Greetings Church of the Redeemer,
Can I say something? Can I tell you how unbelievably proud I am of our church? You all are amazing. I just spoke with a member of our church who’s home was flooded. She raved about you, how all day long there was a stream of Redeemer people coming to her family’s home. “People I had met once before were crawling under my house, pulling out filthy insulation.” I praise God for each one of you. You are fulfilling Christ’s commandment to “love one another as I have loved you.” You are a witness to secular friends and neighbors. Praise the Lord!
Some of you have not been able to join in the physical labor, some simply can not. To those of you who can’t help in this way, please continue to pray. Also, you may consider other tasks you may be able to do, such as bringing a meal or water to one of the addresses, watching children, or calling upon people you know who can help physically. We are all in this together, even those of us who can’t crawl under people’s houses!
To that end, Redeemer is setting up a designated fund to aid victims who are part of our church body. Money donated to this fund will go directly to those in our own church who have lost so much. Of course, you may also give to organizations that support others in the community. But every dollar of this fund will go to your brothers and sisters at Redeemer.
Please note that Nashville is under water restriction. Please do not use water unless you absolutely must! This is a big way all of us can help our area.
In a wonderful turn of events, I received a call today from Family Affair Ministries. Apparently, their church and some of their members (including Pastor Sutton) experienced some damage. However, they expect to have this taken care of within the next few days. They are receiving 22 college students this weekend, and they have offered to send many of them to help us! What a blessing!
Tomorrow, there is still great need for help. Most of the homes that I informed you about this morning got a great deal of help. One home, however, is in special need tomorrow. If you are already planning to return to a home tomorrow, go ahead and do so. But if you are looking for a new place to serve, let me recommend 508 Glenleigh Court 37204. Unfortunately, this home is quite difficult to reach as many roads around it are closed. However, this family was very hard hit and could use all the help we can give. A crew is going to be there beginning at 8 am and will be there all day. I will provide detailed instructions on how to reach this home at the end of this e-mail.
Here is what we need tomorrow at other homes, as far as I know. Please comment on the blog if you have more information.
829 Sutton Hill Road 37204 needs “man help” tomorrow, particularly in demolition and loading up a truck to take things to storage. The truck will be there around 12:30. If you can help, show up with a crow bar or sledge hammer and go after it.
7556 Rolling River Parkway, 37221 is also in great need, and hard to get to. I spoke to Ron Doyle today who said that there was a good crew over there today (thank you Jack Haynes and company!!!) Ron says that there will be another crew going over on Thursday, so perhaps people should wait until Thursday to head over there.
The family at 2920 McNairy Lane 37204 was greatly blessed today. They have more friends coming over tomorrow, but are OK for church folks to go to one of these other homes that needs more immediate help.
The folks at 1416 Mentelle Drive 37069 had good help today. If you are planning on going there, please let me know and I can make sure they will be there.
124 and 137 Plantation Court 37221 will continue to need help tomorrow, but they were blessed by a large group today. Thank you so much for coming to the aid of these special people.
Another family who was not on our list today is at 3510 General Bate Drive, 37204. They are not in an emergency situation, but could certainly use help during the day tomorrow. If you are in the area this would be great place to go by and lend a hand.
OK, here are the directions to 508 Glenleigh Court 37204. As I said, this home is difficult to get to but in GREAT NEED. You will need to print these directions out. If you look on Google Maps or a similar site, you will see that there are much easier ways to get to this house. You are free to try these ways, but this route will avoid all the many roads that were closed today.
I-40 West of Bellevue to the McCrory Lane Exit. Go left (south)
You will cross Poplar Creek Road
Highway 100, left (east). You will pass the Loveless Cafe.
Take Learning Lane/Old Harding Pike when it splits left from Highway 100
Poplar Creek Road, left
Rolling River Parkway, right
Follow this road as it winds through a neighborhood and ends at
Bay Cove Trail, right
Follow this road as it winds and ends at
Morton Mills Road, right
Northridge Drive, first right
Glenleigh Ct, first right
Glenleigh Ct only has three homes, and the home we are going to is in the middle.
If you get lost, you can call me and I will put you in touch with the home owner.
May the Lord bless you and all the people of our area.
Fr. Thomas+
