I'm not quite sure, once again, where to start..... *chuckle* There have been tons of cool God fingerprints happening since the last newsletter, and lots of answers to prayer. We also have a fundraising and public relations campaign going on, as well as several BIG deadlines approaching (June 1st). So which do you want to hear about first?

2. In the flooding several weeks ago, part of our road washed out, undercutting it 6 feet back, in a way that was not easily visible. We have been driving over the undercut for I'm not sure how long, with a mere 1 foot of dirt and gravel between the road surface above and an 8 foot deep hole, several feet wide, extending six feet back under the road way. It did not collapse for any of our vehicles...... When someone finally noticed it, I immediately roped the area off and was able to safely backfill it several days later with a neighbor's tractor. God TOTALLY kept that road way intact until I could deal with it (it caved in with just a shovel when I began to work on it)....

3. My car rolled off the hill in front of the lodge on Monday, just as I was headed out the door to a ranch presentation in Boise.... I am still not sure what caused it to suddenly start rolling, but in any case, it hit a large tree several feet down and stopped, and I was able to tow it back up with the truck that God gave me 3 years ago for Ranch use, and I made it on into Boise only a half hour late for my presentation ( I called ahead and let them know, and things worked out). When I got to looking closer though, at the car and where/how it rolled, I saw that if the car had rolled a mere 2 inches further to the left, it would have missed the tree completely and gone crashing all the way on down the steep hill (30 ft or so?) and likely gotten totalled. I said another prayer of thanks to God.... *chagrinned chuckle*

4. The public relations campaign that Joshua is working on is starting to bear fruit. I have had several presentations scheduled, a number of new people have begun to correspond with us and ask about how they can partner and network with us and work for us, and a number of critical items have been donated. One new family has even made it their personal family fundraising goal, to raise what we need to buy a pony for the ranch..... This has all been very exciting, and I believe it is evidence of God at work behind the scenes.

5. A church in Boise donated 6 coffee tables, 20 bar stools, and 2 foosball tables for use up here. That is also an answer to prayer. Can you do a spring cleaning around your own house now too and see if something you don't need anymore is on that wish list we sent out last week (and also on the website at http://www.bighouseministries.com )?

6. After losing my manuscript job through events beyond my control, I was offered it back after I got the message from God that I needed to be focused on the ranch this month, not manuscripts, especially in light of the looming deadline (see below). It was neat how that worked out. So I am taking a break from the manuscripts this month, and doing God's work fulltime (focusing on the ranch), and trusting that He will somehow provide for my personal needs and bills for this month (roughly $1300).

7. A very good, old friend of mine has agreed to move here with his family to help establish the place, as soon as the contract is signed on the property. He and his wife are very talented individuals, have 3 boys, and are excited about moving here. I am likewise excited to get to see and work with my old friend once again. The story he told me, leading up to his decision to move his family here as soon as the contract is signed, was nothing short of incredible, and very covered in God's fingerprints (I might share it next time).

1. The owner (Huckstep House Movers in Garden City/Boise) has given us a deadline of June 1st to have money and a contract on the table in front of him, or he is going to start showing the place to several other interested buyers (and will likely ask us to move out and move on). He wants $100,000 down on a note that he will personally carry for us, on a total purchase price of $475,000. He has waited for me to have a contract with money for him for 3 years now (and I have watched a number of different funding options I have worked on all fall through), and he is not willing to wait any longer.

2. The current building permits on the trailers here expire on June 1st. We have to have the contract on the property signed by then, so that we can get sewer/septic upgrade permits, so that we can upgrade the trailer permits, or we have to move (or remove) one of the trailers and gut the plumbing from it, and gut the plumbing from or completely remove the other one. This possibility is not nice and could cost us a LOT of money... I am starting work on these sewer/septic permits this week, and I have already started on the upgraded trailer building permits also (that will allow us to actually occupy them).

3. We have to have the conditional use permit filed with Boise County somewhere in the vicinity of the June 1st time frame, so that we can schedule a public hearing to somehow coincide with the local water users association meeting on the third Saturday of June (which I am the president of). I am also working on this paperwork now.

It's an interesting place to be in, knowing that if God doesn't come through with more money than I could ever hope to earn in many years of work, in the next 2 weeks, that everything I have worked on for 4 years, my life, and my living arrangements, will all come to a screeching halt, and I will have to move on... And I am not honestly sure what the bigger loss to my immediate emotions would be, the 4 years of work I have invested, or the loss of the opportunity to minister to thousands of wounded youth. The correct answer should be the latter option, but I also know that I would prolly feel pretty unhappy too, about "wasting" the last 4 years of my life. But that's a pride thing, and God doesn't like pride. So I have to let it go, and acknowledge that IF (BIG IF) He doesn't work things out, and people do not step up to partner with the project, then I can move on to something else with a clear conscience, knowing that God is still my God, that I obeyed Him for 4 years, and that He has something else for me to do next. But the loss to the people and youth that we could have helped? If this thing falls through, the ramifications from that will be felt in eternity, and that does truly concern me.

But the odd part is, I am also not very worried. In my own mind, and thought process, God has done so many things, answered so many prayers, already brought so many people alongside this project to help out, and put His stamp of approval on what we are doing here, so many times, that it is almost inconceivable to me that He would not now finish what He started over 4 years ago. So I am not freaking out... at least not too bad *soft chuckle*..... How much money has come in already towards the $100,000 downpayment that is due by June 1st? Zero. Nada. Zilch. Am I worried? Not really. I have seen God do too many last minute miracles, when it was beyond human hope, to be too worried yet. He wants the glory from this ranch. He wants it to be obvious, as do I, that He is the one making it happen, not me or any other one single person. But through a team, that HE puts together, that is another story, and He likes it when His children work together in a constructive way. He likes to work then. I know that my job is only to put the ranch together, and help run it, but also that He will not allow me to fund it myself like I had originally hoped and planned and tried, lest someone say "That's Tim's Ranch". It's NOT Tim's ranch. It's God's ranch for reaching out to and ministering to wounded youth and people, and Tim only works here. I think God has already lined it up somehow to pay for this place, and that someone, or several someones, already has/have the money to help out to buy the property. So I guess that I am just not very worried... And I am already making plans for this summer's camping season here...

If you read in the Old Testament book of Malachi, God quite bluntly says we can test Him by giving a tithe of our money (and I think of things and time too) to Him and His work, to see if He can/will take care of our needs in other more abundant ways. Try it. I have, and He has taken care of me. He honors His promises. I have gone out on a limb for God, and staked the very future of my life on obeying Him. What have you done? Test Him in this, and see for yourself that He is real, that He is God, and that He honors sacrificial obedience.

And pray. The ranch needs it. I need it. The ranch board needs it. The other people already committed to the ranch need it. The whole project needs it. There have been a number of potentially serious situations recently develop suddenly (like the car rolling off the hill, like how I am suddenly dealing with painful kidney stones when I have never had them before, like how computers are suddenly crashing, and how other things are also suddenly going wrong in strange bizarre ways) even while I also see so many of God's fingerprints happening too, especially in His protection in these weird things happening. We live in a battlefield. We need your prayer covering. And we need God.

So here's your chance to impact eternity. This in not my ranch, but myself and the others already here can't proceed with anything, any longer, unless more people choose to partner with us. We need prayer, we need dedicated staff, we need materials/things, and we need funds. I am holding open the door to anyone and everyone that wants to contribute to making this ranch a reality. Talk to me.