Revival In Pictures Staunton, Virginia

We were scheduled to have revival at Beacon of Hope in Staunton, Virginia Sunday through Wednesday, but it was shortened by one night. Sis. May's mother, Sis. Sly passed away early Wednesday morning and they needed to be with their family. We absolutely understand!

The four services that we had were outstanding! We have been praising God for His help each night. The altar services have been very good and it has been wonderful to see God's people reaching for Him. Even though we did not know that Tuesday would be the last night, It turned out to be an awesome final night of revival. Praise God for His touch!

This was only our second visit to Beacon of Hope, but we have known some of these people for over 30 years. Our Pastor, Bro. Bennie Sutherland, preached a camp meeting north of here in Verona and we attended the meeting. We may have gone two years.

We preached revival for that same church in 1991 or 1992. During those meetings, we met two couples that attend this church. Some that were teenagers then are married with married children in this church. 

It has been wonderful to get reacquainted with old friends and meet a whole bunch of new ones. I love how that works!

I appreciate Pastor Keith May for inviting us and for his people opening their arms to us this week. May God bless you all.

Now it is time for you to see the Revival In Pictures. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Davy

One Year Ago Today, March 24, 2021

March 24, 2021, is a day that will remain in my memory banks for a long time to come. Allow me to take a moment to tell you why.

On Sunday, January 31, 2021, Odie and I tested positive for Covid in Bernice, Louisiana. By the end of that day, we were loaded up in the BoggsMobile and on our way home. We arrived home about noon on Tuesday and by Thursday I was as sick as I had ever been in my life.

By the seventh day, Saturday, February 6, 2021, I was beginning to believe that the extreme body temperature fluctuations would kill me. That night, Bro. John and Sis. Ann Gabbard called and prayed Heaven down on me. I will never forget that night either. I will explain in a moment.

By Wednesday, February 10, I could not absorb enough oxygen. It was pretty scary. Two preachers brought me supplemental oxygen about midnight in a snowstorm and saved my life.

From there, I started gaining. After three weeks or so, I was mostly using supplemental oxygen only at night. Soon, I was working in the barn and preaching single services here and there.

The truth is, I was probably overdoing it. I was trying to do the right thing by exercising my lungs and not sitting down, but I am pretty sure I was harming my lungs rather than helping.

On March 13, I began sliding backward in my ability to absorb oxygen and in a few days I was laboring to get my breath at all. On Wednesday morning, March 24, I was struggling to breathe and I told Kelly Jo that my lungs felt like they were almost full. I had no signs of pneumonia, but my lungs felt nearly full.

I suspected that once they were full, I would not be able to breathe. I could not keep my oxygen level in the mid 80's even with full supplemental oxygen. I was in a dangerous place.

A few minutes before 9:00 PM that Wednesday night, March 24, 2021, one year ago today, Pastor Mike Metzger called. He said "I am going to my knees to pray for you right now." AND pray he did!

He prayed for 20 solid minutes while we prayed with him and enjoyed the presence of the Lord in the BoggsMobile. I took off my oxygen and marched in place for several minutes expecting to be healed any moment. It was a glorious touch from the Lord.

After 20 minutes or so, Bro. Metzger said I am going to keep praying after we hang up. I do not know how long he prayed, but I suspect it was quite a long time. We rejoiced quite a long time in the Lord that night even though I was not completely healed in that moment.

I was not able to rest that night after the glorious experience, but each day after that, I felt a little bit stronger. 

But I want you to know something. When Bro. and Sis. Gabbard prayed for me on February 6, the Holy Ghost fell on me and I felt the Lord every moment of every day for over three solid months.

When Bro. Metzger prayed for me one year ago on March 24, the presence of the Lord intensified on me and carried me through the valley of the shadow of death. Hallelujah!

I will never forget those prayers. I will never forget the closeness of the Lord. I will never forget how He walked with me and talked with me every single step of the way.

It was near the end of August before I was able to travel and preach anywhere near consistently. It was mid December before I set aside the portable oxygen machine. I am still pulling with all of my might, trying to be able to preach every night as I have for over nineteen years. I still need God's help.

However, I will never forget the Lord's presence that I felt more steady and strong than I have ever felt Him before. Hallelujah!

When I tell this story in a few years, I believe the main point in my mind 

Will not be the sickness and suffocating, but the presence of the Savior! 

The focus will not be disease and discomfort, but the Deliverer!

The focus will not be the hardship and heartache, but Heaven that rested on me

The focus will not be Covid, but Christ!

Hallelujah!!!

If the Lord does not come back for his church in the next several years, I will face death once again. Time will see to that. However, if the Lord will come near me like he did one year ago, I will be able to walk that lonesome valley.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Davy

A Word For Wednesday Hope That Someone Was Coming

 It is time for A Word For Wednesday. A Few minutes ago, I posted A Word for Wednesday on our YouTube Channel. Please give it a listen and leave us a comment here or on YouTube.

Hope That Someone Was Coming

The USS Indianapolis sank on July 30, 1945 after being hit with two missiles from a Japanese submarine. Of 1195 men, 316 survived after five days in the open sea. Survivor Cleatus Lebow said, "If we had known they did not know we were sunk, we would have all given up in despair, but we had hope that someone was coming." 

He said, the men survived, because they were sure, help was coming. They had hope!

Hope is vitally important today. In a crazy world, what, who can we hope in? What, who can we trust. Our hope is in the Lord. Our hope is a deep settled knowledge that God is who He said He is!

Hope is possible today, because God is coming to rescue us!

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope you will take a moment to watch A Word For Wednesday.

Davy

Meeting Carrington West Again

KJo and I are pretty sure we are more blessed than most. God has brought so many wonderful people into our lives and we are made so much better from the experience.

It is a distinct privilege to preach to so many children everywhere we go. What a blessing to go back year after year and watch them grow physically and spiritually too.

We can think of several times when mothers brought their new babies to church for the first time during revival and I was honored to preach the first sermon their baby ever heard. I have no record of any of the babies growing up and telling me what I preached, but I did have one want to meet me recently.

Carrington West came into the world struggling to live. Once she was able to leave the hospital, her parents brought her to revival we were preaching for her grandpa, Bro. Larry West, near Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

This was April 2013

Carrington's parents pointed me out at Allentown and told her I was the first preacher she had ever heard. She said, "I want to meet him." They reintroduced us to Carrington Thursday night of Allentown and meeting her was one of the highlights of the meeting.

It was wonderful to meet Carrington. She was very sweet and kind. She seemed to be well adjusted even after hearing such poor preaching in the first days of life.😊 We hope to get to see her again through the years.

May God bless you, dear friends. Thank you for stopping by today.

Davy

The Weekend Distpatch 3/21/22

Our weekend began early Thursday in Colquitt, Georgia.  

I cranked the bus, unhooked the electricity, and backed out of the grass into the parking lot at Mt. Olive near Colquitt, Georgia. I started spinning about 6-8' from the pavement, but the ground was pretty solid there. I shifted the weight to the drive axle and it crawled onto the pavement. Whew! That was too close for comfort.

We pulled out of the church at 8:15 with no real solid plan other than our route. We went straight north to Columbus, Georgia and hit I-185 after 90 miles and one hour and fifty minutes. 

As we approached Atlanta at about the three hour mark, KJo found that I-85 was closed on the east side of Atlanta. There was a several mile detour plus an extremely long backup and that added a lot of time to the route.

There went our planned route.😍

We decided to take I-285 north to I-75 to Knoxville and the east toward Virginia. It was 38 miles further and we had horrible traffic around Atlanta and through Knoxville, but it was still less time than our original route.

I had not originally considered the alternate route that we followed through Tennessee, because it was 38 miles further. But we are very familiar with I-75, I-40 and I-81. That makes planning stops for fuel, food, rest and overnight a bit easier.

We stopped at a rest area north of Atlanta on I-75 near Adairsville for about 2.5 hours. We rolled again about 4:00 and drove until 8:00 PM. We drove a total of 475 miles and 8 hours plus the rest time. It was way, way too long and tedious, but we were glad to get the miles behind us.

We were not able to run the generator this trip so we stopped at something new that Love's is offering in a few locations. It is called Love's RV Stop. It is part of the Travel Plaza on the car side and has 50 amp electricity, no water for about $30 with tax. At today's fuel prices, ten hours of running the generator would cost $28 in fuel alone, so $30 is not bad.

I can foresee it being hard to park in the RV spots though, because people park pretty much wherever they want to. When we pulled in a straight truck was blocking four spaces and another one was parked in one of the spots in the picture below. They were probably eating because they were gone in about an hour.

We finished the last 269 miles to Beacon of Hope Holiness Church in Staunton, Virginia and we were extremely happy to get off the road. Hallelujah! Our total for Thursday and Friday was 744 miles, definitely our longest two day stretch in a long time.

I wish I could say I did it with no problem at all and I feel perfect, but the truth is important.😍 I think I will be Ok, but I was walking a little sideways Saturday.

Saturday afternoon, KJo helped me get the sound equipment loaded in, set up and sound checked.

This is our second visit with Pastor Keith May and Beacon of Hope and our first revival. We are thrilled to be here and we had a wonderful Sunday. We are looking forward to three more revival services here. God knows that His church needs revival and He is willing to give it to us.

Odie snapped a few pictures Sunday for you.

That takes care of our weekend. Thank you for stopping by.

Davy