I have always been a guy who is tied to his phone. In fact, I actually got my first landline phone back in the mid 1960’s when I was a young teenager. Dad said that if I wanted to talk on the phone, I could get my own line – which I did. Back in the day, there were a number of units you were allowed each month for local calls and I paid the bill. I even remember my phone number – 312-238-2426. Now, don’t go calling it! I gave it up years ago when my parents moved out of my childhood home. Not long after that, Janet and I started dating.
I remember each number Janet and I have had since we’ve been married and when we moved to Indiana, we once again got a landline; I even had one of the first cell phones around. In fact, I have had the same mobile number since 1982! It’s the same with Janet…
We had our landline for more than 43 years before we decided to give it up about a year ago. The truth be told, I was getting more than 100 spam calls a day and it was driving me nuts. Janet was even less tolerant than I was. Now bear in mind that this was the first time in either of our lives that we didn’t have a landline! It was like giving up an old friend. I always had access to a home phone since I was 13 years old! I know it sounds dramatic, but I was very concerned about not having that line.
What if somebody was in the house, didn’t have a mobile phone and something happened? Or, I had heard, that dialing 911 from a mobile phone didn’t give the police or the fire department location information. Unfortunately, we have had to call emergency services several times. Thankfully, when the chips were down, we still had our home phone number. It all turned out okay.
When I was still working in the corporate world, I would use as many as 7000 minutes a month. It was my lifeline to client interactions and getting things done. Of course, those days are all in the past, but old habits die hard.
Well, last week, I had a number of calls to make and for the life of me, I couldn’t find my phone. Janet was out and so I went around the house looking for it. I actually thought I could call my mobile from the home phone, but I eventually remembered that we didn’t have a home phone any more. So then, I thought I would call Janet and ask her to call my mobile phone so I could hear it ring. Of course, that was ridiculous because, once again, I couldn’t do that without a home phone!
So, I got in my car and drove to where Janet was. She offered to call my cell, but I wasn’t home to hear my phone ring. So she handed me her phone and I took it back to the house where I was finally able to dial my own number – the one I have had since 1982. Sure enough, I found it. The phone had slipped beside the cushion in my recliner and fallen through to the floor below. If only I had looked on the floor, but I didn’t.
The whole episode was very troublesome. I know I became anxious and that caused me even more alarm when I realized how dependent I was on being able to communicate with others by phone. It bothered me how upset I was. In fact, there was a point in time when I felt rather helpless. I had a long list of calls I had to make and I was dead in the water.
At first I thought I would just wait for Janet to get home but I was worried that my phone wasn’t in the house. And it would have put me seriously behind if I had to wait hours for her to return. Thankfully, I knew where she was and could drive over to her. Anyway, it all worked out but the whole incident caused me to reflect on the ways that I interact with others.
I’m sure that you know by now that I even reflected on my communications with God. Thankfully, we don’t need a phone, or an appointment, or anything else to contact God. That avenue is available to us any time, from any place and God will hear us. Now there are those folks who believe that God will only “answer” the call if He is in agreement with what we are asking for. I don’t believe that. I think that God will always listen to his flock. That doesn’t mean that we will always get our request, but at least we know that God hears us.
Our verse for tonight is from the prophet Jeremiah. He tells his audience, including us, in Jeremiah 29:12-13, “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” See, God will listen to us!
My encouragement this evening is that God wants to be in relationship with each of us. That should be an encouragement that we will never be far from God and we have instant access – forever. My prayer is that we will remember that we have that direct access to the Creator of everything and God is always there to quell our fears, encourage us, commune with us, congratulate us and affirm our place in heaven with Him. Please feel free to call me if you have any questions – 317-443-0900! If I can find my phone, I will answer! Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…