Had another interesting experience this past week. I was working up at the house in Copan. I had to go up in the attic to look at some wiring, look at the roof to see if any damage was done to the structure (trusses) and check out some support for a wall that was removed.

I had plenty of light provided from a roof vent (turbine) and some sheetrock that had been removed when the wall was taken out. Navigating was not a very tough job with the light, and about halfway through the attic it was solid with some plywood that had been put in place when house was built. It was a little cramped as the roof pitch was only a 4/12 pitch. Standing straight up was not an option, so either crawling on my knees or walking stooped over from truss to truss were the options. Having had knee replacements crawling was not an option… stooping and stepping was the way to go. I made it up the stair ladder in the garage, navigated across the plywood platform and entered the area of open trusses with lots of blown-in insulation. The degree of difficulty for navigating to the south part of the house just took a huge upturn! But, there was lots of light and I could see the trusses above and beside me that led to the truss for the ceiling. I just needed to go slow and very carefully.

It was going quite well for a short distance. Ahead of me was a rather large air conditioning duct. I would have to take a big step to get over it. I thought that if I went a little over to the left I could go across it with a little more ease and stability. There was right in front of me a seemingly big gap as the previous owner had cut part of one ceiling truss out, and I had to go around it. There was more room to the left as that was where the roof peak was and to the right the roof sloped down.

So, to the left I went. Still going good until… Yep, that is when it happened. I began a rather rapid downward descent. I put my foot on what I thought was a solid ceiling truss, but I soon realized it was NOT! The truss I stepped on was the short piece of the truss that had been cut.

Before I could blink I was going down, not to my death, but toward the ground and that would certainly make a larger hole in the ceiling (and a mark on my backside). Somehow, as I was making my descent, I managed to grab on to the ceiling truss in front of me, and I stopped my inevitable fall. My chest, head, and arms are in the attic and my waist, legs, and feet are dangling through the ceiling (can’t imagine what that looked like).

I access the situation and determine that if I slowly move my arms I may be able catch the truss with my hands and ease myself down to the floor. After all, I can’t be more than four or five feet off the floor. It sounded like a good plan. The only one I had at the time. So…I eased myself from the truss and realized that this was not a good plan. I think the gravity in Copan is greater than that in Gore. Next thing I know is I am resuming my fall at record speed, and when I open my eyes I am looking at the ceiling or at least what used to be a ceiling (now a big hole)!

I lay there for a few minutes doing a body part check to make sure everything is still in working order, nothing broken. Foot, leg, hand, arm, and shoulder all moving, no shooting pains, I think I survived. I slowly get up, and I hear the plumber who is working in the bathroom, “Hey, did you just fall through the ceiling? Are you okay?” Well, after stating the obvious, I answered back with a “Yes and yes.”

He comes out to check on me and after much reassurance that I am indeed fine. The only injury is to the ceiling, he goes back to work in the bathroom. It was at that moment my son-in-law came in from outside, looked around and restated the obvious as the plumber had just done.

I begin cleaning up my mess (sheetrock, insulation and a few boards). I begin rethinking my decision making paradigm that led me to the attic in the first place. I begin with wondering how I am going to tell Jill (the wifey) about this adventure. I am sure that there will be a great reaction. And, as I am doing this, I ponder some other thoughts.

Thoughts such as, “I might be getting a little old to be climbing around in attics.” Or maybe instead of concentrating on falling and the possibility of an eminent death or being disabled, I thought, “Just look at how fast I made it out of the attic.” There was also the fact that the ceiling was now open, and I could inspect and replace the missing truss with a new one with great ease.

But the thought that I hang on to the most (kind of like the ceiling truss) is that while I was hanging there suspended between the floor and the roof… “It would be a good time for Jesus to come back (AKA therapture). Instead of falling down I could fall up. Fall up into the arms of Jesus.”

I think it’s all a matter of perspective. I could fall down and die or fall up and live! Luckily, neither occurred. I survived my fall and will most certainly move on to my next adventure. Until then, I still like the thought of the rapture.

Bro. Tim