Below, you can see the output from these two logs. The first clearly shows the full object with the property I\'m trying to access, but on the very next line of code, I can\
The property you're trying to access might not exist yet. Console.log works because it executes after a small delay, but that isn't the case for the rest of your code. Try this:
var a = config.col_id_3; //undefined
setTimeout(function()
{
var a = config.col_id_3; //voila!
}, 100);