Then There Were Sixteen

There were nearly 100 grand kids on the Isaacs side of my family. A few died as infants and one died as a teenager in a tragic accident over 30 years ago. In the last 20 years we have lost several more from our generation. As we all grow older the rate of loss will only accelerate. That is the cycle of life. 

The Boggs side of the family has been a different story so far. There were 17 of us Boggs grand kids. That is a pretty good size family under normal non-Isaacs circumstances. 

As far as I know we have not lost one from our generation...until now. 

Two years ago, during the last tent revival we held in Bristol, Virgina, one of my first cousins came to be with us. Mike Kramer along with his wife Polly and Jessica,  one of his daughters, visited us under the Blue and White Gospel Tent. It was a great night and we were thrilled to see them. 

That night they came to the tent, it had been a few years since we had seen them. It was a special privilege to have them there and to get reacquainted again. 

Mike left Ohio for college in Tennessee many years ago, met Polly and pretty much lived and raised their family in Tennessee every since. They have always attended church. Mike and Polly have a beautiful family including two sons in the ministry today. 

Last week Mike went in for open heart surgery and had complications after surgery. Sunday afternoon he slipped into eternity with his family gathered around him singing "It is well with my soul "

Regular readers know that because of our travel schedule, we miss a lot of funerals. This time we were not that far away. Nashville and Kingsport are pretty close IF you say it real fast. 

So Thursday morning we loaded up in the Green Machine and pointed east. We attended a beautiful memorial service Thursday evening. It was our pleasure to be there and I am glad it worked for us to be able to make it. 

Mike was a super guy with an amazing sense of adventure and humor. He was truly one of a kind. Please pray for Polly and their children in the days ahead. This is going to be rough. 

We are on our way home now and I am typing this on my phone while driving, shaving, eating watermelon and spitting the seeds in the back seat. 

Nah, Kelly Jo is driving. 

Please excuse the mistakes and the formatting mess. I will try to fix it later.

Update: We did make it home about 2:35 AM, capping off a great 675 mile day. I am so glad Kelly Jo helped me drive home. I even napped a little while. I could get used to that. 

Thanks for reading. 

Davy

City Reach Washington DC Canceled

On June 15th I posted some disheartening news concerning City Reach Washington DC. After months of trying to secure a location for the tent on the National Mall, Pastor Ken Taylor was finally presented with guidelines that we could not possibly meet. You can read that post HERE.

Since that point, Pastor Taylor has been searching for an alternate location for the tent. He has checked on parks, churches and any other locations that seemed appropriate but with no success. Last night we made the decision to pull the plug on the planning of City Reach Washington DC for this year. I hate it so bad but it is the only decision to make at this point.

I have been looking forward to having City Reach in Washington DC for well over a year. A whole lot of other folks have been excited about it too. I appreciate all the interest and all the prayer for this particular tent revival. It seemed like it was a sure thing for much of the time. I did not anticipate it falling apart at this late date. I am so sorry that we have to cancel. 

I appreciate all the work that Pastor Ken Taylor put into the effort of this campaign. He put countless hours into it. I also appreciate the other Pastors in Virginia and West Virginia that had joined in the effort. I will be talking to them over the next few days to see if they would like to pursue a City Reach another year.

We are already checking on the possibility of moving another City Reach into the late August/early September slot since that is prime weather for tent revival. I will keep you posted right here on any further developments.

From the very beginning of this adventure we have asked for prayer about the schedule. We desire to be in the right place, at the right time, preaching the right message to the right person. God is able to guide us in that. I know that for certain.

Thanks for reading today.

Davy

Salsa, Petty Larceny and Getting Inked

Here is a funny.

One day recently we went to eat at our favorite little Mexican place, Acapulco in Lebanon, Ohio to eat lunch and to drink a little salsa.



While I was paying the bill, Kelly Jo and I were talking to Rigo since there was no one else in line. Rigo was in charge that day and was running the cash register. We always have a great time talking to our friends when they are not too busy.

We left the restaurant and pulled across the parking lot to make a deposit in the ATM. When we were finished with the deposit Kelly Jo tried to hand me the ink pen she was using to fill out the envelope. She thought it came from the ATM but it did not. Then she thought I must have picked it up after signing the credit card receipt for the meal at Acapulco. But, I did not use a credit card, I paid with cash.

Where in the world did the strange pen come from? I have no idea. or I should say I HAD no idea at the moment. Now I know.

While we were driving later Kelly Jo was shocked when she looked at her arm and found it marked with ink all over and several indentations from the point of the pen.

It took us a while to figure it out. She remembered putting her arm on the counter while we were checking out at Acapulco and talking to Rigo. She figured she pulled the pen off the counter with her arm and it was trapped between her arm and her purse and coat. While there it was poking and marking her arm.

So an afternoon that started innocently with some salsa progressed into my wife stealing a pen and getting inked. We do not believe in stealing or even that Christians should get tattoos. I guess when we get back to Ohio I will need to take Kelly Jo back to Acapulco to confess and return the pen. The ink is already gone.

Maybe we can drink some salsa while we are there!

Davy