16/11: Getting There

By Paul Krautmann

Every week Mark drives four children in foster care into the country to visit their mother. From the start, he finds himself in the role of comforter, advisor and mentor for these hurting and needy children, especially for the oldest, twelve year old Lisa. The book chronicles the conversations between Lisa and Mark, who uses a pack of cards to help her deal with the issues she is facing. These cards are not playing cards, however: instead, they contain much-needed information and guidance, touching on topics such as: Keys to real lasting happiness, Is there a God? Our true identity, Anger and forgiveness, Making right choices, Living the Give way, Why does God allow suffering? Being thankful, Insecurity, and Relationships. On the back of each card there is a simple progress check for the reader. Above all, the book emphasizes the fact that we are made in the image of God, who loves us and who is very much present and involved in our lives. He is not far away, distant, looking for ways to zap us when we do something wrong. He has already forgiven and accepted us. The question is, are we willing to believe this and submit our lives to him? The story takes a dramatic turn during a storm when these lessons are driven home in real life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Sep 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9781479717408

Paul Krautmann

Born in England in 1947, Paul trained as a librarian, then worked for two years in Guyana at the National Library as a Voluntary Service Overseas volunteer. During that time, through the ministry of Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Church of God (now totally transformed and renamed Grace Communion International), Paul surrendered his life to God, and in 1972 entered the church’s Ambassador College, graduating in 1975. Later that year he returned to Guyana to work at the National Library, and also to pastor the fledgling church there. When his contract with the National Library expired, he served as full time pastor from 1978 to 1989. He was then transferred to the Caribbean to pastor churches in Grenada, St. Vincent, St. Lucia and Dominica. In 1999 Paul and his Guyanese wife Unita moved to Perth, Western Australia. They have three children: Emil, Lorna and Paul Joseph. For the past several years Paul has been working with children in foster care. He is still involved with the church, and preaches on a regular basis. In his spare time, Paul enjoys gardening or dabbling in amateur radio, model aircraft and various other projects in his shed. Paul’s first book, The Rich Hiker’s Guide to Walking with God, was published in 2007.

Book preview

Copyright © 2012 by Paul Krautmann.

ISBN:   Hardcover   978-1-4797-1739-2

              Softcover   978-1-4797-1738-5

              Ebook          978-1-4797-1740-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Scriptures taken from the New King James Version.

Rev. date: 11/11/2013

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris LLC

1-800-455-039

www.Xlibris.com.au

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Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Why 16/11?

Over 600 years ago, English poet Geoffrey Chaucer wrote in The Canterbury Tales:

A drunken man knows he has a house,

But knows not the right way thither,

And to a drunken man it’s slide and slither.

And that is how for sure in this world we

Go searching hard to find felicity,

But we go wrong so often, tell no lie.

This describes you and me. We are all like the drunken man: we know we have a home somewhere, but where is it? We know deep down inside that something is missing in our lives, that there must be something more,¹ yet we cannot see what is right before our eyes: the presence of our true Home.² Instead, we involve ourselves in substitutes, hoping these possessions, these activities will fill the void in our hearts. But of course these idols that we cling to can never really satisfy. They are not our real home.

Want to know where your home really is? Read Psalm 16:11. It tells us that true life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness can only be found in God’s presence, which is right where you are, right now. That’s what this little book is all about. It’s a simple short story, but it has a huge, mind-blowing message. Use it as a springboard to help launch you towards finding your real home.

CHAPTER 1

Are we there yet? two plaintive little voices called out from the back of the minibus.

No, not yet. But we’re getting there Mark assured them.

Working with the B.O.S.S. (Bureau of Social Services), he was driving twins James and Jasmine, seven years old, their baby brother Riley, along with older sister Lisa for their weekly two hour visit with their mother, Denise. She lived alone way out in a small country town, a one hour drive from the city where her kids now lived with a foster carer.

It hadn’t been easy for them, suddenly being taken from their home, their mum, their toys, their pets, their school friends, and dumped in a strange house ruled by a strange woman. To be honest, she tried her best, but she wasn’t their mum, and the house wasn’t their home. The case manager assured them it was for the best, and hopefully it wouldn’t be for ever. Now they would live in a much nicer home, with much better food, and they would no longer be neglected. The children for some reason could never quite agree with that, but hey, they were just kids, and no-one had asked them where they wanted to live.

Somehow Mark could fully identify with how they were feeling. He too had been sent to live in a strange place with complete strangers, and he had no choice in the matter. He had been something of a problem child, so his parents packed him off to boarding school for six years. Unknown to them, he had to suffer sexual and physical abuse at the hands of older boys for most of those six years. The result was a host of negative, destructive emotions: anger, shame, guilt, fear and insecurity, all of which still affected him even now as a happily married adult with children of his own.

These long drives every Tuesday provided a golden opportunity for the children to open up and say things they had been bottling up inside. There was clearly a lot of pent up anger in these kids. For instance, during one drive, James had told Mark how much he hated Patricia, their foster carer, how she is an idiot, and doesn’t