I lost my cell phone last weekend. For anyone who has ever done this you know what a traumatic experience it is. I hadn’t had the phone very long, and although it wasn’t an iPhone or anything, it had a camera and an MP3 player and all the necessities for mobile communications. Plus, I had customized it with a Spurs NBA logo background and downloaded tunes that I would now have to pay for again.
However, the biggest problem in losing one’s cell phone is the loss of phone numbers. Like most people I completely rely on my phone to be my phone book and had long since forgotten the phone number of every friend and relative I have, so this was a devastating blow.
I lost my phone at a gas station. I was returning from working on my church’s 15 year anniversary project, a Habitat for Humanity house. It had been a long, hot, sweaty day laying decking material on the roof and I was tired and ready for a swim in Satan’s Bathtub.
I stopped at a gas station to fill up and the phone must have dropped out when I got out of the truck because it was gone when I got home. At first I thought I’d left it in the truck because I had called my wife before I stopped for gas. So I called the phone in hopes it would ring from under the seat or something.
It didn’t ring. It went straight to voicemail which meant it was turned off.
This was a bad sign. If it fell out of the truck and hit the ground maybe the battery popped out, then I could see it being shut off, but if someone found it and turned it off on purpose that meant they had no interest in returning it.
I went back to the gas station and it wasn’t lying on the ground anywhere, and the people inside said no one had turned one in. I went home and resided myself to the fact that it was gone.
After an hour or so of morning my loss (read: complaining to my wife that I had lost my stupid phone), I went to the cell phone store and bought another one. They turned off the old device and turned on the new one in about 15 minutes and I was on my way again, numberless but still mobile.
The next day was busy. My buddy Mark Swayze, an awesome Christian and incredible musician had invited me to play drums for his band at a youth event at a local church. I love playing these events because youth rallies are usually high energy and loads of fun.
Well, during the performance I felt my new phone vibrating in my pocket. I looked real quick just to see if it was important, like my mom calling or something, but it wasn’t a number I recognized. That wasn’t saying much though, I knew no numbers! And since I hadn’t retyped any of my numbers back in yet it could’ve been anyone.
I waited until the rally was over before I checked my voicemail. What I heard blew me away, it was a guy saying his kids had found a cell phone on the other side of town at a Wendy’s drive-thru. He took it from them and found the number inside and called to return it.
I couldn’t believe it; someone actually took the time to investigate the phone and try to return it!? I called the gentleman and he even volunteered to meet me anywhere I wanted.
I was ecstatic! My phone! My awesome phone with all of my phone numbers and Spurs background and downloaded tunes was safe and sound and being returned to me! I could barely contain myself the rest of the night!
The next morning I went to the meeting place we had agreed on and he showed up without a hitch. No strings, no requirements, no demands; just “Here’s your phone”. I wanted to show him my gratitude, so I offered to give him some money for his trouble (because I thought kissing him in public might not sit well with him). He said no, but I insisted that gas was expensive and he should let me give him some cash. He very reluctantly accepted and we parted.
With my faith in humanity renewed I trekked over to the cell phone store and had my phone reactivated. All was right in the world again. Well, world hunger and a war in
All we have to do is one good deed at a time.
"God, thanks for moments like this when goodness triumphs over the bad in us. I needed that".
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