Odie Reporting From Home

 Hey Friends,

This is Odie reporting in from my Waynesville, Ohio, beach cottage. I was discharged from the hospital Monday morning. It felt so good to be headed home. 

Thanks to my Uncle Steve, I had a smooth ride to and from the hospital on Friday afternoon and Monday morning. He was there with a smile and loved holding my hand the whole way. 

Uncle Steve, Aunt Karen and our family have covered us with love and help. We can never say thank you enough for your kindness. People from Dryden Road Pentecostal Church and Dodds Pentecostal Church are ensuring we are well fed and cared for! We love all of you involved!

Now, on Monday night, I am snuggly tucked into my good bed. I am ready for a nice uneventful night of rest and healing. 

Thank you for your continued prayers. We feel them getting us through this uncharted territory of life. 

Odie

The Birth Of Hope

As I mentioned last week, I was thrilled to preach under the Tabernacle at St. Thomas. I had been looking forward to being at that meeting to sing, but I never really thought about the joy of preaching outside again.  

First, I did not know I would be preaching during the meeting and second, I was mostly concerned about the possibility of excessive heat. The meeting has a well earned reputation of being a hot one.

Here I am after service, which I preached, Sunday night.

So once I learned I would be preaching the previous week, I never considered all it would mean to me. As I was preaching Sunday night, I was nearly overwhelmed by emotion that I was actually preaching outdoors.

Earlier this year it was highly uncertain IF I would ever stand behind a pulpit and preach anywhere, much less under a tabernacle in a camp meeting. I have been emotional about it ever since and thankful to God for bringing me a mighty long way!

It is not exactly the same as preaching under a Gospel tent as I have many hundreds of nights, but it sure was nice and felt mighty good. I may never be able to set up a tent and preach under it again, but this meeting dared me to hope.

Hope never hurt anyone. Thank you for stopping by.

Davy

It Is Done! And I Feel Good About It

We made it! By God’s grace the deed is done. The BoggsMobile is now in Vonore Tennessee at Jeff Rowe’s shop in good hands.  

I was up way too early Tuesday morning in anticipation of the day’s events but did not begin preparing until after 6:00. In the mean time I was trying to prepare myself and the Lord was ministering to me. It was a lovely few hours. 🙌🏽

The bus cranked fine, aired up normally, the brakes released completely and we were off like a herd of turtles. KJo and my Dad followed the first 8 miles and then we attached the Jeep and took off in earnest. 

We timed Cincinnati right for a change and had no traffic slowdowns in Cincy, Lexington or Knoxville. Hallelujah! The only traffic glitch was south of Jelico near the Rocky Top exit. We probably lost 30 minutes there due to construction. 

We drove 322 miles and arrived at 3:30 for a total of 6 hours and 40 minutes including a few stops. I felt confident and competent driving the bus with no problems and I am thankful for that. 

My body responded afterward like I expected but we are trusting that gets better with time. I feel about half dead, but at least I’m not twice dead and plucked up by the roots.😂

We are incredibly thankful for the Lord‘s help. This is probably my biggest non-spiritual accomplishment since the stroke🙌🏽🙌🏽 Feeling comfortable driving the bus is a necessary step in moving forward. Thank y’all for praying for us. 

This gives us the confidence to try some more. We believe if we travel shorter distances and allow more time for travel, we may actually swing into something near normal. That is exciting. 

We started home in the Jeep Tuesday evening and finished Wednesday. It is nice to have that trip behind us. Thank you for dropping in.

Davy

Praising God For Good News

We are praising God for good news. You helped us pray about this so we want you to be aware of the result of your prayer

We want to share this good news far and wide. In fact, I want to shout it from the rooftop. Bro Ricky and Sis Tanya Boler received word earlier this week that the lymph nodes tested negative for cancer and all seems clear.

We are praising God for helping our friends to this point. Our God is great and greatly to be praised. We are building on a firm foundation and we can trust our Lord with our lives.

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,

Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!

What more can He say than to you He hath said,

To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

Thank you for praying for our friend on our behalf. We appreciate it very much. May God bless you for it. 

Thank you for reading today.

Davy

Tired

Thursday was the time appointed for Bro. Ricky Boler to have the cancer removed. The surgeon said that the surgery went well although it was long. They will test the tissues but his professional opinion is that Bro. Boler may not need additional treatment. Hallelujah!

He has had some severe pain and there is a long road of recovery ahead of him but we are thankful for the help he has received so far. Thank you to all of you who have prayed for him, his wife and his church.

Praise God for all that he has done and will continue to do.🙌🏽🙌🏽

Tired

KJo and I went to the hospital about mid morning. However we intended to be there much earlier. While driving on I-20 a few miles west of Meridian, Mississippi we heard an awful and sudden racket coming from the back passenger side.

Kelly got stopped quickly and we went out to examine the situation in the rain. We were shocked to find a large piece of wire or fence of some kind sticking out of the middle of the tread.

About the time we discovered the source of the problem, a man named Cooper pulled over in front of us and came back to help. While he was getting the Jack set up, I pulled out the spare as a Mississippi state trooper pulled in behind and also offered to help.

They worked together to remove the tire and install the spare while I did my best to hold the umbrella to keep a little of the light rain at bay.

Cooper then led us to a tire shop in Meridian  before he went on to work. The tire shop took about an hour to get us taken care of, but they plugged the tire. 

I am thankful it was able to be repaired, because the tire is only five months old. This is what it looked like once they got it up in the Jeep. 

Cooper helped us tremendously, even giving us his phone number in case we needed any more help. He was extremely kind to us and generous with his time.

The Jeep with the spare. 

We are thankful to the men that helped us and ultimately to the Lord for helping us. It would have taken a long time and would have been a miserable process for me to change that tire with the wind and rain alongside the road in my suit and tie.

It worked out perfectly. 

Thank you for reading today. 

Davy 

Praise Report And Karen Peck And New River May 2024

 Hey Friends,

This is Odie checking in from Ohio. It is excellent to see you here today! Thanks for stopping by! I hope you are doing well. I am doing great. I do have a praise report this week! God has been great to me! I am blessed!

My long time friends know that I have had eye issues for a long time. Here is a quick synopsis for any new readers. Since 2006, we have been keeping an eye on things. My optic nerves are misshapen, and I have been classified as a glaucoma suspect. This is all probably a result of Cerebral Palsy.

Ten years ago, I suffered nine days of blindness in my left eye. God gave me a miracle. He gave me my vision back gradually. I had no promise of its return or the amount that it could come back. My vision is great today! I do still wear glasses. I can tell the left eye is a little worse. I am so thankful for my vision!

I have been seeing my current eye doctor for ten years, and she has been fantastic. She is very concerned for me, yet she cheers me on in every victory. Doctor Miller has told me my case is a miracle.

Wednesday afternoon, I had a regular checkup at the eye doctor. I had to go through a whole series of tests to check on everything. All the reports were excellent. Dr. Miller said I am a good, boring patient. She was thrilled that everything is staying the same.

Karen Peck And New River May 2024

Dad told you Thursday about our detour earlier this week. I was thrilled to see our precious family members again. They have been faithful in praying for us and checking on us.

I have missed George and Dianne Boggs. They are so sweet! It was fun to surprise them. They have often invited us to meetings, but it had never worked out for us to go. This is a picture I snapped before service.

A highlight of the night for me was seeing and hearing Karen Peck and New River sing. I knew it would be wonderful.

Karen

It was great to see my KPNR buddies one more time this year. This date was not really on my radar. I had seen that Ohio was on the schedule for the weekend, but I knew it was farther from home. 

Susan

Grant

My interest peeked a lot when Dad mentioned Cousin George's invitation text to us. I was not going to turn down a chance to be in service with Karen, Susan, Grant, Matt and Kari. I was extra happy Monday when he decided to take a small detour home from Kentucky.

Matt

From the beginning note to The God I Serve to the ending notes of the night of I Wanna Know How It Feels. Their parts of the service were so good.

Kari

Many people in the crowd that night were touched and helped. The lyrics to many of my favorite KPNR songs encouraged me, too!

I left there with KPNR songs stuck in my head for days. That is not a bad thing at all! They have many great songs in their catalog. I have been listening to Karen since her days with the Nelons. I think I was 8 or 9 when I was gifted my first New River project. Their music has been part of my life's soundtrack for a long time!

Once the service finished, it was time to head home. First, I stopped by the KPNR product table to see Karen for a moment.

Then, it was time to bid our cousins farewell. Hopefully, we will see them again soon! Thanks to George and Dianne for inviting us to be in service with you. Thank you for your hospitality and friendship! We love you!

See you all next time. I hope you enjoyed my praise report and the latest KPNR sighting.

Odie

Moving On And Praising God!

I felt like my head was a little mixed up when I realized last night that today is Friday already. Wow! Where did this week go? It seems like it was only yesterday when we woke up in London Kentucky on Monday morning.

In the same vein, we are Already more than halfway through May, the fifth month of 2024. That means it has been more than 4 1/2 months since I had a stroke on December 29. In some ways, that is unbelievable. 

They say that time flies when you are having fun but I reckon time flies whether you are having fun or not. 😂 I have felt like time has been dragging through many long days and many long nights this year only to look up and realize we are zooming through 2024 like crazy. 

I sure would like to have some date for the end of this current difficulty, but maybe the days will continue to fly and we will be on the other side of this before we know it. 👍🏽👍🏽

There is no doubt that God has brought us a very long way since December 29.

I could be dead

I could be paralyzed.

I could be in a care home. 

I could be on a feeding tube still.

My eyes could still be weirded out. 

I could be horribly dizzy like I was. 

I could be unable to walk and unable to use my right arm. 

And the list of “could bes” go on and on and on.

Instead, we are praising God for all the miracles he has given us. The persistent numbness which brings on the balance issues, swallowing problems and vocal weaknesses, do not prevent me from giving God glory for what he has done. Hallelujah!🙌🏽🙌🏽

Thank you Lord for bringing me and my family through the last 4 1/2 months and thank you for what you are gonna do in the next few days and in the next 4 1/2 months.

Praise God, He has been very good to us. You, dear friends, have been good to hold up our needs before God and we appreciate that too. May God bless you for it. 

Thank you for stopping in today.

Davy

An Important Trip Today

This is an important weekend for us. Today, by God’s grace, we will leave home mid morning and travel about 200 miles south to London, Kentucky 

We are scheduled to preach graduation tonight for the school at London First Pentecostal Church. Our plan is to stay over and preach both services Mother’s Day. 

We have always enjoyed the churches in the London area. We love being with Pastor Jarvis, his wife and the Saints at London First Pentecostal church. It is a joy to be there with them and that makes this weekend special on its own.

However, being with them is special for more reasons than that. When I had a stroke on December 29, I was loading sound equipment into the BoggsMobile. We were preparing to leave that afternoon to be in place to begin revival December 31 for Pastor Jarvis at London First Pentecostal church.

That makes them the first of many churches we had to cancel because of the stroke. When Pastor Jarvis realized I was preaching again, he text me and asked me to preach these services and I was honored to make that commitment. 

We are excited to go to London and finally make our scheduled first stop of the year. It is not the same as revival, but we are very happy to finally be going there. 

It would be more like a full circle if we were taking the bus, but it is a little early for that so the jeep will head south in a few hours. We sure appreciate those of you that pray for us in our travels and preaching.

May God bless you all today. Thank you for reading.

Davy

The Process Continues In Our Lives

Here’s a picture of the inside of my elbow at 19 weeks since the stroke. 

For comparison, here is a picture of that same elbow two weeks after the stroke.

All of that blood and bruising came from the first day of the stroke so it dates back to day one. For background information let me refer you back to these two post here and here.

The process of healing has been long and it sure seems slow to me, but the professionals who have treated me have constantly reminded me recovering from a brainstem stroke is a slow and painstaking process.

When I look into the mirror, I look like I am back to my old self. I look like me, I talk like me and I almost walk like me, but for some reason I’m not quite me yet.

And the medical professionals remind me over and over, along with that little voice in my head that I try to ignore, that the reason for the delay is it takes time to heal. 

I am ready to push. I am ready to run. I am ready to go. I am ready to sing. I am ready to preach. I am ready to load in equipment. I am ready to drive the bus. I am ready to see results.

But my brain stem needs more time. And if you read the links I listed above, you will find that I already know that. You will find that in my heart I believe that. Yes, I am a strong proponent of instantaneous miraculous healing, but sometimes healing is a process.

It has taken 19 weeks for the inside of my elbow to reach the place it is and it still has some discoloration. That means there’s still some old blood under the skin that is not dissipated yet, but time is passing, the process that God created in my body is working and it is healing. 

The brainstem is going through the same process, but the fact is I cannot see it. Therefore, we pray for the instantaneous touch. We believe for a miracle. We trust in the power of God to work now. And we wait for the process to run its course and bring me to completion.

In my case, there is a small little spot in my brain stem that is never coming back without a miracle, there is no process for it to revive. However the brain can build pathways around it and it often does. Those can come miraculously or they can take time. 

Meanwhile, along the way, I see small improvements and I rejoice in each one. Hallelujah! I give God glory in each small victory! He deserves the praise, because he created my body to heal.

The truth is you are waiting too. We know that is true. There are circumstances that you would change now. There are situations that you would solve now. You are facing dilemmas of life that you would have miracles in right now.

And perhaps that is the way God will do it. I pray that your miracle comes today. But if it does not, we wait for the process to run its course and for God to bring us to completion.

So, we pray, believe, live our lives and wait together.

Thank you for joining us today.

Davy

A Beautiful Sight In Nigeria

I am telling you, friends, this is a beautiful sight!

I received some of these pictures by email on Sunday and a few more overnight going into Monday. I am so thrilled to see them and it makes me happy to share them with you today. 

It takes time to process the money and they did not receive it until Friday. However they had already mobilized the workers and materials. They gathered together and completed the concrete decking on Saturday.

They mixed the concrete on site with a portable mixer and carried it to the second floor and poured it by hand. There was a whole lot of manual labor going on Saturday. 

I have heard from Brother Shobanke and from Brother Samuel Bamidele, his son-in-law. They are both very thankful for the tremendous help toward completing this much needed additional building for the school. 

Of course, there remains much more to do but this is a great mile marker in the process. I am  thankful for those of you that have helped us to help them. Praise God for each of you and the sacrifices you have made for the people of Abeokuta, especially the children in the school.

It is amazing what a few of us can do when we pool our resources for one common cause. May God bless you for joining with me and my burden for these precious people.

Thank you for dropping by today. I hope you have a wonderful week.

Davy

You Want To See A Miracle?

Kelly and I spent most of the day on a Tuesday a few weeks ago at the hospital in Oak Ridge, Tennessee with brother Herman and sister Margaret Woods. We met them seven days after we married in 1985 and they have been mentors to us and just like parents.

Brother Herman has been in the hospital off and on most of this year and that day when we left after 9 o’clock in the evening, we was so sad to leave them. we prayed for them, hugged them and cried with our friends. 

He was so sick, so weak and although we did not dare vocalizize it, there was a chance that we were seeing him for the last time. 

But here is the rest of the story. By the following Sunday he went home. Seven days later on the next Sunday he went to church and testified. Later they went out to eat and this is the picture.

We are still believing for the touch of God to continue in his body  He still needs to gain weight and needs a lot of strength, but you are looking at a miracle, my dear friends. I am praising God for it! Hallelujah!

May God complete his work in all of our lives in the wonderful name of Jesus. Thank you for stopping in today.

Davy

Please Help Us Rejoice!

Look at this beautiful new church in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria!

I have great news about the church where we preached in Abeikuta late last year!

They needed a bigger sanctuary and this is what the new one looked like the night we were there in December.

We had a wonderful service that night and my heart was refreshed and encouraged. I left there that night with determination to help them complete the church. 

I was delayed a while with a detour through the ER, hospital and rehab, but in early February I found out what they needed. I eventually sent the amount they said was needed for completion.

I posted these pictures on March 1 of the day they were putting in the concrete floor.

I am happy in my heart to tell you the construction is finished and I received pictures yesterday to prove it! Hallelujah! Most of the finance came from our missions budget but we did receive some direct help toward the expense. Thank you very much!

Wow! This is beautiful!

Bro. Shobanke wants me to travel to Nigeria at my convenience to dedicate the new church building. If I had to go next week, I could not do it due to the hardship of travel for me. But we are fervently praying that I will be strong enough to travel to Nigeria at some point this year. That would be a mighty victory.

Having this building finished so soon is a mighty victory in itself. Praise God! I m so happy to see it!

We are also helping to build a new building at GoodNews School in Abeokuta and they need some miracles concerning that. I will try to bring you up tp date on that project next week.

Thank you for reading today.

Davy