What My Zombie Apocalypse Experience at the Mall Taught Me About Filling Our Lives With Jesus

Happy Friday Everybody!

Recently, I found myself running for my life through an empty mall — but perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself.

Let me take you back an hour before my run which, frankly, may have broken a few speed records in the “mom of 6 kids” category. Ha, ha!

While trying to kill time before a pickup of one of my kids, I gave a call over to a local store which informed me the blazer I was interested in was on crazy discount — the only catch is I had 30 minutes before the mall closed and the sale ended!

My love for bargains compelled me to head over asap!

I managed to reach the mall before closing, but almost every store was dark and chain-link fences already pulled down.

It was strange, but no time to think about it. There was a sale that needed my attention.

Upon entering the store, I noticed it was completely empty, except for what appeared to be two twenty-something female employees — that is, until two guys with hoodies up walked into the store.

They were mask-less (currently it is state law, so they caught my attention), never once looked at the actual clothing in the store, looked the three of us up and down, and then made a comment about “the pretty girls”.

Can you say, creepy?

If you are wondering — sad to say we have reached the point where this needs to be said — they happened to be white. But my “spidey” sense was telling me to be cautious about these two guys who clearly weren’t interested in buying clothes.

As an aside, I’ve learned over the years to pay attention to my instincts — especially in isolated situations — it’s saved me from more than one dangerous situation in my life.

So pay attention to your instincts. God gave them to us for a reason!

Clearly, I wasn’t the only one creeped out by these guys, because as they walked out, one of the girls walked to the door and locked it behind them. She told me I could still shop, and left it at that.

After checking out, the girl walked me to the door and looked left and right before opening them — which frankly, hyped up my awareness to the fact that the mall was mostly dark and completely empty!

She locked the door behind me, and there I stood, staring down a long path of tented kiosks (which upon analysis, would make for a great hiding place for ill-intentioned people) — no people, no security guard, nothing but my instinct to run like a bat out of Hell and get to safety.

It felt like the zombie apocalypse and we were the last three survivors — and I know a thing or two about zombie apocalypses. I’ve sat with my older kids and watched the infamous scene from the Maze Runner — the one in which they are running from thousands of zombies in an abandoned mall. Let’s just say it didn’t turn out so well for the slow guy!

Oh boy! I wasn’t going to take any chances. It was time to run like Hell!

Oh, to be the security guard that happened to catch the footage of the polka-dot masked woman running like a maniac — craning my head to avoid the pitfalls of likely hiding places, and spinning a full 360 degrees to make sure nobody was behind me, as I rounded the corner to the second empty hall I had to navigate.

I hope it brightened up their day a bit.

I finally reached the doors — “Keep running, Moira”, was all I could think — until I literally smacked into the second set of automatic doors. They were locked!

This was the point I lost most of my reasoning skills and resorted to pure adrenaline.

The thought of turning back and facing another run through a dark and empty mall to find another exit was a “no-go” in my mind.

Fortunately, I managed to push open the handicapped entrance and found myself outdoors.

Safe at last, I thought.

Until I realized the door locked behind me, the parking lot was empty except for a few empty cars and there was a figure in a dark SUV, whose headlights made it impossible to discern the likelihood of friend or foe.

No choice but to run again.

I frantically fumbled through my purse to find my keys. No keys! I reached the car. Still no keys!

This was the point of desperate thoughts and desperate prayers — thoughts like “was that 40% off really worth it?!” — prayers like, “Lord, please don’t let me die because of my materialism!”

Still no keys and the figure in the SUV decided to get out of his car. What the heck! Why would he do that?! And in a hoodie, no less!!

So down I went on my knees, on the asphalt throwing EVERYTHING OUT OF MY PURSE in a desperate attempt to find my dang keys!

Then the thought came to me, “Did I leave my keys in the dressing room?!” and it was back to the prayers, “Jesus, please let me find my keys before somebody murders me!”

It was at this point that I looked down and realized that my keys had been in my left hand the WHOLE TIME! Like I said, rationality was basically out the window at this point.

I began throwing everything back in the purse (including my keys! doh!), found my keys again (hooray!) just as two more hooded male figures begin walking in my direction from some dark corner of the abandoned parking lot!

Had I stumbled upon a hoodie convention I didn’t know about? Was I smack dab in the middle of a drug deal — no idea — but no time to contemplate.

All I can say is, can we please just stop with the hoodies at night, people?!

I jumped in the car, left a few things behind (no use dying over a lip liner), and drove off just before the two hooded men reached my car.

As I drove away, it occurred to me that all of the regulations in regards to a certain virus had created a kind of void in public squares and marketplaces. That void had left a sort of vacuum that must be filled.

In this particular case, it was clear that the void was being filled by naive girls and creepy hooded figures — and nothing else in between.

The truth is that these lockdowns and quarantines have brought about a void — not just in our malls — but more importantly, in our lives and our schedules.

My question to you, as things begin to pick up again — is how did you fill that void?

Did you take the time to establish a prayer life — to fill that void with God and the people around you — or did you just fill it with Netflix and other meaningless pursuits?

Don’t misunderstand me, true experiences of leisure are necessary and good — but if those things are devoid of God, they will never satisfy.

Yesterday was the Feast of St. John Paul II, and it brings to mind one of my favorite quotes:

“It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness; He is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; He is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is He who provoked you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is He who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is He who reads in your heart your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle.

St. John Paul II

Shoutout to John Paul II for the most simple summary of why NONE of us can be truly happy without Jesus.

It is Jesus we are all seeking — whether or not we know it. Nothing or nobody else will satisfy the human heart — so fill that void in your heart with Him!

Besides, if you don’t fill the void in your heart with the Good, the True and the Beautiful, I promise you — like my terrifying run through the mall, dark, hooded figures will find their way into that void — only we’re talking dark spiritual forces, and that is no joke!

So seek Him while He may be found. No time like the present to fill the void with Jesus!

And that is all I have to say about that!

Have a lovely weekend, good people!