The Stroke of Midnight

Have you ever heard that story about that girl and the soldier-ish looking Nutcracker thing? Of course you have. It's weird stuff. The girl gets this thing as a present but then it breaks. At night she can't stop thinking about it so she goes downstairs to look at it, and when she gets downstairs the clock strikes midnight and...well I don't know how to put it but she and the Nutcracker have a battle with this evil army of mice, and he transforms into a prince, and something about Sugarplum Land and living happily ever after...who knows. So what's the point of telling this fairy tale right now? Just this - weird things happen after midnight. You know it's true, if you've ever dared face it. It's something I could only wonder about as a kid. I had never been up that late. I didn't want to be, because that's when all the creepy things happened. Little gnomes made shoes in your living room, and mice took over the kitchen, and the washer and dryer and furnace all came alive in the basement. That's why, to be safe, everyone had to be in bed before midnight. But this fall when I got to Maranatha, everything changed. People didn't go to sleep. I was cautious at first. In bed by 11:00, quick to go to sleep. It soon became more difficult. Too much noise, too much activity. Finally one night it happened. I fearfully looked at my clock next to me. 11:59. Terror seized my soul; in a few short seconds the spell of midnight would fall. Creepy little men would come out from under the beds and start playing my computer games, eating my food, and stealing my socks. Maybe I would be safe...I had a high bunk (no really, I mean like scraping the ceiling while lying down high). If I kept really quiet they wouldn't know I was awake. And then something weird did happen. My roommates started talking to each other. Not normal talking, but a deep theological discussion that could drown the mind of the average college Bible faculty member. They were using not everyday words, but some kind of enchanted "land of midnight" speech that I couldn't understand. And the crowd was growing. Someone from down the hall joined in. Then another. I tried to listen, but the world of midnight was too much, and soon I was asleep. When I woke up, everything was normal again. Just like every other morning. But I was no longer ignorant. I knew what really happened after the clock struck 12:00. And maybe someday I would face it without fear. Someday.......