WATCHING GOD WORK
by Rev. Larry Rice,
Executive Director
Gideon's soldiers must have had some strange thoughts in their experience with the Midianites (see Judges chapters 6-7). It was 300 against thousands upon thousands, and not being privy to the assurance that Gideon had with the fleece, I'm sure the soldiers looked at Gideon with the questioning look of "We're going to do what? With no weapons?" As they circled the camp, they probably concluded that they were either going to see God in his glory or their death would be swift and quick.
That's been our story at Redwood Glen with our water situation. For the past three months it has been an uphill battle with the San Mateo County Parks and the State Water Board. We dug a well last summer but concluded that it would not produce enough potable water for our needs. Going back to Hoffman Creek during the drought seemed impractical but with El Nino, the engineers assured us that this "Plan B" would be a viable option. The County however had given us notice about discontinuing water provision to our facilities, and our deadline for becoming water independent was fast approaching.
We asked the County for an extension but they refused saying that the State would not let them. We went to the State who said that we had been given a year, enough time to get our own system up and running -- "No extension." We asked the State if we could truck in water. They said, "No. Not allowed." We offered to pay for the extra expenses the County would incur in continuing to provide water for us by going to the next level of water licensing. Although we started a letter writing campaign with many of you writing letters, the answer was still "No."
Our deadline of March 1 came and the County turned off the water to Redwood Glen. I set March 11 as the date we would run out of water and would need to close down the facility. I called my personal realtor to get a recommendation of an agent who could sell a camp.
Wednesday evening, March 2, I drove to the home of the family that owns the note on our property to tell them that we were probably closing down, selling the property, and paying off our debt. They weren't at home. I woke up Thursday morning feeling I needed to make one last effort. I emailed Eric at the State asking for a meeting. We set 1 pm and I drove the 45 minutes to his office. On the drive there I called the camp and told Ginny, who answered the phone, what my trip was about. The staff began to pray.
Eric and I had a good talk about the well we dug, the mistakes we made, and some mistakes the State had made. More important, I was able to share what kind of groups the camp serves: the California Youth Symphony who fills the camp with music, the Alameda High School track team that uses Old Haul Road to train, our Jr. Adventure Camp kids who cook their meals over an open fire, our Music And Drama camps where the kids perform a full musical production for the parents when they are picked up.
Up to this point Eric was thinking that once our water system was up and running, we could reopen and pick right up where we left off. When I told him the funds were not there and that we would have to sell the camp if we couldn't operate, he stopped and said, "No promises, but let me see what I can do." I left encouraged. Ginny told me that staff had a powerful prayer session around the lunch table.
The next day, not knowing what the future held, I told staff that March 11 would be our closing date, and everyone would be receiving their lay-off notice the next day. I started talking with Larry Jay and Jeff Tessier about what closing down would look like and the things we needed to accomplish.
On Tuesday morning, March 8, I knew Eric would call. Because one of his earlier emails said, "I'm not interested in debating effort or achievement. I want to see results and Redwood Glen has done nothing, as far as the State is concerned, to move towards developing its water system," I felt quite nervous about answering the phone. When the phone rang, time seemed to stop. I stopped breathing and my heart decided also to take a break. After going through obligatory greetings and a chat about the weather, Eric started sharing about the meeting with his supervisors. The tone of his voice sounded like it was going to be bad news so I was braced for it.
"We would be willing to work with you" is what he said. My concentration fluttered. My breathing, which hadn't really started back up, stopped again. I listened as this state official continued. We would have some hoops to jump through, paperwork to fill out, and verification that we will do everything according to procedure, but the State would allow us to haul in water temporarily. We would have to close the camp down for two weeks as we acquired everything needed but we could reopen and get back in high gear.
I'm not back to deep breaths yet, but air is flowing in and out. I'm holding up the torch and playing my trumpet as loudly as I can, "For the Glory of God and for Gideon . . . er, Redwood Glen."
That's where I'm at right now . . . at least until I learn and grow just a little bit more.
To reach Larry Rice, Redwood Glen Executive Director, email him at
[email protected] or call (650) 879-0320 ext. 13.
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When our first Facebook posts and email went out about our need to raise money to build a water system and save the camp, we were not sure what to expect.
