Last night we had a little excitement at the Tiede Household. At 3:15 I awoke with the distinct feeling that something was amiss. I pushed myself to my elbows and spotted my husband, Mike, getting clothes on. When I asked him what was wrong, he whispered that he was sure someone was in our basement!

Hello! Let me tell you, my heart was instantly in my throat and I was out of that saggy bed so fast that records were set. Apparently, Mike woke up to the sound of pounding music, “Rock This Town” by the Stray Cats, to be exact. He meandered downstairs to the main floor of the house and was peeking out the windows to see who on earth was having a wild party on a Monday night. None of the usual suspects were guilty. Then he woke up enough to realize the music was coming from our very own basement. Under the closed door he could see that the lights were on as well. That’s when he came back upstairs to get real clothes on.

I followed him back to the main floor, checking doors and windows along the way. Everything seemed to be locked up tight and I couldn’t fathom how anyone could have gotten into our home. However, we were both very clear on the fact that when we went to bed at 11 there was NO music playing. No…playing isn’t an adequate description. We are talking about wall-shaking, floor-pounding, head-throbbing music here! The only thing louder in my ears was the ka-booming of my heart.

I armed my fierce protector with a butcher knife and we opened the door to the basement.
We’re gonna rock this town, rock it inside out (What are we doing, going down here??)
We’re gonna rock this town, make ‘m scream and shout (If we scream, no one will hear us)
Let’s rock, rock, rock man rock, rock (I think I’ll wait up here, you go ahead, Honey.)
We’re gonna rock till we pop, We’re gonna roll till we drop (My heart is gonna pop out of my chest any second now.)
We’re gonna rock this town, rock it inside out (Oh, Rock of my Soul, I hope you’re here to help!)

As soon as Mike hit the bottom step the music stopped and I nearly wet my pants. “What happened?” I hissed.

Mike had flipped off the school room light and instantly the music stopped. After a quick inspection, we figured out that the music was coming from one of the kid’s computers. The boys had been playing Ben’s “Cars” game from Pixar and left the computer on. Now, it remains a mystery how the music came on at 3 a.m. The boys hadn’t played the game in nearly 18 hours and it had been quiet since then. Hmmm…if anyone has great ideas about how this might have happened, do let us know.

Our newest computer has subwoofers attached to the speakers, which only added to the incredible…terrifying noise from the basement.

Of course, we performed a quick inspection of the basement, shut down the computer, and headed back to bed. My female readers will not be surprised that Mike went right back to sleep. EXCUSE ME?? Yes, I tossed, turned, fretted, and stewed for another hour. I heard every creak, groan, and spring squeak in the house.

As I listened to Mike’s rhythmic breathing, my heart rate eventually slowed to normal, and I let myself crawl into Jesus’ arms (not Mike’s – he was sleeping) and thank Him for keeping us safe. It was in his embrace that I eventually drifted off to sleep… “Come to Me, and I will give you rest.”