As I ran, I could see, as I looked behind me that the water was rapidly rising. I ran faster. The church where I sought refuge was looming ahead, yet, seemed to very far away.
It is always like that in the face of danger. You step into a vacuum of time which seems never ending.
I was finally on the steps to the church. I was so tired from all of this, and, was breathing heavily. I stood there trying to catch my breath, looking down at the waters and the objects floating in it. This was heart wrenching, causing me great grief.
I turned to open the door of the church. They were locked. I had forgotten that in these times, churches are no longer open door institutions. Now what?
I went down the stairs to assess the situation. All of the windows were about 25 feet in the air. I noticed a window at ground level and assumed that it must be the basement. I tried with all of my might to kick the window in, but, it was not working. I could see water was beginning to saturate the ground where I stood. I had never been in the back of the church before, and, went around there, moving quickly.
There was a door there... I tried it; locked... I used my strength to try to kick it in. Nothing, and, I knew I better stop such before I hurt myself. The water was up to my ankles at this moment, here on higher grounds. I looked around and saw that there was a tree with great branches which looked suitable for climbing.
Mind you, I had not climbed a tree since I was a pre-teen, and, it was not as easy to do as I remembered. I looked for anything to hold onto on the trunk of the tree to aid in my climb. There was nothing. I jumped as high as I could, it was not high enough to reach the first branch.
The water was becoming deeper and quicker to rise. I needed to do something, now....
I decided to go back to the front of the church as the stairway was quite high. Of course, I knew that it would not be high enough should the water continue to rise. I was running out of time and options. I was nearly panicking.
Going back to the front, I heard someone call to me. I looked and there was a priest. He had heard me trying to get in and had opened the door for me. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord.
I ran back as quickly as I could. We got into the doors, and, closed them. I thanked the priest for coming to my rescue. He acknowledged that I had frightened him, but, that it was a good thing, as, I in turn had unwittingly alerted him of the danger at hand. He asked what had happened and I told him...
He told me to follow him. We were at the stairway to the tower of the church. Up and up we went. There was a screened area at the top of the steeple where the bell of the church hung, and, there were stairs there for repairing the bell. We came to the highest step, and, looked out all about us. There was much water, bearing floating objects and people, everywhere we looked.
I told the priest that I felt the need to help some of those people. He told me that it was in God's hands now. I knew that he had spoken the truth, but, in my soul I was dreading the outcome for those poor people...
More to come....
It is always like that in the face of danger. You step into a vacuum of time which seems never ending.
I was finally on the steps to the church. I was so tired from all of this, and, was breathing heavily. I stood there trying to catch my breath, looking down at the waters and the objects floating in it. This was heart wrenching, causing me great grief.
I turned to open the door of the church. They were locked. I had forgotten that in these times, churches are no longer open door institutions. Now what?
I went down the stairs to assess the situation. All of the windows were about 25 feet in the air. I noticed a window at ground level and assumed that it must be the basement. I tried with all of my might to kick the window in, but, it was not working. I could see water was beginning to saturate the ground where I stood. I had never been in the back of the church before, and, went around there, moving quickly.
There was a door there... I tried it; locked... I used my strength to try to kick it in. Nothing, and, I knew I better stop such before I hurt myself. The water was up to my ankles at this moment, here on higher grounds. I looked around and saw that there was a tree with great branches which looked suitable for climbing.
Mind you, I had not climbed a tree since I was a pre-teen, and, it was not as easy to do as I remembered. I looked for anything to hold onto on the trunk of the tree to aid in my climb. There was nothing. I jumped as high as I could, it was not high enough to reach the first branch.
The water was becoming deeper and quicker to rise. I needed to do something, now....
I decided to go back to the front of the church as the stairway was quite high. Of course, I knew that it would not be high enough should the water continue to rise. I was running out of time and options. I was nearly panicking.
Going back to the front, I heard someone call to me. I looked and there was a priest. He had heard me trying to get in and had opened the door for me. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord.
I ran back as quickly as I could. We got into the doors, and, closed them. I thanked the priest for coming to my rescue. He acknowledged that I had frightened him, but, that it was a good thing, as, I in turn had unwittingly alerted him of the danger at hand. He asked what had happened and I told him...
He told me to follow him. We were at the stairway to the tower of the church. Up and up we went. There was a screened area at the top of the steeple where the bell of the church hung, and, there were stairs there for repairing the bell. We came to the highest step, and, looked out all about us. There was much water, bearing floating objects and people, everywhere we looked.
I told the priest that I felt the need to help some of those people. He told me that it was in God's hands now. I knew that he had spoken the truth, but, in my soul I was dreading the outcome for those poor people...
More to come....
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