(Long title, huh? The following is a true story, absurd as it may sound. No names were changed to protect the innocent or the stupid, although I wish with all my heart I could! But there’s that honesty thing…).
Yesterday, as I placed 4 packages of vacuum wrapped fish in a pot of water to thaw out, I also dropped my Smartphone into the pot with them (unknowingly, of course).
Yes, you read that correctly. To save you having to go back and reread, I placed my Smartphone into a pot of cold water with 4 packages of vacuum wrapped fish. Neither the fish or the phone could swim (the former being deceased, and the latter being, well, being a Smartphone). When I realized my phone was missing, I began a search that included house and car, to no avail. What made me think of looking at the bottom of the bowl of water, I cannot say, although I’d like to think it was the Holy Spirit’s prompting (I honestly don’t know if God ever chuckles as us, but if so, this was probably one of those times). Sure enough, there it was, drowned and looking for all the world as if its number (ahem!) was up.
Remembering, however, that in my house dwells a Brain, the likes of which few can compare, I pulled the phone from the lake and rushed it to Frances General Hospital. “Get me the hair dryer and a towel, stat!” she said (well, she didn’t actually say “stat!” But her voice had that “stat!” feel to it, if you know what I mean). After 30 minutes of emergency surgery, Frances (a.k.a. the Geek Squad; a.k.a. The Fixer; a.k.a. “Thank You, Lord, for such a wife!) brought my phone to me resuscitated and alive. And, another chapter was added to the ongoing saga of The Brute and the Brain (you wouldn’t believe how many chapters are already chronicled, I assure you).
The phone required a full charging after its near-death experience. I therefore left it at the house to charge when I went to work out. This is where the “Amazing Lord!” part of the story enters the picture. Tuesday night is an elliptical night for me at the fitness center where we work out (the elliptical, in case you don’t know, is one of those machines that simulates low impact running). I normally listen to music or the Scriptures as I perform my time on the machine. I didn’t have that opportunity tonight, however, and I’m pretty sure I know why.
Over the last few months, I’ve developed a friendship with a gentleman who cleans the facility each night. Mr. Juan (I have to call him “Mr.” because he refuses to call me just “Glen.”) and I have had some really good and enjoyable conversations. He does great work, and the first night I met him, I told him so. We became fast friends, and usually talk to each other on the nights when I’m lifting weights and don’t always have my headphones on. On this elliptical night, I would have had been wearing the headphones, had I not drowned my Smartphone. And on this night, Mr. Juan needed to talk. He’s been going through some tough times in his family and just needed to vent, I think. More importantly, he also shared with me his testimony of coming to know the Lord, and of how God saved him from some life-threatening behaviors. Had I been wearing my headphones as usual, we wouldn’t have had the conversation, and I wouldn’t have been blessed by my brother’s testimony, and by yet another wondrous episode of how God weaves all things together for His glory and our good.
I really don’t think the Lord led me to commit my Smartphone to a watery grave. He did, however, know that I would do such an inexplicable thing. He’s known it from everlasting, and determined to fit it into His good purposes in mine and Mr. Juan’s lives. Moreover, I get to share the story with you as a reminder of our amazing Lord. How good He is. How great He is. How wise He is. How purposeful He is. And how kind He is to take such good care of certain children who often do some of the strangest things. Yes, Smartphone. Dumb Guy. Brilliant Wife. Amazing Lord! That about says it, along with…
“Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
(I Timothy 1:17)
“Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, andobtaineth favor of the LORD.”
(Proverbs 18:22)
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