Day 309

here's some words i've taken from a friend kirk's recent blog post. i hope he doesn't mind the direct copy/paste. if you remember, we went to his house for our three days off at mid summer and i also visited him after leaving the seattle area in the fall. he's recently been in the u.k. and i share the following to make you aware of something to keep in prayer.

"Okay, first off I want to say that what you are about to read is entirely true and is still quite fresh in my memory and I am still trying to wrap my head around it.

So, on Friday night I had gone to bed and was watching the Hunt for Red October on my Macbook and part way through my door opens up to a large man wearing a balaclava with two more men in tow. They proceeded to ask me questions about where someone named "Kevin" was, they seemed quite certain that this character was in my flat. My flatmate, Grant, and I had moved in only two weeks ago so we had no idea who or what they were talking about. This annoyed the burglars, who were convinced we knew exactly what who they were talking about. They got quite frustrated with my flatmate and I not knowing what was going on so they decided that they could force an answer out of us, so they went to the kitchen to find something dangerous, luckily, since we had only moved in quite recently the most menacing item they could find was a butter knife. Even though it was a relatively safe knife, I knew what they could do with that knife so I was terrified. I decided that my best option was to be as truthful as I could and just keep praying for safety. Thanks to God, I felt a sense of calm throughout the entire encounter. Somehow I knew that I would make it through the night.

Once they seemed to understand that we did not know what was going on, they decided that their best option was to change gears and turn it into a burglary. They proceeded to take whatever they could find of value in our flat. Including my mobile phone, computer, camera, watch and all my banking information. Once they had ransacked the place and taken what they desired they told me to lie face down on my bed and they proceeded to tie me up ankles to wrists with whatever they could find in our flat, once they were convinced we were trapped, they left. Luckily, my left wrist wasn't tied quite as well as they had hoped so after some effort I managed to get out of the knot in time to help my flat mate out of his situation. Right afterwards we called the police who arrived within seconds and they were very helpful and did everything they could for us. They are taking it very seriously and are investing plenty of resources into finding the culprits.

So, this now puts me in a bit of a tricky place. I am without any real link to home or any communication, and I am without anything of value, and I'm unsure of whether or not my travel insurance will cover my losses.

So, if you could be praying for me that would be wonderful. Thank you so much for being my friend and know that I am totally alright, and no harm has been done to me physically."


i'm thankful for kirk and his family's kindness to me and friends. we're praying for your situations, man.