What would you do if you KNEW you could not fail???

Blog Post by Wendy Kauffman            

So this post is going to be brutally honest. Please bear with me.  I love the city we live in. I love everything about it. There are some people that I find easier to love more than others in this city but I really love it here. Even our kids, who say for effect, that they hate it here, really are starting to love it here too. Ruth has even proclaimed that she is not going back to Missouri no matter what. We can leave her here.

But, for the last few weeks I have wished that I was not here. I wish that I had not packed up my family to move here to start an outreach to the poor and a church for people who don't like church. I have told my husband several times over the last few days that I just want to go back to Missouri. I want to go where I feel like I can keep my kids safe from all the uncertainties that we face here.

We literally live day to day right now. One day can be great and the next day can come close to being the worst possible day I have ever experienced. I hate living like that. Everything about our life here is so uncertain. I really thought I was getting used to it and o.k. with it but these last few weeks I have realized that I am not used to it and my mind is not o.k. with it. My heart tries to tell my mind that I am o.k. with it, but it has not gotten to the point of convincing my very controlling mind that living with no certainty of tomorrow is o.k.

I had so many ideas of what coming here was going to look like and honestly, not one of those ideas has become a reality. There are many things we wanted to do when we came that we are doing, but none of them are near where I thought we would be 10 months into this adventure. I wanted to be so much further by now. I wanted to be doing so much more than what we are. Instead I find myself grappling with the idea that this is one big failure. We moved here almost 11 months ago and ended up living in a one bedroom, 700 sq ft. apartment for 4 months, lived in a 1,200 sq ft. 2 bedroom house infested with an insane amount of mold and then finally we ended up in a $1,700 sq ft, 2 bedroom house. It does not even really fit our family because it lacks a 3rd bedroom but it felt like a dream come true for us and was very easy for us to get into. Now, we are faced with the very real reality of having to move out of it. For a few reasons, that really have been beyond our control, we may have to move. It means we would have to start over again. I just don't know if I can do it!

Today, a friend of mine posted a status on her Facebook wall that said this: What would you do if you KNEW you could not fail??? She posted it with the passage from the Bible, from the book of Joshua, chapter 1 next to it. Here is what the beginning of Joshua 1 says:
1 After the death of Moses the Lord’s servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant. He said, ² “Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. ³ I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you— ⁴ from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea^[a] in the west, including all the land of the Hittites.’ ⁵ No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.

I have been trying to convince myself of how God is with us and how He will not fail us, but to be very honest, I have not been able to this week. Please pray for us as we make tough decisions about what to do in moving forward that we will see what God's will is in this and that we can rest in knowing that with God's help, we will not fail!

peace out

Kevin ("Kev-O"), a 5 foot tall, 95 pound scrappy 50 year old guy that thinks he's a 7 foot tall 280 pound monster with nothing but time.  When he talks, you can't get a word in edgewise. If it's been done, he did it, if it's been played, he played it, if it's been kicked, he kicked it. He is a master of "one up-ers", his story is always more brutal and always more funny. To know him, truely is to love him.


The only time I've seen Kev-O quiet and respectful is when he would sit and talk with our 10 year old daughter Ruthie. I think talking with her took him back to a simpler time when he didn't have to act bigger than he was.


Kev-O was hit by a truck this week and died on the scene. 
Saturday morning breakfast will have a huge void for a while.


You gotta love 'em while you got 'em........

circus tricks

One of the guys that gave me inspiration early on was Jay Goldinger in Hollywood, Ca. He started a Homeless outreach called "food on foot". I sent him an email once (fishing for a little encouragement), asking a couple of questions about how he got to where he was and what things were successful. To my surprise, not only did he answer, but, he called me back. We had a 10-15 minute talk and what he drove home was that it's not about food for the homeless.... It's now a 100% full time job about raising money. That's all he does and he told me that if I wanted to be successful at this, that it has to be all I do too.


I found it very interesting, but, if you know me, that's not really my style. Personally, I would rather just be out feeding people, hanging out with them, praying with them, laughing and crying with them, putting them to work, getting into their lives all in an effort to show them that God loves them and uses ordinary normal people to help share his love.


However, the reality is that we do have needs and it does cost money to buy food, clothes and supplies for the poor, it costs money to operate this outreach and it costs money to live. With that said, we could use some help in the money department. Giving has been low and we've been feeling the hard pinch. 


If you haven't given lately, now would be the perfect time to help out. If you have never given, we would really appreciate it if you would consider it and pray about giving generously. If you are not able to help, please pray for us, our needs are huge but our God is HUGE-ER!

break on through to the other side

One of the homeless guys I've been spending time with is everything you never want to meet in a dark alley at night. He has a killer type instinct and looks like he would rather beat you to a pulp than have a conversation with you. He is a street hardened thug, that doesn't take non-sense from anyone. I've found that one thing he does like is biscuits and gravy and hot coffee. He's a strong guy and has been helping me move furniture and assemble IKEA furniture a couple times a week. It gives him walking around money and keeps him from mugging people.


He has been up on charges for possession of crack and drug paraphernalia. He was ordered to go through a county sponsored drug program, which he completed 6 months ago, and has been waiting for the charges to be dropped. He had a court hearing a month ago that he didn't know about, because he's living on the streets and doesn't get mail. When he missed the hearing a warrant was issued and the police picked him up. He spent three weeks in jail and was released.


A week later he had another hearing and because of a failed drug test (for an obscure opiate) he was given two weeks to retake and pass the drug test. He swears he has been clean for 6 months and hasn't done anything harder than cigarettes and an occasional beer. He has no reason to lie to me about it, in fact most guys would brag about what they've been doing. I've never witnessed this guy drunk or on drugs.


Two weeks went by and he went to his hearing, hoping to be a free man. His drug test came back positive for opiates again, a little weaker than before, but, positive none the less. As he sat in the courtroom waiting his fate, he asked the judge if he could call me. The judge agreed and this rock hard street smart thug called me. He didn't know what to say, he just explained what was going on and asked me to pick up his tent and bag of clothes so they wouldn't get stolen. It was a short call. The judge then told him he would have to re-enter the 30 day drug program at one of the outreach centers. So the call was made to find him a spot. Nobody answered the phone and nobody returned the call, so he sat there in the courtroom for a couple hours waiting. Finally the judge said, since it didn't appear the outreach centers had a place for him he would have to go through the program in jail.


That's exactly what he didn't want to hear, another 30 days in jail. He sat in the courtroom for a while longer until the sheriffs department came to get him. As they were processing him into the jail, a lady ran into the property turn in area and said "he's being released! they found him a bed!" They took him back into the courtroom and the judge asked if he had a way to get there. He told him that he did and they released him.


As I was driving him to the outreach center yesterday, he was explaining it all to me and he said "I'm not F#*&ing kidding you man, it was a God thing, seriously, I was F#*&ing praying to God so hard that they'd find me an F#*&ing bed. I just couldn't believe it when that lady ran in at the last second when they were booking me. God really showed up. I mean I just can't F#*&ing believe it."


This might be a very offensive way to talk about God, but, the point is that he really cried out to God and God heard him. This was such a huge step towards God for him and probably one of the most significant ah-ha moments he's had about the existence of God. Please pray for him as he goes through the 30 day program again that he'll grow closer to God each day.

paddy wagon

One thing that we've been trying to create among the homeless that we serve is a sense of community. Often times when wrapping up breakfast on Saturday mornings, I'll encourage the guys to keep an eye on each other and to stick together. I'll also ask about absent guys which not only shows we care about them, but, causes them to be looking out for the absentees. Well it seems to be working. Many times, as we are leaving the park, a group of guys are still there hanging out just talking.

However, the bad part of the story is, that a few days ago, a couple of the guys ran into a couple of other guys in a small parking lot. As they stood there talking a couple other guys showed up, who had beer, and they all stood there talking and drinking beer, next thing you know, three more guys showed up. Then before you can say paddy wagon, the Hollywood Police showed up in force and arrested all 9 of them.

Please pray that God uses this experience to draw them all closer to Him and each other. Please pray that God becomes a bigger and bigger presence in their lives.

warning shot

The other night, Wendy was in the kitchen checking her blood sugar level, as she normally does. I had demolished what was left of a half gallon of moose tracks ice cream about an hour before and for some reason asked her to check my blood sugar level too. I routinely like to humor her with such requests to dispel any fears she might have about my health. My blood pressure, blood sugars, cholesterol, heart rate, etc., are always text book perfect. I think because she's struggled with her own health, she is expecting me to suddenly drop dead from my terrible eating habits.


She willingly poked my finger and squeezed a droplet of blood out and soaked it up with a test strip. As I whined at how brutal she can be when drawing MY blood, the little machine bleeped and a number came up, "175". She looked at me in disbelief and stammered .... that's ... not.....good! My normal number is around 99 and even with eating a bunch of ice cream an hour before, my body should be able to metabolize the sugar much better than that.  Evasive measures were taken and I was instantly put on a diabetic diet and given an exercise regiment sufficient for training an Olympian and talks about making doctor appointments boiled to the forefront of conversation.


The next day my blood sugars returned to normal, even after eating, but a small amount of concern remains. It's the first time I've shown any hints of abnormal health. So, now, my eating habits will be adjusted a little to keep from over taxing my insulin production. That's what I'll have to do to remain healthy. It's nice to have my wife readily available to help encourage good eating habits. 


Most of the people living on the streets of Miami don't have that luxury. They don't have anyone that will nudge them when habits start affecting their spiritual, physical or mental health. They are all alone and can only see the needs they have in the moment and strive to satisfy them however possible.


Please pray that we can be that loving, encouraging person in the lives of the people that we are reaching out to on the streets. Please pray that God will give us wisdom in everything we say and do to help turn them towards God and not away from him.

Discouraged?

Blog Post by Wendy Kauffman

Confession: I get discouraged easily. I think we all get discouraged, but some hit that point sooner than others. It is kind of frustrating to me because it takes a lot longer for Jeff to get discouraged. I can get frustrated, discouraged and be ready to give up and I turn around and there is Jeff getting ready for a marathon. I am so glad God put him in my life and this is one of the many reasons. I can't tell you the number of times I have said I quit and there he is telling me all the time: "God is faithful."

One of the the other things that I have to do frequently to keep from getting discouraged is spending a lot of time talking with God. This can seem strange to a lot of people but it really helps me. I sometimes will find myself yelling at God, crying out to God and thanking God all in a 5 minute time span.
I also make it a point to spend time alone with God everyday. This can be very hard to do with my busy life but I find it essential for my sanity. I need to be encouraged by God.

So yesterday in time alone I came across these verses: Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet, stay on the safe path. Don't get sidetracked, keep your feet from following evil. Proverbs 4:25-27

In other words when I get discouraged, this is what God is saying to me. Wendy, don't get sidetracked by all the peripheral stuff. What is the main goal here? What are you trying to do? Stay focused on the main thing. Don't get sidetracked by all you don't know, move forward in what you do know. Get busy doing THAT. In the meantime keep yourself from following what is evil and can sidetrack you. Don't make any rash, big decision while you are discouraged. Just stay on the path you are on. This will pass, it always does. No, don't quit. Never give up. Keep your eyes on me. I can handle this. I got your back. You do what is right in the right way. Stay the course. I'll take care of the rest. Do you trust me to do that???

I assume that I am not the only one who gets discouraged and needs help to move forward. This is what I feel God is saying to me in this scripture. I hope today that no matter what you are going through or what you are being asked to do that you remember that God has got your back. Do you trust him?

flesh eaters

You've probably heard that there's been a run on purchases of zombie ammo due to the 3 separate cannibalistic attacks in South Florida. The common links have been homeless people snorting bath salts. Bath salts are readily available, legal and cheap and according to news reports make you feel like chewing someone else's flesh off.

When we went out yesterday to find non-cannibal hungry people, we had a hard time locating any in the normal places. When we did catch up with a group we know, they said that everyone (the homeless) is afraid of the police right now. The police have cracked down on the homeless and have been arresting them in droves using the crazy zombie attacks as the new found excuse for harassing them.

There are 10,000 people sleeping on the streets every night in South Florida and because 3 have gone on a crazy people eating spree, the powers that be want to harass the other 9,997 non-cannibals . I find it really hard to sit by idle and watch as the authorities persecute those who don't have the ability to defend themselves. Then I read something like what I found in Proverbs -

"Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of the destitute. Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy." - Proverbs 31:8-9

The streets are a dangerous place, please pray for the people we are serving that God will keep them safe. Many seeds have been planted, please pray God will change many lives.

vagabond

Dream big or go home!

We have a huge God and he answers huge prayers. We have a dream of an outreach center in Miami that is a shelter for the homeless, a kitchen for the hungry, a pantry for the poor, a closet for the naked, a community for the lonely. 

That's why when we saw the Vegabond Motel on Biscayne Boulevard, we knew we found the perfect place for the center we dream about.

Please pray that God will make a way for us to own this motel and that he will provide all the funds necessary to renovate it. 

eye of the storm

The past couple of days in South Florida have been stormy. I was downtown Miami picking up a table at a condo that sits next to Biscayne Bay, there was no rain at the time, but, the wind was fierce. It turned what is normally a very beautiful and calm body of water into a tumultuous and ravaging scene. The blueness of the water was replaced with murkiness as the sand and sediment churning up to the surface. Later on in the day it started down pouring and has continued all night and all day so far today.

Whenever it gets stormy like this the homeless search for shelter and it's really hard to locate them. In such dark and dismal conditions, they are all alone, wet, cold, hungry and depressed. All they want to do is be dry, eat something and feel secure.

When life in general gets stormy, all WE want to do is have shelter from the storm and feel secure. It's very comforting to have people come beside us in the hard times and just be there to share the moment. How much more if God is the one that comes to comfort us?

In Ezekiel 34:11-12 it says-

"For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness."

Many times, as we've been given the opportunity to reach out to the homeless and hungry, we have been told that we were an answer to prayer, which seems weird. However, they say they had reached the end of their proverbial rope and cried out to God and we showed up with hot food, drinks, dry clothes or just a listening  and compassionate ear.

Who, in your life, is going though a storm? Do you think God is telling you to do anything about it? How can you reach out to them, letting them know God loves them and has not left them? 

What does Hope look like?

Blog Post by Wendy Kauffman

I read an article in the news last night before I went to bed. It was about an 11 year old Syrian boy who watched his entire family killed while he played dead on the floor to keep them from shooting him. Some say the story is propaganda. I don't know what the truth is. I woke up this morning praying for those who were affected by this attack. I felt such grief for them. I could not imagine what it would feel like to witness something like that. My heart was broken.

As I was praying I felt a sense a peace. I just kept hearing these words over and over in my head, "What does Hope look like"?  I started to get pictures in my head about what it looks like.  I know there are so many who don't have hope. There are so many who just need someone to tell them there is hope.

Today I realized for the first time that to have hope you must first believe that there is hope. I have heard so many people say these last few months, "Why bother, there is no hope". Why do we say that? Why is it so easy for us to let others trick us into believing that? Today I am grateful that I know there is hope. Today I am grateful that I know where Hope comes from. Today I am grateful that I have a voice to share that hope with others.

When we moved to Miami 10 months ago one of the things that we really wanted to do was show people that there is hope. As we have had to go through the ups and downs of getting settled into a new community it has been difficult at times to remember this ourselves. Please pray that we will always know there is hope and that we can share that with everyone we meet.

House Hunters!

We are now less than 1 month from needing to be out ofthe house we have been living in. We have been very grateful for this place. Although we knew it was temporary, we did not know exactly how temporary. So we are on a big hunt for another house.

The housing  market in South Florida is very peculiar. There are many obstacles that make it difficult to find housing here. The market is saturated with people looking for rental homes because they have lost their homes. The market is also saturated with people looking to eek every penny they can out of a house before they lose it so it is becoming more difficult to find a house that is not in foreclosure. The other obstacle for us is our family size. We have found that many people just do not want 7 people living in their house, especially 5 kids. All of these have made it very difficult in finding a new place to live.

We need your prayers! Please pray that God will provide the perfect house in the perfect location with the perfect landlord who will be understanding and let our large family live in his house. Pray God provides the finances needed to get into a new place. Many people are requiring at least 3 months to get into a home. We are hoping for a 4/2 house in the Central Miami area to get closer to the girls school. Please pray that God provides exactly what we need!

A Proud Mothers Story

Blog Post by Wendy Kauffman

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. I hope that today you are being pampered and cared for beyond all of your expectations.

Since it is Mother's Day I thought I would take this opportunity to brag a little and tell some stories that make this Mother's Day a great day for me. Yesterday was an amazing picture of why I do what I do as a mother and a few of the reason why Motherhood brings me so much joy.

We spent yesterday morning in Coconut Grove registering Hannah and Rachael for classes at Academy of Arts and Minds, where they will start school in the fall. If you know our family, you know we have always home-schooled our kids, so this is a big deal, especially for me as a mother. Although home schooling is very difficult at times, I find great joy in having the opportunity to do it. I am so proud of Hannah and Rachael and how hard they have worked to get into this school and I know they will do amazing there and will be a light of God's love to so many there.

After registering for classes, we headed to the Thomas home to do our normal Saturday cleaning. Hannah and I were doing our normal tasks of laundry and cleaning while Ruth was swimming in their very nice pool. She goes to hang out with the boys while we clean. At the end of their time in the pool, Rick asked the kids if they wanted to split $5 and clean the leaves out of the pool. Ruth, being her Father's daughter, immediately negotiated $5 each to clean the pool. After about 10 minutes I told Ruth she needed to get out of the pool and get ready to go. They were not done with their job of cleaning leaves, so Rick decided to pay them their $5 and told them they would need to plan to finish their work next time. Ruth let him know right away that she would be willing to clean the pool every week, because she has a purpose for the money. She is saving up to buy things for the homeless. She stopped them in their tracks. They could not believe that this little girl did not have some big plans to buy some really cool thing for herself. She was saving up her money to buy socks and t-shirts for the homeless. She is so selfless and I am pretty sure I had nothing to do with that, but it was such a proud momma moment for me. Now, because she was not afraid to speak up about something that is very important and dear to her, she has an extra $35 that they gave her, so we will be off to the store this week to buy new t-shirts for next Saturday's breakfast.

When I returned home, it was time to make dinner, so as the kids went out to play with a friend, I got everything prepared. When I called them back in to eat, they wanted to know if their friend Tyler could eat dinner with us. Jacob explained to me later that their family is really struggling financially and they are on the verge of losing their home and sometimes there is not much to eat at their house. Now I don't know what is true about this story because we never know what kids will say to get a chili dog, but I was very proud that my kids were in tune enough to immediately invite their friend to dinner. I found out later in the night that Tyler eats at other people's houses quite a bit so there may be a lot of truth to what he is saying.

Needless to say, all of those moments yesterday made me realize how important my job as a Mother is and how no matter how hard it gets at times, perseverance brings great joy. So if you are a mom today, I know your job is hard and your work is never done, but there is great reward! Happy Mother's Day!

Crippled!

Blog Post by Wendy Kauffman               

Do not be fooled by the luxuries of this world; they cripple our faith. Like Jesus explained, the right things have to die so the right things can live – we die to selfishness, greed, power, accumulation, prestige, and self-preservation, giving life to community, generosity, compassion, mercy, brotherhood, kindness, and love." - Jen Hatmaker

I was working on cleaning an office a few days ago when the person I was cleaning for asked the question we get so often from so many people. Why Miami? When I tell them the story, most people can't believe that this is what I have dreamed of doing for the last 25 years. To them it seems so radical. I don't think he could really understand why we left our family, our friends, our things and a good job to come to Miami to start an outreach to the homeless and a church for people who don't like church.

I don't think I have said this to anyone outright before, but all I could say was, "Jesus' love was radical. It stopped at nothing for us. It was in giving His life and that kind of love that turned the world upside down. I told him that I want in on the upside down Kingdom of God. I want to engage in something that is bigger than me, but is that what I am really doing? I had to really ask myself this question.

Even after leaving our family, our friends, our belongings in Missouri, I have found myself wanting to go back at times. I have found myself spending so much time figuring out how to go back and get my stuff. Yes, there are things that I have there in storage that are important to me and I really want to go back and get them, but is trying to figure out how to get it all back crippling what God has called us here to do.

So many things can take us off our course, cripple our faith and steal our attention. Please pray that our attention is not on the things that would would rob us of our compassion, mercy, generosity and love.

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!