The day the world went dark

The kids had piled into the cars and we were ready to head to Sandusky, Ohio. Cedar Point! The excitement was high. This would be one of their highlights of the summer. I remember going when I was a youth at Main Street. The buzz of conversation was familiar, but I felt different being the adult.

I had been working with the youth at Main Street a little more than a year. It was a ministry I was called to and joined almost immediately after moving back to the east side of Michigan. I don't believe Steve and Brenda, the leaders that proceeded me, were there. This was my first big trip as the "leader". It was Thursday, August 14 2003.

The trip there went great. The kids were good. Entry into the park was easy. The weather was beautiful. The air was full of music and the scent of cotton candy.

The group didn't really want to break up that much. We might have formed two groups, each with adult leaders, but over all we were together. A fact I would be thankful for later. I remember being very connected and thinking how blessed I was, having been on trips that didn't go that well.

The morning my have had problems, but I don't remember any of them. The whole group came together for lunch, then back to roller coaster riding. Everyone expected to be there until ten or so.

Just before four o'clock a large group of us got into line for the Magnum. I was thankful for the spots in line where you got to stop by a cooling fan. A 45 minute wait didn't seem that bad. We talked about favorite rides, the youth group and school that would be starting to soon.

Then it happened.

At first we notice the Magnum has stopped. It is part way up the hill and obvious. We start debating if we are going to wait or go to another ride. We begin looking around at our nearby options. One of the has stopped on the hill, too. When they start walking the passengers off the ride, move back into the main thoroughfare.

There we entered the Twilight Zone. Not two, but half a dozen rides had stopped. The cooling fans had stopped. The music they pipe into the park was off. The people seemed very quiet, not moving very quickly. Then we see why, they are all on cell phones, but not talking, you can just hear the tones that tell you they can not get a connection.

It seems odd, but I tell myself it must be a park power outage. I think we'll gather up and wait it out together. Then someone who got a hold of the outside world says the power is out at his house, too. Then another. Then we here it is a huge outage. No one seems to know how big.

My mind left the tracks for a moment. I'm responsible for all these kids. I don't know what has happened. I'm not prepared for this kind of situation. How do you prepare for this?

I was thankful to have my other leaders, Casey and Aunt Anita there. They didn't really have answers either, but we were able to discuss what was going on. We decided we should go. A shadow of something sinister was there and we needed to get the children back to their parents. I wanted to be home, too.

In the parking lot we walked by a big bus that had pulled up to the curb and had a TV on the side. We paused, but not long. The east half of the United States was completely without power. They suspected terrorism.

Something in me shifted. Emergency mode. I moved the group along to the cars. We prayed for peace in this situation. It was hard to focus, but I hoped it would ease the minds of the kids and other leaders.

We need to stick together, find a gas station for snacks and water, and try to get a hold of one of the parents to let them know we are on our way. I'm worried, but I don't dare show it. We'll be fine, I tell them. I'm glad were together, I say. I wish I wasn't responsible, I keep that one to myself.

It goes better than I expected. We find an open station. We get a hold of Pastor Jeff, who will contact the other parents. In the car, until you are faced with blackened signal light over an empty street, is not that unusual. The moment helps you forget you are running from the eerie, broken park.

The parents are waiting for us. They don't have any more information, but I have done well. They talk about what is going on longer than I am willing to stay. I really want to go home to my wife and kids.

It will be a few days before power is restored and we learn it was just a power grid failure.