Making the List

A few weeks ago a young man we had never met before pulled into the parking lot of the park where we serve breakfast and hang out with our friends on Saturday morning. He jumped out of his car all eager to find a hot breakfast. He kinda stared around at everyone sitting at the tables. I think he was looking for an assembly line of people grabbing their to go container of food and when all he saw was a bunch of friends enjoying a picnic at the park, I think he was a little puzzled.

He walked over to us and asked, "I was given a list of places to go for a hot meal and on it they said I could find one here at this park, do you guys know anything about that?" Everyone piped in right away, right here young man, have a seat and we will get you something. Everyone welcomed him into the group, offered up coffee, juice or anything else he needed including a cigarette!

We thought it was pretty cool that we made the list! Not sure how or even what kind of list, but according to him it was a list given out to anyone seeking a place to get a meal.  As excited as I was in the moment, A great sense of responsibility fell on us as well.

It was compounded even more by the fact that we were moving out of our house the next day and not sure what kind of cooking situation would be readily available over the next few weeks. Last week we served donuts and fruit because we did not have a kitchen. This week we are planning to purchase an electric skillet to make up breakfast burritos. We are not living in a home right now. We are saving up to put up a large deposit for a rental house, we don't have it right now, but we know God will provide. In the meantime, Please pray God provides everything we need to serve a hot meal on Saturday morning. Consistency is very important for us and the people God has us reaching out too.

Also please pray that God provides for our family exactly what we need and that we don't have to live in temporary housing anymore! I think no matter where we are, we are gonna be at Oakwood Park on Saturday morning serving something for breakfast and hanging out with our friends!

My really mean side!

Blog Post by Wendy Kauffman

Fair warning that this blog may come off sounding a little mean! If you are reading this please don't take offense. My husband says I can be a little mean sometimes and my kids most likely think that about me more often than not. Many people have had their doubts about us being here in Miami. Many argue that we are in the situation we are in because of this decision.

I have been through a lot in my adult life. Many of those things are a product of stupid mistakes I have made and bad decisions that I wish I could take back. I have experienced much hardship with my health. I was thinking back this morning to the day I was laying on a table with a needle in my back while a doctor was preparing to inject a nice little dose of radiation in a cyst that was causing major health issues for me. So much so there were days that I could not even walk up the stairs in my house to tuck my own kids in bed. I remember the day I sat in a little room in a big hospital saying goodbye to my newborn son and the many years of guilt that followed wondering if I could have done something different so that we could take our baby boy home instead of bury him. I keep wondering if we had just stayed in Missouri and continued to live our lives the way we were with a steady job if we would be in this mess. I don't know if things would have been different because of decisions that we made or didn't make.

Here is what I am absolutely sure of: God is always Good and We are always Loved.

I don't know very much at all! There is so much in my life that is up in the air right now. I don't know what tomorrow will bring. I have a lot of questions about all that has happened and a lot of questions about what hasn't happened! There was a time that not having all the answers or not knowing where I was going next or not having the answers for all of these things we are facing right now would have been completely unacceptable to me. I am not good at living in a question mark. I have a plan!(Don't you just love the illusion of control). This is when my mean side comes out. When I don't have control! As my husband might say, this is when the dragon will come out!

Yesterday while at the park having breakfast, Jeff gets the call that the job he had for the day(the job that was going to put a roof over our head tonight)was cancelling. We HAD to have that money. The even worse part was that the job he had scheduled on Monday had also cancelled.. That meant there was nothing on the horizon for us. Talk about question mark! Talk about not having control. Being self employed as we both are right now leaves so many question marks it makes my head spin! But then, God reveals his goodness and shows how much he loves us and by 2:30 we were headed to a job that paid almost twice what he would have made on his earlier job.

Last night I was sitting by the bay while Jeff was finishing up a job. God hit me hard with this reality . Question marks are good! The question marks are what teaches us more just how much God loves us and just how much we can trust him. God put this city on our heart a long time ago and no matter how hard it is I know God has us right where he wants us right now.

I am so grateful today for a God who has been to all the dark places and knows how to travel them with us. We are never alone! God is always good and We are always loved!