The Church at her best

Two days ago, tragedy struck in our church family.  One of our young families was traveling on vacation in Florida when a pick-up going eastbound began to hydroplane and crossed the median hitting the Bartlett's SUV that was going westbound on the interstate.  Ben (husband and father) and two of their three children, Charlie and Bailey, died at the scene, and Erin (wife/mother) and their youngest daughter, Kaia, survived the crash and were taken to the hospital in Tallahassee.  

As both Ben and Erin's parents, and Erin's sister, Brooke, began the journey to get to Tallahassee from Iowa, the fact is, that Erin, who had minor injuries, was likely going to be alone for the next 24 hours at the hospital with Kaia, who was banged up pretty seriously and who would need surgery on both of her hands/wrists.  As the church community back home began to meet and grieve and pray, we asked God to bring His saints in Tallahassee around Erin and Kaia and to minister to them in the midst of such unspeakable pain and loss. 

I just read this facebook message posted from Bill, Brooke's husband:

Text I just got from Brooke-

"I have met the hands and feet of Jesus today, and heard about even more. Heading with one right now to the Verizon store. A local church has "adopted" Erin and Kaia and our family."

Another recent update I read reports this church giving "extravagant care" to Erin and Kaia and the family.  

Yay, Church!  How beautiful are the hands and feet of Jesus! Thank you so much to our brothers and sisters in Christ in Tallahassee, Florida, for reaching out in such a great time of need with the love and comfort and tenderness and generosity of Jesus. This is the Church at her best!

Just received one more update from Dave, who is in Tallahassee now with Erin and Kaia: 

Hank is a deacon at Celebration Baptist Church. God prompted him to follow up on the story he saw in the media about the wreck on I10. God led him to Orchard's website and he heard God say, "Celebration Church needs to adopt this young mom and her daughter." They have gone above and beyond to care for Erin and Kaia. There are so many stuffed animals in the room, Dave knows now why he brought the van down and didn't fly. 

They are also serving Erin in some amazing, personal ways like providing clothing, food, spiritual encouragement, transportation and retrieving personal items from the vehicle. Their lead pastor, Dave Emmert stopped by and met Dave as well.  He was very encouraged by their presence. Thank you God for such an awesome answer to our prayers and thank you for these great people of Celebration Baptist Church.