Locked out, Lucked out

**The following post written on Mar 4 2009 at 10:31PM**

Dear all,


I was locked out of my room yesterday when I was in a hurry going to the orchestra. I wasn't particularly concerned at first because I figured that I could just call up my landlord and ask him to open my door for me. However, I learned later on in the night that he was out of the country and wouldn't be able to unlock my door for me...

LOCKED OUT
My landlord told me to call a number posted on the house's bulletin board; the number is a locksmith's workshop that holds my house's master key. So, I called the workshop and asked for assistant in opening my door. The person on the other end said he will call me back right away once he found my landlord's information on the computer. It was 7:25PM when I called... I called the shop again at 8:10PM when I didn't receive a call after waiting for 45 minutes.

The person finally had the appropriate information to open the lock for me after another call from me. It was already 8:25PM when he told me to wait for another 15 to 20 minutes for him to arrive and open the door. He said that a $60 fee will be charged before opening any doors. I was shocked when I heard the fee because I remembered one of my housemates was charged only $40 when he was locked out a while ago...

**I want to take a moment to thank Rong and Henry who were so willing to help me out by driving to my place and delivering the $60 that I needed for opening my door. One of them even had a test to take later that night!**

40 minutes passed by since my last phone call with the person and I was still locked out... Jason (my good friend) came over in hope to help me bargain for a more reasonable price. Another 10 minutes passed by, and I was still locked out...

LUCKED OUT
Starting to get a little frustrated after waitng for so long, I saw one of my housemates coming out of his room to use the bathroom and told him I was locked out of my room. He told Jason and I to try using a knife (?!) to unlock the lock. After Jason's attempt failed, my housemate came back with my other housemate (I have a total of 6 housemates. We're all on individual lease with the landlord) and my other housemate successfully opened my lock by playing around with the doorframe!

It was 9:25PM by then and still, the person still didn't arrive at my place. He turned out to be at the shop "clearing something up" when we called after the lock was unlocked. He seemed to take the news pleasantly when we told him what happened.

Praise the Lord for giving me such a good lesson-- a lesson to be more organized and on top of my schedule-- to rejoice over! He knew that $60 of a lesson fee would be simply too much for me to handle so instead, He had me waited for 2 hrs in exchange and never let the person to show up. He always knows my limit and never goes beyond what I can take. He puts wonderful people around me so I can feel safe even when a crisis arises.

What a merciful and awesome God I have! I cannot refrain myself from smiling and praising with joy in my heart for He knows me better than I know myself. I am surely in a good place and safe under His care.

For who is God, except the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God?
It is God who arms me with strength,
And makes my way perfect.
Psalm 18:31-33

Praise the Lord for He is good forever and ever!

Love,
Anna