Pocket calls

Everyone has made a few accidental phone calls from their pocket, purse or backpack or sometimes just by handling the phone. These calls are sometimes referred to as “butt calls.” According to the Urban Dictionary, a butt call is defined as an unintended cell phone call made by sitting on the speed dial buttons. I have never carried my cell phone in my back pocket, so I have never made a “butt call.” However, I have made my share of accidental calls.

We all know that those cell phones have a mind of their own, so there are many ways that an accidental call may be placed.

While leading leadership training conferences in Vietnam a few years ago, two colleagues and I decided to explore tunnels used by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. The government of Vietnam has preserved a 75-mile-long complex of tunnels at Cu Chi and turned them into a war memorial. Two different sections of tunnels are a popular tourist attraction, and visitors pay a small fee to crawl around in the tunnels. The first thing you discover is that Vietnamese people are very small! It was a fascinating experience, but it was difficult to move around in the tunnels.

When I finally exited the underground maze, I noticed that my phone was warm. I removed it from my front pocket to discover that I had made 12 phone calls while underground! One of them was to Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Katerine of Serbia and Montenegro! And, yes, she was in my contacts as I had previously met her and visited with her at an event in DC. However, I am most certain that she did not answer my call.

One of my mentors was Avery Willis. In the early 2000s we both served as VPs in the home office of the IMB, and frequently we traveled together. He carried his Blackberry in his back pocket, and often he would accidentally dial my number while we were attending the same meeting or event. I would quietly come alongside him and tell him that he just called me. Avery would quickly respond, “No, I did not!”

How many times have you received a call and you answered but you knew that it was an accidental call? You could hear commotion going on and you knew that person did not know that she or he was connected to you. I am sure that you are not one of those people who stay on the line secretly listening to hear what is going on.

We are so wed to our mobile devices today. The Lord continues to communicate with us in ageless manners, but I am afraid that we are more in tune with them than we are with our Heavenly Father.

God continues to speak to us through other people. We give our uninterrupted attention to our favorite preacher podcast or Bible teacher, but how many of us are guilty of not listening well to the people closest to us—family and close friends. God speaks to us through our family and friends. We don’t always want to hear truth spoken into our lives by a family member or a friend. Proverbs 27:6 says, “Wounds from a friend can be trusted.”

I am reading now from Joshua and it is much easier to hear the Lord saying something to me than when I was reading Numbers. We know that “the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” God speaks to us through His Word.

God speaks to us in times of stress, doubt, death, illness and other calamities, but have you ever felt God speaking to you just because you did not have a peace about a decision, a trip or an expenditure? God still speaks to us in that still small voice—that one that Bluetooth does not recognize!