Friday did not go as planned.  At about 10am a panicked Indonesian employee came into my office.  We had an intruder in the building, in the office area.  The guy (an American) was freaking out and needed to talk to another American.  I was the selected one.  A thousand thoughts raced through my mind .... safety, security, life, death.  No amount of training really prepares you for these kinds of events.

Due to the sensitivity of the situation, I can't go into a lot of details.  Let me just say that "Bob" (not his real name) was in a stake of panic / schizophrenia. Bob was convinced somebody was trying to kill him and had gone absolutely ballistic.  After hours of talking to him, I learned quite a bit about Bob.  Eventually we were able to calm him down enough to get him into a car and delivered to a counsellor at the US Embassy.

There were many false starts with Bob ... and it took about 5 attempts to get him to the car where we had three security officers (our company's) escorted him.  I did not go to the US Embassy but I understand that he tried grabbing the wheel of the car and almost caused a wreck.  Thankfully, thanks to God, we were able to get him safely delivered and nobody in our office got hurt.  Bob left our premises at 2pm.

At one point Bob asked me if I could guarantee his safety for the trip to the Embassy.  I told him I could not.  I told him that I was only a man ... but God could protect him.

Bob's story is a sad story.  A story about a young teenage boy that made bad decisions in his life - cleaned up his life for 9 years - then started making bad decisions again.  He is probably in his early 30s now.  His life is ruined.  He cannot stay in Indonesia ... and chances are he will face some jail time if the Embassy helps him back to the US.

I do not know what Bob is doing today.  I don't know if he is ok ... dead ... alive ... in Indonesia ... or on his way back to the US.  I gave him my business card with an email addy on it.  Maybe someday I will learn.

For those of you reading this ... pray for "Bob".  And, when you do ... also ask God to give you strength to make good decisions every day ... and don't forget to thank God for the things He has done for you.  And one last thing, ask God to help me ... I'm still pretty shaken up about the situation.  I don't know if Bob had a weapon on him or not ... but if he did ... I would have been the closest person.  Thank God nobody was hurt in our office.

...