Sharonville, Ohio

Sunday night we began revival in Sharonville, Ohio for Pastor Randy Brown. This is our first revival for Bro. Brown and the Free Holiness Church of God in Sharonville but I have known many of the folks for years. In fact I have known Bro. Brown all my life. We were both raised here in Waynesville and went to school together all the way through. I am so glad to see God working through Bro. Brown and his family. It is a great privilege to stand in his pulpit to sing and preach.

Isn't it amazing to see how God works? I doubt any of our teachers, coaches, principals or even our families looked at us and ever considered that the two of us would be holiness preachers. Our youth was not spent in dedicated preparation for the ministry as it should have been. Yet by the grace of God we have both given most of our adult lives in service to Jesus Christ who saved us. Oh thank God for grace!

We have had two great services so far and we have two more to go. We will be closing Wednesday night to allow every one to enjoy Thanksgiving with their families. We hope to be with Kelly Jo's family during the day Thursday and then to be in service at our home church Thursday night. I hope my Pastor, Bro. Bennie Sutherland preaches right to me. That should make for a wonderful Thanksgiving for the Boggs family.

Here are a few pictures of the last two nights. I hope to snap some more of the people and post them later. If you missed yesterday's post on forgiveness you can read it HERE. God bless you all.

Davy

Sample of the plans for a new church.

My hat found a resting place at church.

And we found our way to Frisch's on Sunday night and White Castle on Monday night!

A Prime Example of Forgiveness - President George W. Bush

I want to share something with you that I read the other day about forgiveness.  It is an incredible example and is very powerful. Having been the recipient of abundant forgiveness I wept and wept when I read this. In fact I am overwhelmed right now by the wonderful grace and mercy I have been shown by God and by His people.  It may not affect you like it did me but each person I have read it to has teared up as well.

Thank God for His mercy and His grace. Thank God that others in my life have personified that mercy and grace to me at very specific times when I needed it so desperately. My prayer is that I may extend that kind of reach to others that I encounter along the way. I want to be a person who forgives freely and quickly. Oh,  God!  I need help with that! I want to be a gracious and forgiving man.

I hope you will take time to read all of this. It is really not all that long and it is worth the few moments it will take. Let me know what you think in the comments.

I first read this HERE. It is part of a larger interview by Timothy Dalrymple of Tim Goeglein. Mr. Goeglein worked in both of President George W. Bush's presidential campaigns and in the White House for over seven years.
You can read the whole interview and Mr. Dalrymple's thought's HERE.
Davy

You had your own experience of sin and grace when a reporter discovered that some words in unpaid pieces you wrote for a newspaper had been taken from other sources. You describe this in your book without flinching. What happened? How does someone in the White House, especially someone as savvy as yourself, start down that road? And how did the President respond when this came to his attention?

I’m pleased to be asked about this. Proverbs is correct: Pride goes before the fall. But in the words of T. S. Eliot, “humility is endless.” 

In my time in the White House, I was becoming a very prideful person. This pride and vanity extended to plagiarizing columns for my hometown newspaper. I was not writing about politics, but about many other things that interested me. Pride takes many forms, and one of them is always wanting to be the brightest guy, the one with something interesting to say. I began plagiarizing these columns. I knew what I was doing, and I knew it was wrong. 

One morning I came to work at the White House and when I opened my email I found a reporter asking whether this was true that I had plagiarized these columns. I literally fell to the side of my desk. I prayed, “Oh God, oh God.” I knew right away that the world as I had known it was over on that day. I felt, as I say in "The Man in the Middle" that my world was collapsing. By return email, I told the reporter that it was entirely true, and I was guilty as charged. I had no one to blame but myself. 

There are, in this world, two kinds of crises. One is where it’s beyond your control, and another is where you’re directly responsible. I was directly responsible, without excuse. I inflicted, as a result of my own sin, shame and embarrassment on the President, and on my colleagues and mentors. I had violated everything I believed in, and was a hypocrite to my wife and children and family. Categorically. So I resigned from the White House that day. That was on a Friday. 

On a Monday, I came back to the White House to begin clearing out my desk and taking the pictures off the walls. I received a call from Josh Bolton, who had become a friend from the first Bush campaign when we met in Austin, Texas. Josh was now the Chief of Staff, and he said he wanted to see me. I presumed that would be the proverbial “woodshed” moment, which I thoroughly deserved. 

The first thing he asked me was, “How are your wife and boys doing?” Then he extended to me his forgiveness. I was genuinely shocked and deeply moved by this. We spent a considerable amount of time together, and before I departed his office he said, “By the way, the boss wants to see you.” 

So surely this, I thought, would be the woodshed moment, and again I completely deserved it. I expected other people to be there, but when I got to the Oval Office the only other person there was the executive assistant. I thought I must have come on the wrong day—but the President called me in. I thought: This is going to be really bad. I went in and closed the door. 

I turned to him to apologize, but barely got the words out before he looked me in the eyes and said, “Tim, I forgive you.” To say I was stunned would be an understatement. I tried again to apologize, but he wouldn’t let me. He said, “Tim, I’ve known grace and mercy in my life. I’m extending it to you. You’re forgiven." 

I said, “You should have thrown me into Pennsylvania Avenue.” Again he said, “My friend, you’re forgiven. We can talk about all of this, or we can talk about the last eight years.” 

I turned to sit on the couch in the Oval Office, but he directed me to the seat of honor beneath the portrait of Washington, where Heads of State sit. I sat there, and he and I had a conversation about two remarkable presidential campaigns, and what was at that point about seven-and-a-half years in the White House. I was by then one of the longest serving aides to the President. We embraced, and I thought this was the last time I would see George W. Bush. As I turned to head out, though, he said, “I want you to bring your wife and boys here, so I can tell them what a great job you’ve done.” 

I was stunned and speechless. The leader of the free world, the most powerful man on earth, wanted to affirm me before my wife and children. Sure enough, my wife and boys came, the President gave them a great amount of time in the Oval Office and gave them gifts. We were invited back to the White House as a family on subsequent occasions. We were there at Andrews Air Force Base for his departure. I’ve seen the President a number of times in Texas and he’s never mentioned it again. So, in my mind, George W. Bush is and was grace personified. 

So to go back to your earlier question about compassion: I was the wounded man on the side of the highway. I was totally and completely guilty and undeserving of the President’s forgiveness, and yet he gave it to me without reservation. He extended grace to me at the lowest point in my life.

Is that awesome or what? Let me know what you think... I will probably have more to say about it later.
Davy

Travel Day - El Mirage, Arizona - Waynesville, Ohio

After church Friday night Pastor Jimmy Munoz drove us back to the Airport in Phoenix so we could fly home. We took the Red-Eye flight (When I looked in the mirror after arriving in Atlanta at 6:00 Eastern and 4:00 Mountain I understand whey they call it the Red-Eye) from Phoenix to Atlanta and then on to Dayton, Ohio by around 10:00. We actually like the overnight flights most of the time and this one was very smooth.

We were very glad to arrive at the BoggsMobile! We have been gone four weeks. That is the longest we have been away from our home on wheels since we moved in. My bed, chair and familiar space were calling my name. We had a wonderful trip but it is good to be back. My mother, sister and both my brothers were here when we arrived but Dad was delivering Thanksgiving baskets. I'm sure I will see him tomorrow.

I didn't get to rest right away because the battery in The General was dead when my brother Tommy tried to start it. He was on his way to pick us up in Dayton but had to change plans on the run. After we dropped KJ, Odie and the luggage at the bus we went to Tommy's  house and cranked The General with the help of jumper cables. My brother Steve just "happened" to have a brand new battery that was the exact size and post configuration as the old one. Isn't that awesome?

So I slept for a few hours then Kelly Jo and I went late to Frisch's (Sorry no pictures) and now we are ready to crash again. We are supposed to start revival Sunday night (technically that's tonight) for Bro. Randy Brown in Sharonville, Ohio and I may sleep until it's time to go there.

Be sure to check the blog Monday. I have a post on Forgiveness going up then. I want everyone to read it.

God bless you all,

Davy

Odie in Atlanta

Home Sweet Home!

More Pictures From Arizona

We have had a wonderful time at Desert Cove in El Mirage, Arizona again this year. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Davy

Pastor- Bro. Jimmy and Sis. Jenny Munoz

One more trip to In N Out before we leave the west.