“The wood tells a beautiful story of redemption,” David Carpenter says.
KERRVILLE, Texas — When wood mill owner David Carpenter showed up in the early hours when floodwaters started to recede July Fourth, family members say, he was armed with a chainsaw with a four-foot blade. First responders put him to work immediately, clearing roads so that rescuers might be able to reach anyone who was alive, but still trapped.
Carpenter, who said his family name came from the first generation of his forebearers who came to this country, said his profession is part of a long tradition.
“We were Zimmerman on the Mayflower, which is ‘builder of rooms’ or ‘worker of wood.’ And so my great relative got down on his knees, as part of the Huguenot persecution, and said, ‘We’re going to leave the old behind, start a new life,'” Carpenter said. “They were praying on the banks of America and leaned over and said to someone who spoke English, ‘How do you say “works with wood,'” and they said carpenter and he said, “OK. We’re carpenters.'”
The faithful family, he says, has been so ever since. Now, they are helping every way they can.
“Honestly, God speaks to me every time,” Carpenter said of the hot, heavy work of freeing ancient trees from the wreckage of the river. “There are trees thrown away, destined for the burn pile, and you cut into them and you’re the first person to see inside of them and it can just be exquisite.”
Detailing the majesty he finds within the fallen giants, Carpenter said, “All the colors, the grain, the history. You can see where lightning strikes happened. You can see where floods happened. You can see where it survived windstorms. It’s all written in the wood and it’s a beautiful story. It’s a beautiful story of redemption. So that’s where the name came from: Redemption.”
The name of his business is the name of his mission, “Redemption Mill.” He believes he is saving more than wood.
“I’ve seen a lot in the river,” Carpenter said, struggling to speak through great emotion. “Life and death has become very important to our community lately. And so redemption, you know, I think we have to see the bigger picture, which is we have to think of life in terms of eternity.”
Carpenter and his team are working long hours, committed to creating heirlooms that honor the lost and will become treasures into the future, reminders of the meaning of their name—deliverance.
“The cypress are beautiful. The wood is gorgeous, and our local cypress can be difficult to work with, but it is beautiful,” Carpenter said. “I see it as a heritage. I see it as something that future generations can look back on.”
“We don’t want to forget this moment,” he added. “It’s an ugly moment, but there’s beauty that’s coming out of it and a lot of people are saying we want to see beauty from ashes. We want to see the wood redeemed. We all want see something. I want a memorial.”
Carpenter said he will continue to process wood as long as they are able.
“We have a job to do. God’s made me a woodworker and we have wood, so I would rather see that than it piled up and burned.”
The flood of support, Carpenter said, has been overwhelming to see.
“It was unbelievable from the support system, the food that would show up, the equipment that would show up, the manpower, the counselors,” Carpenter said. “You had the whole, it was like the body of Christ, when scripture talks about the body of Christ, that I can’t say ‘the hand I don’t need you, right?'”
Carpenter said the support was universal, with each giving what they could.
“It was everybody that was doing their giftings,” Carpenter said. “Every single person I talked to felt guilty that they couldn’t do more, and that’s the enemy. It was like an army, like if our military could work that way, no one would even cross us.”
Carpenter said his phone has blown up with both pleas for help and offers of support. He’s returning messages as fast as he is able.
The number to Redemption Mill is 830-370-9132. Their website is: https://redemptionmill.com/.