So last night was probably the craziest night of our internship at Grace. We had a High School Senior Barbecue, and left a little after the official ending time because Eric was working at 5 am this morning. I figured we’d get to bed by 9 so he could get enough sleep. We got to the church at 8:30pm to unload everything from the barbecue. As we were unloading at the north entrance of the church, a tall young haole (haole means white in Hawaiian ~eric) guy with dreadlocks walked in the door. I was in the kitchen unloading so didn’t see him, but Eric said “Hey” and he said “hey” back. We knew there was a youth group from another church staying at Grace last night, so at first thought he must be with that group.
But a couple minutes later, we thought we should double check and make sure he was with the group. We walked down the hallway, and saw a shadow of someone darting down another hallway. We headed that direction, and noticed a box of cookies dumped out on the ground. We saw the door to the gym closing, but no lights being turned on. We got pretty suspicious, so went to our office to get the phone number for Josh, the custodian on duty that night. He was on break at a friend’s house, but said that guy didn’t match the description of anyone with the youth group. He said he’d be there in two minutes so we walked down toward the lobby to meet him.
As we approached the lobby, we heard the voice of Mark Buck, one of our pastors. At first we were relieved, thinking he was talking to the guy, but when we walked into the lobby, everything changed. We realized Mark was on a cell phone, and was shocked to see us, and the big glass front door was shattered! Mark told us to stay there with him, and says “there’s two more people in the building, they’re with me.” Then three police officers come running in with guns drawn!
It turns out, while we were in our office, “Dread Head Fred” (as he’s been nick-named) smashed the glass door at the west entrance. Mark was in his office on the second floor, heard the crash and came out to look over the balcony. He saw the guy looking around, and in his big, deep, Texan voice yelled “HEY!” “Fred” freaked out and practically flew down the steps toward the basement classrooms. Mark immediately called 911. The police were there within 90 seconds. The police helicopter was circling overhead, they brought a dog to search the building, it was crazy!
He got out of the building before they sealed it off and searched it, but we could see how God protected us all and worked everything out perfectly. I’m very suspicious, and probably would have questioned the guy immediately if I had been the one to see him come in. If he was on drugs, it’s quite possible he would have responded violently. The youth group staying there was still at Acquire the Fire, so wasn’t in the building. Mark was able to tell the dispatcher we were in the building with him so the police found out right before they came in, otherwise we probably would have ended up on the ground with guns pointed at us! Also, by going to our office to call Josh, we didn’t have a confrontation with the guy.
All in all, it was quite an adventure. I learned Mark Buck is quite the comedian, and the Auburn police are incredibly quick in their response time. I also learned why Eric wants me to drive to and from my girls’ Bible Study at night, even though we live less than a block from the church. Poor Eric got almost no sleep before work (we were at the church until 11 and then hyped up after). He is also the only one who saw the guy’s face, though hopefully the security camera got him. We praise and thank God for His protection of everyone involved, including “Fred”, and hopes he gets some help.
