Treasure Your Phone Or You May Lose Your Mind

You don’t get beautiful harmony if everyone sings the same note.

“We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.”

— Romans 12:6

On a recent Saturday a disaster happened to me. I didn’t fully realize the extent until a couple of days later.

I was getting into my truck to run down to the church when my phone fell out of my pocket, bounced on the concrete a couple of times and landed face up. It was looking at me with a hurt stare. I had cracked the glass.

The crack was just big enough that I couldn’t type in all the numbers to my passcode so I couldn’t use it. It wasn’t until Sunday that I started to notice the lack of a phone. That’s when the text messages started to come in.

My phone would ding as it received one. I’d grab it and all I could see was someone had texted me. Then it would ring. I grabbed it, but couldn’t answer the call.

Not being able to communicate with the outside world all of the doomsday thoughts started to go through my mind.

Finally Monday came and the texts and calls continued. I ran to the phone fix it place, but it would take a week for them to fix it. I couldn’t wait that long. So I went to the phone company to get a new one. There I learned that the meaning of “Free Upgrade” is quite different from what I thought it meant. But the problems got worse. My wife’s name is on the account and I had to call her to get the permission to get the upgrade. But there was a big problem — I couldn’t remember her phone number! It’s in my phone. There used to be a time when I could rattle off a dozen people’s phone numbers. But now, I just scroll through my contacts and hit the call button.

The phone guy let me to see the list of phone numbers on my account. So I borrowed his land line and left a message for my wife to call me back with her Social Security number so I could access our account.

A few minutes later, I learned, my wife got a call from our son on vacation in Washington, D.C. He said he got a call from a strange number with some guy asking for his Social Security number.

“Don’t call them back,” my wife sagely advised. “Those things are always scams!”

An hour later, I drove to the school to meekly ask for her information because she had not called me back. But it gets even better. Because I can’t access my old phone, I can’t get all the contacts and phone numbers from it. All of the work of inputing all the thousands of names, addresses and phone numbers for the last 25 years are gone with a simple drop on the concrete.

It’s like having to start life again. It’s like everyone is a stranger and when I get a text from a weird number saying, “Troy, you free for lunch?” I’m left in a conundrum. Yes, I’m free. But I have no idea who I’m having lunch with.

God has graced me with many gifts in life. Memory, however isn’t one of them. That’s why God gave me a phone. So as I’m starting life over again in a world full of strangers and unknown numbers, I have a new and humble perspective to those I know. I promise I will cherish your information. Wish I had done that before. Let us pray. Dear God. We are amazed at the world around us. In an age of smartphones and talking watches we sometimes find ourselves too reliant on the things of man. We ask that you give us the knowledge and grace to cherish our friends and revel in each other’s love. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen. PASTOR TROY CONRAD IS MINISTER OF FARMINGTON UNITED METHODIST CHURCH.