So here's what happened: Janie and I rushed from her physical therapy appointment yesterday morning in order for her grab a quick bite to eat at home before zipping her to school. In our haste, I left the car keys back at the therapist's office, so yours truly sprinted back to the office to retrieve the keys. (This is the same office where a few weeks back I actually managed to briefly lose a wheelchair, so we don't have a great track record there.)
Sprinting back to the car, we leapt in and hurried towards home. A funny thing happened on the way, however. (My husband might not agree with the use of the word "funny," but that's another story.) While driving about 60 mph on the belt line--and for the record, I was not speeding--we suddenly heard a funny (there's that word again--maybe "strange" would be a better choice... or "foreboding") thumping sound. I was a bit shocked and feared something had hit our car, but, thank the Lord, we seemed to be fine and continued on our merry way.
Back at the ranch, I suddenly determined I could not locate my cell phone. I spent the next two hours searching high and low, all the while growing increasingly uneasy. When I dialed my number, instead of ringing 4 times as it usually did, it just rang once--not a good omen.
And then it all began to slowly come back to me. When I had raced back into the therapist's office, I had just thrown my phone down on the hood of my car--that's the kind of dumb thing you do when you're rushing. And that's also the last time I gave the phone a passing thought... until I was passing another car on the Raleigh beltline. The phone apparently hung in there and clung desperately to the hood of the car through several twists and turns and even several minutes on the beltline, until we passed another car. And then, wham, it must have flown off, hit our windshield, and smashed into smithereens on the shoulder of the highway. Janie then recalled that the thing she had seen hit our windshield was white (I have a white phone). I recalled that her daddy would be not find this funny in the least.
But, still, it is a little funny...
That is until I thought about all my lost contacts, all the phone numbers and information I have stored on that phone, all the pain and hassle and money of having to get a new phone, all the important phone calls from my children and friends I was missing. Well, it didn't take me long to lose my sense of humor.
And my sense of gratitude. Gone with the wind, like my annihilated cell phone.
Until I took Janie to her appointment late yesterday afternoon for occupational therapy. As we drove up, all I was thinking about was what I would do for a cell phone, and how could I be so foolish and careless, and what if my children were trying to reach me... O mercy, what a mess. But as we pulled into the driveway of the medical center, there were two large ambulances parked right in front.
I suddenly was taken back exactly two months ago to the day, when Janie was loaded onto a special ambulance transport from the ECU hospital to the Chapel Hill hospital. Still in critical condition. Still unconscious. Still unresponsive. Still with an infection and high fever.
Look how infinitely, beautifully, incredibly far God had brought her... in His mercy, by His grace, for His glory.
What exactly was I worried about now? Would something this minor really steal my joy? A lost cell phone?! How on earth could I allow worry over something so trivial replace worship of the Almighty One? Surely I would not forfeit gratitude for grumbling when God has been so extravagantly and undeservedly good?
Forgive me, Father.
And thank You. Thank You that I may have lost my cell phone, but we need never use a cell phone to speak to the God of the universe. I keep thinking about that--we all use cell phones and feel lost without them. But the Lord who made us, who knows us, who loves us so much that He died and rose again for us--well, we can talk to Him anytime, anywhere, about anything. No need for phone or prerequisites or perfection. Nope, the Maker of heaven and earth, the One with all power and wisdom and strength, we can come into His presence with singing or with sorrow, with praise or with pain... whenever, wherever, however. 24-7!
What an unimaginable privilege! What a cause for thanksgiving! No phone required. No need for contacts. No nothing but the cross of Christ that gives us instant and continual access to the throne of grace and glory. "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Heb.4:16) What a privilege... what a throne.
From here:
To here:
The power of perspective.
And the perpetual privilege of prayer.
Thanks be to God. To God be the glory.
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