revolt

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God IS love. ~ I John 4:8

This verse has kept me going this month. We have on many occasions put ourselves in vulnerable positions where we have loved others without expectation. Hoping they will experience the love of God and in turn will begin to love others. Like a child that is learning how to do something new, they have to see it and experience it before they can do it.  How will they ever learn to love if they are not first loved?

We have made it through our second month in the mission field of the Miami metro area and at times it seems the inroads we have made are washed away by the pounding surf of the ocean of hurt that people experience every day. We have also spent a lot of time just trying to survive. The great efforts and time spent trying to make the rent and buy food sometimes seem to be a big distraction from the overall task at hand, which is to love the un-loved.

I was reading the other day how the occupy wall street group was sick and tired of the homeless coming into their camp and eating their food. What is particularly ironic is that today it's reported that the freak snow storm in NYC has the group now asking the homeless for tips on how to stay warm and dry in the cold wet weather. Apparently giving to those in need is less important than getting from those same people when it will make their own situation more comfortable. This is the world we live in. This is the world that needs turned up-side-down.

The world will give when it suits it's own purpose. How radical it is to give without expectation, yet this is what God does for us every day. How can we continue in the cyclical condition of give and take when our creator has done nothing but give and give and give? He has set the example and is waiting patiently for his children to replicate his actions.

He who does not love does not know God, because God is LOVE.

Counting the Cost

Blog Post by Wendy Kauffman

Well it has been a week since we blogged, for many different reasons, mostly because our Internet has been spotty at best til last night, but also because extra time has been hard to come by.

I just spent 3 days away from my family and to be honest I absolutely hated it. I don't like being away from my kids, I worry every minute when I am not here. I know their dad will take care of them, make sure they get fed, go to bed at a reasonably decent time(unless of course the Cards are staging an amazing comeback in the World Series and then no one is sleeping on time) and that they are showering at least once while I am gone, but I still don't like it! 

It seems here lately that every time I find myself saying I don't like something, God has this way of showing me another area in which I need to grow up. During this business trip there were many things I could say I really did not like, being away from my family, the hotel, the food. I could find myself complaining a lot. We have had to sacrifice a lot to move to Florida to start a homeless outreach and plant a church for people who don't necessarily like church. Then it hit me!

Why wouldn't we sacrifice everything? I have spent many years filling myself with Bible knowledge, read many, many books about being a Christian, chasing after Christ, but have I really done much of what I have read? I think I have done a really good job of putting God in a box, I made Him exactly into who I wanted Him to be, A God who gives me everything but costs me nothing.

The reality is that it cost God EVERYTHING to rescue me and to have a relationship with me. How can I not give Him everything in return?  Why would I look at the circumstances that we are in right now, things like not having a permanent home address, Jeff not having stable income, sometimes even wondering if we will be able to pay this weeks rent as some kind of unbelievable sacrifice. It is not really! Jesus answered this question many different time in the Bible and on 1 instance made it clear in Luke 14 that we must be willing to give up everything including "our own life". What Jesus really wants us to do is count the cost, but he also wants us to see what is available to us if we are willing to "lose our own life for his sake". What Jesus has been showing me these last few days is that if I really want to live a life of joy and fullness than I must be willing to lay down my self again and again. God's call for an abundant life for me is not in things of comfort but in sacrifice and selflessness.  There may be a price to pay emotionally, physically and spiritually for loving people that God loves enough to fight for! He loved me enough to fight for me, to sacrifice everything for me. Pray God continues to instill in us His Love and His Heart for people.  Really what we are doing is putting our faith in a God who says I sacrificed my son for you to be with you and I AM WITH YOU.

blurred

I was talking to a homeless guy on the street that asked, "how do I do it? How do I keep from drinking? How do I keep from falling into sin?" I replied "you gotta keep focused on God and he'll help you".


Truth is, it's very difficult to stay focused on God, especially when we have "things" going on in our lives. I think this is something that happens to all of us! We have a tendency to take our eyes off of God and focus on the needs we have. Just like when Peter stepped out of the boat onto the water, he was focused on Jesus and as soon as his concerns turned to the large waves, he sank!


This has been a particularly hard week for me to keep focused. I had a couple of monster moves (where I move furniture in our large van, not dance moves) that have put my body into shock. Even as I type, my fingers ache from punctures, jams and smashings. I think I'll stick to the easier moves from here on out. So much time and effort is spent on the bigger harder moves that it's not worth the extra money they might bring in. I can do better with 3 or 4 small moves than I can with 1 or 2 big ones. The issue is that I take any work I can get right now because we are pretty short on monthly support. This causes me to lose focus of doing what I know God has us here to do. I'm more focused on earning enough to take care of our basic needs and then I start to sink.


Obviously we all have needs and a big family has big needs!  So how do we keep focused on God? I read once about the Jesuit priests at a certain monastery would take the time three times a day to re-center on God. In the morning, noon and evening, they would stop whatever they were doing for a few minutes and pray. They would ask God if they were doing what he wanted them to be doing.


A few years back, in John Burks book "Soul Revolution" he introduces the idea of the 30/30. No, not the Winchester 30/30, even though that is one of my favorites. Actually, I think it was called the 60/60, and what he did was have his church congregation pick up a cheap wrist watch out in the lobby that would automatically beep every 60 minutes. The idea was to re-center on God every 60 minutes for 60 days. So whenever the watch beeped, they stopped what they were doing for just a minute and asked God "am I doing what you want me to be doing right now?"


I guess amazing things started happening in their lives. He even set up a blog page where they could post awesome things that God started doing. I don't know if this is the answer of staying focused on God, but, I think it's definitely a start. If you want to see your community turned upside down, maybe you should give it a try. I'm going to start doing this on November 1st and continue for the rest of the year, I think that's close enough to 60 days. I would like to invite you to join me in this challenge. If you will, please let me know so I can pray for you while you're doing it! Who knows what God will do? I'm gonna bet it'll be amazing though!

orangemen

Okay, so, we have determined that you can always expect the unexpected on the boardwalk in Florida. I think this is a great lesson for us when it comes to serving others, ambushing them with love in strange and shocking ways. That way they will always remember and feel good about their experience. 

masses

Joel and I have been talking and he has said, on more than one occasion, "I've been amazed at the number of people in the Miami metro area. The sheer numbers are just overwhelming. Everywhere you go, there are people, walking, sitting, running, driving, sleeping....you just can't escape them, they are everywhere!"

For the past couple of weeks, I've been posting adds on craigslist to help people move with my giant sized church van. I've found it's a great way to get out and meet people that are going through transitions and it puts a little money in my pocket. Last night I got a desperate call from a guy that wanted my help. He wanted me to come over and help him move a king size mattress up the stairs of his condo. When I got there, I realized it wasn't from a truck to an upper level unit, but, from the living room down stairs to the hallway upstairs. It took about 3 minutes to get it moved. He paid me and I left.

It makes me wonder how a person can be so lonely in such a crowded place. How is it that he had to have me drive 24 miles to his condo to help him lift a mattress upstairs? He lived in the center of a gated condominium community, with hundreds of units, yet he could not get the help of one neighbor......

It appears we have our work cut out for us.....not moving people kind of work. Well, maybe moving people kind of work, but, not their stuff.....their hearts. Vince Antonucci wrote a book called "Guerrilla Lovers" which is a call to action to ambush unsuspecting people with God's love by doing random (but planned) acts of kindness, over and over again. To the point that it becomes habitual and automatic in our lives. Then, as in Guerrilla warfare, a small out numbered force can do real damage to the enemy. In other words, little 'ol you and me can make a huge difference in peoples lives, just by being there waiting for the right opportunity to love them.

So really, the work to move peoples hearts starts with OUR hearts! It starts with MY heart and it starts with YOUR heart! If our hearts don't move, then the worlds hearts won't move. Hoping to attract people to the love of God is not going to be real affective without action. Please pray that God will give us many amazing opportunities to love people in real and practical ways and in doing so, moving their hearts closer to him.

Thanks

Thanks to everyone who joined us in prayer this weekend. We are so glad to have you in our lives and love that you want to be involved with the vision that God has given us for an outreach to the poor and a church for people that would not normally want anything to do with church.

It's because of people like you that we know God is alive and well and actively working in the lives of people in Miami, Florida.  Please continue to lift us up in prayer any time you hear the words "Miami" or "Florida".

Thanks again!

food for thought

 

After being postponed for the free breakfast last week, due to weather and lack of location, we set out determined to serve yesterday morning. We were able to find a small park that does not charge for parking and is a little off the beaten path that would work perfectly.

So, we made up a few small flyers (the size of large business cards) and hunted homeless people down on friday in the neighborhood of the park to give the flyers away. We did not want to be over run and end up running out of food, so we only gave out a few

 invitations and told those people to tell their friends.

I said before we set up that if one person shows up, I would consider it a success. We served for one hour from 8am to 9am and had six people show up. Two of the six recieved the personal invitations. The other four had heard from someone else that we were going to be there. We were able to not only feed but to have pretty good conversations with each person. When told we were doing it again next week at the same place and same time, they all said they would tell all their friends.

We'll make some improvements and prepare about the same amount we did this week. Hopefully we will double the amount of people we serve next week.

what's in your hand?

Blog Post by: Wendy Kauffman

I was driving in to work yesterday morning to another event at Carnival Cruise Lines corporate office. After I parked the van and got out, I came upon a very young mom with a 3 year old little boy. She was sitting in the parking lot in between a row of cars. I thought it was very interesting since this parking lot is very secure and unless you were in a car you could not get in. Just for me to get in, I have to give them my drivers license and when I leave they give it back to me. Carnival is a company that employs over 2,000 people so I guess they take security pretty serious.

This young mom intrigued me so I asked her if she was waiting for someone to get off. She said it was a safe parking spot so they were staying there until a friend got off. She then asked me if I would be staying long. I told her that I was working until 3. She said if we are here when you come out can you take us out of the lot. All of this was very curious to me, so I finally came right out and asked her if they were sleeping there.

She told me a friend who worked there said they could stay at her apartment but she never came out and gave them they key so they stayed there overnight. I don't know what the real story was but I figured that it was not good. What I did remember was a blog post by Matthew Barnett a few weeks ago where he reminded us "Just get busy using what's in your hand to serve others and God will give you dreams for people you never knew you had." He made me think about the story in Exodus 3 and 4 where God is calling Moses back to Egypt and Moses was feeling very inadequate and simply did not want to go.

God asked Moses "What's in your hand?" (Exodus 2:4).  At that time all Moses had was a simple sheep herding tool. You can read on in Exodus to see that God used that simple man with a simple tool to do great things and bring freedom to a great number of people.

All I had to offer the mom today was $2. I told her the Cafe inside was open and she could go in as a visitor and get something. That was all I had! In that moment, I wanted to have so much more, but God reminded me to use what was in my hands.

Since moving to Miami, there has been story after story of people we meet who need help, who need freedom and need restoration. Every story makes me feel inadequate, I find myself living in this unbelievable tension! BUT, I have realized this past week that it is a good kind of tension. Don't get me wrong, some days are really hard. I found myself on my face a few days ago weeping (you know, the ugly snot kind of weeping) praying for people who are enduring such extreme hardship. The weight sometimes almost feels too much, but I also find myself praying that God would keep us in this tension because it keeps me compassionate, engaged and on my knees! It also gives me hope! I know crazy right! But it gives me hope because I know that God has called us here to use what is in our hands so that he can give us dreams for people we never knew we had.

The young mom with her little boy was not there when I came out, but one thing I do know is I am going to pray for her everyday and I am going to dream for her too! It may be dreams she does not even realize she can have for herself, but God has them for her and I pray that today she felt God's love in some tangible way!

2 Corinthians 8:12 tells us: "For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have."
So what is in your hands? A pen, a phone, a shovel, a hammer, a wrench, a mixing bowl, a musical instrument, When offered to God in service to others, it can accomplish something great! It all starts with a tender heart and willing hands and together we can see dreams for people we never knew we could have!

offensive line

We have 4 boys and everyone one of them has grown up a football fan. Three out of four love watching the Kansas City Chiefs win however one of the four, who will remain anonymous (Sam) has been poisoned by his mother and for some inconceivable reason, likes the Denver Broncos. Of course the Chiefs and the Broncos are in the same division, so they are not only great rivals on the field, it can get pretty heated in the house as well. Especially since they play each other twice a year.

One of the things I love about football is that I've been able to coach youth football for several years. All the boys have played since they were little so it was a no brainer for me to get out on the field and help out. I started off as a live tackle dummie, which is a good asst. coach job (as long as the kids are small). Through the years I advanced and the last several years I've been the head coach.

In teaching the fundamentals, there are a couple things, that I've found, that take years to get through a kids head.

1. Staying with your block- On offense, when the ball is snapped each kid has an opposing man that he has to take out of play. It's easier for the linemen, because they are usually right in front of you. The backs can have a harder time because their man can be farther away and more elusive. The idea is to make sure your man does not tackle the ball carrier or intercept a pass. What's hard about this is getting a kid to not only hit their man, but, to keep hitting and pushing and shoving their man until the play is over. For the most part, the young offensive line will hit their man once, then stand up and watch their team try to run the ball. What happens is after the initial hit, the defensive player runs through the line and sacks the quarterback, resulting in a loss of yards.

2. No talking in the huddle- What can I say? Have you ever tried to herd cats? In the early years the coach gets to be out on the field with the team and when it's time to huddle, you get a million suggestions all at once. They are all very excited and they all have the perfect play which always includes them getting the ball as quarterback, hand off or a deep hail Mary pass. They all want to be coach, quarterback and superstar all at the same time.

When I think about it, sometimes I feel like I'm a kid playing football. I'm so interested in what's going on around me, that I forget to do my part which results in a loss of yards. Then, when we go get instructions, I always have the big ideas and want to do something that does not fit into my job description. However, the nice thing is I'm on the team and I have other teammates that are there to help. We can encourage each other and help each other and when we need to come up with a plan, we huddle up and take instructions from the coach up stairs.

This weekend, we're huddling up. We are holding a 48 hour prayer event where the team (you and us) are getting instruction from God. I would really appreciate it if you participated with us and picked 30 minutes or even an hour to pray for Operation Miami. We are starting at 6pm (Eastern) on Friday and praying until 6pm on Sunday. There are already people from all over the Country that have signed up. If you are willing to help, please email ellayna.skondin@gmail.com the time that you would like to pray and she will put you on the schedule.

Okay, bring it in! On 3 team.
1......2.....3....."TEAM!"

end of the road

I've mentioned before how I had a dream of God telling me to just go. It was in the midst of questioning if we really should move to Miami and start an outreach for the poor and a church for people far from God. We prayed so much and recieved coutless confirmations. Everything was telling us to go but, when it came right down to leaving, it looked like there was just no way in the world we could do it.

Then God came through.

Out of the blue he funded the move and we left. Now we have been down here for nearly a month and have learned so much and have a clear vision for what God wants us to do. We see so much need that we can't have a conversation without saying something about it. We've worked and labored and reached out and we've prayed.

However, we find ourselves in the same circumstances as a month ago. It's reached a point where we cannot go on without God coming through. The truth has been that every day we have needed a miracle and every day God has been faithful. Very often we have been someone else's miracle and that will stay with us for the rest of our lives.

We really need a miracle today, please pray God will be faithful.

If you feel like God is telling you to be our miracle, please email me jeffjkauffman@gmail.com a.s.a.p.

to busy for God

Did a small moving job today, it was for an older lady that was living in an efficiency appartment in Hollywood Beach. She moved a couple miles inland to another efficiency appartment that she said was cheap enough to justify moving. Her daughter lives in New Hampshire, yet handled everything she could over the phone for her mother. It seemed like the mother was very lost without her daughter.

The mother asked why we moved to Miami and I was able to tell her.  She then asked me to "sprinkle water on her new appartment". I told her I would be glad to pray wither her. When the last box was unloaded, she sat there kind of in a daze. I think she was trying to figure out where to start unpacking. If only her daughter had been there, she would have known. I asked if she wanted to pray and she was very happy to do so. She started to cry after a short prayer. It made me realize how disconected to God we get when we get to busy.

You never know where or when God is going to use you to turn someone's attention towards Him. Looking for opportunities to show God's love requires a new mindset and that can be hard. But, the implications can be life changing.

Please pray that while we are so busy working and wondering what to do next that we don't loose sight of the hurting and lonely right in front of us.

let's get it on!

We need emergency help right now!

We are getting help with setting up a 48 hour prayer event happening the weekend of Oct 14-16. That's where people sign up for certain 30 min or 1 hour time periods and pray for Operation Miami. If you would like to sign up, please email Ellayna with your times! We are starting at 6pm Friday and going until 6pm Sunday.


Here are a few things we are praying for:

1. That we can effectively show God's love in practicle ways and win the hearts of the people of the Miami Metro area and that many will start following Jesus.

2. Monthly committed support through 2012.
        Either we need 25 people to give $100/mo. OR 100 people to give $25/mo.
                 (If you would like to help, you can click on the Donate Button on this
                 Blog to use PayPal or you can email me jeffjkauffman@gmail.com to
                 get a different option.)


3. The weekly feeding starts soon and we also want to start the work for food
program so the homeless can work for and earn additional food in the form of
restaurant gift cards (McDonalds/Burger King/Wendys). Please pray that we can
get the right location, that we will win the hearts of the community and that we will
have all the supplies we need.


4. Our friend Joel Anderson is praying for stability in housing, employment and transportation.


5. The Kauffman family needs:
     a) two new tires for our mini van;
     b) replacement A.C.E. schoolwork (we lost it all when our computer crashed);
     c) weekly fees needed for the motel we are living in until we get a permanent house;
     d) a permanent house;
     e) the right team members that are willing to come along side us and help minister and
         ultimately build the church through love and service.


6. Speaking opportunities to share our story and empower the churches and believers
in the area to step out in great faith and be the church, effectively turning Miami
up-side down.

7. We need many people doing spiritual warfare, which is praying against the devil's strongholds in Miami. We need many prayer partners.

Please share this blog on your facebook page and ask your friends to spread the word about this emergency prayer session. Also, please subscribe via email. You can find the button at the upper right hand of the blog to subscribe.

sand castles

Wendy and I sat out on the beach last night around mid-night. Watching and listening to the small Atlantic waves wash in over and over and over again. There was a consistent breeze coming in from off the water and the sea air was a little salty. Earlier we talked to the kids about walking to the beach and Hannah, showing her 14 year old self said "why should we? it's exactly the same as it was the last time we went to the beach, boring." When I was a kid I used to love going to the beach  and I especially loved feeding the seagulls. They would nearly flog you trying to get to the torn up pieces of  hot dog buns before the wind blew them away. Wendy and I were more than happy to leave the kids in the room as we ventured out alone. Some day they will miss those boring times, but, until then, Wendy and  I have no problem enjoying them by ourselves.

I got up this morning and after making coffee and walking the dog. I went back to the beach alone to pray. I could really get used to this lifestyle. One of the rules of the beach is "No feeding the birds". I guess the idea is to keep the birds from becoming annoying. Nobody wants hundreds of seagulls and pigeons flapping and calling out for a snack. Darting here and there and leaving their droppings all over the beautiful beach. If they are intentionally fed, then they will continue to flock around where they were fed. So I was very surprised to find hundreds of birds out on the beach this morning and nobody was feeding them. I guess they just develop the habit of checking the beach for food.

It's kinda funny because one of the things Wendy and I talked about last night is how people are creatures of habit too. How we get up, get ready, eat breakfast, go to work, go to lunch, go back to work, go home, eat dinner, watch tv and go to bed. Our whole lives seem to hinge on our schedules. The thing is, that habits and schedules are security to us. Problem is, our schedules are not always Gods' schedule. I wonder how many times I didn't do something God would have had me do because it didn't fit into my schedule. How many people did I zoom by while in cruise control?

Instead of traveling down that guilt trip, my real intention is to point out how, like the ocean that's sure to be just the same tonight as it was last night, so is God. The consistencies of God are amazing and despite our schedules, God seems to come in like the tide, and mess up our perfectly constructed lives that appear a lot like sand castles to Him. I believe it's his intention to break up our schedules and get us out of our ruts so we will look and listen to him. He likes to feed us so we will flap and call out to him for more.

Matthew 6:26 says "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" 

So perhaps the next time something seems to be conflicting with your schedule, stop and listen for a minute. Maybe God is crashing in on you or maybe he's going to use you to crash in on someone else.

mud slingers

As we work out in our mind the vision of the church that God has put on our hearts to plant, the question of "why?" surfaces over and over.

Why are there so many people hurting?

Why are there a limited number of churches reaching out?

Why are there so few churches in the area we want to plant a church?

Why does less than 10% of the population here attend church?

Why do the politics of the area dictate who can and cannot start a church?

Why us?

Many more "why" questions pop up, but, instead of focusing purely on the why's, we have decided we would focus more on the "what".

"What" does God want us to do about it?

We have become convinced that our first inclination of serving first and building the church later is absolutely the way God wants us to do this. We have found out that the local governments are so in need of tax money that they are not really allowing new churches or non profits to operate as such. The State and Federal governments have no problem with "tax exempt status", it's the local governments that are not recognizing it. They want the property and sales tax revenues from businesses that would otherwise fill the locations where new churches would be opened. So unless a new church purchases an existing church building, the chance of getting a tax free status from the city/county is slim to none. This is where our political grass roots movement experience is going to come in handy.

Through simple acts of kindness we can win the hearts of the people and the ones that like the people, but don't like us, will be more willing to respond to the wishes of the people. Jesus was able to teach in the synagogues while the religious leaders sat by steaming, because the people loved Jesus. The religious leaders however, feared the people and so were unable to lay a hand on him. So, we plan to win over the hearts of the community  by serving the community. Once we have won their hearts, navigating the political field will be much easier.

We are planning our first public feeding this Saturday, feeding freshly made biscuits and gravy. We also plan to start the "Work for Food" program which I believe is the key to winning the hearts of the community. Please pray we find favor with the community.

So, "WHAT" about you? How can this approach affect you and your neighborhood? What small acts of kindness can you do to win over your neighbors hearts? If you can win their hearts, you can affect your community for Jesus.

If you would like more information on the feeding and the work for food program or would like to help sponsor the program, please email me jeffjkauffman@gmail.com and I will gladly share the details.

out there

Help me, LORD my God; save me according to your unfailing love. ~Psalms 109:26


Why is it said that David was a man after God own heart (1 Sam 13:14)? Why was he any different than all the other kings before or after him?


Was it because he was a warriors warrior, killing tens of thousands, even before he was king?
Was it because he was a great outdoors man, a skilled archer and an accomplished hunter?
Was it because he was a true survivalist that would put "Man vs. Wild" to shame.
Or maybe it was because he was a good looking, smooth talking ladies man that was totally into poetry and classical music?


Though all of those things are absolutely who David was, I believe none of them are the reason he captured the heart of the father. What separates David from most of us is his ability to be 100% honest. When he was angry, he strapped on armour and fought, when he was sad, he cried out to God no matter who was around. When he fell into sin, he did not hide it. When he wanted something from God everyone new it because he was usually face down in the dirt fasting and praying for it. When God made a decision, he accepted it because what's done is done. When he worshiped, he worshiped with his whole heart, no matter where he was or who he was around, totally uninhibited.


On the other hand, when we get angry we grunt and cuss and kick the dog. When we are sad, we stiffen our lip and acknowledge we're okay, not wanting anyone to know we are hurting. When we fall into sin, we go to unbelievable lengths to hide it and cover it up, afraid of what others will think of us.  When we want something from God, we passively tell our friends to "keep me in your prayers" because I have some unspoken prayer requests. When God makes a decision, we throw a tantrum inside our heads, wondering what it ever was that we did to deserve this. When we worship, it's usually at a football game or a rock concert. We are not 100% honest with God or others.


Many times the bible speaks about the light and the darkness. In the light all things are exposed and known but in the darkness all things are hidden. David was able to drag his junk into the light for all to see. Nothing was covered up or hidden. He was totally exposed for all to see. The one time he tried to hide his sin, was when he got another man's wife pregnant, so he had her husband killed before he discovered it. However, God confronted him through Samuel and when that happened, he didn't continue to cover it up, he repented and he cried out to God for mercy. Then the whole kingdom knew what David did. It was dragged out into the light.


I think David was a man after God's own heart because David loved the light and hated the darkness. He couldn't stand to keep a secret hidden, he had to expose all to the light.


How much could we learn from David about just being honest and open about where we are? About admitting our faults and confessing our sins? About how much we really need God and his unfailing love? It seems the more we try to hide things by pretending everything is okay, the harder it is to talk to or even hear from God. God loves us so much, nothing is hidden from him and though we deserve it, He doesn't smoke us where we stand.


My prayer is that God will give us the key to peoples hearts here in Miami. That when we talk to people, the hard crusty shell that hides their hearts crumbles away allowing the light to shine in, driving the darkness away.