Clyde Bogle gives his best to God
Published:Sunday | July 4, 2021 | 12:08 AMTamara Bailey - Sunday Gleaner writer
MANDEVILLE, Manchester:
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
It was almost a trend in his family that all the male relatives follow in the footsteps of the elders and become pastors, but Clyde Bogle did everything to not make this his reality.
“I was rebellious and found everything else to do but pastoral ministry. I went to the bar, go to the dance everything. My father, grandfather, uncles, and others were pastors, and I did everything else. I started my own construction company,, but that didn’t work out. I started farming and began supplying supermarkets and selling in the markets across parishes.”
He added: “I remember once when I was selling corn, this lady I know came and buy out all the corn and I know she didn’t need it, but she wanted me out of the market and doing what she knew God was calling me to do.”
Bogle said he even tried to join the police force, but when that plan fell through, he was later assisted to go on the overseas farm work programme, and things began to look up.
“By this time, I was married and I had started my own little family, so I was happy for the opportunity. When I went on the programme, we were treated very badly, but because I was an all-rounder, I found favour with the supervisor. He had a forklift, and I was the only one who knew how to fix it.”
But little did he know that the experiences he would have were in preparation for his positioning in ministry.
“One day while I was working on an equipment, I had it elevated and I forgot to properly position it. It was about 200 pounds, and it shifted and fell, and I knew it was the mercy of God that saved my two hands because up to this day, I don’t know how I still have these hands. Sometime later, I almost lost both eyes from working on equipment.”
But it seemed like t was going to take a lot more to convince Bogle as he journeyed through life.
“I was even given the opportunity to live there, but because they didn’t believe in God, I didn’t take it. I worked on the programme for about four years, but I didn’t work on the farm. Instead, I worked in the greenhouse and in the office, dealing with computerised irrigation, and I became a supervisor. Because of this, envy came, and co-workers tried to poison me.”
Bogle said someone told him that it was being rumoured that co-workers wanted to kill him, but he found it hard to believe.
“The co-workers went out and bought food and brought it back to base, but I got a different meal. After I had the food, I couldn’t use the bathroom for about a week. I ended up at the hospital and my entire system had to be flushed out. I didn’t tell anyone about what I had heard, but I just became extremely cautious.”
But even as Bogle was being cautioned by his elders and his wife to turn his life over to God’s service, he was reluctant and blind to the signs that were being shown until they became too unbearable.
“… I had vehicles that overturned with me. I was beaten on a construction site by about eight criminals who were wronged by other men on the site and numerous near- death experiences, but I was still reluctant. It was not until the death of my father that reality hit me and I felt the responsibility to continue his legacy.”
The pastor of the Mount Pleasant Church of Christ for the last 15 years said he later took up the offer that had been made to him years before to study theology and pushed through despite his academic challenges.
“I didn’t have any CXC subjects, and I needed five, but I was allowed to do a certificate course while I was doing the CXC classes. I had to sit in classes with students younger than my first son, and it was humiliating. But I pushed through, and I was successful in the CXCs. I completed the diploma and then moved on to doing the Bachelor of Arts in Theology with a minor in counselling … .”
Bogle said he not only was he able to graduate successfully, but he was able to secure his license as a marriage officer and was appointed a justice of the peace for the parish of Manchester.
“In one year, all the blessings came. God was depending on me, and all I had to do was just obey him. I have great family support, and though the demand is great, it is because of them and mercies of God why I am able to do all I can to help families even as I nurture my own and spread the good news of salvation … .”
A plan to write and publish his autobiography is next on his list as he tries to live out the mandate placed on his life to save a life and lift up the name of God.