How a broken phone fixed my bruised and frustrated afternoon

Sometimes we hear from God in the beauty of worship music.  Sometimes a pastor prepares a banger of a message that brings on tears of joy.

Sometimes God reaches us through a “broken” cell phone.   This past Sunday was one of those times.

For the past few weeks I’ve rushed home after church to prepare a video highlight of the day’s worship service. You may have noticed there was no highlight video on the church Facebook page this week. The video recorded—but there was no sound…again.

At first, I thought I’d messed up again. It’s happened before. But my wife Kathy saw the record button running and knew it wasn’t “operator error” this time. She suspected the power adapter plug‑in was broken.

Since we hadn’t been able to plug the phone into a wall charger for months, I was convinced she was right and it was time to start looking for a new one. The “cheap” replacement was $800.  So I decided to see if maybe the old phone could be fixed. I drove to a place called Batteries/Plus that happened to be open on Sunday. The fellow behind the counter took it back, tinkered for five minutes, and returned saying, “It’s all good.” A little dirt and dust had built up around the port. He cleaned it out, and the phone worked perfectly.

I asked what I owed him. He smiled and said, “Zero dollars.” I told him, “Young man, you just saved me $800. Thank you, and God bless you.”

I mention Batteries/Plus because that kind of customer service deserves a shout‑out. His kindness blessed me, and I told him what a blessing he’d been to me and our church that day.

It comes at an interesting time for our little church, in our new sanctuary on Williams Road in Salado.

All this month, we’re studying the 3-thousand year old wisdom from the Book of Proverbs.  Proverbs was part of the scriptures Jesus read a thousand years later.  And my thesis for the series is the wisdom of Proverbs still speaks to the everyday world today.

Sunday’s message was about walking a straight path—avoiding the detours that pull us away from God and godliness. This little incident with my iPhone may seem trivial, but it reminded me that human kindness isn’t just good business; it’s good for the heart. Proverbs 16:24 says, “Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” That young man’s words—“It’s all good”—were sweet indeed.

Maybe we should look at all our life experiences the same way.  Walking the straight path toward the Cross.  Speaking with love, respect and honesty.  When we speak and act mirroring the kindness, and grace of God, we make this life a little more like heaven on earth.

Apparently, this time the straight path ran right through a battery store.  It reminds me to think about what we are writing and saying.   Our words can help and they can harm.  Our call as Christians to use words that help.