The "Rat" in the attic
Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!
The “Rat” in the attic
I have been a hospice volunteer for a few years now. Off and on I have heard a reference from the nurses about a rat in the attic. That was always the reason why they would never go up there. If they needed anything to be put up there or taken down, they would call the maintenance manager. The maintenance manager was a little Vietnamese man of the age of about seventy.
That particular evening, one of the nurses mentioned about putting something in the attic. I was not very busy, so I informed them that I could take it up there. They quickly told me that the maintenance manager would do it tomorrow. Again I overheard them referring to the rat in the attic.
I got a little curious, plus a little stupid, and I have never been up there before, so I decided to walk up there just to have a look around. After a little while, when the nurses got busy and were not looking for me, I sneaked up the stairway.
I got up the stairs, opened the door, and slipped inside. Just as soon as the door closed behind me I felt troubled. I had the flashlight on my cell phone on and it illuminated the attic fairly well. But it was a large attic and the back of it was still dark.
I looked around with the flashlight. The attic was mostly empty, with just some things along the walls close to the door. As I was slowly feeling more nervous, I think that the maintenance man was smarter than I thought.
I slowly started to leave the door area and started to walk towards the middle. Then the more I walked the worse I felt. I have a feeling of cold dread! The further that I left the door, the more intense the feeling of dread that I felt!
I quickly concluded that there was not a rat up here but an evil presence of some kind! That’s when I got really frightened! But I decided to sally forth into the evil void! My stupidity is sometimes shocking.
After a little pause to build up my nerve, I started walking again towards the middle of the attic again. I walked slow and steady repeating out loud, “In the Name of Jesus!” That helped out a little, but not much.
When I got to the middle, I was surrounded by the light of my little flashlight. The feeling of evil dread was now overwhelming! I could now sense that the evil presence was located at the far end of the attic in the left corner. I don’t know how I could sense this, but I could. Maybe it’s a spiritual gift.
The feeling of dread was now so intense that I couldn’t walk any further. I was standing in the middle of the attic frozen like a statue. I couldn’t move! The evil presence was there, and it seemed like it was staring at me! I could sense that it didn’t want me up there. It didn’t want anyone up there!
I then heard a voice in my head saying, “What are you doing up here?” and “You shouldn’t be up here!” This was the voice of God speaking to me. Certainly words of wisdom!
I slowly started to back up. I didn’t want to turn my back on that evil presence, that demon. I slowly walked backwards. I eventually got to the door to the stairway. When I got to about five feet away I made a run for it. Opened the door and ran down to the second floor. I now felt safe!
I spent a few minutes leaning against the wall, sweating, and trying to learn this important life lesson. The nurses knew all about this evil demon in the attic. They referred to it as a “rat’ so that the hospice patients and family members would not overhear and become frightened.
I had learned some of the wisdom of our hospice nurses and how they communicated things. I was learning some of those lessons the hard way.[1]
William James Roop, M.A.B.S.
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