To Love the Rain

Chapter Nine

The abandoned church was built sometime in the middle 1800's, right when Novato was first settled. It was a place of worship, as holy to the townspeople as the Bible itself. My mom used to tell me stories of her parents taking her there when she was younger- stories about laughter and days in the sun with friends after youth groups, and about the great, kaleidoscopic window. The window, she had told me, was where she could see God in all His glory.

Unfortunately, sometime in the past 50 years, the town had commissioned a new church, and the old one was left to rot because nobody really wanted to tear it down either. And now, it sat, forlorn and abandoned, underneath the featherlight rains and the slowly moving clouds.

Compelled by a strange, yet familiar bubbling inside my gut, I moved towards the abandoned church, feeling high on hope.

What if God wanted me to clean up His old House?

What if that was why he brought me to this hill?

Oh!

What if this was a part of his test all along!

I had failed the first part of his test- I had cursed, and blasphemed and done every single thing wrong in the Holy Bible. But it wasn't too late- because that was the kindness of God! All I needed to do was to go clean up the abandoned church, and both admit and atone to my sins! I didn't really remember much about Bible study groups my mom forced me to go to when I was younger, or much about God's testaments and rules either. All I had to work with was the notion that God was good and kind and almighty, and I would honor both Him and Ben in my actions from this day forth.

That way, I could be saved.

Feeling an excited smile break upon my lips, I practically skipped to the church.

On the outside, the church had looked like any other old building. The walls, once pure white and gleaming with faith and love for The Lord, had discolored from the war with time, and now glared a pale, squeamish yellow. Mossy ferns covered every crook and cranny, every potential suitor for the plant to grow in, and the entire building looked like an external greenhouse. A great window, round and intriguing with its intricate, floral like patterns, stood upon a tower that was attached to the building.

Could that be...?

When I finally reached the doorsteps of the building, the rains had let up. The clouds, so gray and dreary before, lessened to a glorious white and the joyful rays of the sun could be seen peeking out behind them. Even the winter chills had stopped their unrelenting war of attrition, and I also stopped shivering. I was practically giddy with a sense of validation and excitement- God had answered me already!

For once, it wasn't freaking raining!

Oh, sorry.

I meant, for once- it wasn't raining!

Thank You! I thought fiercely; I was smiling so wide my cheeks hurt.

Thank You so much!

Repeating my new mantra inside my head, I stepped inside the church.

The inside of the church looked just as, or if not more abandoned than the outside of the building. Dust, and the residuals of an era long gone by covered the floors and the wooden benches that lined up in rows. The chairs themselves looked like they've been dragged through a warzone as well, and the cracks in the wood weren't exactly pretty to look at either. I had entered a room I had assumed would be the mass room, in which every Christian family came under God's roof on Sunday mornings to attend service. A small podium stood at the front of the room, and right above it, the great window that had struck me with wonder from the outside looking in.