The Church of Refuge

They all lived together in a small church up on a hill, hidden away in a valley, covered in vines and weeping willows deep in Southern California. The church had not been occupied in several years.   Pastor Cory and his congregation had re-located to a much larger building in the city and never decided what to do with the church in the valley.

When the war began it started in Eastern Europe when the presidents in Romania and Russia had a disagreement about fuel with the U.S president. They declared war and it quickly escalated with the countries and their allies. The war remained over seas for a couple years, with times becoming more and more difficult in the states. There was, of course a very huge fuel shortage and the cost of fuel shot up to twenty dollars a gallon. The government issued rations according to every state. There was also shortages on food because farmers could no longer use tractors and other farm equipment that used fuel. Businesses closed all over the nation and the economy went down so much people were comparing it to the Great Depression.

Men were called into the army and military, the National and the Marines. 

They grew a vegetable garden and kept chickens and a couple cows to feed everyone and were living off the land but also had cell phones, running water and electricity.

There were one hundred and thirty four and counting. Almost overnight  little church had turned into a refuge for families who had no where to go. Each family had a small room to themselves with beds and mattresses. The families were all housed in the basement and the ladies who were by themselves were on the second floor and the bachelors on the third.

Because there were so many people with more coming every week we had meal times rotate. The families would eat first and then the other two floors. In March the men began building on to the housing sections so that no one would be turned away.

 It had become a safehouse from the chaotic times that the world was dealing with.

While the men worked on making the living quarters larger the women gardened and cooked, many learning how to bake bread, pies and cakes all from scratch.

It seemed as if the entire world was at war. Some said it was the Tribulation that Revelation talks about in the bible, others say it's just another war and it will pass.

It had started in March 2017. Our house was destroyed. Along with millions of others. All over the country there was disease and famine due to the global war. Then we found a church hidden in Arcadia.

 This is where Pastor Cory started his ministry.

He welcomed them all with open arms and they quickly became a family, the grief and devastation bringing us together.

There were people from every walk of life here. A doctor, a musician, lawyers, full size families, a single dad, several single mothers  and a electrician, sent from God Himself after being without electricity for months. 

They worked together to keep the place as comfortable ,  especially for the elders and the babies. 

There had been a storage full of blankets, clothing and canned goods. The men went out each week to rescue more people and to bring supplies back.

 No one knew how long it would be safe or what to expect next from the war, but they did know that for now they were safe and had a lot to be thankful for.

The devastation was beyond repair in some places. Everyday we would hear of more people dying by the thousands. 

The summer was fairly easy to get through because they weren't cramped up inside and were able to go outside and play and take.The younger women set up a classroom for the school age kids and had daily classes. They each took turns teaching and watching the babies. It was a new experience for everyone and considering what was happening all around, the majority had adjusted well

The kids were blissfully unaware to the devastation that was taking place all around us. Although the group was living inside a church they tried to keep a sense of normalcy. 

Author's Note

still researching and deciding on much more detail. hoping that I can put this together as a novel...

Reviews

[.quan.011.]

The title sounds interesting and picture looks nice. I can't to read an actually chapter.

[Mystik]

For some reason I had to change it from "book" to "story".

[Paul R]

You do a great job creating an image in the readers mind and your writing flows naturally. I think if you worked more on the technical aspects, this piece may be even more powerful. Specifically, try going back and polishing each sentence on it's own ... deconstruct then reconstruct it to see if you can make it more impactful. Be economical with your words ... each one should contribute something meaningful ... I noticed a couple sentences where words were wasted - if you took them out, the meaning of the sentence would not change and it would flow better.

Example: "Our house was destroyed. Along with literally millions of others" In this sentence you could remove the word 'literally' and you'd have an equally (if not more) effective sentence.

Example: "We worked together to keep the place as comfortable as possible, most especially for the elders and the babies." You could polish this sentence by removing 'as possible' and/or 'most' as the full meaning of the sentence is not changed without them ...

"We worked together to keep the place comfortable, especially for the elders the babies"

[Mystik]

Thank you. I appreciate that very much :)