Highview To Thailand!: Those Risky Risk Factors

Fireworks for Loi Krathong

as seen from our New Property

on the same day we celebrated receiving the land deed.

It's coming.

Piece by piece, this whole process of writing up proposals and laying out strategic plans for funding is coming together. It's been a learning curve for me, for sure, and a bit tedious at times. But after significant reading and research, and with the help of folks more experienced than I, and with the sweet inspiration of all the faces of the children themselves to keep me going, we're making headway on the practical, nickels and dimes, business-like portion of our Property Development Project.

It's a daunting thing. We estimate right now that we'll need $500,000.00 CDN to complete the entire build. And most of the time that number registers as 'big' just on its own.

But then you get to the part of the proposal where they want you to do a 'risk assessment.' In other words, what are all the things that might prevent you from accomplishing your goal? And the money piece is only part of it.

Suradet, Yupa and myself with land deed.

So thanks a a lot, Proposal Writing Guide. As if I haven't already thought about these things. It's what could keep me up at night, if I let it. Ironically, there's a risk to my peace of mind in writing out the risk factors.

But there's great benefit, I'm finding, of being forced to write it out. It is actually having the opposite effect. It places the risks squarely on the page to be considered with calm honesty, without letting anxiety exaggerate and thrash about, all messy and freaked out.

A long time ago someone once suggested to me that it's a good mental health practice, as Bible people, to make sure we don't think about our problems without attaching a promise. That unnecessary worry can be replaced by necessary problem-solving when we remind ourselves of God's faithful presence as expressed in His own words. He said a problem, or a risk-factor in this case, might be like a fire that breaks out in the corner of a room in your house. This would be alarming. But that same fire, surrounded by the fireplace of trust - where God's promises come in - is an entirely different thing.

I don't have to go far to attach a promise to the list of risk factors I'm describing in the proposal. It's a verse that I believe God brought to my attention already last September when two things were happening at the same time; one was receiving the long-awaited land deed for the property, and the other was mapping our my own personal Ministry Development and Spiritual Formation Plan for the 2025/2026 season.

Now to Him to is able to do immeasurably more

than all we ask or imagine,

according to His power that is at work within us,

to Him be glory in the church,

and in Christ Jesus

throughout all generations,

for ever and ever.

Amen!

Ephesians 3:20-21

And yes, I've been coming back to this a lot lately, so without even going back to look it up, I know I've posted this somewhere not that long ago. It's going to keep coming up. In fact, others have been independently telling me that this same verse is coming to mind as they too are becoming inspired and excited about all that could happen in this project.

And whatever else all that means, I do know that this is what I am attaching myself to as I set out to write up the risk factors. And if you are the praying sort, we'd love it if you would pray with us. These are significant moments in the New Family Foundation story. And we know we do not walk through these chapters alone.

Next up: The children's rooms, our better plan, and why we have to move in the first place.

If you're so inclined:

You can help us get a head start on the fundraising by emailing donations@hcckw.ca and designating your contribution to "Property Development Project."

Rev. Ruth Anne Breithaupt, MDiv.

Canadian Representative/Missionary in Residence

New Family Foundation/Highview Community Church