An "Only Sarah" Story

This evening I was sitting in my apartment rather bored. I thought I need to call Tia and hang out. So we make plans to head to her place and hang out. There were some other random people there and her dad build us a wonderful bonfire to sit and chat around.

We sat there for quite some time sharing stories about the different camps we had all been to and the things God did during those weeks. Around 11:30 or so Tia decides it is time for a good roof sitting party. I was a bit nervous when she told me I had to climb a TV antennae since I had just tripped on the gutter. I climbed up anyway. (Don't tell my ankle doctor!)

Three of us were on the house sitting when we noticed a call pull up. At first I thought they were going to ask for directions but the man gets out of the car. I realize pretty quickly it's a cop. Tia and her sister head over to talk with him and another friend informs the two of us on the roof we should get down.

I'm thinking, "Great, we are too loud and someone called the cops on us. Fantastic. Here I thought we were being pretty quiet. Well, except for when I tripped over the gutter." We get down only to hear the officer tell us we need to go inside and lock the doors. Evidently the video store behind the house was robbed at gun point and the man fled on foot by the house.

So we head inside and lock the door. But first Tia runs out the back door to find out what the screaming in the back ways. However, the cops shined her down with a flashlight and she took off running back in the house. Here we are chilling in the living room watching out the window when the cops come running by with dogs, which appeared to be following a scent they did not like.

We finally decided we should wake up Tia's parents in case the police wanted to ask questions or come inside. Good thing we did because not long after the police were at the door asking what we saw or heard. We weren't much help though. We watched them search the area some more. Tia got pretty angry when one of the dogs urinated on their mailbox. We probably should have found a safer place than by an uncovered window, but we were content.

Even after the police had cleared the area we said inside and let our imaginations run wild with what if's. What if we had gone to the roof about ten minutes earlier? Would we have seen the whole thing? What if our friend Sarah would have shown up ten minutes earlier to the house? Would he have run right by her? What if we would have gone to rent a movie like we talked about? What if the guy was under our cars? What if he would have stolen the cars? What if he would have demanded to hide in the house? Our imaginations soared and we laughed at the whole thing. All while being amazed at how timing is everything and God protected us.

These are the types of stories I love to tell when I go home because people can't believe it actually happens. These are the stories I tell and then are immediately asked if I ever get scared living and teaching in South Bend.

Truth be told I'm not scared. After all I am the one that ran out of my apartment to chase the two punks who were trying to break into my car. These things make for great stories and we'll share the memories for years to come. As my family would say, "Only you, Sarah. Only you."