An Attempted Home Invasion, and Yahweh's Mercy...

It has been cloudy over the Washington, DC area for the past few days.

I live in New Carrollton, Maryland in an apartment complex close to the New Carrollton metro station. I live with my brother, and his girlfriend stays with us most of the time.

We have 2 locks on our front door, a bolt-lock, and lock in the door knob (as do most apartments in the area). Our door knob has been broken for about 2 or 3 weeks - it locks fine, but the door won't close unless we twist the door knob and then close the door, since the middle piece (which extends from the door into the wall) is stuck outward and wont go in unless the door knob is twisted. Unfortunately, that means we have to lock the door knob from the outside (if we feel like it).

I left out for work yesterday morning, and only locked the bolt-lock, since I didn't feel like being bothered with the door knob. My brother's girlfriend left out, and did the same thing (she was the last to leave). It is typical for my brother and his girlfriend to just lock the door knob, but sometimes they do lock the top lock as well - but she locked the top lock yesterday, and left the door knob unlocked.

So I get home from work and twisted the door knob, and saw that it was unlocked - which was fine. I stuck my key in the bolt-lock and had a hell of a time trying to get it open. I looked closely at the door and the lock and saw that someone had tried to break in to my apartment. They used something, maybe a crowbar, to try to pry open the bolt lock - but they couldn't get through.

They tried and failed. I was able to get in my apartment fine. My brother was a bit heated - but I was fine.

My brother told me that his girlfriend was just going to lock the door knob, but said she had a feeling to lock the top lock instead, so that's what she did. My brother talked to the police and they told him that people have been going through the apartment complex during work hours and prying into people's homes because they only lock the door knob and never the top lock (since locking the door knob is so easy - you just turn the lock and close the door).

Now - this part I find most amazing because it is Yahweh's mercy. My brother's girlfriend does not have a key to our apartment. But because she was the last one to leave out in the morning, and because the door knob recently started acting crazy, my brother gave her his key. Normally she would leave out the apartment and just lock the door knob, close the door, and be on her way. She never locked the bolt-lock (because she doesn't have her own key). But because the door knob is broken, my brother gave her his key - and she locked the top lock. As a result, those people were not able to break into my home.

Yahweh spared my home. It's another example of how Goodness and Mercy follow me to this very day.