Saturday, November 1, 2008

The Alarm Sounds


Sounds like the title of a good book, huh? Well, not today.

I was heading for the library which is right next to our church. Dave is a ministry leader and asked me to drop something off for him. This way, he did not need to run back out there before the 5pm Mass. After all, today is the Georgia-Florida game. Enough said. :-)

I spent some time at the library choosing my books and enjoying the peace and quiet. I glanced over to the church and saw no cars in the parking lot at all. My feeling was the building was locked so why bother to check it out.

I briefly considered just telling Dave it was locked and I couldn't get in but decided that wouldn't be very nice.

So, I headed over to the building just to see. I approached the front doors only to see them boarded up. Well, it appeared that way. Really, they just removed the glass from the doors in preparation for new glass to be delivered. Okay. No problem.

I pulled on the door handle and, to my surprise, it opened. I walked in thinking, hmmm, I am surprised the building is open. After all, just anyone could walk in here. Like me.

As I am thinking this, I became aware of a beeping sound in the background. Uh oh. The alarm. I just triggered the alarm. How?? The door was open.

I quickly made my exit to try and figure out what to do next. When I reached the sidewalk, I could hear the alarm sounding within the church. Great. Now what? Do I wait for the police and try to explain that I really was NOT trying to break into the building?

I looked over at the rectory and saw that Father Dan's car was in his driveway. Yes! I started running for his house. His car door was open which made me wonder what his plans were. As I am running toward him, he exited his house and got in the car. Wait! Don't drive away!!

I explained to him what had happened. I really didn't try to break in. The door was open. Help! He drove to the building and shut off the alarm. We decided that the last person there must have set the alarm but not verified the door was completely closed. He said they've had this problem before.....hence the reason for new doors arriving next week.

Whew. My heart was still racing. We dropped off Dave's paperwork in the sacristy and left the building. I am very thankful Father Dan was home.

As it turns out, Father Dan was heading for the trails to take his dog for a walk. He had returned home very quickly just to retrieve his cell phone. Come to think of it, his car was not in his driveway when I first went into the church. He arrived home just as I needed him.

So instead of being in jail for breaking and entering my own church, we are sitting here watching football while dinner cooks in the crock pot.

2 comments:

Ashley and Mike said...

Kristen,

This is hilarious! Think about how funny it would have been (now, not then) if the police did come. Oh maybe it would have been hubs because he worked today. We could have laughed about that for years!

You go to my step-dad's church. Pa (Jack) who lives with us goes every single Sunday and stops by almost every weekday. I wish I would have realized this sooner, because he just had a special mass and floral arrangement for the October 4th mass in honor of the one year anniversary of my mom's passing. He had big bouquets of pink roses that were stunning up on the alter. The program also said that the mass was in memory of Ellen Miller Jackline. He was so thrilled and is still talking about how special it was.

Sounds like you go on Saturday night, but I will have to have him keep an eye our for you guys. Everyone refers to him as "Dr. Jack" if you see him around.

I really need to go with him one weeend. I grew up Presbyterian and my hubs is semi-Baptist, both going to huge churches. We have been trying out a couple churches, but have not found one we are 100% in love with. I like going to Faith Lutheran because that is where Harrison goes to school and they have been wonderful to us. When my mom was sick, the Pastor came over several times to talk with her and he did her funeral. They are really special people. Mike likes the big PTC Christian Church. So, we just church hop.

So sorry that we have not been able to meet up. We have literally been jerked around with our other house. We get a call that someone wants to rent it, run around trying to pack it up, and then they cancel at the last minute. Mike is about to go on night shift so that will make meeting up on the weekends a bit easier hopefully.

Oh, and I am totally trick-or-treating at your neighborhood next year.

Ashley

wingepr said...

Hey
I needed a good laugh before turning into bed.

Glad they didnt haul you off to jail.