Okay, so I accidentally exterminated my relatively new cellphone. Admission complete.
Not like a quick drop in the toilet or a cracked screen. No, I’m talking about a full-fledged crush between a slot in my work van door and the edge of the dash. I mean, who in their right mind designs a storage slot in the upper edge of the door—that when the door closes, the cubbyhole disappears under the bottom edge of the dash?
Never using that cavity before, I decided to plunk, momentarily, my phone into it as I climbed into my seat. Thinking my cell would be safe when I closed the door, it was then I heard the gruesome sound of broken glass, buckled plastic and though I didn’t immediately know it, the internal crunch of electronic doodads. My wife Diane joined me on this little business-related road trip and she heard it too. We gawked at each other and then to my door, thinking that maybe the window had broken or that I’d accidentally caught someone’s pet robot in the door-frame.
We were both incorrect.
Cautiously opening the door, I promptly turned pasty white as I noticed my murdered lifeline to the world. If you own a cellphone, then I’m sure that in some way you can relate to my information technology crisis. Morbidly fascinated, I never realized that an iPhone could bend and split open like that! Driving home, my wife tried to pad my glum emotional state. “It’ll be okay honey,” she offered consolingly. “We’ll get you a new phone. It’s not the end of the world.” But at that moment of time, for me it was.
Why did I slide my phone into that crevice in the first place? I asked myself through waves of personal chastisement. This is horrible timing and a universal sized inconvenience at the worst possible time. I don’t need the extra hassle or headache or expense of a new phone. As I fitfully drove along, I soon thought of my 37-year-old niece and her recent battle with cancer; my wife’s ongoing health issues; my family and the burdens they carry in a world that seems to be imploding around them. Suddenly, my mortally wounded cellphone slipped into the backseat of my thoughts.
If you believe in Jesus Christ as I do, then an occasional slap-in-the-face reality check to what’s really important can help to refocus our hearts and minds to not sweat the small stuff—that in the grand scheme of things, my crushed phone is pretty low on the ‘sweat scale’. God reminded me that my daily pickles and forebodings over the little things are teensy-weensy compared to the relationship that I have with him. I needed a mental priority shift and my phone provided just that.
SALVATION is truly all that matters. JESUS is all that matters. FORGIVENESS of your SINS and mine through the DEATH and RESSURECTION of our SAVIOR…is ALL THAT MATTERS!
So, the next time you sweat the small stuff, remember the COOL STUFF!
- “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” (1 Peter 5:7 NLT)
- “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.” (John 14:1 NLT)
- “Everyone who calls upon the name of the LORD will be saved.” (Romans 10:13 NLT)
Paul Smyth