Layton Kauffman, Blueprint's Community Construction Director, has the great joy of not only working on substandard homes in our city, but also building relationships with those living in the homes. This past week, Layton had a powerful encounter with one of the residents of a home that we began work on almost a year ago. Check out his story below.
Last summer we started work on a home that was in need of a great deal of repairs. It was the home of a grandmother living with two 20 year old grandchildren and one new born great grandchild. The home was leaking from the roof in multiple spots, had no hot water, no functioning kitchen sink, and was in desperate need of sheetrock repairs and flooring.
Typically, it takes multiple weeks to begin to establish a relationship with those living in the home, so I began to reach out to one of the grandchildren named Pedro. Simply just saying hi, shaking his hand and asking him about work. At first, you could tell he wasn’t sure about us. But over the course of a few weeks, he began to open up more and more.
This past week, as I was finishing the install of the water heater in the back of the house, Pedro approached me a little sheepishly. I could tell he was trying to articulate something but did not know exactly how to do so. He stumbled through his form of a thank you for all that we have done for him and his family. You could tell he was emotional and not used to having to formulate a thank you. I was able to express to him that we do this because we love him and we love Jesus.
As I began to witness to him, he said I know I should read the bible more but I also know that I am not worthy of love. SOBERING REALITY. The ensuing conversation was all about how no one is worthy of God’s love. My sin is just as bad as everyone else's and no one is worthy of God’s love. I ended my time with Pedro with a big hug and a time of prayer.
I am amazingly grateful for the opportunity to share the love of Jesus with our homeowners and their families. It often takes many weeks of groups coming in to break down the walls of distrust and hurt. Many times our volunteers don’t get to see these moments, yet without weekly volunteers, it is impossible for us to build these relationships. Every week a group of volunteers enters a home and they chip away at the wall that these homeowners build up, and by God’s grace and for His glory, relationships are built and the gospel is shared.
Stories like this one are why Blueprint exists-to repair homes and restore hope. Interested in getting involved with the ministry? Send us an e-mail at info@blueprintministry.com, we'd love to connect you!
