Running Free In Heartland

The Floor of My Church Collapsed!!!

I don't know how many of you heard, or how far the story has spread, but on Friday night , during a Starfield concert, a part of the floor in our santuary collapsed, bring down with it a number of people. But, I am getting ahead of myself, please allow me to share with you ,from the beginning, what happened.

So, , my sister and I were  meeting one of my friends about an hour before the concert, cause we wanted to carpool with her so we wouldn't have trouble finding each other in the crowed. So, we left a little bit before 6:30, and drove down. As we  were pulling into our church parking lot, my friend and I got super excited for we could see Starfield's, Bethany Dillion, and Shane and Shane's trailers. I hadn't really dawned on us until that moment that we actually had a famous christian rock band at our church! Pretty soon after, we saw the HUGE line up of people waiting to get in, and thankfully we didn't have a hard time finding some of our other girl friends. So, we stood around for a bit, and at one point, we saw one of our guy friends and so at different times we went over to say hi. When I went, as he saw me he smiled, waved, and said hi to me.I just waved and went over to see him. We talked a bit, and kept walking with him until we were getting near the door, and then my friend, who I went with, and I decided we should go back, cause we didn't want to budge again(for we had already done it once when we found some of our girl friends).  Our other friend said that we should just come, but we decided to go back.

Eventually we got in, and it felt so weird, cause the whole look and vibe in the church, made it not really feel like out church. As we were going up to the balcony of our church, we noticed that one of our other good friends,was selling t-shirts and c.d.s, so we went back down to give her a hug and say hi. Then we decided to sit down, but there wasn't really enough room for us all, so we were kind of looking for somewhere else to sit, and while we were looking, some of my other friends, who were with us, as well as my sister found our guy friend again and his friends, and they made room for us to sit!It was so nice of our guy friend, too, cause he moved down so that he was sitting near us. After a couple minutes I said to him, "Are you sure you don't want to sit with your other friends?" and he replied, "You guys are my friends, too." along with some other things, but I just thought that was so nice. Then we talked for a bit, messed with one of our friend's mind, and just had a good time together while we were waiting for the concert to start. It was kind of funny too, cause my guy friend's guy friends, who he had come with, were making fun of him, since he was sitting near a bunch of girls, but he sat with us anyways. Eventually the concert started, and he first one up was Bethany Dillion. We listened to her, and while she was performing, one of my amazing youth leaders came in. I went over to say hi to her and give her a hug, and then I decided to go out and talk to my friend, who was selling t-shirts and cds, about something. A couple minutes later, I went back in and we listened to Bethany Dillion, and later Shane and Shane came up to perform. They were really amazing and interesting to listen ,too, and one of the Shanes spoke about how God sometimes puts firey furnaces in our lives, and that even through them we need to stay strong in our faith. He also said that there may be some of us in one of those firey furnaces right then, but that if not, there was definitely one coming. Then after, the guest speaker, David Nasser, came up and helped some christians, who were seeing Jesus as more of a religious figure than their Saviour,re-transform. A number of people were transformed, and all of my friends and I could see how powerful God was being there. After David Nasser had finished his sermon, he got some people from World Vision to hand out pictures and some information about children in third-world-countries, who's parents couldn't provide food for them. He got us to pray for the one we were handed, and after everyone prayed, he said that if anyone wanted to, they could sponser the child. Some of my girls and I decided that we wanted to sponser the little boy we had been handed a picture of, and I told our guy friend that we were going to sponser him. He said that he would have liked to sponser the little boy, and I told him that if he wanted to he could sponser him with us. And, he smiled and said "Really?!" and I said "Yeah!". So together we are all sponsering a child!After we went back in to our seats, pretty soon after, Starfield finally came up, and started their part of the concert. It was so cool,  cause they had great music, and the lights made it even more fun and amazing. Tons of people went up near the stage, and I wanted to, but since none of my other friends went up, I decided not too. Then some of my girl friends went up, and I turned to my guy friend and said to him "Do you want to go down there?" and he said "Do you want too?" and I said "Yeah". So him and I went down, and eventually my sister and the friend we came with, came down too. We were all so excited, and my friend, who was working there, and I were saying that the lead singer was "RIGHT THERE". The first song they sang was their amazing song "Hosanna" and then they started to sing their first track of the "I Will Go" album, and as they were like 1/4 or 1/2 through it, the metal beam holding lights and speakers, came down, and  people were jumping to the song, and I can't remember if it was after, or if it was at the same time, but pretty soon after the floor beneath the people jumping collapsed!! Sadly, before it had collapsed, the lead singer of the band had yelled for everyone to stop jumping, but it was too late. It was like some awful event from a movie; it was as though the metal beam came down in slow motion. And, in my eyes, a couple seconds after the beam fell, the floor collapsed. 

After it fell, I looked back at my guy friend and my sister, but they were already starting to leave, then I turned to my otherside, and one of my other girl friends was there,and she was already crying. We all had to evacuate the building, so my sister and I(after I found her again) went back into the room to quickly grab our things. Then we went outside. By then, many of my friends were crying, out of fear and shock, and I started to cry too. All of my friends and I went around and gave each other hugs, and comforted one another. Then my guy friends little sister came out with one of her other friends, and she was sooooo upset. He quickly went over to her, and we all prayed together for the ones still inside. Then we slowly realized, that all of our guy friend's friends were in there, and he was pretty sure they had fallen along with one of our friends, who didn't go to the concert, was there, and we hadn't seen him since. Eventually, my guy friend told his sister that they should go home, so he phoned his dad, and I phoned my mom and him, his sister, my sister,and I all walked over to a near by gas station to wait for our parents to pick us up. It was smart of him too, cause their were so many rescue vehicles, other cars, and people around, that it would have been REALLY hard for our parents to find us.  So, we went to the gas station,and it was so nice, cause these two girls came over to us and asked if we needed to barrow a phone, get a ride, or anything. And, after we told her that our parents were coming for us, we all held hands and prayed. My guy friend and his sister left pretty soon after, and pretty soon after he left my mom came and got us.

Everything that happened that night, really scared and shocked many. Praise God ,though, for he was so evident there that night, and even though it was a really hard fall for everyone who went down with the floor, not one died,and most of the injuries are just minor ones. There is one lady, though, that hurt her spinal cord, so along with the others injured, we really need to pray for her.

Starfield was also really amazing when all this happened. Some rock stars whould have probably just fled the scene, but these guys all stuck around and helped people out of the hole. The lead singer even went down the hole to help people!They have such big hearts!God bless each and every one of them!

I am so glad that no one died, and that all of my friends are physically fine. Many of us are still in shock,and many of us, some more thatn others and at different levels, are emotionally injured. It was really hard on everyone, and we would all really appreciate your prayers. God be with you all!

Sarah

P.S. Also, here is a picture of the hole in our church.

As you have probably already noticed, the seat is holding up the metal beam. One of our pastors said that God sent his angels and they were holding the seat and metal beam up. If the puew(seat) had fallen, so would have the metal beam, and it would have killed many. I totally believe and know that what the pastor said was completely and undoubtingly true. Praise God's name!

Also, another comment I almost forgot to make was that even through this hard time. God has kept us all strong in our faith, brought us all so close to him and to one another, and has helped us to still praise his name. The community has also really come together, and one of the colleges is allowing the church to hold our services in their gym. God is SOOOOO amazing.