Weekend In The Rearview Mirror 3/11/18

After closing revival on Wednesday at White Plains, Thursday ended up being a full day. We had such a good time with the saints, our friends, at White Plains, I was a little sad to leave them. But the asphalt in my blood won out in the end and it was time to hit the road.

I cranked the bus and it was purring like a kitten. A BIG kitten. Oh, I love that sound! Then I unhooked from the electrical panel, Kelly Jo backed the bus out of the spot, we attached the Green Machine and away we went.

We took the safe route to Tanner Williams Holiness Church and avoided all the cattle trails. Google maps on our phones will lead us down some roads way too small for the bus, so we trust the Garmin on the 45' truck setting. Of course, we have to double check Mr. Garmin sometimes too.

The 190 miles trip took us 3.5 hours and soon we were unhooked from the car, parked, leveled and hooked to utilities. 

After visiting with Bro. and Sis. Williamson for a few minutes we jumped in the car and ran to town.

During the bus breakdown in Citronelle, we purchased several parts from Empire Truck Sales and Service on the north side of Mobile. Two of those parts totaling nearly $400 were not needed so we took them back for a refund.

We made a quick stop at Guitar Center, Harbor Freight and a not so quick stop at Sonny's for another round of all you can eat dry rubbed ribs. Wow!

Friday and Saturday were more like rest days for me. I had been trying all week to nurse my weak back into health and was not being very successful, so rest seemed sensible.

The only profitable thing I did Friday was meet the Apostle and the Epistle for an early supper at Cracker Barrel. That was a barrel of laughs and well worth the effort.

Saturday Kelly Jo and Odie went to town to do laundry and for retail therapy. They like to kick around the Mobile area and that suits me fine. I did as much of nothing as I could do while they were gone and actually got a lot of it completed.

Sunday morning, after being catapulted an hour forward in time, we bolted out of bed and prepared for Family and Friends Day at Tanner Williams Holiness Church. This day is always well attended here and we love being here ourselves.

Many of the church folks sang beautifully and then we sang about 45 minutes, with a few testimonies and preaching thrown in for good measure. All of that was followed by a tremendous meal. I enjoyed every bite of it.

Tanner Williams has remodeled the sanctuary since we were last here and it is beautiful!

It was a wonderful treat to have Bro. Ferrell Stearnes from Pensacola, Florida with us Sunday! He is a dear friend to drive so far.

We rested some after lunch and then spent Sunday evening visiting with Bro. and Sis. Williamson. Have I told you before that we love these folks? Having fellowship with people like this makes life worth living! God has blessed us in the friend department.

The Allentown Fellowship Meeting begins Tuesday morning. We plan to crank the bus and drive over there and get parked later today. They are having service tonight about 45 minutes north at Cedar Creek tonight and we may go up there for that.

Thank you for stopping in to see us today. Thank you for praying for me. My back is doing a little better. I seem to be gaining by God's grace.

Davy

View Out The Front Window March 10, 2019

This is our view out the front window at Tanner Williams Holiness Church near Wilmer, Alabama.

Here are the links to our posts from this last week.

Odie's Saturday Evening Post

Revival In Pictures - Ellisville, Mississippi

99.5% Of The Time

Vintage View Vednesday

It Is Moving

Our Weekend In The Rearview Mirror

Thank you for stopping in to read our Mile Marker today. May God bless you with a great start to a brand new week.

Davy

Watching A Miracle Grow

Public Service Announcement 

The clock springs forward tonight so we lose an hour of sleep. I love the extra daylight but I miss my wonderful hour of sleep. I apologize ahead of time if I seem grumpy to some of you tomorrow! 😂 

Are you dreading losing your hour of sleep? Then there is something to look forward to in the future. The hour will be back in 238 days! You can mark November 3rd on your calendar as fall back day.

Now Back To Regular Programming 

Hey Friends,

This is Odie reporting in from the BoggsMobile. I am extremely happy and thankful that our home on wheels is on the move again. I appreciate everyone’s prayers and concern during our bus troubles! We are grateful for the prayers that have carried us countless miles through the years and I look forward to many more miles ahead!

We had a great time this week near Sebastopol, Mississippi. Our dear friends at White Plains are super fine people and we enjoy visiting with them every time. God was at revival too and that makes all things grand. 

Tomorrow we will be joining Tanner Williams Holiness Church for Family and Friends Day At 10:30 AM! This special day is always fabulous and we love spending it with Pastor Donnie Williamson! Another scrumptious highlight to the day will be a delicious church dinner. The Tanner Williams Church sure knows how to prepare a spread fit for a king. 

Watching A Miracle Grow

Last week in Ellisville, Mississippi I was able to see a few children that are “Miracle Babies”. God answered countless prayers of their parents and church family. The Lord gave them the desires of their hearts. They are truly blessings sent from Heaven. These little ones hold a special place in my heart and I praise God for them often! It thrills me to see my special buddies growing up, but I cannot believe how quickly it is happening.

Here are two of the miracles growing up in Ellisville that I have written about several other times.

Caleb and Katie are precious absolute miracles from the Lord.

Our first weekend visit to Ellisville was in March 2006 and we followed that with our first revival in March 2007. My then new friend, Allison, was preparing to marry, Jamie. They married later that year and they have become great friends to me. 

For several years Jamie and Allison prayed, believed and waited for God to give them a baby. We joined them in that prayer and believed with them too.  In 2016 word came that their prayer was being answered. Their family would be growing in the spring! We thanked God and rejoiced with them!

Lucas Warren Brownlee changed their world on May 4, 2017! This bundle of joy brought happiness to many people around him. We officially met him and I introduced him here in the fall of 2017. I wanted to praise God once again for giving the gift of Lucas! Thanks to his Mama, Allison, for giving me permission to write about him. 

Oh my goodness Lucas is precious! He is a growing boy and will be 2 years old soon. I loved getting to see him last week. He is definitely all boy full of energy and he is loving and happy. 

He is learning new things and words every day. Lucas’ smile and bright eyes melt me into a puddle. His parents taught him to say my name last week. It started as “O” and then changed to “Odie O”. It was cute some nights when I was singing he would wave and call for me.

I love this little guy! It is a blessing to watch this miracle grow! Lucas is a reminder that waiting on the miracle is worth it! Today I wanted to encourage us and remind us that waiting for miracles really does pay off. God hears our prayers and sometimes we receive a partial miracle. Then God will finish it over a period of time. Maybe without realizing it, we are watching miracles grow. 

Have you ever experienced a miracle over time? I would love to hear about it!

​

As you can see Lucas is a ball of fun. Have a great weekend!

Odie

Revival In Pictures - White Plains Holiness Assembly

For those of you waiting on bus news, the bus cranked fine and we drove nearly 200 miles to Tanner Williams Holiness Church in Wilmer, Alabama. Hallelujah! I am so glad to report that wonderful news! I think I want to shout it from the rooftop. 

We are with the Apostle Donald C. Williamson and the Epistle, along with their fine congregation to sing for Friends and Family Day Sunday morning at 10:30. This service is going to be grand and it will be followed by some of the best vittles we ever lifted to our lips. We hope to see you there.

Thank you for the kind comments on yesterday's post. Sometimes I devote a few hours to a post, thinking it through and then getting it down on paper. The whole time I am working, I am never sure if anyone will even show up to read it. 

Some of those posts never see the light of day, because I could not bring them together in a cohesive piece. When they do come together and you read it and like it enough to let me know, that validates the work somewhat. Thank you.

Revival In Pictures

Odie took a bunch of great pictures of the visitors and church folks during revival this week at White Plains Holiness Assembly and I have them for you this morning. We first came here in 2004 and we have only missed a few years coming back since then. We love these people and for whatever reason, they love us in return. Maybe they are nuts! I guess that would explain a lot of things.

We had five great services during the revival. It seems that God came near to us and spoke clearly to us all and I love when that happens. I know that I enjoyed it very much. The whole meeting was an encouragement to me. 

We also had a good amount of visitors during the revival. That is always a blessing. When they come in, they strengthen the church and they strengthen us as well. May God bless those people that came from the area and those that drove a long distance. 

It is time for Revival In Pictures. I hope you enjoy.

Davy

99.5% Of The Time

Last week before the bus was able to roll again, I wrote It Is A Matter of Perspective. I believe every word I wrote. It helps me to get out of my own head and realize there are others around me with needs that far outweigh the needs I am presenting before God.

It is not that my needs are not important to God or that my needs do not rise to the level of really being a problem. But proper perspective says there is no sense in me having a nervous breakdown in the grand scheme of things. Proper perspective instructs me to spend time knocking on heaven's door in faith for people in my life that have much bigger problems than me.

A day or two after I wrote that post, God set me in place to see from an even different perspective than that. It is also helpful.

I have been viewing this whole bus situation from the perspective that it is not as near as bad as it could be. It is not near as bad as what others are facing. All of that is correct, absolutely correct.

That helps me. Watch this, it helps me too.

At the end of last week, we had been having bus trouble that was scattered over a five week span. The bus had not been running three out of the previous five weeks. That is pretty bad. 60% of the previous five weeks, the bus had been broken down, unable to start, unable to move us about the country. 60% downtime is horrible!

However, at the end of last week, we had owned and lived in the BoggsMobile for 568 weeks. Out of those 568 weeks, the bus had been running well for 565 weeks. That means the bus HAS been running 99.5% of the time and only broke down .05% of the time.

That perspective made me stand a little taller, walk a little straighter, hold my head a little higher and praise God a little louder.

Of course, through the years, we have scheduled time for the bus to be in the shop for maintenance and improvements, but in 565 out of 568 weeks of bus ownership, the bus could have been driven anywhere in the USA. Not bad at all!

IF the bus was down 60% of the time all of the time, it would have been down nearly 341 weeks. Wow! But that is not the case at all. It has been down only 3 out of the previous 568 weeks, .05%! 

How do your problems look from that perspective? Has God been with you every step of the way? 

I want to thank God for the days I did not feel sick, I had plenty to eat, I had money for fuel and money for my bills. I want to praise God for a fantastic wife,  and incredible daughter, great parents, good raising, wonderful family, a gracious Pastor, fabulous home church, places to preach, people that love us and friends that are absolutely amazing.

When I take time to think about how good God has been to me, how much He has blessed and what amazing things He has done, it puts my current problems into perspective. He walked on the water the last time, right? Then He can do it again!

Thank you for stopping by today. May God bless you with a wonderful perspective and a series of miracles to follow!

Davy