What I Learned When My Phone Was Stolen

          Last year I went to Africa. Johannesburg, South Africa, is known for its high crime rate. We also had a two day layover in Washington DC, another high crime area.

          I always made sure I had a firm grip on my clutch purse that held typical wallet contents as well as my brand new nice phone. And I made it around the world safely with my belongings. Nothing was stolen.

          Until I got home.

          We got back to the States at about 10 am on a Friday morning. After we drove back and had lunch with our family, it was about 1 or 2 pm and we didn’t want to make jet lag worse by sleeping the afternoon away and being awake all night. So my sister and I decided to take a nap for a couple hours and then go up to our church for our inner city children’s ministry which would be exhausting and go late into the night. That way, we would be awake until night.

          I left my clutch purse in a not-very-smart place, but I’d left it there for the past like two years and nothing ever happened.

          At the end of the night, I went back to get it and it was gone. I searched and searched for hours, but it didn’t turn up.

          It turned into a huge fiasco, and you could imagine how exhausted I was by that time. 

          Let me tell you, it is a strange feeling to not have a phone, wallet, purse, or money anywhere. Plus, I couldn’t drive now because my license was in my purse.

          Long story short, we miraculously were able to recover the phone, but nothing else was ever found. The 6^th grader who stole my phone claimed she never saw the purse.

          However, I went about two days without my phone.

          Okay, pause. Read that again.

          I went two days without my phone.

          And I’m not dead.

          Like, seriously.

         I survived.

          Yes, I’m being facetious. But when your phone is gone, the thoughts are flying through your head, “It’s gone. I’m dead. How will I text my friends?? How will I be able to keep track of how many steps I walk every day?? What about my Bible memory app? What about my Africa pictures??? What about Instagram??? Life isn’t possible without my phone!”

          I believe that we should not cling to our phones, but it happened to me when I wasn’t paying attention. Then my phone was gone, and with it a sense of security.

          Which is very, very silly.

          The other day I was gone all afternoon and forgot my phone at home. It was a weird feeling, but I kept having to remind myself, “I don’t NEED my phone. I can live without my phone for a few hours.”

          Throughout the mess with my stolen phone, I learned several things.

1. It’s just a thing. 

I can’t take my phone to heaven. Which means it’s probably not the most important thing ever. It’s just an item. Like a shoe. Or a pillow. Or a chair. You can get another one. Then again, you may not even need one.

2. There was a time that people lived without phones.

It is possible. You can live without your phone. People did it for thousands of years.

3. It could be a lot worse.

During that hectic weekend, the truths in the book The Insanity of God kept coming to mind. I had to be constantly reminding myself, “You know what? If a stolen phone and wallet is my worst problem, I am very blessed!” I want that to constantly be my perspective. People are being killed around the world for their faith. I can live without my phone.

4. It’s not about what happens to you, but how you respond to it.

Big and little things will come up in your day to day life. It’s not about what happens, it’s about your response. God is molding you and shaping you to be more like Him. He will use big and little trials. Pain and suffering will come. So don’t be surprised. Be prepared. It’s not about what happens, but how you handle it.

Do you feel like you are too attached to your phone? What are some indicators that you might cling to it too much? What are some possible remedies for that?