The greatest miracles God exhibits are in the lives of people whom he heals, delivers, saves and sanctifies. But He's also the God of providence who not only directs the affairs of history, but also enters the provisional realm of our daily lives to bless and provide for his children.

He recently "brought back an old friend" to YWAM US Renewal. That friend is a piece of property that served as our ministry headquarters in Port Orchard, Washington from 1994 to 2003. We sold this valuable piece of real estate seven years ago to help renovate and launch our beautiful YWAM Discovery Bay campus. Though the YWAM board was in agreement on the sale, one of our members soberly reminded us: "Once you sell an asset, you never get it back."

But we did--God be praised! Here's the providential story.

YWAM began working in West Puget Sound in the late 1980s when our family moved back to the area to join the newly formed Youth With A Mission National Office. In the fall of 1988, long-time friends and supporters Larry and Kathy Dullum, purchased nine acres of wooded land in the southeast region of Port Orchard to build a housing development. Through Dullum Construction, Larry had been a successful contractor for many years including the construction of a number of churches and parsonages in the region.

In late fall of 1988, he came to Shirley & I and offered us the first lot in his new project saying he could build us a "pastor's house" he'd previously put up for at least four other clergymen. In other words, the architectural drawings were practical, family-friendly, and free of charge.  Our new home was finished in August of 1989 and for the next year our young children enjoyed having the entire nine acre cul-de-sac to themselves to ride bikes and explore. Our family named the new street through the development "Arlington Place" after our previous city of residence in the Washington D.C. area--Arlington, Virginia. For the past twenty years, the Boehme family has lived at 6830 Arlington Place SE, Port Orchard, Washington.

Larry then decided to build a "ministry house" across the street from us. "6831 Arlington Place" was a 3200 square foot two-level structure with six bedrooms and four meeting areas. He rented the facility to a Philipino missionary couple named Levi and Diane Velasco who were involved in a worship ministry called "Praise Productions."  Larry viewed this piece of real estate as "set aside for God" and it served host to many Christian prayer meetings, parties, and worship gatherings. I remember when a young and up-coming Gospel artist named Stephen Curtis Chapman stayed in the guest bedroom. Many others would follow.

When the Velascos moved to a new mission field in 2004, the house became vacant. At the time, our builder friend Larry was dying of leukemia. He offered the house to Youth WIth A Mission and we promised him we would continue to use it for the glory of God. Shortly after Larry's death in October of 1994, YWAM purchased the facility for $145,000 and put a plaque on the door renaming it the "Dullum House" in Larry's honor.

Over the next nine years we developed 6831 Arlington Place as our Westsound headquarters. We beautifully landscaped and paved the entire property. We built a basketball court for the neighborhood (a number of our YWAM staff and friends had also built homes on the street), designed a bus barn for the King's Kids "Big White Beast" and built a separate building for a food ministry called "Gleanings for the Needy." While renting out the top floor to associates, we used the bottom floor for our YWAM offices including administration, counseling, King's Kids and meeting areas. It served as a great coordinating point for the ministry for the most of the 1990s.

In 2001, the Discovery Bay Camp Foundation, owners of a thirteen acre property on the beach near Port Townsend, invited YWAM to develop a training campus up north. After much prayer, we decided to move the "center of gravity" of our ministry to Discovery Bay--and the only way to do it and fully renovate the new facilities--was to sell the Dullum House. We reluctantly let it go to a Christian family in 2003 for $245,000. As our infamous board member had stated, we never expected to see it again.

But during the the economic downturn of 2008-2009, the family who had purchased the Dullum House got into financial difficulties and had to give up the home to foreclosure. For an entire year it sat empty and overgrown and though we tried to find out its status, nobody seemed to know who held the mortgage and what was going to happen.

Four months ago an auction notice appeared on the door. A YWAM neighbor and I went to the county courthouse to see what was going to happen to the Dullum House. We didn't have enough cash to participate in the bidding.  Amazingly, nobody bid on the property and it was turned over to a foreclosure real estate agent. At that time there were nearly one hundred properties in foreclosure in the South Kitsap area and speculators and developers were grabbing them up like crazy.

I was on ministry trip to Asia in October when the foreclosure agent came over to our place to ask some questions about the Dullum House. He had no idea that YWAM had ever owned the property. Shirley told him the story, and interestingly, his wife had heard me speak at a church and knew about Youth With A Mission. Shirley told him that we were interested and that I would contact him when I returned.

When my feet hit the ground back on US soil I called him.  He told us that if we would submit a bid, he would put it in first place in the process before the house even went on the market. He didn't have to tell us anything about the property--we knew every inch of it better than he did. Since bank loans are hard to get these days, I told him we would pay cash for the house and take it "as is."

Within a few weeks, three donors stepped forward to loan us the purchase price. It was $50,000 less than we'd sold it for it 2003!  A number of people assured me that the price would be bid up by the offers that were sure to come in.

But then God stepped in again. In transactions like this, there is normally a 48-hour window for various bids to be offered. Then each bidder is allowed to make their "highest offer" and the property is sold. But in our case, someone made a "mistake" and closed down the bidding after 24 hours. Other bids came before the normal 48 hour period--but they were not allowed to be entertained.

On November 25nd, we were told that the Dullum House was ours again. On December 22 the deal closed and we took possession of our old headquarters. We believe an "old friend" has come back into the family because God never forgot the special dedication of this small piece of land.

We intend on fixing it up once again and using it for the glory of God. I still have the original "Dullum House" plaque and it will once again be placed near the door.

We believe in miracles. I bet Larry is smiling in heaven. I wonder if he had anything to do with this?

We'll all know one day.