"Whatever you do for one of the least of these brothers of mine, that you have done unto me." -Jesus

Josh has gone through a time of struggle, but still has dreams to make a real difference in the world. He is relieved to find himself in emergency housing in a healing environment at Rising Tide Ranch in Vista, California.

The heart of the ranch is to see men find healing and restoration in Jesus through brotherhood, accountability, hard work, physical activity and a good dose of fun. In addition to helping men overcome addiction, they provide mental and emotional support, as well as mentorship, job training and a ton of life skills.

They have a farm and garden and the guys on the ranch take part in caring for the donkeys, goats, and chickens as well as tending the garden. They are currently building a farm stand to sell produce, plants and other things being produced. They have a wood shop and a bay to repair cars, and additional opportunities for job training and potential future employment opportunities.

Right now Josh is in the temporary emergency housing. For this, they have an area with five tiny homes where potential new residents can get out of crisis, begin to interact with the community on the ranch and see if they are ready to put in the work to be part of the ranch and see their lives restored. The Ranch covers the emergency housing but it is a limited stay and his time there is scheduled to end on Thursday, April 16.

Josh is flourishing in this environment and would like to move into the permanent housing and enter the program, but needs sponsorship until he becomes self-supporting and can cover it himself, which is one of the goals of the program.

The program is $1200/month which includes all housing costs and food, as well as mentoring and job and life skills training with the support of multiple staff, one of whom has a small house right on the ranch. Here is a VIDEO and the LINK to their website to learn more.

If there are funds beyond what’s needed for the program, they will go toward a dream that Josh has had for almost a decade, but in this time of struggle, he came to believe was impossible... until he has just recently begun daring to dream about it again.

Someday, Josh would like to have a food truck. He would like to do it for income, but he also has always said that he would want to use it to do a weekly homeless outreach. This goes beyond the immediate need and is more of a "dream fund," but when our pastors and I went to see Josh a couple weeks ago, we saw a change that was nothing short of miraculous: and I am experiencing a new level of hope in the God who is "able to do exceedingly, abundantly more than we ask or dream according to the power of Him who works within us, to whom be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."