twisted

A couple weeks ago we had a band of thunder storms move though the area. Storms are very familiar here in South Florida with the tropical weather. For some reason, it doesn't rain in moderation, it pours down in torrents and it can happen quickly with little to no warning. 


On one particular Friday afternoon, Bruce, Hippie Jerry and Black Steve were  caught in the rain. Bruce and Jerry just sat there on the bench at the bus stop while the rain drenched them. However, Black Steve, who was on the median at the traffic light holding a cardboard sign, continued trying to collect money from compassionate motorists. I'm not sure how successful he was as most people don't like to roll their windows down in the pouring rain. To no avail he continued panhandling hoping the added misery would work in his favor.


The rain came in quickly and it came down in sheets, it was so thick visibility deteriorated and the guys couldn't even see the other side of the five lane street. Suddenly a huge gust of wind came in and what appeared to be a mini tornado picked Black Steve up about four feet off of the ground and spun him around violently while suspended in mid air and as fast as it came it left, dumping him into a huge water puddle in the middle of the intersection. Shaken and now fully bathed, he stammered to his feet and limped over to the bus stop.


The next day at breakfast, while Bruce and Jerry were telling me what happened, Bruce said "I would have went out there and helped him, but, I couldn't because I was laughing to hard."


How often we'll watch in amazement as peoples lives are disrupted by a twister of events and instead of lending a hand, we sit and chuckle, thinking "better them than me".  It's at times like these I have to check myself because I'm guilty as charged. I'll laugh when a car splashes people waiting at a bus stop. I'll think things like "sucks to be you" when I see a guy trying to change a tire on the side of a busy 12 lane highway. And oh boy! If I find out someone is having twins, I laugh out loud.


The thing is, all those things have happened to me before and instead of having compassion for the victims of circumstance, I laugh. I know laughter is supposed to be good medicine, but, in these instances it just might be the wrong medicine. 


Jesus said the second most important commandment is to love people as you love your self. That is huge when it comes to starting an outreach church,  because everyone we are reaching out to is a victim of circumstance. The circumstance of sin. The enemy is hell bent on disrupting lives with a twister of temptations. Hoping to lift us up and slam us into a puddle of road sludge. When we see someone lying in the muck, our first impulse is to step back and do nothing. However, if we love that person like we love ourselves, we would step up and offer a hand.


As we continue our mission in South Florida, please pray that God will give us the kind of compassion that changes lives and that we'll step up and offer a hand to those stuck in a puddle of muck.

Crappy Life or Not!

Blog Post by Wendy Kauffman

Today was a pretty rough day around the Kauffman house. I got a message on my cell phone pretty early this morning that Sam broke our coffee pot. If you know us, that is a big deal! Shortly after that Jacob was doing his chore and was cleaning the toilet. I guess he decided he needed to clean the drain pipe as well because he stuck that brush so far into the toilet that it would not come out, no matter how hard the guys tried! We had to buy a new toilet and now we have a fancy new lawn ornament. On top of that I have worked an insane amount of hours this week and just when I thought I was in the home stretch and was going to make it to the weekend finally, I splashed bleach in my eye and burned my eye really bad.

After working all day, I came home to drive Ruth to swim club, on my return home I decided that the day had been long enough and was going to to pick up pizza at Little Ceasars for dinner. Ruth and I walked up to the door of the pizza place and lying in the corner outside was a very sun-tanned, burnt eyed, homeless women. She was so frazzled. She just sat there talking to herself. I imagined she was trying to work some really tough stuff out in her mind.

Ruth and I went into the Dollar Store next door and bought a few waters and snacks to give to the women,

but really it put my entire day in persepctive. I felt like my day was aweful. One of the worst in a while, but really no matter how bad my day was today, it probably does not even compare to the despair that this women must have been feeling at that moment.

Today I realized that although there may be a toilet lawn ornament in my back yard, my life is not a crappy life at all!  Praying today that God keeps our perspective clear in the face of adversity and that we always remember how much we have to be greatful for.

Land of the Free

  Blog Post by Wendy Kauffman                                                                                            
So we spent the last few days at Ft. Benning, Georgia watching our oldest son graduate from Basic Training. There were 2 days of ceremonies honoring all the men who had spent the last 15 weeks training to become the best soldiers they can be. We were very proud, of course.  It always seemed for most of Jeremy's life that we would one day be watching this happen. He has always loved the military and has always wanted this to be part of his life.



During the graduation ceremony they read the oath that each soldier takes when signing up for the job of defending our country. One oath is that they will defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies both foreign and domestic. Since I believe that our country was founded by men who believed in God and wanted to protect us from those who might want to take our freedom away, I was very proud to know my son took an oath to protect that.

As we were driving home yesterday, it hit me how big a deal that is. Protecting and Guarding our Freedom is a big job and these men went to Hell and back to learn how to do it. Some of the stories Jeremy told us over the few days about what they went through was pretty amazing. He also told us that there were about 62 men that started in his platoon and that day at graduation only 37 men were left standing. Needless to say, it is not for the faint of heart!

I also thought about what that meant for us as we move forward in bringing freedom to people who have never really experienced it before. I believe that real freedom comes from knowing just how much we are loved by God and how much he wants to know us and how much He wants us to know Him. There are many things out there that fight for our attention so that we don't experience that kind of freedom. I also know that when you experience that kind of Freedom you want everyone you know to know it and experience it too.

Just like those men who stood there that day and took that oath to protect our Freedom, simply because they value what they know they have because of what others before them have done. We are called to bring a message of freedom, the message of God's love for us and what he did for us by sending his Son to cover our sin, to those who don't know. How are we doing that? Are we arming ourselves the way we need to so that the real message of Freedom can be found. Will you fight for it so that others may know?

2 days ago, Jeremy became an Infantryman and had a blue cord pinned on his coat to signify to others what he is prepared to do if he is called upon to defend the Constitution. The motto of an infantryman is "Follow Me." Today I am challenged by these words. How about you? What do we have to do to be prepared enough to have that kind of confidence to say to someone,"FOLLOW ME?"

Loose Ends

We have now been in Miami for 7 months. It has been a year since we made the decision to move to Miami. There have been a lot of ups and downs. Lots of lessons learned and more than that many people we have meet that have changed our lives. Many people who have shown us the hope of why we are here. We are finally starting to feel like this is our home. We miss our family and friends in Missouri but Miami has become our home.

We have found out that we have to look for another house and be out of the one we are in by June 25th. Please pray with us that we can find something in the size and price we need. Please pray that we can find a house in good proximity to Hannah and Rachael's new school and for the ministry.

We are also asking for prayer for a specific need we have in tying up a loose end. When we left Missouri in September, we put all of our stuff in storage in hopes of getting back to pick it up by Christmas. Logistics and finances did not make that possible. Now that we have a timeline for getting into a different house and feeling like we need to become more settled, there is the need to get back to Missouri to bring our stuff to Miami. We have prayed about the many ways to do this. To Rent a truck in Missouri to bring our stuff here will cost around $1,500.  With Jeff's moving business growing daily, we have decided that the money would be best spent in buying a small box truck in Missouri, loading our stuff in it, and then using it for our business and ministry. It makes much more sense to do this. We really need your prayers in this.We do not have the finances to do this but we know in God's economy all thing are possible.  Pray we can find the right truck at the right price and that this all happens in God's timing. We would prefer this to be sooner rather than later but God knows better than us when this needs to happen.

We are so greatful for all of you have supported us this past year as we have started this adventure. We are so thankful for all who have prayed for this mission. Please continue to do so!

Celebration!

Blog Post by Wendy Kauffman

Easter is almost here! Every year it seems to sneak up on me and every year I forget the emotion that wells up inside of me thinking about what it really means to me. I am reminded of my weaknesses and my brokenness. Last night as I was cooking dinner for my family and baking cinnamon rolls for our homeless breakfast, I started crying uncontrollably. I don't really know why. I was just standing there thinking about how fragile life is and how much we take for granted and how often things can change in a moment. I was thinking of that dark Friday many many centuries ago and how the earth shook and LOVE died. For me, For you, but love did not die and leave us alone. No, love died so that we would never be alone! So that we might know that we are loved and that we are His Beloved. So that we would know that we were meant to live for so much more.

Last night as I was standing there sobbing, I thought about how as a family we celebrate New Years Day as a beginning of something great. We have always celebrated Easter but rhis year I decided to start a new family tradition, this Easter we are going to celebrate, Just like we do on New Years Eve. I mean really celebrate! We are going to start by serving Ham, Eggs and Cinnamon Rolls for our homeless breakfast and hopefully in some small way they will know How love died for them. Then, On Sunday as a family we are going to celebrate the new life we have because on that day more than 2,000 years ago Love died so that we may never be alone. This year we are going to celebrate how Love has brought life and transformed our lives, how love has restored us and redeemed us. We are going to celebrate how love has entered into our problems with us. We are going to celebrate how love compels us! We are going to Celebrate How Love through Jesus Christ Came to Save Us! Will you celebrate too?

big bounce

The last couple of weeks of our outreach to the homeless has been quite amazing. We have had a few homeless people find new hope in life, giving them a reason to turn things around. 


Bernie, who has been homeless for years, is planning on getting a shave and a haircut and rejoining society. He's made contact with old friends and family and is headed back to the west coast of Florida. In particular, he's gotten in contact with an old pastor friend of his who wants him to come home.


Rick, has been homeless for years as well, he has saved enough money to get into a small apartment and off of the streets. He asked me to pray with him last week and started sobbing uncontrollably. He said that a few weeks ago, he started praying. He's prayed every morning since and can't believe how much his outlook on life has changed.


Mike and Tracy, a married couple, have been working hard to get off of the streets and in just a few more weeks, plan to have enough to get into an apartment.


Ricky is everything you never want to meet in a dark alley. He's had a hard life and I don't think he's even out of his twenties yet. He's mad at the world and if you look at him the wrong way, I'm sure he'd pound you into the ground. He's been homeless for the last 5 months, since getting out of jail. For the first 4 months, he stayed at a shelter and recently has been living on the streets. Nobody has ever given him a chance, until he met us. He now seems to feel like he belongs to something (that isn't an institution). You can see a physical change in his demeanor when he's talking, working and/or just hanging out with us.


For all the ones that are moving towards God, there are 10 times as many that run from him, ensnared in their addictions, unwilling to believe that God can forgive them and that he loves them. A few of the hard cases are Jerry, Bruce, Michele, Dan, Susan, Andy and Jim. They keep coming back on Saturday mornings and they stick around for the companionship, but keep God at an arms length. Please pray that God will soften their hearts and that he will give them ears to hear his voice.


We also have the ones that come once and we never see them again. Please pray that we can love them while we have them and that love will be effective enough to bounce their hearts towards God. You just never know what act of kindness will change a person for all eternity, as evidenced  by the atheist that now believes in God. after the Christians in his community gave him groceries upon finding out he was sick.



If you ask these people what the difference has been in the past couple of weeks or months, I doubt they would be able to tell you. However, if you ask them if their view on God has changed, everyone of them would probably say yes. God has been working overtime in their lives and as we love them to Jesus, their tired, weary, broken souls have embraced a new awareness of a God that truly loves them. A glimmer of hope is shining in their dark and dreary lives and it is nothing short of a miracle. Please pray that God continues to grow bigger in their lives.