I ask John why Norman would make such an offer. John, with some hesitation, “supposed Norman wanted to help the ministry”. That then morphed into “selling the back to someone John has been in ministry with for 20 years”. John had apparently forgotten about the time he whined to me when having people over for horseback riding on Hales property, where he lived at the time, of having to deal with John Hales over Norman’s concerns about liability. Moving to the ranch allowed John, for the first time in years, to be in a position where no one might ever again prescribe protocol to him. John, I would think, will confirm that I wanted to set aside 5 acres for Alpha so if he and I ever came to a parting of the ways, at least the ministry would remain unaffected. (See my comments elsewhere why that was not to be.) I often wondered if Norman had the slightest clue about much of anything happening on that property. Same story, according to John, every place he has been - someone always telling him what he can and cannot do.
The commitment