Rick Kauffman calls himself a fixer and as a fixer, he was a total failure after his three-year-old daughter, Kelsey, drowned in a public swimming pool, eight feet in front of a life guard. Rick started getting involved with water safety, but he quit as things in his life went downhill. Rick ended up divorced, was a failure as a dad, and even attempted suicide. For eight years he let the darkness of grief consume him and blamed all of his failures on his daughter’s death, instead of his own bad choices.
Fifteen years later, Rick came back to the area of water safety 
and found out nothing has changed. The numbers of drownings were still the same and there were still too many families with a similar story of children drowning in front of a lifeguard. God has given Rick favor to be a voice and to help bring awareness of water safety to others in Kelsey’s name.
Rick has been on this grief journey for over twenty years, and has a lot of good things to share with us.
Rick’s answer to how to help your child leave a legacy: Start small. Make a difference in one person’s life, then do it again, and do it again, until you reach hundreds, thousands and maybe even millions. Get with yourself and with God, asking Him for help, and He’ll show you the way. Let Him help you find your story because you never know who you will touch.
(Note: The views and opinions of our guests outside of this podcast may not be in agreement with GPS Hope.)
Links referred to in this podcast episode:
Rick Kauffman’s Information
Email: rick@thekelsgroup.com
Families United to Prevent Drowning Website
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Birthdays:
Celeste France was born on January 29 and is forever 17.
Brenton Smith was born on February 10, and is forever 24.
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The special song written for our children’s birthdays I Remember Well can be heard here.
Remember to Hold On Pain Eases; there is HOPE!
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Grieving Parents Sharing Hope (GPS Hope) is here to walk with parents through the darkness of child-loss, guiding them to a place of hope, light and purpose.
It is a safe place for anyone who has lost a child from this earth. There is no shame or judgement in where you are in this journey, including if you are struggling in your relationship with God or your faith has been completely shattered.
I’m confused about something. I have always been told that God is approachable and you can ask him anything. You may or may not get an answer and if you do get an answer you may or may not like his answer. Mr. Kauffman keeps saying it isn’t our place to ask why. So we are not allowed to ask why? We are just suppose to accept whatever happens without questioning it? I don’t agree. I had a friend tell me after Dominic passed that I wasn’t suppose to question God or ask why. That made me so angry. Well if that’s true then I guess I will always be wrong because I’m going to ask. I may never get an answer but I will still ask until I get tired of asking and give up. It makes me so angry when people say this. It makes me feel like that because I’m questioning or asking God why that I’m doomed for hell. Which I don’t believe is true. But we are not God and it’s part of our human nature to ask questions or ask why when something like the death of my child happens. It’s the way God created us. If I’m totally off on this then please explain it to me because right now I’m really mad ?
Hi Vickie, this is a really good observation! I agree with you, that it is quite okay to ask God why, and you are right, He often doesn’t answer. And sometimes, we are like a child who finally runs out of strength and just accepts whatever it is. Without re-listening to this to hear the context of Rick’s statement, my thought is that is something that is said at times without really thinking it through. We hear it said, and repeat it. I think we come to that conclusion at some point, but that is after getting to the point where the answer isn’t as important as “what am I going to do with this?” And not everyone is to the point of being able to agree that I am done asking why and going to start asking how… How are you going to get me out of this darkness? etc.