“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10 NIV)

I will never forget the day our boys got their first cell phones.

My wife and I had always believed that young teens didn’t need cell phones. They had, after all, access to a phone most of the time, and it was a monthly expense we didn’t feel we needed to take on.

The boys actually didn’t ask for phones. Perhaps they knew better than to ask; but in those days, most of their friends didn’t have cell phones either, so perhaps it never occurred to them to want one. And so they went , day after day, one to the local high school, the other in Grade 8 to the school where I taught, neither of them with cell phones.

Our older son rode the bus to school, and I generally provided transportation for our Grade 8 son. This particular day, however, I was called away to a meeting in another town, and as our older son had after school practice and my wife was working late, grandma was going to pick them both up and take them home. Unfortunately, grandma forgot. Oh, she remembered in time to pick up her older grandson, but it was already an hour past the time when our younger son got out of school.

I had just arrived home by this time, and I was puzzled to see an empty house. It wasn’t long before the phone lines were buzzing as I called my wife, she called her mom, and all three of us called the school. Unfortunately, my younger son was nowhere to be found. We were frantic by this time, and my wife called in a missing persons report to the local police. Soon every policeman in the region was searching for our missing son. My older son and I soon joined the search as my wife scrambled to cancel her evening patients and set out for home. By this time our son had been missing for two hours, and we were frantic with worry.

We had decided to meet at the school, but on a whim, my wife decided to swing by the house. Finding it empty, she then set out on the road I normally drove to get to school. It was just a couple kilometres from the house when she found him, trudging along the side of a busy country road, headed for home.

A police officer came over to meet us once my wife and son were safely back at the school. He was happy that the story had a good ending, but he had a question for my wife: “Why doesn’t your son have a cell phone?”

My wife gave her normal response: “Because he doesn’t have any need of a cell phone!”

The policeman just looked at her with a smile. “Ma’am,” he said, “This could have all been avoided if your son had a cell phone!”

My wife couldn’t argue with this logic, and we stopped on our way home to pick up cell phones for both boys.

And I might add that it didn’t take us long to figure out lots of productive uses for those cell phones!

Isn’t it true that sometimes we simply don’t realize what we need?

Take surrendering our lives to Jesus, for example. So many people feel there is no need to do that. After all, they are getting by just fine without Him. Why go to all of that effort?

Because one day it will catch up to you. If you leave this Earth without knowing Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, it will be too late.

But there is more to it than that. Giving your life to Jesus opens the door for you to receive His wisdom. His deliverance. His strength. His life-changing power. And so much more!

Don’t wait until it is too late! Give your life to Jesus and do it today!

If you’ve never done so, we would love to help you with this. Just click here!

In His love,
Rob Chaffart
Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries