The building and its facilities had not been
kept up by management. The fifty-room, five story complex was dilapidated. The
cast of renters had become quite unsafe too. Among the cast of undesirables
were thieves, gang members, prostitutes, predators, and druggies.
Only Sadieann and her younger sister, Elizabeth,
could help with this moving project today. Her husband and brother-in-law were
on a fishing trip in Kentucky. Her younger brother Chase lived close by, but wouldn’t
come over to help until her parents and Elizabeth got the news he was too
scared to tell them. Sadieann would have to once again clean up her brother’s
mess.
Since Sadieann was closest to Chase, three
days ago he’d come out and told her he had been a closet homosexual since high
school. Soon he and his partner would be moving in together. Sadieann wondered
why her life had been a constant pattern of fixing Chase’s problems.
Sadieann had raised Chase and her sister from
a young age when her mother had gone to work. She felt maternal towards both of
her siblings. Chase had been raised with the same kind of standards as she and Elizabeth,
but he was so completely different than his sisters. His news could possibly
split their family apart. Her question was, “Did God care about her family?
Maybe when Sadieann searched her memories she
could see the signs of Chase being different were always there. Maybe she
should have been more observant. Chase enjoyed being around others guys. She
rarely saw him dating girls.
Once the moving trucks were loaded, Sadieann
wondered if her parents would be okay with this as they had become friends with
many of the residents in their building. Once the truth came out about Chase,
Dad would revert to his old habits by screaming or cursing, and telling the family
that he no longer had a son. Mom would cry, and ask where they’d gone wrong as
parents. Sadieann wished her husband was there to support her with what could
happen soon.
Just as everyone was getting ready to leave, Sadieann
noticed a distant bright fireball getting larger and headed right for them. Sadieann
thought it had to be a meteor, asteroid, or something like that. Sadieann’s Dad
and sister Elizabeth quickly drove away. Her mother was in some kind of trance
for a few minutes. She was frozen like a pillar of salt. Once Sadieann desperately
smacked her mother hard across the face, she came out of her state of shock.
They drove away seconds before the huge ball of fire hit the apartment
incinerating it to nothing.
Sadieann whispered a prayer of relief,
“Thanks you God, for your protection.”[i]
BIBLICAL
INSPIRATION:
12 The two men said to Lot, “Are there any other people from your family living in this city? Do you have any sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or any other people from your family here? If so, you should tell them to leave now. 13 We are going to destroy this city. The Lord heard how evil this city is, so he sent us to destroy it.”
14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, the men who had married his other daughters. He said, “Hurry and leave this city! The Lord will soon destroy it!” But they thought he was joking.
15 The next morning at dawn, the angels were trying to make Lot hurry. They said, “This city will be punished, so take your wife and your two daughters who are still with you and leave this place. Then you will not be destroyed with the city.”
16 When Lot did not move fast enough, the two men grabbed his hand. They also took the hands of his wife and his two daughters. The two men led Lot and his family safely out of the city. The Lord was kind to Lot and his family. 17 So after the two men brought Lot and his family out of the city, one of the men said, “Now run to save your life! Don’t look back at the city, and don’t stop anywhere in the valley. Run until you are in the mountains. If you stop, you will be destroyed with the city!”
18 But Lot said to the two men, “Sirs, please don’t force me to run so far! 19 You have been very kind to me, your servant. You have been very kind to save me, but I cannot run all the way to the mountains. What if I am too slow and something happens? I will be killed! 20 Look, there is a very small town near here. Let me run to that town. I can run there and be safe.”
21 The angel said to Lot, “Very well, I’ll let you do that. I will not destroy that town. 22 But run there quickly. I cannot destroy Sodom until you are safely in that town.” (That town is named Zoar, because it is a small town.)
23 Lot was entering the town as the sun came up, 24 and the Lord began to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. He caused fire and burning sulfur to fall from the sky. 25 He destroyed the whole valley—all the cities, the people living in the cities, and all the plants in the valley.
26 Lot’s wife was following behind him and looked back at the city. When she did, she became a block of salt. (Genesis 19:12-26)
BIBLICAL
PARTICIPANTS:
Lot, his unnamed wife, and unnamed daughters
[i] Adapted from the 2011 America Star book, All for One: the Towns of Ohio Complete Trilogy by Robert A. Kinker, part two (“They’re Just Like Us”), chapter twenty-two. All scripture is from the Easy-to-Read Version (ERV) of the Bible.
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