It's the phone call I get in my nightmares.

"Marie, I'm here at church with the firemen; and it's bad. 

          Real bad. I'm standing in water in the PDO hallway."

It's Tuesday evening. The church has been closed for two days due to the frigid temperatures. It's never easy to make a decision to close the church building. So many people rely on the church to provide a place to gather, to worship, to work, to find warmth, both human and thermal. But on Sunday morning, as the ice accumulated and the temperatures began to drop, we decided to cancel The Open Door service, close the church building after Interfaith Winter Shelter on Monday morning, and follow the school closing schedule for the next few days. Surely we w

ould be back on schedule by Wednesday morning, I thought. No need to worry about the Food Pantry now. (My retrospective apologies to Ann, Mark and the Pantry crew. I should know better that to make assumptions about Indiana weather and school schedules.)

So, again, it's Tuesday evening. I'm on the phone with our IT guy, Michael, and moving to full adrenaline mode. Water. First floor. Firemen.

"Where is coming from?"

"The third floor. Down the walls, out the elevator, through the ceiling. A pipe broke in the Great Hall, they're trying to find the shut off. I've called Erin (our building manager) I think she's on her way." Michael replied.

"Okay, Michael, can you stay there? I can't get out of my driveway. Can you stay there?" "Yeah," he replied, I can stay."

"I'll call you back in a few minutes. Stay there."

God, I need your help. Who do I call? My first call was to our Building Committee chair, Kirk White. He would arrive on the scene within minutes. I called Michael back and talked to the BFD chief. The source of the water was shut off, but gravity was already hard at work moving the water down through the building. I let him know that Kirk was on the way; he knows Chris Cockerham personally and wants to call him in. Former church administrator, Dean Roller, is heading home from his office and sees the firetrucks. Kirk, Chris and Dean. Erin, Michael, and our custodian Luz. Thank you, Lord.

The scene is in good hands. I didn't know it at the time, but angels in fireboots were pushing water towards drains and elevator shafts trying to minimize the damage. There was much that needed to be done that I could do from where I was. Dean guides me as I begin to make the list: insurance agent - make sure to tell them the alarm systems are off line (all the equipment in the second floor communications room is toast...well, wet toast); security monitoring company; cleaning company; fire suppression system technicians; plumbers... Phone calls to service providers peppered with call-waiting beeps as I receive reports from the scene. We need to have security walking through the building tonight. Chris will make the calls and gets a security firm on site.  The Fire Department gets another call and the crew is on their way out of the building. God, keep them safe from harm, bless them and return them safely to their families at shift-end.

The pastors. I need to call the other pastors. First, Stacee, at home with her family.

"What can I do? Should I head down?" she asked. I assured her that those on the scene where buttoning up the building for the night. There is nothing to do now. We'd talk more in the morning.

Next, I need to call Mark. He and Sharon were supposed to have flown out of Indianapolis Sunday evening for a much needed vacation in Ft. Myers, Florida. Two cancelled flights later, they instead made a difficult drive Columbus, Ohio, Monday afternoon where they would stay with their son's family overnight before catching a flight there Tuesday morning. By now, they were just settling in to their Florida digs. I didn't want to make that phone call, but I had no choice.

As I broke the news, Mark's first reaction was to return to the airport. I tried to assure him that, even if he could get home, there wasn't anything that we couldn't handle. I promised to call him in the morning, once we had a better picture of what needed to be done. I know I didn't convince him, but he agreed to stay put for the time being. I knew he would be pestering God with prayer all night.

Wednesday morning I called a taxi to pick me up and deliver me to the church. Scariest ride I've been on in a long, long time. Walking in the PDO entrance, I squish through a thoroughly saturated carpet. The elevator isn't working and as I trudge up the stairs, I hear Erin in the office. She had arrived at 7:00 a.m. By 8:00, several technicians are on the scene assessing the damage and starting to make plans. At some point, Erin and I drag one of the white markerboards into the office where we begin making notes about what needs to happen, what has been accomplished and who we are expecting to arrive next.

As I write this Friday afternoon, much has been accomplished and yet there is still much to be done. Fans and dehumidifiers are working hard to extract the remaining moisture from carpets and drywall. A number of ceiling tiles and light fixtures will have to come down - for cleaning or for replacement. In the process of repairing the damage to the fire sprinkler system (the scene of the original crime), two more frozen areas were detected and thawed before they too burst. Just for good measure, a copper pipe inside a wall in the PDO entrance burst Wednesday evening, allowing the cleaning technicians one more chance to use their giant sucking machines before they move on to the next disaster site.

Before regular activities can resume in the church, several things need to take place. We need to be certain that the affected areas are safe, dry, free from the danger of mold, and clean. Smoke detectors and alarms, electronic security systems, telephones, and the computer network need to be restored. Some will be repaired, some have to be completely replaced. All that will take time. The best estimates we have now suggest it may be January 27th before normal activities can resume. In the meantime, the staff is doing its best to attend to the recovery. Activities are being relocated. Sunday Worship continues.  Pastors and staff continue to attend to the business and ministries of the church. We covet your prayers and are grateful for your kind words and support.

-Marie Lang