The Visit

The sounds of worship music filled the sanctuary as the youth group band played, and the teenagers sang along with the music. Karen stood in the back of the sanctuary leaning against the wall, her eyes closed as she sang along. Suddenly a feeling of something not quite right came over her, so she opened her eyes and looked around. Taking a good look around Karen saw nothing out of the ordinary. A quick count showed all the teens were where they had been and the adult leaders were still in the sanctuary as well.

The feeling of something not as it should be made Karen walk out of the sanctuary into the café and entryway areas. Looking around, everything seemed okay. She walked over to the doors and looked out then walked toward the kitchen glancing into the sanctuary to see if anything was amiss in there. As she got close to the kitchen, a chill ran down her spine causing her to cross her arms in front of her body. She thought maybe the window in the kitchen was open, but then every hair on her arms and the back of her neck rose and a creepy feeling overcame her.

Taking another look around the room to see if she could pinpoint why she was feeling this way, Karen’s eyes were drawn to a shadow in the corner of the room. She glanced past it at first but her eyes were drawn back toward it. The shadow was about eight feet off the floor and about five feet from the door to go outside. As she looked closer at the shadow, it came into focus.

She stifled a scream as she jumped filled with fear and disbelief at what she was seeing. It just couldn’t be what she thought it was. Not here at her church. But the more she stared at it the more defined it became. The shadow was definitely that of a goat’s head with horns and all, which is usually connected to Satan. She was filled with terror at the thought of Satan being in such a holy building. She rushed back into the sanctuary, trying to calm down. Karen stood in the back of the sanctuary shaking and trying to catch her breath, she didn’t want any of the teenagers to think anything was wrong.

Just as Karen came back into the sanctuary, Rodger happened to glance back at the doorway she came through. He saw her rush in and stand there shaking and opening and closing her eyes, while taking some deep breaths. Rodger realized something must be wrong to have upset Karen so much. He wondered for a second about walking over there to see if she was okay and decided he had to see what was wrong.

Rodger walked toward Karen, realizing as he got closer that she wasn’t just upset, she looked terrified. Now he was truly concerned, because he had no idea what could have terrified her in church. He’d seen her walk out of the sanctuary a few minutes earlier with a quizzical look on her face. From where he’d been, it had looked as if she was just going to do her usual check to make sure the entryway, bathroom, kitchen and café were clear of teens. What had made her walk out and then sent her scurrying back in terrified was something Rodger knew he had to look into.

Rodger walked up to Karen and motioned for her to follow him out of the sanctuary. She wasn’t looking as terrified as she had, but still she shook her head not refusing to leave the sanctuary. Rodger reached for Karen’s arm and gave it a slight tug indicating he wanted her to follow him out into the café, but again she shook her head no as she pulled her arm out of his grip. He realized whatever upset her must be out in the café or entryway area and that it affected her so much she didn’t want to go out there again.

“Are you okay? What’s the matter?” Rodger leaned over and whispered to Karen.

“I don’t want to go out there,” she said pointing to the café area.

“Why?”

“You won’t believe me if I tell you. I don’t even believe it myself,” she replied, shaking again for a moment.

“Don’t worry about that. Just tell me what’s wrong and I’ll see what I can do to help. Is there someone out there?” said Rodger laying a calming hand on her arm.

“Okay,” she started, “As I was standing here a little while ago, I got this feeling like something was wrong, like something not quite right but you can’t put your finger on it. You know what I mean?”

“Yes, I know what you mean,” he answered her, “continue.”

“Well, I walked out into the café area to look around and see if anything seemed out of place. After I checked around and looked out the door, I saw…,” she paused for a moment taking a deep breath, “IT!”

“It?” questioned Rodger. “What is it?”

“Well, it looked like a goat’s head shadow in the corner by the back door. So I think it was Satan,” she replied.

“Satan? In this church?” Rodger asked incredulously.

“See, I knew you wouldn’t believe me,” Karen said turning away from Rodger.

“Now, I didn’t say I didn’t believe you. I just don’t think he’d dare enter a church, but it is just a building and it is used for other things,” he said. “So where again did you see the goat head?”

“If you look back in the corner by the door about eight feet off the floor,” she told him.

“Okay, I’ll go check it out. You stay here. I’ll be right back,” he said turning around and walking out to the café area.

Karen watched Rodger go out saying a quick prayer of protection over him. She watched the door waiting for him to come back. Behind her, the worship team ended the song they were singing and the worship leader spoke briefly. As the worship team started the next song, Karen began to worry since Rodger had not returned. She was beginning to think something had happened when he walked back through the door.

“It’s alright, Karen,” he started. “It wasn’t a goat’s head like you thought. Come on let me show you.”

He took hold of her arm and led her out of the sanctuary and into the café. Resisting at first, Karen let Rodger lead her out of the sanctuary. Although she was reluctant to enter that area again and see what she saw, she trusted Rodger enough to go with him. Following him into the café, she looked down at the floor instead of up at the walls and ceilings so she wouldn’t see what she’s seen earlier.

“Before we look at the corner that upset you I want you to look at the side wall up to the roof and tell me what you see,” Rodger said.

Karen slowly raised her eyes avoiding looking at the corner; instead she looked over at the far wall. A shadow of the cross that stood in the front corner of the café filled the wall and went up onto the roof of the room. “I see the shadow of the cross,” she told him.

“Yes, the light reflects off of it and makes a big shadow on the wall. Now I want you to look at the corner where you saw the goat’s head. Do you see it?”

“No, I don’t. But I’m telling you it did before.”

“If you looked quickly maybe it did, but it’s just a shadow made by the exit lights over the back door,” he told her pointing to the sign over the door.

“Oh, yeah, I can see that now,” she said feeling a little foolish, but she was still convinced she’d seen something else. “But the shadow I saw earlier was more defined. Now if you look it fades out on the edges. Before it looked solid and the edges weren’t fuzzy.”

“Fuzzy?” questioned Rodger looking at the shadow.

“Yes, look at the edges they fade out slowly going from dark to light. There is no definite outline. I’m telling you it had definite edges when I saw it. Look at the cross shadow again, the edges of that don’t fade it looks solid,” she said pointing to the shadow, “see?”

Rodger turned his head back and forth a couple of times looking at both shadows. “Oh, I see what you mean by definite edges. The cross does seem more like a solid shadow than the exit light one. Are you sure the goat’s head you saw earlier was not what we’re looking at now?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“Okay, then, here’s what we’ll do to test and see if it comes back. We’ll go into the sanctuary and every few minutes we’ll come back out and look at both shadows to see if we notice anything different. How’s that?” he explained to Karen.

“Okay, but when I saw it, I felt like something wasn’t right, and I had goose bumps on my arm then and I don’t now,” she told him, putting her arm out for him to examine.

“Well, if you get that feeling again, tell me and we’ll head out that minute.”

“Sounds good, and thank you for not thinking I’m a scared idiot,” she said looking up at him.

“Oh, I don’t. I know what we do here is God’s work, and I believe Satan is always looking for ways to derail God’s plans, so logically then where God is then Satan also would be.“

“That makes sense, and is probably true. We know how much Satan wants us to move away from God and his work for our lives.”

“Sounds like worship is ending, so let’s head back in.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

They turned around and headed back into the sanctuary. The further out of the café they walked, the smaller the shadow of the cross got behind their backs, even though they didn’t see it. Just as they entered the sanctuary the shadow in the corner became a defined goat’s head. If Karen would have turned her back just then, she would have seen Satan laughing.