We Have Wonderful, Encouraging Hope!

I received an email notification reminding me of the tenth anniversary of a dear friend's passing. I do not know for sure how the email was generated, but maybe because I left a condolence on the funeral home website in 2011.

The reminder brought both tears and smiles. Our friend that passed had been a big part of so many events in our lives. He has been gone ten years and we still miss him and look for him at certain times and at certain events. He was a fixture in our lives.

I have found that remembering old friends that have gone home often provokes such a response in me. I miss my friends and that sometimes brings buckets of tears, yet their memory produces smiles as well.

I am not very sentimental about things. Kelly Jo says we have trained ourselves not to be sentimental, because of the mobile lifestyle we have lived. I think she has a point. Things come and go and they do not have much importance to us. We do not allow ourselves to get attached to things or even places.

However, we are deeply attached to people. We are sentimental about people in churches and communities and families all over the USA and in Nigeria as well. We are firmly attached to people that have become near and dear to us and we can not imagine life without them.

The churches where we have ministered for years are full of individuals and families that have become family to us. We have enjoyed the blessings of God together on many occasions and we will never forget the joy and peace we have experienced in their presence.

They pray for us with sincerity and passion. I know God hears them when they pray. We pray for them and we can not wait until the next time we see them and worship God with them again.

Yes, we are definitely sentimental about people in our lives. While typing, my mind is flying from state to state. I am thinking about people in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and on and on and on. 

You may see I did not name your state, but you know I am thinking about your state, your church and you. You are family. You are special. You have embraced us and we embrace you in return. 

Some of you read my ramblings every day and you must know that we love you and think of you often. We are not ready to turn any of you loose. We are way past ready to crank the BoggsMobile, back out of this barn, hook up the jeep and roll these wheels! 

This is the reality, though. We must turn people loose at times. We have turned friends loose over the last year due to COVID and its effects. We turned a dear friend loose this week after he battled horrible illness for years.

Jeff Ward, from our home church, slipped into eternity this week at 42 years old. It is so incredibly sad. His wife and children and grandchildren are left without him. His church and friends are left without him.

We are weeping. We are grieving. We are confused. We are hurting.

But we do not sorrow as those which have no hope. Our sorrow is not the sorrow of those that do not know Christ and have no prospect at all of a reunion. We are going to see Bro. Jeff again. We are going to see the saints again. We are going to spend eternity with Christ and with one another!

We are instructed to comfort one another with these words. Even in painful, awful, dreadful death, the hope of the reunion in resurrection should bring us comfort.

I Thessalonians 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Oh, God, help us to believe. Help us to receive.

May God bless you, dear friends. Thank you for spending a few moments with me today.

Davy

James L. Boggs 1752-1835

On one of our drives with Dad and Mom recently, we made a great find. Dad wanted to find the grave of his great, great, great grandfather and amazingly, we found it! 

James L. Boggs was born in 1752 and died in 1835. He was born in Virginia, married and had nine children. After his wife died, he moved to Lawrence County, Kentucky in the 1820s and married a widow. We come from Robert Boggs, his son.

This is the order of our anscestors. James L. Boggs, Robert Boggs, William Frank Boggs, Albert Boggs, Martin Boggs, Eugene Boggs and then me and my siblings.

For many years, descendants from James L. Boggs children with his first wife thought that the two sons that he raised with his second wife were not his sons. However, the DNA confirmed it several years ago. We are descended from James L. Boggs. 

Dad had never been to this grave and only vaguely knew about the location. Looking it up, got us to the right little town and I found a YouTube video of the cemetery posted a week before, but with no directions or location information.

There is not a fixed name on the cemetery either. It goes by Holbrook Lynn, Lynn Holbrook, Gamble Rice and maybe other names. If you are not from Kentucky, you need to understand that these mountains are full of family cemeteries and they are hidden around every bend in the road and on every mountain, it seems.

From several sources, we knew to look near Martha, Kentucky. There is a store there called Ralph Ferguson's Store. We drove to the crossroads, pulled up to the store, went inside, introduced ourselves and told the man what we were looking for. They were not sure of the name of the cemetery or the specific grave we were looking for, but directed us to where they thought it was.

The picture below has the store in Martha, Kentucky marked. Two-tenths of a mile east on 32 there was a small place to pull off the road on the opposite side. 

 

This is a picture taken from the place I parked. There is a brick house across the street with a driveway toward the store.

This picture was taken from the front of the Jeep. After about 30 feet, the ATV trail was more clear and with much less vegetation in the way. You could drive up on an ATV and probably a 4WD that you did not mind to scratch up, but we walked it.

It was straight uphill at least 100+ yards. The trail takes a sharp 90, but the cemetery is straight ahead. The trail that turns goes around the ridge to another cemetery. 

It is amazing the Dad made it up the hill. It may be even more amazing that I made it up the hill. We took it very slowly, breathed deeply and took lots of breaks!

The cemetery is along the ridge and there are visible old gravestones for a few hundred feet.

Look closely at the picture below. Yes, that is a deer stand in the middle of the cemetery.

Some descendants of James L. Boggs replaced his stone in 1993. His original stone is in front of it.

This is not the steepest part of the trail and it is hard to capture how steep it really was.

It was a pretty exciting day.

Thank you for coming with us.

Davy

A Word For Wednesday - Ivor Powel Excerpts, The Blood of Christ

A Word For Wednesday is back this week and I hope you enjoy it. You can check it out on our YouTube Channel. The video was scheduled to go live about an hour ago. I will embed it here when I can. Sometimes it takes a while to become available for that process.

This installment finds me reading excerpts from Ivor Powel, Bible Oases about the blood of Christ. He calls it God's greatest provision and man's greatest plea. It is a powerful little homily and I try not to mess it up too much with my own comments.

I enjoy recording A Word For Wednesday and I hope you will share them with friends. It is easy and free to like, share and subscribe on YouTube and all of those things cause our videos to be visible to more people. My prayer is that the right person sees each Word at the right time. Thank you for helping.

Thank you for stopping in here each day to visit us. We love to see you.

Davy

Batteries Are Like Babies

They Must Be Changed!

We have owned the BoggsMobile for over thirteen years and last week I changed the chassis batteries for the third time. For those that do not know, the chassis batteries start the bus. There are four of them and they are group 31 batteries. 1995 1996 Prevost XL Vantare

The batteries are wired to produce 24 volts for starting. It was a huge job to changed these batteries the first time, because the wiring was almost overwhelming for me. I have learned to be very careful and deliberate when changing them and it is not that big of a deal now.

I first changed the chassis batteries in late December 2011, three years and nine months after we purchased the bus. I used "seconds" that were given to me by a battery distributor and they lasted two years and nine months.

I replaced them again in August 2014 in London, Kentucky with NAPA Commercial batteries and they lasted six years and eight months. I bought the exact same batteries this time from NAPA and I am counting on them lasting five to six years.

I had planned on changing them in February when we were going to be close to a good NAPA, but COVID interrupted that. It was time to get the train back on track.

They have begun to fail the last two or three weeks so it could not be put off any longer. I really did not feel up to the task, but I am gaining strength and stamina each week. I might as well jump in.

Friday I pulled up a folding chair next to the bus and went to work. it was nice to do the work inside the barn with no wind or rain. The previous two times the bus was on gravel. It was nice to be parked on concrete this time around.

In less than three hours I had removed the wires and batteries, cleaned the battery tray and set in the new batteries and wired them up. Certainly not record time, but not bad for me when I am under 100% in my health.

There are four batteries, eight battery posts and twenty three wires to keep remove and reinstall. I took lots of pictures, drew a diagram and labeled each end of every wire. Nothing blew up when I was finished, the BoggsMobile started, so the work was successful!

Here are a few pictures.

When all was finished, I turned on the 12 volt switch, the 24 volt switch and KJo went inside to turn the key. Even though I had checked, doubled checked, triple checked and rechecked all the wiring and connections, it was a relief when the Detroit 60 Series roared to life.

It is nice to have that project completed.

It is also nice to have you with us each day. Thank you.

Davy

Week and Weekend Write Up 4/26/21

Some of you follow Mile Markers closely and check our schedule regularly. If that is the case, then you are expecting me to be writing from Oklahoma this week. I am very sorry to report that we did not make the trip to Oklahoma. 

I wanted to be with Pastor Toliver and Bethany Holiness Church so badly, but I could not feel like I could pull it off. When Bro. Toliver called me several weeks ago, I had just canceled our west coast trip, but I was gaining ground pretty steady. The next week is when I had a setback and I have never been able to get back to that point in recovery.

I do feel like I am close, but in some ways that makes it worse. I am close to being able, but not quite far enough along to do it. Bro. Toliver was very gracious and I appreciate that so much. I felt like an egg-sucking dog.

Week And Weekend Write Up

This week has involved driving, visiting, working, eating, snowing and mowing.😁

I wanted to see if I could drive without any problems so we jumped in the Jeep and drove about a few hours Tuesday and a few more hours Thursday. I am happy to report that I passed my self-test with flying colors. I was able to drive without needing a nap while driving or immediately following.

We have a few pictures of our midweek.

Of course, that is not the same as driving the bus, but I will work on that when the time comes. I worked on a bus project one day, but I will have a separate post on that this week.

We had a pretty good-sized snow on Wednesday April 21!

Thankfully it was mostly melted and gone by mid-afternoon. By Friday morning, KJo was mowing again. She is getting in quite a bit of practice time on the mower.

Kelly was mowing and I was working on the bus Friday when dear friends called wanting to bring us lunch. Bro. Jeff and Sis. Debbie Roberts showed up in a few minutes bearing precious gifts from Acapulco Mexican Restaurant and also bringing wonderful fellowship. We enjoyed their visit so much. Thank you, friends.

We have been going to church at Dryden Rd. with Jeff and Debbie for over 32 years. May God bless them for their kindness and thoughtfulness.

Saturday I piddled around on a project in the barn most of the day, taking frequent breaks and otherwise being lazy. KJo was hard at work in the bus. When we are in one place for more than a week, we tend to clutter up the bus and she is decluttering.

I spent the evening in my study and she made a grocery run. I think Odie spent all afternoon at my parent's home. It has been a long time since she has done that. Long time readers may remember Odie used to spend a lot of time there before we built the house.

Sunday morning I could barely walk or lift my arms when I first got up. No, I was not having another COVID setback, I was paying for stretching and straining and crawling on the concrete floor working on the bus and the barn the previous two days. I paid for it all day long Sunday.😒😊

We really enjoyed the preaching and the rest of the service at Dryden Rd. Sunday. Praise God for a great Pastor and a great home church.

Today, KJo and I plan to dive headfirst into bookwork for both our personal finance and the ministry. We have been doing our best to keep the books up to date the last 12 weeks, but today is total catch up day! Our annual filing for Boggs Family Ministries is due soon and we need to have everything in order to get that completed.

Thank you for joining us today. I hope you have a great week.

Davy

Sunday Morning Sanity 4/25/21

Unfortunately, our view has not changed this week, so I have no new view out the front window to show you.

Sunday Morning Sanity

If your life's a mess, don't give up. God is probably using you to encourage the rest of us by saying, "See, your life's not THAT bad." Lloyd Legalist

I hope you have a super great Sunday. Thank you for spending a few moments with us.

Davy

New Glasses

Hey Friends,

This is Odie checking in with another Saturday blog post. How are you doing this week? I have been doing great. Thank God my sleep has been improving some. Good rest makes things better.

Thanks to my family and friends that have let me know that you enjoyed my last two posts. I love getting feedback. Two weeks ago I wrote about my long journey with my vision. Click here to read it, if you missed it.

I have worn glasses for over twenty years. My first pair I kept for five years. Then I started getting a new pair of glasses every couple of years. Picking a new pair of glasses used to be a lengthy process. I always wanted a nice pair that would last for a long time and I did not want glasses that would clash with my clothes.

Several years ago some of my friends introduced me to a new way of shopping for glasses. They gave me glowing reviews of shopping for everything online. I was skeptical at first but also intrigued. I had to try Zenni Optical for myself. 

I was hooked on Zenni as soon as I received my first order. The cost for a pair of glasses was so affordable, the process was easy and I loved the end results! Their customer service representatives have always been friendly and willing to answer questions or resolve issues.

I now have collections of all types of glasses. I enjoy getting to change things up and accessorizing my outfits with different frames. My prescriptions so far have stayed close enough that I can still wear most of my Zenni frames. Some of my older pairs have retired because they have lived their full life.

Last month I got my updated prescription from the eye doctor. Today I wanted to show you my two new additions. I love both pairs! Click here and here to see them directly on the Zenni website.

This is pair number one. They are a mixture of colors blue/green and grayish-clear. This pair is one of my favorites in my whole collection. I can wear these with so many outfits.    

This is my second pair. I love the green, which is a new color frame for me. Also, I went with a round shape for these frames. It is fun to have something new and different. I will definitely be wearing them 

often! 

This is just one of the many reasons why I love using Zennni. Usually, I get a pair for around $50. Also, I like watching for their sales. I keep glasses in my favorites and if they go on sale sometimes I can get them for a better price.

Before I used Zenni I used to buy my glasses from a national store.  My insurance would cover part of the cost. Then I would still owe over $100. I can get two pairs for less than I was paying in the store.

Zenni offers multiple options for frames and lenses. I always add transitional lenses on every pair. My eyes are super sensitive to sunlight. I love the fact that I have sunglasses with me at all times. 

In the picture below you can see what the lenses looked like when they are transitioned. I also have a pair of prescription sunglasses that are a little darker. I use those for long days in the sun.

Zenni is now offering an anti-fog coating as an add-on to most lenses. I think it was an extra $12.50. I added it to both of my new pairs. I highly recommend this coating! It works great and I can see clearly while wearing a mask. 

The glasses came with a special cloth since they have an anti-fog coating. The cloth reactivates the coating when needed. I include this picture below, so you can see my lenses were clear, even while wearing a mask.

I know I have shared my love for Zenni on here in the past. I wanted to share it again because I get questions often about my glasses. I encourage you to check out the Zennni website here. Shopping for frames is fun and easy. You can upload a picture of yourself and do a virtual try on. 

How do you order glasses online? You need your prescription from an eye doctor. Just so you know, sometimes I have had to ask my doctors to print out the prescription for me. Also, you need to know your eye PD measurement. You can ask your eye doctor or an optical store for this measurement. Zenni also tells you how to measure this at home. I had to have Mom help me get my updated measurement. 

On the Zenni website, you can enter the prescription info and save it to your online account. Then choose your frames and lense options and complete the ordering process. The glasses will show up in your mailbox two to three weeks after you order them.

I know several people that use this company. If you are a new Zenni customer here is a little discount for you. Use this code at checkout. this link here for $5 off your first order.

Do you use another website for your glasses? I know there are several places online to get glasses. Zenni has been the only company that I have used. I have liked every purchase that I have made with them through the years.

Let me know if you decide to try Zenni. Thanks for stopping by for a visit today. I plan to see you next Saturday. I hope you have a great weekend.

Odie

What In The World Is Going On?

Here it is, nearly 9:00 at night and there has been no blog published. What in the world is going on? 

I sat here and wrote it and thought I published it, yet there is no evidence of it whatsoever. Odie asked about it late this evening and I was shocked there was no post. There is not even a draft post. Everything I wrote disappeared into thin air.

I have no idea what happened and I do not have the time or brain power to write it all again, especially since I need to have another post ready to go in a few hours.

So, I suppose I will see you tomorrow morning. Thank you for stopping by.

Davy

Nice To Have The Proper Jeep At Home

The Jeep is back in the capable hands of KJo. Monday evening I called the dealership to check on the repairs. I was not in a hurry for it, but it was a few days past the estimated time frame. I was hoping they were not expecting me to show up and I had misunderstood.

They were only a few minutes away from having it ready, so I headed that way. The paint repair looked good and they had given it a decent wash and spit shine. The rain and snow this week spoiled the wash, but that is no problem. It was a factory paint problem and covered under the original warranty.

So the Jeep Compass loaner car went back. It is a nice little Jeep, but a bit small for our needs all the time. It was fine for the short term.

And the Jeep Grand Cherokee came back home.

It is nice to have it back. I had not driven the Jeep much since we bought it, but I drove it about three hours Tuesday and I am going to drive it some more today. IF I am going to drive the bus long distances like we must do to travel, then I need to know if I can drive without difficulty.

Driving the Jeep is not the same as driving the car, but it is a start. I am doing my best to build up to full strength and full duty. Please keep praying for us. We desire God's help and His direction. 

Thank you for stopping in today.

Davy

What Word?

Sis. Esther Richards sent us a care package that arrived this week. My portion was three bags of Goya green plantain chips. They are one of the few snacks that I can eat. Yay! Thank you, Sis. Esther!

A Word For Wednesday

I did not make time to put together A Word For Wednesday this week. I have at least three recorded, but I am going to save them for later. None of them feel "right" for release at this time.

Maybe  I will have time to record A Thought For Thursday.😂

May God bless you, friends.

Davy

Getting Ready For A New Barn Door

OK, I have been hinting at a barn project and I told you I would fill you in soon. It is not completed and will not be for a while, but phase one is almost done. 

Working with an oxygen machine on my shoulder is a bear, but we worked very slow and deliberately. The pictures and descriptions below cover several days and gloss over frequent long breaks gazing toward what needed to be completed.😊

When we purchased the Lazy OD Ranch in December 2014, the only structure was a pole barn built around 1982. The very first thing on my agenda was removing the sliding doors on the front of the barn and having an overhead door installed. It is now April 2021 and we still have sliding doors on the front of the barn.

😎

Time and circumstance got in the way, that is for sure.

The sliding doors work fine, but when they are frozen to the ground in the wintertime, there is no getting them open quick. When there was a massive amount of snow on the ground in February and I was sick, we could not get them open.

I had an overhead door company look at the project while we were home for Christmas in 2014. The original employee that looked at the opening said the door would be less than 12' wide when they were finished. 

Ouch! 12' is the absolute minimum I would want and I much prefer it wider. They were supposed to send their head guy to look it over and then work up an estimate. Two appointments were made, but he never showed OR called to explain.

I did not push the issue, because, during that time at home, I discovered that we had a more pressing issue. The 32 year old shingle roof leaked like crazy and it leaked in different places every time it rained.

The roof became top priority. That next summer, Bro. Mitch Boggs Jr. and Bro. Jason Fellers transformed the barn with a beautiful metal roof.

They not only added the roof, but also added trim and dressed up the sliding doors. 

In 2017 we started on the house and the barn naturally went to the back burner. The installer that put the garage door on the house was supposed to give us a price on the barn door, but that fell through the cracks several times and we were too busy to pursue it.

The first company in 2014 was going to build out both sides and reduce the door opening to 12' or less. That was a no starter from the beginning, but at the time, I did not know what to do to maintain the width.

I could get by with a 12' door, but it would be tight. Most guys with buses I know that put in a 12' door regret not making it wider. Through the years, I have studied the opening and the posts and figured out what would have to be done to retain the space for a wide door. 

The door will have to be off-centered a few inches on the front of the barn, but it is the only way to preserve a wide opening and we are willing to deal with it.

Recently, my father in law gave me the name of a reputable company and I contacted them. They sent a guy out the next week and he confirmed what I would need to do, framing wise, to get it ready.

The right side post needed about six inches added to it, making the opening narrower. The left side needed the upright post moved outward to make the opening wider. 

The first thing was making the platform on the left side of the barn smaller. We did that a month ago, remember?

The platform previously extended over to the post that I have marked in red. The post was removed and a new post is now between where the old post was and the new edge of the platform.

The first day we built the right side out about six inches. That post had to clear things on that side that could not be moved.

Then we widened the left side several inches over toward the recently moved platform. We built a new post on that side and then removed the old beam. We had an opening of 13' 8" before and we have an opening of almost 14' now. 

We had some metal trim pieces left over from the house and we used it to cover the new door posts. It is ready for the door, but that will be down the road a bit. After the door is installed and the sliding doors are removed, we have some more trim to add on the outside.

The old door post is buried in the ground and concrete. The part that is still in the ground will be exposed to the outside once the new door is up. I am drilling it out a few inches down and I will cover it with concrete.

The concrete where the edge of the door will rest was a bit higher and needed to be ground off. David Butler came by last week and ground it off in a few minutes. I sure appreciate his help.

Gary Coffman came up one morning and ran the wires to the receptacle for the future opener and then down to the future switch location. That was a big help. I can certainly do that type of work, but the least amount of time that I spend 17' in the air right now the better.

That brings you up to date on the barn door project. I will give you more news once the door is up and operational down the road.

Thank you for joining us today.

Davy