Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink

Yes, the devastation here is horrible--there are no words to describe it.  We are all safe and without loss--but thousands of others are not.  Please add a word of prayer for them.  We have lost 10 people here in Nashville; most drowned.  Yesterday an older couple was found in the Green Hills area--they had driven through high water, and decided to get out of the car and were swept away.  Some teenagers thought it would be great fun to tie inner tubes together and raft down Mill Creek.  They (3) died.  Some who refused to leave their homes have been found dead.

Of course, the tales of heroism abound.  Creatively, Otter Creek has opened its nursery for those who are helping others to leave their children during the day.  We have begun a day-care program as well.  Our building leaked a little in the gym area, but other wise is o. k.  We do have a creek behind the church, but it is now going down.  The Red Cross has done a terrific job opening centers and getting people food and water.  Lipscomb opened its Allen Arena as a place for people to spend the night.  They have had over 200 people (capacity) each night since this began.  Otter had scheduled a big breakfast to kick off a building campaign on Sat. morning, but the power went out and it was cancelled.  We took all the food (for 400 people) over to Lipscomb for the folks there.  And such things are happening all over town.

As for water, one of our purifying plants is under water and the other one is being sandbagged today.  They are asking us to conserve--to use only one-half of the water we would normally use.  One of the saddest pictures yesterday was of a house surrounded by water burning to the ground--electrical fire.  The woman who lived there had left in the nick of time.  Private boats are patrolling all over town down streets looking for those who might need help.  There have been over 1,000 water rescues.  Sadly our new symphony buidling downtown has been hard hit--they said that water just came through the floor.  Their wonderful 2 million organ was destroyed.

I guess one good thing to come out of all will be the work provided to those who can repair and rebuild.  When my brother was in a flood in Abilene several years ago, federal and state help was slow to come--and look at New Orleans--I do hope they help us faster.

Thanks for your calls.  If you have it, donate money to the Red Cross.  They need it.