Pictures From This Week's Travel

Well, I did not stay in bed 12 hours Wednesday night like I wanted to but I did sleep almost 7 hours and that is pretty good for me. I woke up ready to get with it so I must have rested all I needed.

Odie had taken a few pictures from our travel days this week that have not been posted. I will remedy that right now. 

This Deli was a few gates down from our departing gate at JFK on Monday.

Here we are at the gate ready to go. Bro. Wade's flight was just a few minutes after ours and was going out right next to ours.

I guess we received phone calls at the same time.

Odie took some pictures from the plane.

This was a gravel pit as we were about to land in Nashville, Tennessee.

Tuesday we rented a Budget truck in Nashville and picked up some equipment that was donated to City Reach. I am excited to tell you all about that some time next week probably.

By Tuesday late afternoon we were loaded and headed west.

Driving in the rain was no fun at all!

Wednesday the rain was mostly gone and we had only the high winds to contend with.

That pretty much sums up our three travel days this week in pictures. Thursday we worked on sorting and arranging equipment and figuring out how we can haul it all. We had a lot of fun playing with all the new stuff but we worked hard and long too. It was after 11:00 before we went in the bus and sat down last night. 

Thanks for reading.

Davy

Back In The BoggsMobile

We post most days here but occasionally we will miss a day due to various things going on. Yesterday we were very busy with travel and such, but I left Tuesday's post at the top an extra day on purpose. I received several texts and a few phone calls from friends and family reacting positively to the blog that day and I knew a bunch of folks were reading it.

Evidently others must have been linking to it or sharing it on other sites because it received more than our normal MILLIONS of visitors. IF by chance you have not read it, you can read it HERE. It is called Contempt From The Sophisticated World.

We traveled pretty hard most of the last three days and we arrived back at the BoggsMobile at 12:20 AM Wednesday night/Thursday morning. Tuesday we drove in wind and driving rain for over 300 miles. We finally gave up and got a room just east of Little Rock.

Wednesday the rain was mostly gone but the wind was super strong all day long. It was hitting us head on or from the side so it beat us up pretty bad. We were hauling some things for City Reach in a rental truck and that made us a great big target for the wind. I was glad to stop for a while Wednesday evening.

We detoured just a little bit from the straight route to Gainesville so we could attend one night of Fellowship Meeting in Idabel, Oklahoma. It had been 25 years since we had been there. Pastor Phillip Snow and his family are great people and although we see them at meetings and see their children scattered about the country working in ministry, it took us a while to circle back through. It was good to be close enough to go again.

I really wanted to go so we could hear Pastor Jon Isaacs preach. We love Bro. Jon and his family. It was wonderful to be with them a few months ago in Alabama and we have been anxious to see them again. Only Bro. Jon and Alivya were able to make the trip but we loved being with them. Bro. Jon preached great and it was well worth the few extra miles we drove to be there.

It was 9:55 when we pulled out of the church and 2 hours and 25 minutes later we were here. I am writing this and posting this before I go to bed and I know it is going to feel good to crawl into my own bed. I may stay there 12 hours!

Thanks for reading.

Davy

Contempt From The Sophisticated World

I ran across this quote from Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia a while back and I filed it away for future reference. In the days since his death, I have seen it several places and it rings powerful and profound every time I read it. 

It is credited as part of a speech at Living the Catholic Faith conference in 2012. I have seen it credited to other speeches as well and it is entirely possible and highly probable he said this on multiple occasions.

“God assumed from the beginning that the wise of the world would view Christians as fools…and he has not been disappointed.… If I have brought any message today, it is this: Have the courage to have your wisdom regarded as stupidity. Be fools for Christ. And have the courage to suffer the contempt of the sophisticated world.”

Admittedly, Justice Scalia's view of the Christian faith was 180 degrees opposite from mine but his great legal mind grasped very clearly the opposition of the world to nearly every thing considered Christian. He echoed Paul's words and summed them up very succinctly.

It was a reoccurring theme for Paul. He knew we would be tempted to allow the elite, the noble, the cultivated, the sophisticated as Judge Scalia said, the wise, to intimidate us into denying the preaching of the cross, the power of the Gospel and the truth of the Word of God because they know it is foolish.

Paul rejected that notion repeatedly and forcefully! I have listed just a few examples below. Take a moment to read each verse carefully, please.

I Corinthians 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

 19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

 20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

 21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

I Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

I Corinthians 3:18  Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

 20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

I am sure the Supreme Court may never be the same without the brilliant mind of Justice Antonin Scalia. I am sure the conservative segment of American society will have to look long and hard for a replacement. His untimely death may have long and lasting effects on our society.

But I find it extremely interesting that in every article of the great and witty things he said or wrote, you find the quote above in every list. This man wrote literal volumes of legal opinions that law schools will be teaching and debating for years to come. Yet out of all his great analytic, brilliant, intelligent, profound things he uttered: it is amazing that one taken directly from scripture would be among his most quoted. That alone should speak volumes to us.

Take courage, friend. Let the world call you a fool. Let the world say you are unlearned and uneducated. Let the wise of this world scorn you for your belief in the Bible, in Christ, in morality and in the Gospel.

But know this friend, God has the final say and God is always right. God will take the wise in their own craftiness.

Believe the Bible! Believe the Gospel! Believe Truth! 

Let the wise say what they will and let their insults ricochet off you like a smooth stone on water or bullets on armor. Their constant barrage of put downs, mockery and slander should not even turn our head. Their condescending babble is all vain, no matter how much they applaud themselves!

Does it really matter in the grand scheme of things if the talking heads on TV, the movie stars, sports heroes or music idols agree with God and give us permission to believe God too?

Think about it friend. Justice Scalia was right. Apostle Paul was right. And God is right. That is the side I want to be on.

Davy