Way back in the recesses of my mind, thoughts have been swirling around. They were trying to pull together into a cohesive form. There are so many things I wanted to say about our last 17 years on the road and how thankful we are to be serving God and serving His people.
I wanted to tell you about how we got started, how God guided our steps when we did not have a clue and how God provided all we needed, as we needed and usually not a moment before. I wanted to wind up with how much we are looking forward to the next year, our next steps, the next places and the next blessings.
I began writing and suddenly I felt like I had said it all before and pretty recently. I looked back into our vast archives and found, alas, there is nothing new under the sun. There it was in a post I wrote during our first revival of last year, right here in Mississipi, parked in this exact parking spot at Forts Lake on January 10, one year ago.
I could have continued writing. I am sure my thoughts would have congealed into something I could have felt comfortable publishing and I am certainly comfortable saying some of those things over and over. But there was something in last year's post that gave me pause.
It might help if you read it again before I go on. It is surprisingly well written for me. You can add one year to all of the elapsed times that I mention and you will be up to date. I have copied the post a the bottom of this one OR you can follow this link to read it if you like. Come back when you are finished, I have a point to make.
Did you read it? It is perfectly fine if you did not. I am not mad at you.
The whole post is pretty positive as we look over the previous years of travel and evangelism and it is incredibly positive concerning our outlook for the future. However, the last few lines are stood out to me the most.
I suppose our families might say we have spent our whole lives on the road and they might have a point. Kelly Jo and I started over 34 years ago on the go and we have been going ever since.
However, the beginning of January marks the beginning of our 17th year on the road since leaving the pastorate in Wichita, Kansas. We have 16 years behind us since I stood in the pulpit that day and tearfully told that beautiful congregation of people that we were moving on.
I began writing and suddenly I felt like I had said it all before and pretty recently. I looked back into our vast archives and found, alas, there is nothing new under the sun. There it was in a post I wrote during our first revival of last year, right here in Mississipi, parked in this exact parking spot at Forts Lake on January 10, one year ago.
I could have continued writing. I am sure my thoughts would have congealed into something I could have felt comfortable publishing and I am certainly comfortable saying some of those things over and over. But there was something in last year's post that gave me pause.
It might help if you read it again before I go on. It is surprisingly well written for me. You can add one year to all of the elapsed times that I mention and you will be up to date. I have copied the post a the bottom of this one OR you can follow this link to read it if you like. Come back when you are finished, I have a point to make.
Did you read it? It is perfectly fine if you did not. I am not mad at you.
The whole post is pretty positive as we look over the previous years of travel and evangelism and it is incredibly positive concerning our outlook for the future. However, the last few lines are stood out to me the most.
It has been a wonderful 16 years, blessed by God and guided by His tender hand. Wow! What a ride! I can not wait to see what the future holds. What are we in for next?
More unbelievable open doors? More incredible opportunities to minister in amazing places? More people saved and filled with the Spirit of the Lord? More super friends? Some great laughs? Some bitter tears? I am pretty certain all of the above will be true and most likely some very awesome surprises along the way too. God's work is exciting.
16 more years will take me up to the ripe old age of 68. Crank the bus, Kelly Jo, let's go!
Now let me remind you of the date. That post was published on January 10, fourteen days before we had our first major bus breakdown going into Houston about 9:00 PM on January 24, 2019. It was written four weeks before the bus was repaired and six weeks before the bus broke down again in Citronelle, Alabama.
Here is the question. How did all those positive feelings hold up in the face of a major breakdown, three weeks of downtime, changes in scheduling and many thousands of dollars of repair bills?
Well, the positive feelings did not always hold up well. Feelings good or bad do not often wear well. But the God that provoked the words that faith spoke came shining through like pure Gold!
We felt blindsided. We were disappointed. We were disheartened. We felt bad some of the time. But God was faithful! God preserved us. God protected us. God promoted us. God provided for us. And through it all, God did some perfecting in us.
It turns out that every word from those weeks before was true.
Yes! Yes! Yes! In the midst of all of that turmoil, we had one of the best revivals we have ever had in Sweeny, Texas. God came down near to our family day and night. It was awesome.
We were terribly disappointed that we had to cancel one revival because of the breakdown. But the Pastor called another evangelist who could come a couple of weeks later and they had a tremendous revival. The evangelist even pulled me aside and thanked me for it.
Later in the year, we had three breakdown episodes in the Green Machine and Odie was in a car wreck that could have been tragic. The breakdowns, the anxiety, the repair bills were all unexpected, but God was faithful through it all. We cast the care on Him and God cared for us, loved on us and helped us.
What an amazing God He is and continues to be, even through the challenges of early 2019. I still feel the same. It is a joy to serve God. It is a pleasure to serve His people. Troubles will come, the joy remains. Praise God.
Thank you for reading today.
Davy
January 10, 2019A Glance Back And A Forward FocusNow let me remind you of the date. That post was published on January 10, fourteen days before we had our first major bus breakdown going into Houston about 9:00 PM on January 24, 2019. It was written four weeks before the bus was repaired and six weeks before the bus broke down again in Citronelle, Alabama.
Here is the question. How did all those positive feelings hold up in the face of a major breakdown, three weeks of downtime, changes in scheduling and many thousands of dollars of repair bills?
Well, the positive feelings did not always hold up well. Feelings good or bad do not often wear well. But the God that provoked the words that faith spoke came shining through like pure Gold!
We felt blindsided. We were disappointed. We were disheartened. We felt bad some of the time. But God was faithful! God preserved us. God protected us. God promoted us. God provided for us. And through it all, God did some perfecting in us.
It turns out that every word from those weeks before was true.
What are we in for next?
More unbelievable open doors? More incredible opportunities to minister in amazing places? More people saved and filled with the Spirit of the Lord? More super friends? Some great laughs? Some bitter tears? I am pretty certain all of the above will be true and most likely some very awesome surprises along the way too. God's work is exciting.
Yes! Yes! Yes! In the midst of all of that turmoil, we had one of the best revivals we have ever had in Sweeny, Texas. God came down near to our family day and night. It was awesome.
We were terribly disappointed that we had to cancel one revival because of the breakdown. But the Pastor called another evangelist who could come a couple of weeks later and they had a tremendous revival. The evangelist even pulled me aside and thanked me for it.
Later in the year, we had three breakdown episodes in the Green Machine and Odie was in a car wreck that could have been tragic. The breakdowns, the anxiety, the repair bills were all unexpected, but God was faithful through it all. We cast the care on Him and God cared for us, loved on us and helped us.
What an amazing God He is and continues to be, even through the challenges of early 2019. I still feel the same. It is a joy to serve God. It is a pleasure to serve His people. Troubles will come, the joy remains. Praise God.
Thank you for reading today.
Davy
I suppose our families might say we have spent our whole lives on the road and they might have a point. Kelly Jo and I started over 34 years ago on the go and we have been going ever since.
However, the beginning of January marks the beginning of our 17th year on the road since leaving the pastorate in Wichita, Kansas. We have 16 years behind us since I stood in the pulpit that day and tearfully told that beautiful congregation of people that we were moving on.
That was a very, very sad day for us. The people of New Horizon Holiness Church had taken a chance on us. We had arrived there nearly four years before as their Pastor. They had loved us, listened to us and loved us some more. There was a huge part of us that hated to leave them even for one moment. Those families had become our families.
Yet, there was something calling to me. I felt it was the voice of God asking me to trust Him enough to leap into the unknown. I knew I would preach a few revivals, but we had no idea where those few revivals would lead us. As a result of that decision, a very difficult decision at the time, we have enjoyed 16 wonderful years on the road.
I was sitting in my little study at the church very early on a Sunday morning early in December 2002. I had been praying over the sermons I had prepared for the services that day. My prayers turned toward our future and asking God to keep us in the center of his will. The stirring I had felt for weeks seemed to indicate to me that God might be leading us to another church.
I could not have been more wrong about that. In one moment it was as if a light was turned on in my mind and I knew exactly what I should do. Resigning my position as Pastor and stepping out into an unknown future suddenly seemed like the perfectly normal thing to do.
I discussed my feelings with my Pastor and my wife that morning. Neither of them squawked too loudly or protested too much about how little sense I was exhibiting. That made me feel a little better, but in the weeks that followed I struggled with my decision terribly. I did not announce my resignation to the church for several weeks so I had time to contemplate the senselessness of my thinking.
Was that the voice of Lord? Am I stark raving mad? Am I fixing to do the stupidest thing I have ever done? Do I want to leave the comfort zone of my little study and the pulpit I love? How will we live? How will we pay our bills? Even, how will we eat?
If you have seen me lately, you already know, we have never one time had to worry about having enough to eat!😏
The agonizing choice, once made and followed through, proved to be 100% correct. I found that exercising faith does not mean we are taking a leap into the unknown. No, it means we are taking a leap into the hands of God! Think about that, friend. If God is directing you and God is catching you, there is zero risk in that!
The first Sunday morning in January my previously announced resignation became effective and I preached my final sermon as Pastor of New Horizon Holiness Church. They had a big send-off for us the night before.
Kelly Jo and Bro. Tim Whistler
That Sunday night and Monday night we kicked off revival for Pastor Rickey Searcy in Oklahoma City because his evangelist was going to be a couple days late. Wednesday we began revival for Pastor James Fellers in Weir, Kansas.
We arrived in Weir that cold, windy January day and the front jacks on my 1984 Hitchhiker fifth wheel broke before I could even get parked and set up. By the time I sold that trailer 15 months later, I could take those jacks apart and replace the shear pins in my sleep, but that day I was overwhelmed. What in the world am I doing?
During one service of that revival, God answered that question and many, many more. God covered, consecrated and confirmed us with the power and demonstration of His Spirit right in the pulpit of that blessed little church. It was a moment our family will never forget! All three of us KNEW this is right!
That Holy Ghost moment was on Friday night January 10, 2003, as we were singing He's An On Time God. I say to you on January 10, 2019, Yes He IS! He May Not Come When You Want Him. He May Not Come On Your Schedule, He May Not Come On My Schedule, But He'll Be There Right On Time. He's An On Time God, Yes He Is!
I had left Wichita with four weeks of revival scheduled in four different churches in four different states spread sporadically over the next ten months. I had nothing else scheduled until Pastor James Fellers as me to begin the year at Weir.
The Weir revival lasted two weeks. We preached revival in Tennessee for two weeks and then went back to Weir for a third awesome week. Next was Gainesville, Texas for three weeks, Arizona, Alabama, Florida, Kansas, and God only knows where else.
We did not have one free week that year unless we scheduled a free week and that has continued until this day. God opened every door without so much as even a knock from us. God guides and provides. God leads and feeds. God definitely kept His end of the deal, for sure!
We have enjoyed ministering in hundreds of churches in most of the states. We have loved seeing new places and meeting new faces. God has blessed us with more friends than a human being should be allowed to have.
It has been incredible to see people saved, sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost from coast to coast and in other countries. It is amazing to think that there are people in Heaven today that would have been in Hell had we remained in a safe place and not taken a leap of faith. God orchestrated all of that!
We are blessed beyond measure. We have worn out trucks, trailers, clothes, Bibles, sound equipment, instruments and almost everything else we have touched. We have sung and preached until our voices were raw and went right back the next night with voices as strong as ever. God has taken care of every single need.
God has paid every bill, bought every gallon of diesel, every tire, every microphone and everything else we have needed. He has placed thousands of dollars in the hands of Boggs Family Ministries for missions both foreign and domestic. He has allowed us to build churches, help build and fund a school, help buy trucks and trailers and hundreds of gallons of fuel for other evangelists.
We have encountered sickness, disappointments, roadside breakdowns, opposition from without, opposition from within, financial impossibilities, physical restrictions and spiritual mountains. Not one obstacle has proven impossible with God. His grace and power have prevailed each and every time.
We have faced some of the obstacles with faith and assurance and God took care of them like kids play. We have faced other difficulties with fear and fretted ourselves silly only to watch God take care of them too.
It has been a wonderful 16 years, blessed by God and guided by His tender hand. Wow! What a ride! I can not wait to see what the future holds. What are we in for next?
More unbelievable open doors? More incredible opportunities to minister in amazing places? More people saved and filled with the Spirit of the Lord? More super friends? Some great laughs? Some bitter tears? I am pretty certain all of the above will be true and most likely some very awesome surprises along the way too. God's work is exciting.
16 more years will take me up to the ripe old age of 68. Crank the bus, Kelly Jo, let's go!
Davy,
ReplyDeleteYou're without a doubt a wonderful editor (writer) for GOD, keep it up & don't change a thing about Yourself so therefore rest of Your life on this earth should be just cruising for GOD 'til You get with him in Heaven, a win-win situation all the way around, Frankie.
Regards,
Frankie Shiflett
With encouragement like that AND the help of God, I should be able to make it at least a while longer!
Delete😉
Davy