a fraction of those could come, but we wanted to give them an opportunity to witness first hand the miracle that God used them to bring to pass.

We do not know how any people attended, but we are very pleased with the response. We secured the use of the Dodds Fellowship Hall next door and used it as a staging ground for tours of the house and also served light refreshments in the fellowship hall.

Light refreshments included a few lunch meat sandwiches, five gallons of salsa from Acapulco and at least five quarts of the best guacamole that has ever been made, also from Acapulco! Oh and a whole bunch of Acapulco chips to go with the salsa and guacamole.

When Kelly Jo arrived from Acapulco about 11:30, Bro. Mitch Boggs and I taste tested the chips, salsa and the guacamole to make sure they were fit to eat. Thankfully they were tolerable. I appreciate Mitch helping me. I "might" have been able to do it by myself, but it would have been difficult. It is nice to have friends around to help.

😀

People began arriving at the fellowship hall at 4:00 and Kelly Jo, Odie and I began tours of the house at 4:30. The next time I took the clock seriously it was about 7:10. Wow! That went fast.

Lisa, my sister Theresa, Steve and others kept things rolling in the fellowship hall, Karen organized and shuttled people back and forth in the Dodds Church van and Bro. Scott Morris shuttled people in Bro. EJ's golf cart. A well oiled machine, I say.

We were blessed with good weather. At 3:50 it was pouring rain so hard that we had rivers running every where. The rain stopped before 4:00 and stayed dry. It was too muddy to have people walk from the fellowship hall to the house, but that was solved by the golf cart and the van.

We intended to take pictures of every one as they came through the house. We managed well for a while, but it kind of broke down as we neared the time for the dedication at 7:30. We did get a bunch though.

This couple, Ryan and Bekah, came from Kokomo, Indiana. We had never met them, but she and Odie know each other through our blog and her blog. I called Odie and Bekah co-stalkers.

Ryan and Bekah have been planning to attend this for a long time and they TOTALLY surprised Odie. We should have been videoing Odie's face. It was awesome!

It was very nice of them to take time to drive several hours to be a part of Odie's special day. Thank you both. It was great to meet you.

We love it when our friends meet our friends and they actually like each other. We had a lot of that going on Friday!

Not everyone had toured the house yet, but shortly after 7:30 we gathered the crowd that was still there on the porch, sidewalk and driveway for a short dedication service for the house.

I told a little of the house story, Odie said a few gracious words, Bro. Scott Morris spoke and then our Pastor, Bro. Bennie Sutherland said a few words and prayed a very touching prayer over Odie, us and the house. Bro. Eddie Deane led us in a spontaneous song and we all enjoyed the obvious presence of the Lord. It was even better than we imagined it would be.

Most of you know that it was Bro. Scott Morris that got this whole project rolling. He never wants me to say much about him and I understand that. But I can not tell the house story without telling his part. I will be brief, Bro. Scott.

He told us on January 15, 2015 that God spoke to him over the previous months to build Odie a house. We were blown away. We were fearful. We were cautious. But if Bro. Scott said that God said, then we decided we could trust that.

God did speak. There is a house to prove it.

We celebrated the truth of that Friday night with a bunch of friends. God spoke. Bro. Scott listened. Bro. Scott spoke and God honored His Word and and Bro. Scott's word.

The whole project was made possible as God moved on people to take part in it. 

There were several Pastors that signed their name to the project and believed Bro. Scott’s vision and loved Odie.

There were individuals, families, churches and businesses that gave of their resources, time, material and heart. Everyone that gave, gave freely and many, many gave sacrificially. 

Our families worked many hundreds of hours helping us on this house for nothing more than the satisfaction of knowing they were doing it for Odie.

My Dad and Mom (Eugene and Martha Boggs), Kelly Jo's parents (Dan and Betty Morgan) and my brother Steve and his wife Karen worked especially long, hard and often. Then they gave sacrificially on top of their work.

Pastor Wade Hicks repeatedly saw a need and rallied men to work and saved my hide numerous times.

And the list goes on and on and on. There was one miraculous intervention and provision after another throughout the whole process. We were celebrating that Friday night.

The evening was an open house style event so people came and went throughout the whole time. This picture below shows the crowd that was there moments after the dedication. That is beautiful!

A few closeup pictures.

When the dedication was complete, we gave more tours of the house then went back to the fellowship hall for more salsa, music, fellowship and then clean up. We finally ended up back in the house until all of our friends and family slowly filtered out. 

Kelly Jo wrote on grease boards the names of all the people that contributed finances, labor and material to this house. These boards were displayed in the fellowship hall along with a PowerPoint presentation. I tried to post some closeups too. I hope they are readable.

This is Bro. EJ Lamb's golf cart. I think it looks good in Odie's garage. Maybe we should have built a two car garage.

And finally, the highlight of Bro. Scott's trip from Mississippi was when he drove Steve's tractor! He was a happy man!

As I bring this to a close I am thinking of 10 more things I would like to say about Friday evening, but I have rambled on too long already. It was a super celebration and we are grateful for each one that was able to come. What an amazing night it was!

Every time we think of Odie's house, we will think of the miracle. Every time we think of the miracle, we will think of the people that made it possible! May God bless them all. May God bless you all!

Thank you for reading today.

Davy

There are dozens of posts detailing all the little things about building this house. Here is the link. It will display them from the most recent to the oldest. This is one of the first posts about the house from January 2017.