Following is a summary from faculty member Jay Kinsinger, who co-led a Cedarville University disaster relief team to Biloxi, Miss., over Christmas Break (Jan. 2-8)...
With the help of Samaritan's Purse, our Cedarville University "roofing crew" overwhelmed a couple families by serving as a means to channel God's love to them.
Al's house is located in an impoverished section of Biloxi, Miss. The hurricane tore off a good portion of Al's roof. The structure of his house was badly compromised by termite damage, therefore a couple of the garage walls were pushed in by about two feet. Al's insurance offered coverage for the roof damage but not the structure (pre-existing condition). Because Samaritan's Purse supplied materials and labor (us) for the roof replacement, Al now has the money to fix the damaged structure. Perhaps the more important thing we did for Al was to minister to him by simply listening to his story, praying with him, and presenting him with a signed (by the team, not God) copy of the Word of God. Al had tears of gratitude in his eyes as we said goodbye.
Raleigh Carter was the owner of the second home that we worked on. Raleigh was very skeptical when our crew pulled up to work on his roof. His skepticism was given credence when he asked about our roofing experience and one of our students (Michelle) replied, "We put one on yesterday."
Raleigh immediately fetched some "quality help " - namely Richard, who works for Raleigh in Raleigh's beach vendor business (renting out jet skis). Richard is a stereotypical biker dude complete with a bat tattooed on his forehead and a long "ZZ Top" beard.
I must admit being frustrated with Raleigh's help at first when he insisted on patching some bad spots in the roof himself and doing a very poor job of it. Fortunately the morning's devotional message reminded me that our labor on the physical needs of these individuals was secondary to meeting their spiritual needs.
Raleigh's mistrust of our crew put him and Richard up on the roof, working side by side with us. We got to hear Raleigh's story: how he was raised in a Christian home and his mother wanted nothing more than for Raleigh to be a preacher. Instead he chose life in the fast lane in more ways that one - he was a semi-pro drag racer. Then he became an educator and high school psychologist. Raleigh and his wife (also an educator) are retired now and run the aforementioned beach vendor business.
Three years ago, Raleigh was robbed at gunpoint, shot through the heart (in the aorta), and left for dead in his vendor shack. He's one of a very small handful that have survived such an injury (he loves to heft up his shirt and show off the scar). He even said, "God has a reason for me still being here."
I know, too, that God had a reason for us to meet Richard, Raleigh, and Judy (Raleigh's wife). Richard was much more quiet than Raleigh, but we still developed a great friendship with him. One team member had the opportunity to share the gospel with Richard. Of course we gave Raleigh and Richard team-signed Bibles, which they received with much gratitude. We prayed with them, too.
The CU students were a delight to work with. They were exceedingly hard workers. Even skeptical Raleigh was amazed and impressed by the quality of work they did and the outstanding attitudes they demonstrated. Judy commented that they were the friendliest and most polite young men and women she's encountered in a long, long time.