The Big One

Trigger warned us of the Big One about 30 minutes before it hit. We had noticed that before any of the mild earthquakes, such as we get weekly, he would act a little strange. Well this time he went berserk. We knew that the sixth seal would be the biggest earthquake to ever hit the earth so we knew this must be it. We rushed into the Pad and drug out what was left of our supplies. We drew up water and got all our containers full. We took down the tent and packed everything away. We moved out into the open field and laid down. Trigger followed us and paced back and forth and round and round. When he stopped and seemed to suddenly brace himself we embraced each other and started to pray. It hit with incredible force. The Pad collapsed immediately and completely. We were rocked violently back and forth and had we been on our feet would not have been for long. The food barrels fell over and began to roll three feet one way and then three the other. Trigger fell over onto his side and was sliding back and forth on the damp grass. It lasted for about 30 minutes. When the shaking stopped we remained down knowing after shocks would come and they did. All day we spent in that field under a cloudy sky enduring the after shocks. We snacked between quakes and decided to set our tent up out in the open away from trees even though they had shed most of their limbs due to the shaking.
We have come to town to blog and to check on things after the quake. Horse back, or major 4 wheel drive, is the best way to travel right now. We have waited these two weeks to let things settle down. The sky is always dark and the sun can barely be seen during the day. The radio said that seven major volcanoes erupted at the same time when the quake hit. Air planes are having to fly at very low altitudes because of the ash in the upper atmosphere.
We are not currently afraid of people and of going to town for there are not many people left anyway. We go to town and see about things and talk to friends whether they are “S's” or not. We are not outspoken about our faith but we are not silent either. We don't feel persecuted so much but our move to the Pad was a form of self protection. Town was about what we expected. All houses and buildings were severely damaged and some completely. In two weeks they have cleared the roads and put up a lot of temporary shelters. We were surprised that the stores have reopened and the electricity was back on. We did have a hard time finding Internet access and have had to drop our guard a bit just to get this blog posted. There are water trucks available for drinking water and most people are still without running water to which we say “welcome to the club.” People were being asked to show the Mark to get water from the truck so we stayed away. We are headed to the rendezvous point for surely this quake has made believers out of some. We went to where we could see our old house and it was in shambles. I'll let you know next time what we found at the rendezvous. God blessed us with a sack of groceries today. Someone on an overloaded bicycle dropped it and rode off without it. We saw this from a half mile away. When we got to it he was long gone. We thanked God for it and asked Him to bless the one who lost it. (Revelation 6:12-17)