Before Cellphones

My cellphone suddenly crashed and died, and my immediate thought was, What if I have car trouble while I am out?

I reminded myself my trust is in God, not in my phone. God has been rescuing people out of jams long before cellphones came along. I also reminded myself of a favorite verse that has been an encouragement to me in many of life’s uncertain situations:

You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. (Isaiah 26:3 NKJV)

God’s peace washed over me and I tucked my dead cellphone away in my purse. Then I continued with my list of morning errands.

It's hard to imagine life without phones, but you don’t have to go back that many generations to a time when there was not a telephone in every home. And now, nearly every member of a family has their own cellphone. Times have changed, and this modern convenience has become front and center as we now have the worldwide web at our fingertips everywhere we go.

This generation is growing up with this technology, but my generation did not. When I think back to life before cellphones, I am reminded of a time when I was much younger, when I would have loved to have had a cellphone!

It was the winter of 1981 and I was in my early 20s. On the way to work, my car skidded on a patch of ice and slid into a snowy ditch in Lexington, KY. I stepped out of my car into a bank of snow at least a foot deep, and I did not have boots on. I still remember that very cold experience. I felt helpless and alone after I climbed out of my car, stood in that cold and deep snow, and realized I was not going to be able to just back my car out of that ditch. I needed help.

God graciously took care of me in that moment of need. I didn’t stand there long before a pickup truck pulled up. Two middle-aged men who were carpooling together and said they worked at IBM, offered to give me a ride to work. It just so happened that I worked right across the street from IBM and had peace about accepting this short ride from them. Once I was at work, some nice people I worked with went out, got my car, and towed it to a tire place. As it turned out, my tires were practically bald. I was a single girl, living alone, who knew nothing about tire maintenance and now had a brand new set of tires to keep me from skidding off icy roads for the rest of the winter. I was rescued and my car trouble was remedied, all without the aid of a cellphone. God doesn’t need one to do what He does!

This life event taught me to always remember to trust in God to take care of me. My life is in His hands and this is where my security lies. He can take care of me whether my cellphone is working or not!

How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. (Psalm 36:7 NKJV)

Copyright © Kathy Cheek, 2011, used with permission.