Songs of Thanksgiving 2018 Volume 3

Hey Friends,

This is Odie reporting in from the home front. I hope you have been keeping up with my parent's adventures in Nigeria. They have been able to post some pictures and also tell about some of the exciting things that are happening. Please continue to pray for them. They have several more services ahead of them and quite a bit of travel left to do.

I have had a week packed with excitement. Last Saturday began my Thanksgiving celebrations with family. The celebrating wraps up today with a grand Boggs Family Thanksgiving. 

I am enjoying my time at home! I have worked to get settled and things are slowly coming together. Here are a few picture highlights of my week. 

My washer and dryer are working great. 

I attended church Tuesday night at Dryden Road Pentecostal Church. It is always great to be at my home church. 

Wednesday I cooked myself dinner in the crockpot. It was a success and I did not burn the house down!

I love having a place to call mine. I am still overwhelmed when I sit back and take it all in. God has blessed me with more than I deserve. I have a ton of blessings in my life. Actually, they are too many to number. I want to thank God for bestowing every blessing upon me. 

That brings to my final Songs of Thanksgiving for 2018. Click here to read volume 1 and Click here for volume 2.

Today’s featured song is Count Your Blessings by the Martins. They released this song in 1998 on their Dream Big project. This song is one of my all-time favorite Martins songs. It showcases the Martins incredible talent and the message is powerful. 

This song looks at the life of Job in the Bible. We are reminded that Job lost everything including his children, wealth and health. One thing remained, he never turned his back on God’s love! In the midst of his calamity Job trusted and worshiped God. 

I am reminded again that no matter what life brings into my path, God will always be there. I must worship Him in the good times and the tough times. 

I will close with the song lyrics. Click here to hear Count Your Blessings on Apple Music from the original recording. Click here for a 2010 Gaither video on YouTube. 

I hope you enjoyed this series. Thank you for stopping by to visit with me. Have a wonderful weekend. 

Odie

Count Your Blessings 

Written by Joe Johnston and Kim Patton Johnston 

Verse 1

He had family friends and money, 

And loved the lord with all his heart

So the devil went to God 

And said ole Job would fall apart

If you would take away his fortune

Let me put him to the test

Soon poor Job had lost his health and wealth

and all the rest

And as his troubles added up

He fell down on his knees

He said Lord I still got one thing

And that's your love for me

Chorus 

You got to count your blessing

You’ll find one if you try

Count on the Lord and watch that blessing multiply

All those might have could have should have beens, Are nothing but distressing

When you're down and out 

It’s time to count your blessings

Verse 2

You might go through hard times

When you fall into despair

Remember you're surrounded by His blessings everywhere

It's in a neighbor's helping hand

Or in the sunshine of a smile

One blessing leads to one more 

You’ll be counting for a while

It's best to look at what you have 

Forget what you have not

And just learn a lesson from ole Job 

And give thanks for what you got

Chorus 

You got to count your blessing, 

You’ll find one if you try

Count on the Lord and watch that blessing multiply

Those might have could have should have beens 

Are nothing but distressing

When you're down and out 

It’s time to count your blessings

Bridge

One risen savior

One perfect love

One holy promise

One is enough

Chorus 

You got to count your blessing, 

You’ll find one if you try

Count on the Lord and watch that blessing multiply

All those might have could have should have beens Are nothing but distressing

When you're down and out

It’s time to count your blessing

Tag

Count your blessing, count your blessing 

Name them one by one, 

Count your blessing

November 23rd From Nigeria

Thursday was the first day of the Minister's Conference at Christ Ambassadors Holiness Church in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria. It was a great day indeed! The conference is for Pastors, evangelists, teachers and all other kinds of church workers. A good number of folks showed up Thursday and the Lord honored us all with His presence. We must have His presence to make having church worthwhile. It was definitely worthwhile today.

After our long day Wednesday, we went to bed way too early. Our heads felt thick so going to bed seemed like the best thing to do. KJ slept a little less than 5 hours and I slept almost 6. We were up for about 90 minutes and I was able to eventually go back to sleep pretty well. Kelly Jo rested but did not sleep anymore. At least we are sleeping some, even if we are not sleeping at the right time.

We were ready to go when they picked us up at 9:30.

Hello, Bro. Shobanke!

Oh! Here is the real thing.

We are praising God for His help Thursday. We will have two more sessions of the Minister's Conference today and two more on Saturday. Tonight (Friday) I have been invited to preach at a camp meeting service for another group of churches. They are in various parts of Nigeria, but the combined meeting is this week in Abeokuta.

They acknowledged to Bro. Shobanke that the schedule at Christ Ambassadors was too full for me to be able to come, but they offered that I could arrive at 6:00, preach and leave afterward and take our rest. They want me to preach on any subject. Pray that God will touch me.

That is about it for our report today. I think Odie will publish her regular post on Saturday and then I will be back if are still able to connect to wifi at the hotel. Thank you for reading and thank you for praying.

Davy

November 22nd From Nigeria

We are doing well in Nigeria. Have a great Thanksgiving today with your family and friends. We are definitely thankful that you are thinking of us and praying for us.

First I have a few pictures from our journey here Sunday and Monday too.

We arrived at our gate in Atlanta with plenty of time.

The flights between Lagos, Nigeria and Atlanta are always full. This time of year, many Nigerian mothers are on their way home to escape the cold. I have talked to some of them and they spend some time in the US helping their children take care of their children, but the cold weather drives them back home. Who can blame them?

Many of them are elderly and need assistance inside the airport and boarding the plane. In 2012 there were 17 wheelchairs waiting to board the flight. Sunday they set a new world record of 25! The Delta ticket agents and airport personnel handled it all very well.

We had the quickest flight over that have ever had. They used to advertise the flight as 11 and 1/2 hours. Now they say it is 11 hours and 5 minutes. We must have flown in the jet stream Sunday night. The flight took 10 hours and 10 minutes! I  will take a faster flight any day.

We zoomed through immigration, fought our way through baggage claim (All of our bags made it) and then breezed through customs and the rest. A few minutes after we went outside, Bro. Shobanke and the welcoming committee arrived to collect us.

This was our first picture on the road after we arrived.

These taxi vans are a common sight in between Lagos and Abeokuta. It is common for someone to be standing in the open sliding door on the passenger side. This one had a guy standing on the bumper at full highway speed. No one even looks twice.

This is part of our welcoming committee at the airport. They conducted us safely to our hotel and carried all of our luggage into the room. Thank you, brothers!

We had a great first day in Nigeria after and very good first night's sleep. Some of you may remember that some years we struggle mightily trying to sleep while we are here. Even those years, we usually sleep well the first night after being up 36+ hours. It is nearing bedtime here as I type this so hopefully and prayerfully this will be the year of great sleeping.

We spent the late afternoon and evening Tuesday at Bro. Shobanke's house with some of his children, Pastor Kuye and others. It was a wonderfully relaxing visit with our friends. We enjoyed a great meal with them too. May God bless them for their hospitality and kindness toward us.

We did sleep Tuesday night, but not as good as we would like and not near as good as Monday. Hopefully, we do even better tonight.

Wednesday morning we were up early and traveled about 3 hours north to preach one service at a camp meeting during the day. I preached the night services of this camp meeting back in 2016 and we happen to be here at the right time again. 

A few days ago Pastor Isaac asked Bro. Shobanke if I would be willing to drive up for one service and I consented. He knew it would be a lot of time in the car for one service and it was. We were driving a total of 7 hours plus a 45 minute stop at KFC in Ibadan. That was definitely worth it!

KFC in Ibadan

The Nigerians are resourceful people. We have seen people on the motorcycle taxis carrying a lot of different things. We have seen them with kitchen sinks, ten-foot pieces of conduit, lumber, mattresses and many other things. Wednesday we saw this below.

I guess this man was delivering a big truck tire. Clever.

That was pretty cool! 

We made it back to Abeokuta by 5:30 Wednesday evening. Minister's Conference begins Thursday morning by God's grace.

Thank you for praying for us. I will check in again as time and connectivity permits.

Davy