Pray For Bro. Bill Houston

Please, please, please pray for Bro. Bill Houston. Bro. Houston is an evangelist from our home church and a long time personal friend of our family. He desperately needs a touch from the Lord.

Bro. Houston had a very bad episode with his heart nearly four years ago. Although he has continued traveling and preaching as much as possible, he has never fully recovered. Last week, he suffered another incident with his heart and he is bad shape now.

I received a forward text from Sis. Darien Houston a few minutes ago. She said his vitals are decent today but he can not sleep because of smothering. He has difficulty getting up and down without help and he is very weak.

Many of you may not know Bro. and Sis. Houston but those that do, know how faithful they have been to the work of God. They have labored as evangelists since the mid-1980's. They have preached in hundreds of churches and touched many thousands of lives.

Would you please pray for Bro. Bill Houston and his precious wife, Sis. Darien?

Thank you.

Davy

Weekend Woundup and Weview February 12, 2018

For the weekend review let me slip all the way back to Tuesday for a moment. I was set to preach chapel service at 9:00 AM for the school at House of Prayer in Mauriceville, I woke up early with a bad crick in my neck. Which always reminds me that Odie used to say, "I have a cricket in my neck."

At first I thought it was only a little sore. I shifted my head and realized it was way more than a little sore! Ouch!

I made it through the chapel service but the pain kept getting worse all day. I did not seriously consider staying put and not traveling Tuesday, but that probably would have been the best thing. I was definitely not up to my normal below average performance.

By the time we stopped at a rest area Tuesday evening I felt like I was going to be sick each time I moved my head. My world seemed to be spinning around. It was a little better every day this week and by Sunday it was a dull ache with only occasional sharp pain. I may live through it after all.

At Walmart Thursday a truck and trailer pulled in that grabbed my attention. I have seen a lot of rigs along the road, but this is a first for me.

The front axle and wheels have been removed from an extended van. Then they welded a fabricated hitch onto the frame of the van. Now they have an enclosed trailer. Incredible.

By Saturday we were pulling into Full Gospel Lighthouse in Sweeny, Texas. It has been two years since we had the bus here even though we flew in for three services last year. It was good to pull into familiar surroundings.

As we pulled in, we unloaded the sound equipment and then parked. We had not eaten so while I was setting up the sound, Kelly Jo began preparations for lunch. We had a couple of packages waiting for us and I was anxious to open one of them.

I have carried all of our Mackie speakers without covers or cases of any kind for years. They have handled the road use well. Most of the Meyer speakers and subs that Ben Isaacs donated to Boggs Family Ministries in 2016 came with rolling cases. After using the cases I realized how vital they are to keeping the equipment in good shape.

I do not have room in the bus bay for rolling cases for everything so I ordered custom covers from Cloud 9 Covers. I am impressed. I ordered covers for the two Meyer UPJ's, two of the Mackie 450's and two of the Meyer UPA's.

The UPJ is on the left and the Mackie 450 is on the right.

We did a long sound check Saturday evening, visited with Pastor Lamb a few hours and then rested good for Sunday morning. Revival is off to a good start and we are anticipating good things all week long.

You probably would not believe we had Mexican food for lunch, would you?

We appreciate the great crowd Sunday night including some first time visitors.

That wraps up a great weekend. Thank you for joining us today.

Davy

View Out The Front Window 2/11/2018

Our view has had a constant aspect to it this week, constantly changing. 

Our view out the front window one night at a rest area.

Our view out the front window at a Walmart.

Our view out the front door at WalMart.

Our view out the front window at Lowe's.

Our view out the front window at Love's

Here is our view this week out the front door in Sweeny, Texas.

Here is our view out the front window at Sweeny.

Here are the links to our posts from the last week. Please take a moment to check them out.

Odie's Saturday Evening Post

Christmas Break In February

Life Is Short, Eternity Is Long

Vintage View Vednesday

Another Green Machine Milestone

Weekend Woundup and Weview

Thanks for stopping in today. I hope you have a great Sunday.

Davy

Let's Laugh

Hey Friends,

This is Odie reporting in today from Texas. I have been laughing at myself recently. I have some hilarious stories in my past and probably lots more to come in the future. At least I am good at providing blog material. 

I decided we needed to laugh today so I wanted to share some of my craziness with you. I know a couple of these stories have been blogged about before, but we will revisit them. Maybe laughing at me with me will brighten your day. 

The Day I Had White Hair

I do not know if this first story was ever told here. I think this happened in June of 2009 or 2010. I can not find a record of it online.

First, let me give you details leading up to that day. I have used different forms of Aussie hairspray for years. I had a certain size hairspray bottle I liked to use. That size was no longer available for purchase, but I kept the old bottle and would pour more hairspray in as needed. It worked great for a long time until that particular day.

We pulled into Wichita, Kansas on a Saturday. Dad was preaching a Bible School graduation that afternoon. I was in a hurry to shower and get ready for the graduation. I remember having to fix my hair wet, but I was ready on time. 

The last thing I hurried to do was spray my hair. I was sliding out of the bus when Mom looks at me strangely and says "WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR HAIR!?" My hair was covered with a layer of white stuff. 

There was no way to get the white out without washing my hair and I did not have time for washing my hair again. So I went to the graduation with white hair. I remember being so embarrassed that afternoon. I wanted to hide in the corner and cry.

We figured out my hairspray bottle was the culprit. I had used the bottle and added more hairspray for so long that hairspray had dried and caked in the bottle. That day it all decided to come out and stick to my wet hair! I threw away the hairspray bottle and we were no longer friends. I guess it was helping me stay humble. I do not get attached to my hairspray bottles now.

Jean Skirt Goes To Church

This originally happened in 2013 and Dad mentioned it recently here in this post.

Here is the story behind the picture. We were staying at the evangelist quarters at Beams of Light in Cantonment, Florida. I was getting ready for church. I remember changing my clothes for church and draping my jean skirt on my chair to carry it back to my suitcase. 

Obviously, I forgot to put the skirt in my suitcase. I did not realize it until I got to church that night. The skirt was still on the back of my chair.

It gave us something to laugh about. I am just thankful it was just a skirt hanging on my chair. It could have been much more embarrassing! I think about it every time I visit Beams of Light.

Waving At A Sweater 

This story happened in the fall of 2016. You can see the original post here. We were shopping at Stein Mart in Tennessee. 

I was telling Mom a story and part of the story involved me waving "hi" to someone. Well, in the middle of the story I spotted a sweater on a rack that I wanted to point out to Mom. I mixed up the story and what I was actually doing. Instead of pointing at the sweater, I WAVED at the sweater! 

Yes, that is correct. I WAVED hello at a sweater hanging on the rack like it was my long lost friend. I had never even met the sweater before!

Here is the conversation that followed. 

Mom: Oh my goodness!

Odie: What?

Mom: Did you just wave at that sweater?

Odie: YES!! I am so dumb!

I doubled over in laughter and had a hard time regaining my composer. I am still laughing at myself! Have you ever liked a sweater so much you could wave at it? 

Funny side note, I have no clue what the original story was that I was telling Mom.

That is all of my craziness that I will share for now. You can not make this stuff up! This all happened to me. I guess I should have been blonde. 

Do you have any funny stories? Leave them in the comments below. Thank you for visiting today. I hope you have a great weekend. 

Odie

Time For Christmas Break in February!

Merry Christmas!

What?

Yep, Merry Christmas! It is time for Christmas break.

We did not get home until December 23rd for our normal Christmas break. Between our joyous fellowship with family Christmas Eve night, all day on Christmas, the responsibilities of the house construction, preaching a couple of places and then attending revival at our home church, we missed the benefit of resting during Christmas at home.

We have no complaints. We knew it would be that way when we scheduled the end of the year. So, we built a Christmas break into our schedule the first full week of February. We planned to park in a RV Park some where in the Mobile area, rest, work on the BoggsMobile and spend time as a family.

Pastor Mark Compton visited our first revival of the year in Pine Prairie, Louisiana and asked if I had any time to come to his church while in Texas in February. I had just been telling his son Silas about taking a few days off. When Bro. Compton asked about us coming, Silas and I started laughing!

It had been about four years since we had been to the church Bro. Compton pastors and we needed to go back. That is how we came to be at House of Prayer in Mauriceville, Texas on Sunday night, Monday night and Tuesday morning for chapel service.

I am sure we would have been in church Sunday anyway so we were only adding Monday night and Tuesday morning. The two church services were wonderful and the response to the preaching was outstanding. The school chapel service was chocolate icing on top of chocolate cake! We appreciate the fine hospitality of the House of Prayer in Mauriceville, Texas.

Some of you have been praying specifically for Bro. Compton and his church since Harvey swept through and flooded their newly constructed church and newly constructed fellowship hall. The flood waters also severely damaged the parsonage.

There was no record of the property ever flooding before. They were taking precautions but there was no thought at all that the church property would flood.

That all changed when the men were driving toward the church very late at night after trying to keep other properties from flooding and they found the road was covered in water. They realized immediately that all of the church buildings were in danger. 

Within hours, the water had risen several feet in their parsonage and in their new buildings. It was very heartbreaking but the church folks pulled together and with help from people all over, they are dried out and very far along in the repairs. They are able to have church in the sanctuary and school in the other building.

They are finishing drywall now and have some more trim to do. Then they will be ready for paint and carpet. The parsonage was uninhabitable but they are repairing it as well. I did not step into the house so I do not know how much remains to be completed.

Some of you may not realize that home owners insurance does not cover flooding from rising water.

If the roof was ripped off and the rain flooded the house, that would probably be covered. 

If the sewer backs up at the street and floods the house, that would probably be covered. 

If the water hose to the washing machine breaks and floods the house, that would probably be covered.

If it rains nearly 60 inches and waters rise and flood where it has never flooded before, you are not covered.

It is a miracle they have been able to recover and thrive in this short amount of time. God has blessed them and encouraged them.

The rest of the week was Christmas break. ☺️

Well, at least it looks like Christmas at the Lazy OD Ranch. My brother Steve took this Wednesday and sent it to me.

Our Christmas break plans have shifted some since we left Mauriceville, but it was even better in one respect. I have three BoggsMobile projects that I had on the agenda this week and all three of them require working outside.

Weather canceled the work and it has been all rest!

Working outside is out of the question this week. It has been raining steady most days and it turned cold too. Not cold like the picture of the house above, but cold enough to make it miserable, especially if you are working in the rain.

The good RV Parks around here are $50-$70 a night. I could swallow that if I was going to work on the bus. But we can rest in a rest area, the parking lot of a Walmart, Sam's, Lowe's or Bass Pro.

There seems to be an endless supply of campgrounds and RV parks in the whole Houston area, but not as many that can accommodate the bus easily. This is a very popular place for snowbirds this time of year. Also, some families displaced by Harvey and living in RV Parks. We are satisfied to park each day in a different parking lot where it is allowed.

I guess we are spending Christmas in the way we are accustomed to living, On The Road Again.

Thank you for reading.

Davy

Life Is Short, Eternity Is Long

I first posted a version of this in April nearly five years ago. I have known for several weeks that I needed to post it again and today "feels" like the day. A church friend that was only one month older than me passed away suddenly last week and my heart is overwhelmed again with the brevity of life.

I have updated the information to the present day but the post is mostly the same. Please think it over and feel free to pass it on to some one else.

___________________________

Life is Short. If you live to be 100, life is still short. In the light of eternity, this life is so short.

In this picture I am probably about 13 years old. I had known most of these kids all my life and that seemed like a very long time.



Winning a baseball game was probably the most important thing on my mind at the time. My friends and I wondered why we could not play more games in a season. We should play four or five times each week. What is the big deal? Let's play ball. Let's play two games every night.

The coaches, parents, umpires and everybody else involved had life to deal with and we just had baseball. We had not yet learned that there were more important things than baseball. It seemed like an eternity passed if we had to wait a week between games.

At that age I also spent an awful lot of time on the bank of the Little Miami River and along the spillway of Caesar Creek Lake. I had to do something to fill the eternity between games. Two of the guys in that picture were with me a whole bunch of that time. I guess fishing was pretty important to us too.

Nearly 38 years have passed since that summer and time has flown by. There are days that the time elapsed seems more like 38 minutes instead of 38 years. A week is no longer an eternity. A week is a blink of an eye. A year does not drag on forever, it races by with a roar and a flash. Where did the time go?

As time moved along, the priorities of life changed too.

I can not remember the last time I played baseball or cared one little ounce about baseball. Spending the night sleeping on the ground by the river as close to the fire as I dare, does not sound fun at all. Life has moved on and I have moved with it. And it moved so fast.

The week I first wrote this in April of 2013 all of the kids in the picture above were still riding the speeding train of life, as far as I know. The day before I wrote it, one of them was laid in the ground. I attended his viewing. His brother told me that he was talking one minute and that he was dead the next. He literally fell over dead in mid-conversation.

Life is short and it does not take long to die. 13 years old and nothing to worry about but baseball and fishing. The next thing you know, the years have flown by and you are hanging on for dear life. 

Life is so full of things and stuff, joys and problems, family and friends, jobs and obligations, bills and payments, laughter and tears. You do not have time for anything else. How can we fit one more little thing in to our busy lives?

Who has time to think about next month, much less what follows that? Who has time to die? No one. No one has time to die. 

But since life is so short and so crowded we MUST take time to prepare to die.

That is one sure thing that is coming. It is appointed unto man once to die and after that, the judgement. Oh what a thought. Every man must die and then every man must face God. Every man must be prepared to die.

We can not save ourselves. We can not prepare ourselves. There is no one that is good enough for God. But God loves us so much that He sent His only begotten son to die in our place, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life!

-How can we prepare to die?

-Realize you are not good enough for entrance into Heaven. You can not be good enough. Ever.

-Believe on Jesus Christ, the son of God, as the only remedy for sin.

-Confess your sins.

-Trust Him for your salvation.

-Allow Him to radically and completely change your life.

-Devote yourself to Him and to righteous living.

-When this short life is over, you will be so glad you lived it for Christ.

Life is so short and eternity is long. I can live this short life for me and spend eternity separated from God. Or I can live this short life for Christ and spend eternity with God. 

I have made my decision and everyday I am renewing myself to that commitment. 

Have your made a decision about what to do with your short life?

Davy