Last week I got to see the future site of the Solid Rock Ranch in the foothills of the Carpathian mountains! The vision for this ranch is what originally drew my interest in Rock of Hope Ministries. The therapeutic ministry through horses and God's creation is close to my heart, so I want to share with my readers the story of how God is working to bring this vision into being.
If you read my previous post about Caleb, you will remember that I talked about Caleb waiting forty-five years for the promise God gave him to be realized. I struggle to imagine myself waiting even ten or twenty years for something! Well, it has now been ten years since God called Scott and Carolyn to Romania and gave them the vision to build a ranch for hurting youth. To a human perspective, especially in today's "instant everything" culture, very little has happened to make this dream a reality. If you saw the pictures I posted on Facebook of the ranch land, it is just empty country right now. Beautiful, but wild and empty. There is no cleared pastureland, no road to the top of the hill, no buildings, no animals. But go beneath the surface, and God's hand is clearly visible.
God put the same vision on Scott and Carolyn's hearts individually before they ever talked about it. When they realized they were being called, they started looking for a mission organization to help them. Some friends of theirs had been trying to apply to a certain organization for a long time but without success. One day Scott and Carolyn received a call from the director of this organization, and after a ninety minute conversation, they asked him what they needed to do to apply. He told them the phone conversation was their application, and they were accepted!
Scott has a lawyer friend who owns a horse breeding farm in Romania. She suggested that they start their own non-profit organization. He then asked if she would consider being on their board of directors, and she gladly accepted! This same friend has promised to donate horses from her farm to the ranch!
They ran into a lot of difficulty trying to find land to purchase for the ranch. Finally they decided to step back and stop trying to make this happen. They left the ball in God's court. If he wants this ranch, He is more than able to put everything in place. Some time after this, God brought Gabi into the picture. Gabi is a strong Christian, Romanian, and he is also a veterinarian. Horses in Romania are generally only used for work, and most Romanians do not understand the concept of having horses for pleasure and therapeutic benefit. But Gabi and his wife are different. They believe strongly in the purpose of this ministry and the need for it in their country, and so they came on board to help Scott and Carolyn. Gabi was raised by his grandparents in a small mountain village, and he says that he met God while walking the hills with his grandfather. He wants other young people, especially those from the city, to experience the same thing.
In Romania, property is passed down from generation to generation. Gabi's grandfather owned a large portion of land, and when he passed away, Gabi inherited the land and the house where he grew up. So when he learned of the vision for Solid Rock Ranch, he offered his land! In fact, once the ranch is built, he wants to leave his job with a pharmaceutical company and work full-time in the ministry! He and his wife plan to live on the ranch and care for the young women who will live there, while Scott and Carolyn remain in the city with the transitional apartment. The ranch would be a place for those girls who need a lot of healing, a safe place away from the distractions and danger of the city where they can regain hope. When they are in a better place emotionally and spiritually where they are able to move forward in life, they would graduate to the apartments, where they can get a job, go to school, and save money so they can eventually be on their own.
Scott and Carolyn were introduced to horse ministry through Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch in Oregon. They read the book Hope Rising, which is full of stories of how God has used horses to rekindle hope and healing in the lives of hurting children. One of their daughters even worked at Crystal Peaks for awhile. This same ranch has sparked dozens of similar ministries across the U.S. over the last several years, including His Ranch in Missouri, where I have been working for almost three summers! And Crystal Peaks donated all the horse tack that Solid Rock Ranch will need! Maybe you can begin to glimpse how God is tying all of this together. I think it's awesome to be part of this story....it is so much bigger than me, bigger than His Ranch and Crystal Peaks and Rock of Hope Romania! This is God's story, God's vision, and he is putting all of the pieces together according to His will. It matters little whether the setting is Oregon, Missouri, Romania, or Timbuktu! God allows us to join Him in His redemptive plan for the whole world, and He will use each of us in a unique way, if we make ourselves available to Him. Our part is simply to obey when He calls.
I feel privileged to have learned some of Scott and Carolyn's part in this story and to see God in their lives. They are still waiting for Him to bring the vision to completion, and there is much work still to be done, but they fully believe that He will accomplish it in His timing. One of the needs right now is for more land at a low price. During Communism, the government confiscated private farm land. Later on, they returned the land to Gabi's grandfather, but Gabi discovered that they did not actually return all of it. They gave him separate parcels of land that are not even joined together, which is not going to work very well for a ranch! The rest of the land is still owned by the state, so Gabi wants to buy it back, but money is an issue. Of course there will also be a lot of cost involved in clearing the land for grazing and farming, building a road, house, and buildings, and all the equipment that will be needed. God has not provided the funds at this point, and yet He has done so much to confirm that it's going to happen! His will does not lead us where His grace cannot keep us. I'm really excited to see how the story of the Solid Rock Ranch continues to play out. I can't see the future. I don't know if God will bring me back to Romania to have a part in this. But I want to stay close and available to Him, because the One who gave the vision still calls, and He has many other servants that He will call to join in the work here in the days ahead. He may not call you to work with horses, or to leave your job to work on a ranch, or to move to a foreign country and start a ministry. But He has work somewhere that He invites you to join, and He has built unique gifts and desires into you for that purpose. It may be something right where you are, or it may be somewhere else He wants to take you. Remember that He has plans for you, and they are plans for hope and a good future....a life of walking with God will bring rewards for all of eternity!
I close with a quote from Pendragon, one of my favorite movies. It is an inspiration for all of us to take to heart as we follow our Lord today:
"Whatever happens, remember; what God calls us to do, He gives us the strength to accomplish....the grace to live...or die... for His glory."
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