We are currently reviewing bids from contractors for installing utilities on the property. It is a relatively major project with about 18,324 feet of pipe and conduit to be installed. To save your calculations, that is almost 3.5 miles of pipe and conduit.
We should not be surprised, but the prices are coming back higher than we anticipated. At this point, we do not know how God will provide the funds. We are thankful that we serve a faithful God.
When we first bought the property and things seemed overwhelming, I was studying through the book of Acts. I was impressed with the fact that when God calls one person to a task, He also begins working in the hearts of others. In Acts 9, we read the story of Saul on the road to Damascus. Even as God in a supernatural way was working in the heart of Saul, He was also preparing the heart of Ananias to meet Saul in the house of Judas. As God was working in the heart of Saul, He was also working in the heart of Ananias to facilitate His work in Saul’s Heart. In Acts 10, an angel of God came to Cornelius and told him to send men to Joppa and call for one Simon: whose surname is Peter. As God came in a dream to Cornelius, He also began working in the heart of Peter. The Jews looked down on the Gentiles as the scum of the earth. Humanly speaking there was no possible way that Peter would have spent time talking with the servants from Cornelius. God, however, in a very unique trance showed Peter that he should not call common what God has cleansed. Not months, weeks, or days early, but just at the needed time Peter was ready to receive the Gentile servants from the house of Cornelius.
As I studied these two situations, I comforted myself that God clearly opened the door for this camping ministry and that He clearly lead to this property. If God clearly worked on this end, He will certainly prepare someone to supply the finances for this project. Already, there have been several ways that seemed like God’s answer to our concern. Shortly after we bought the property, we learned that there was natural gas under the property. We were almost overjoyed as we thought about God providing our needs in such a spectacular way. Although our next door neighbor owns his gas rights, we learned that the gas rights on our property had been sold previously. Servant’s Heart has no right to the gas under our property. Once again some months later, the gas company came and asked about running an underground gas line on our property. After some negations, we found an acceptable route and they proposed a healthy remuneration for crossing the property. Many months later, the gas line representative stopped to tell us that the one neighbor would not allow them to cross his property so they would need to move the gas line north about one mile. Once again, we were disappointed. In spite of these disappointments, we still have complete confidence in our faithful God. We believe that he has uniquely prepared a situation or a person to provide the need for the utilities. We place this need in the hands of a faithful God.
