Getting acquainted with a 'smart phone'
On our last day in Michigan, Al’s cell phone was accidently left behind in the hotel room as we packed the car and headed to the airport. We didn’t realize the mistake until it was too late and were unable to contact anyone until after landing in Los Angeles much later that evening.
We decided to replace the old phone as soon as possible after arriving home. Al spent several hours at the store, first looking at what was available; then after making a decision, getting help on how to use it. The one he chose was much more advanced than the previous phone, with internet capability and many great features. It was our Christmas present to each other.
He was sitting in the recliner one evening, programming telephone numbers into the new phone with a stylus — a pencil like tool that allowed him to move things about the screen or select certain functions. I sat on the couch next to the recliner, trying to knit and to absorb information about our fancy new phone at the same time. He had to get up to do something and when he returned a few minutes later, the stylus was missing.
“I can’t believe this,” he said in frustration, after we had retraced his footsteps and it didn’t turn up. He helped me take the slip cover off the recliner. We shook it out, then turned the chair upside down and searched it from top to bottom without any success.
“Hmm, where could it have gone?” I wondered. It wasn’t on the carpet or underneath the couch. “It has to be here somewhere.”
“That’s just great,” he said. “I can just see myself going back to that store after spending so much time there and telling them I lost the stylus. They are going to go into the back room and laugh.”
I wasn’t willing to give up easily, convinced that it had to be close by. “Please help us find the stylus,” I prayed many times over. The Lord knew where it was—we just couldn’t see it.
The next morning, I picked up the cell phone, still not wanting to give up the search. After turning it over and inspecting it, I saw a little clear piece of plastic on the bottom right edge and just happened to pull on it with my fingernail. Out came the missing stylus! Evidently, Al had slipped it into its slot before getting up that evening as a matter of routine. When he came back, he glanced at the plastic piece and thought the slot was empty.
Al was ecstatic, thanking me over and over, while I was a little stunned that the Lord would use me, someone completely ignorant of that phone and how it was put together. No need to thank me. It was the Lord’s doing, a direct answer to prayer.
As we get ready to welcome in the new year, dear readers, may we do it with the assurance that God is with us, that He loves us and that He hears and answers our prayers. Happy 2013!
“So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here that they may believe that you sent me.’” John 11:41-42 NIV (For the whole story read John 11:1-45)
Judy Lowery lives in Springville. The Good News column appears regularly in the Porterville Recorder. You can read more at Judy’s blog, goodnewswithjudy.blogspot.com.
