Saved by a Book

A few months ago, in October or November, I woke up to find pieces of plaster on my bedroom floor. From what I could see, my ceiling and wall were intact. My sister came in and looked around, everything was fine. We shrugged it off and when I had the chance, I vacuumed it up.

Fast forward to last Sunday afternoon. I was putting things that belonged to my grandparents away in my cedar chest when I find a hole in the wall, in between it and my little bookshelf! Now how did that get there? I wondered to myself. Had I done something and not realized it? Maybe slept walked and did some damage? Immediately the mystery of the plaster on my floor had been solved, but not how that hole ended up there. I went to tell my parents and the whole family came up to inspect it.

First Mom wondered if it a woodpecker had made it and I was thinking termites. Dad said that a woodpecker couldn’t have penetrated the siding and that termites don’t leave such a precise hole. He was convinced that something, like a shell had come straight through, but we couldn’t find any shells. From the way the hole was angled, we figured out that it went through the bookcase.

I moved my books and there was little hole in the back of my bookcase and a smashed up slug, the kind used for hunting deer! Then looking at my books, one of my favorites, “Winter is Past,” by Ruth Axtell Morren, is a little smashed up and discolored. Now I can literally say that her book left a lasting impact on me, in my ways in one. And it saved my life.

From what we come up with, by the way the hole is positioned; it was from a shotgun some two hundred feet away (just an estimate). And it happened while I was sleeping in my bed, directly across the room.

Naturally, I give thanks to God and credit Him as the One who truly protected me. It really brings things into perspective for me. Despite all of my doubts and confusion about life, He has a plan.

The hole in the wall will be eventually repaired, but I’m keeping my bookshelf as is. The book will be cherished always and that shell will be saved too.