How I met a Porsche Mechanic

[74cookiecutter]

I had the opportunity to go to the Mississippi gulf coast on a mission trip this past week. I had heard the area around Pass Christian, MS was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina but thought that after this long (8 months) it would be cleaned up and well on the road to recovery.
I was wrong. About as wrong as I could get.
There are some homes where the outside has been cleaned and the yard is somewhat free of debris but 90% of the area is a waste land of partially and completely demolished homes, businesses and infrastructure. Yet there is still a beauty and attraction I couldn't help but appreciate.
The beauty is in the commitment of the locals to live among their shattered town and struggle to survive. To commute to other communities for what little work is to be had. To seek food and basic supplies at the local shelter. To help out at the shelter which was started by the good people of God's Katrina Kitchen. They feed hundreds daily three meals a day.

It was through this organization that I got to serve someone who truely needs more than just a word of encouragement or a gov't handout. They need real help.

Think of this; you are "the man of the House" with a wife and three young children living in a FEMA 10X24 trailer parked next to your wecked home stripped bare to the studs by a wall of sea water 12 to 30ft high. the studs still drying from the bleach used to kill the mildew and mold left by the Hurricane flood water that reached up into the attic leaving mud and gunk on eveything it touched. Imagine now having to find the energy to get up, go to work, perform, come home, and work alone to rebuild the home because the little insurance you coud afford won't cover Flood damage or is insufficient to pay for the real reconstruction and cleanup cost. And if your insurance did cover most of it there isn't anyone around to do the work.

Before this trip I never considered the effort it would take, but now I know and I am moved to help.

A group of 7 of us left Arkansas and went and helped. A lady helped in the Kitchen which prepared all the meals we ate, one guy met up with us from Alexandria, LA.
We were assigned a house about five min away from the bunk house at God's Katrina Kitchen. The house we were assigned needed some sheetrock and plumbing work done to get it one step closer to completion.
We don't do construction work for a living so it was a little slow starting up, but we got the hang of it pretty fast.
Later that day the Mom and kids came by after school. It made us tearful when we met them because we had not been told anything about them. To see the conditions they had been living in and to think of the shock and trauma that the children went through last September was more than I (as a father of two childern) could bear to think about. That Saturday they came back with Dougnuts and helped us nail sheetrock and clean up. they really needed some help and to know someone cares.

Everyone of us was blessed by this experience and God has been so good to each of us it felt good to give something of ourselves to those who truely need help. In many ways they blessed us by giving us the opportunity do listen to God and move out in faith to help someone we didn't know and find something new and in ourselves.
For me I was blessed and enriched in unique ways some of which only a Porsche lover could understand. I allowed God to use me for something I was hesitant to agree to do and he blessed that leap of faith. I developed relationships with guys I previously had either not known or had little in common with. I met and served a wonderful God loving family who's foundation is stronger than mine in spite of their trials. I met men who know God and how to seek his direction everyday. I saw a Porsche 944 covered in gimmy mud still sitting in the garage of a totally flooded out house 4 doors down the street. I wondered to myself could this be one of my pelican brothers? Did we miss an opportunity to help him?
And I rode from Little Rock to Pass Christian eight hours and worked side by side with a man I had never met before who was a Porsche Mechanic for the local Porsche dealer from the early 70's through the early 80's. guess what we talked about.
God has wonderful plans for us if we just listen and act.

[Dantilla]

I went to New Orleans last October to help. Awesome experience. Some of us may go back for round two this summer.

My group had a large percentage of people with a construction background. Made for a very productive, and fulfilling, week.

[bigchillcar]

wow..great story, robert. even moreso hearing some of it on the cell this morning talking with ya. you're a helluva guy, buddy. great job..immeasurable how much those people both needed and appreciated your help. awesome. but, hey..i kinda thought that i was your 'mechanic'..you seein' another mechanic now behind my back???

guess you can see that someone has 'insomnia' badly this evening..
ryan

[kqw]

Good for you...

That's powerful stuff!

[Mulhollanddose]

Originally posted by 74cookiecutter
God has wonderful plans for us if we just listen and act.

All Glory to Him.