The Intruder

Diane had just returned home from buying groceries, and was in the kitchen putting them away, while her two daughters, ages five and one, “helped.”  Diane lived then in a small house between a duplex and another little house in back of hers, and everyone shared the same driveway.  Not much space---but the three families knew each other pretty well, and kept an eye open in case anyone needed anything. 

The day was warm, so Diane had her kitchen doors open.  “My unlocked screen door was on the inside, and the outer door was on the outside,” she explains.  “The outer door was all the way open, leaning against the house.”  She happened to glance up at the exact moment that a man she had never seen before walked past her kitchen window, and looked in.  Immediately, Diane had a bad feeling.  Who was he, and why was he so close to her house?   

The children were playing with some canned goods on the floor.  Instinctively Diane moved around them.  Get to the door, she told herself.  Lock it---quick.  But she couldn’t, she realized.  The screen door had no lock, and she would have to open it and go outside to grab and close the big door.  For those few seconds, this man would have access to her daughters.  Diane stood frozen in an agony of indecision.   “Oh God!” she whispered.

At that instant, on this placid day, a strong wind suddenly came up.  It pushed the outer door away from the wall, then slammed it shut so hard that Diane saw the man jump, startled by the noise.  She had just enough time to lock it…but as she looked out again, she saw the man go on to her neighbor’s house.  Without knocking or calling out, he opened the door and went in.

“At that time we didn’t have 911,” Diane says, “so it took me a few minutes to reach the police.”  As she was explaining what had happened, she saw her neighbor escorting the man out of his house. The stranger then went on down the street.  “He seems to think he lives here,” the neighbor told Diane.  “Maybe the police can get him some help.”

A few moments later, the police arrived, and when Diane and her neighbor described the intruder, the police told them they were very lucky.  The man was only pretending to be confused and disoriented.  In reality, he had robbed several nearby homes that day, simply walking into houses, threatening people and taking what he wanted.  She and the children had had a close call, Diane realized.

“My five-year-old later said that the angels must have helped us to stay safe,” Diane says.  “I have never forgotten this experience, and know that God sent His angels to shut that door.”