The Weekend Dispatch 9/12/23

The Weekend Dispatch was pushed back by yesterday's September 11 post. Here it is now.

First, Odie had some pictures left over from our few days at home.

To properly describe the weekend, we need to go back into last week as we prepared to leave the Lazy OD Ranch. The night before we left, we turned the bus around and hooked up the Jeep so that we could make our escape as quickly and painlessly as possible in the morning.

Our first day was a long one. We drove through Cincinnati, Louisville and Nashville for a total of 408 miles. We spent the night at a small roadside campground at Athens, Alabama.

The second day included a fuel stop and we ended at Thomasville, Alabama. We spent the evening with my niece Deidre and her family. It was delightful.

They helped me get settled in at their church and wash the love bugs off of the bus.

Sunday rolled around and we sang and preached for them in their temporary location. It was a great service.

Pastor Ben Shoemaker

That wraps up a busy weekend. This week we are attending a meeting that we have wanted to attend for a long time. It is a small outdoor meeting out in the country. The Pastor is Bro. Eddie Stringfellow and we have preached for him a couple of times. Pastor Kenny Morris is preaching the meeting.

Friday we will move over to Richton, Mississippi and prepare for the only time our tent is going up this year. We are looking forward to that. Thank you for dropping in.

Davy

Remembering Again September 11, 2001

Nearly 3000 people died on American soil on September 11, 2001 because religious nuts hated America, hated capitalism, hated our system of government, hated anyone that did not serve their god and tried their best to destroy us.
 
It must be said loudly that most followers of that same religion did not, do not want to kill Americans or destroy Americans. But it must be said just as loudly that these men killed Americans in the name of their religion.
 
3000 lives ended in a moment. 22 years later and people are still grieving, still hurting, still crying and still trying to live on. 
 
Many in the world would like us to forget.
 
Many in the press would like for us to forget.
 
Many in the government would like for us to forget.
 
But we must never forget.
 
Families were forever changed and scarred. 
 
Parents lost children. 
 
Spouses lost their companions. 
 
Friends were separated forever. 
 
Many businesses lost key employees. 
 
New York City Fire Department lost 343 firefighters. 
 
New York City Police Department lost 23 officers. 
 
New York City Port Authority lost 37 officers. 
 
Over 3200 children lost at least one parent.
 
How could we ever forget?
 
We must never forget. We must never omit the details. We must never sidestep the truth to avoid hurting a snowflake's feelings. Those 19 hijackers and the men who sent them did not care for the feelings of thousands they hoped to kill.
 
We must know. We must learn. We must remember. We must care. We must remain vigilant. We must never forget.
 
September 11, 2001 made me want to pull people I love closer and let them know how much I care for them. It still does. Nearly 3000 people lost their lives in NYC, Washington DC and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The more I read the stories of victims and survivors and heroes, the more I value life at its very core.
 
Life is valuable. Life is fleeting. Life is too short to waste on ourselves. God help me to remember.
 
We visited the 9/11 Museum and Memorial in August 2014 and 2016. These two visits had a sobering impact on our family. We were seeing many of the film clips and pictures for the very first time. I have described it as an emotional punch in the gut.
 
The hours we spent there were some of the most sobering, severe and significant hours in my life. It is a place that haunts not only my sleep, but often even my waking hours. It may seem cliche but I assure you it is not, 9/11 changed our lives forever, even those of us that were thousands of miles removed from the destruction.
 
In the museum I came to the slow realization that we are not talking about a group of 3000 random people being tragically killed, which is heartbreaking in itself, but we are talking about 3000 individuals, all with families, hopes, dreams, ambitions and plans.
 
The personal cost, the personal hurt, the personal tragedies are completely overwhelming when standing on their own. To hear their voices, to see their pictures, to watch video clips of them with their families, to hear their loved ones talk about them is powerfully poignant. When you put it all together in one event and attempt to add up all the loss of real, living, breathing humanity, it is unfathomable!
 
Consider just one personal story we learned there. It is the story of Captain Terrance S. Hatton the commander of Rescue 1 in Manhattan. Captain Terry Hatton was killed in the north tower when it fell. 
 
His wife, Beth Petrone Hatton was the Executive Assistant to Mayor Rudy Giuliani. She was standing on the steps of City Hall as the World Trade Center collapsed. She knew exactly where her husband was at that moment.
 
Captain Hatton was a man of duty. He was 41 years old and had served the NYFD for 21 years. In those 21 years he had earned 19 medals for bravery including the highest award in the city, the Medal of Honor. He was considered by those that served with him as one of the best.
 
Beth Petrone knew all that. She knew her honorable husband would be on the highest accessible floor conducting rescue operations. That was his job and he did it well.
 
As she watched the tower fall, she instantly knew he was dead. The dust engulfed City Hall and Beth found herself holding handfuls of the debris thinking she was somehow holding her husband.
 
They found Captain Terry Hatton's remains two weeks later and buried him in the fashion of the hero he was. By then, Beth Petrone Hatton had learned she was expecting their first child.
 
Terri Elizabeth Hatton was born in May of 2002. She is a beautiful young lady now and she will never know her heroic father except for stories. He will never hold her. He will never tuck her into bed. He will never read to her. He will never walk her down the aisle. He is gone. Beth lost her husband and little Terri lost her Daddy, simply because he went to work that morning.

That is the story of only one man that died and it does not even include the hurt of his parents, his siblings, his other relatives, his friends or the men he worked with and all the rest he left behind.

Multiply that one story by 3000 plus stories and you have not even begun to scratch the surface of why we should never forget!

Maybe you will enjoy your family today. Maybe you will go to church and worship. Maybe you must concentrate today on walking through your own personal hardships or even tragedy. Wherever you are and whatever stage in life you are in, please take a moment to think about all that were lost on September 11, 2001. 

Take a moment to remember. Take a moment to consider what might have been. Take a moment to pray for Terri Elizabeth Hatton and many, many of thousands of others that are moving forward and trying to overcome each day.

I believe we owe them that much.

Thank you.

Davy Boggs

Our View Out The Front Window 9/10/23

Sunday Morning Sanity

Geology rocks but Geography is where it's at!

This was our view out the front window the night before we left Ohio. We had turned around and hooked up the Jeep.

This was our view out the window the next night near Athens, Alabama.

This is our view now in Thomasville, Alabama.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you have a super great Sunday.

Davy

Tent Revival Coming Up

Early this year when I was pretty sick, I knew I needed to work smarter not harder in 2023 IF I was going to make it through the year in one piece AND finish on the right side of the ground.

One of the things we did was cancel the next four revivals beginning the last Sunday in January. I hated to do it, but all of the Pastors were very understanding and the four weeks with no preaching and no singing went a long way toward getting me back on my feet.

We did go to church 3-5 times each week, enjoying services and being fed by various Pastors. That was a big boost to us as well.

The second decision was to cancel almost all of our scheduled tent revivals for the year. I really hated to do that, but I knew in my heart it was the best decision.

We kept the three day tent revival in Vermont. They set up their own tent, it is not super hot weather and it is only three services. We handled that fine although I did get a glimpse of what it was going to feel like to handle our sound equipment each night.

The final tent revival of the year and the only one using our tent is coming up September 17-22 in Richton, Mississippi. I kept that one on the schedule for a few reasons.

1. It was late in the year and gave me the most time to be in better form physically.

2.  We have set our tent up there multiple times and the Richton folks know the routine and how best to help.

3.  Pastor Scott Morris has the same vision for tent revival as me and I do not have to carry that weight.

Bro. Morris has checked several times to make sure I am up for tent revival and I appreciate his kindness and thoughtfulness. However, I want to try and I believe we are ready. 

By God's grace, the tent will go up in the air on Saturday, September 16 and we are excited. Please pray for our strength and for the power of God to touch lives in Richton, Mississippi.

You are welcome to come be with us too! Bro. Jimmie Radcliffe is hoping to be able to come and that would be an awesome bonus.

Thank you for reading, dear friends.

Davy

Now We Wait!

Now We Wait!

I mentioned Tuesday that we would need to begin the tedious process of the Nigerian Visa application. That very day, I waded into the deep hole and KJo finally dropped the FedEx envelope in the box about 6:15 Wednesday evening. Wow! What an experience!

They have simplified the actual application by about five pages. I do appreciate that, but the website is still incredibly buggy, clunky and slow. We were so happy to get that part finished and paid for Tuesday night, but the journey was only beginning.

After the application is completed for the Nigerian Consulate, then we have to print the application, print the payment receipt AND print the payment acknowledgment slip. 

Payment receipt and payment acknowledgment slip? What is the difference? Who knows!

The proper thing after that is for both of us to make an appointment and travel to the consulate in New York City. We need the printed application, receipt and acknowledgment slip plus our passports, new passport-type photos, proof of flight and hotel reservations, a bank statement and a pocket full of money.

Then we leave all of that in NYC and go back in 8-10 business days and pick up our passports and hopefully the approved visa. Sounds completely simple, right? Yep, easy-peasy! NOT!

Since two trips to NYC are not feasible, we pay a company $240 each to carry the stuff into the consulate for us and pick it up when it is finished. The fee is way higher than it was 16 years ago, but I am sure they earn their money.

We send them all the things above and a big fat check, including more Nigerian government fees and wait a couple weeks for them to do their magic. Once they have the Nigerian visa in hand, they will overnight our passports and visas to us.

Hopefully, we did everything correctly and the applications will sail through and the visas are approved. Then we will work on trying to get the right flights for the right dates and all will be set.

After we are reunited with our people in Nigeria, it will all be worth it. I am looking forward to that!

Thank you for dropping by today.

Davy

A Word For Wednesday, I Believe God!

So glad you joined us today. It is time again for A Word For Wednesday. A few moments 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.

I Believe God!

Acts 27:21 But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss.

22 And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship.

V. 25 Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.

I believe God! I refuse to put my trust in everything I see around me. I refuse to trust in all the emotions inside of me. I trust in only what I believe and I believe God!

We can trust God, friends. I encourage you to believe the Word of God! Thank you for watching today.

Davy

More News On Nigeria

More news on Nigeria

Unfortunately, we missed our scheduled trip to Nigeria in 2020. The world took a turn upside down and we were not able to go in November/December 2020.

By early fall 2021, I had only been back on the road a few weeks after being sick with COVID-19. I was still using supplemental Oxygen and could not handle the long trip so we set our sights on late 2022 for our Nigeria trip.

2022 did not work because of Nigerian Visa problems. It is best to apply for our Nigerian Visa about 90 days before the trip so in July of 2022, I began to check on the Visas. I found that the Nigerian Consulate had temporarily stopped Visas for US citizens and would begin shortly.

By October they had gone through about four different reasons why they could not process Visas, but they were still not issuing them. I have to send my actual passport with the application and I needed my passport for travel in November so we finally called off the trip.

We were all disappointed, but there was nothing to be done. We shifted to planning for 2023. That has been the strategy all year.

With Bro. Shobanke in the US, sick and unable to travel home, we did not know if we should proceed or not. I told you yesterday that he was able to travel home and we are praising God.

As I visited with him the day he left, he plainly told me that he wanted us to come to Nigeria this year. He made me assure him that even if he passed away tomorrow I would do my best to go to his people in Nigeria.

I promised him that if we can obtain Visas and his people will allow us to come, we will certainly do our best to keep our commitment to him.

So, by God's grace and help, KJo and I plan to leave for Nigeria, West Africa in the last few days of November for about two weeks. If all goes as planned we will preach to all of Christ Ambassadors churches on the first Sunday along with a Minister's Conference and an outdoor Gospel Crusade while we are there.

We are now beginning the tedious process of the Nigerian Visa application. It has always been incredibly complicated and also expensive in the past. I will let you know if anything has changed.😊

KJo and I are concerned about my ability to make the trip physically as well so we would appreciate if you would speak to God for us. Would you pray for us through the whole process beginning now? Thank you very much.

AND thank you for joining us for a few hours today.

Davy