Back in the "Olden Days"... before technology and the tiny devices of today we tout in our pockets... there was this thing. The Rotary Phone. I remember this phone well because it was the phone I used to call when I couldn't reach the person I really wanted to talk to.
Most of my summers while in college were spent in Tuscaloosa... summer classes and cheer camps and two-a-day practices to get ready for the upcoming football season meant that I wasn't able to leave campus. This wasn't too big of a deal for me, except... my girlfriend had gone home! The only way I was able to talk to her is if I happened to catch her at her house during at a time when she was able to talk. Sometimes I would call and her dad... or her sister... would answer the phone to tell me she couldn't talk right now. "She's out chasing cows!" they would say. I figured they were just saying this to give me a hard time, but sometimes... it was true. Sometimes, I would call... and call... and call... and call... for hours, only to get the intermittent buzz known as the busy signal (an unfamiliar sound to most people born after the year 2000). And on those times, I would call the phone in the photo... Gran-Rene's phone... and my conversation with my girlfriend's grandmother (provided I could get her on the phone because she was quite the talker) would go something like this...
"Gran-Rene... will you send Warren around the corner to Monica's house? I think somebody left the phone off the hook again. I've been getting a busy signal for a couple of hours."
This rotary phone has special memories for me. It was the line I called when I couldn't get through to the person I really wanted to talk to. That's why, when we moved into this old house and found the phone... dusty and buried under some junk in the car shed we tore down... we returned the phone to the wall where it once resided. It was a tribute to Gran-Rene, of sorts, because she held the world record for time spent on the phone... but also because it was what I would use to reach the person I wanted to talk to most. It was my life-line and persistence is a powerful thing when it comes to young love and the busy-signal struggle bus. You do whatever it takes to get in touch with the only someone who can satisfy the ache of separation. You become resourceful and resolute in your "reaching out to touch someone" (to quote the slogan that started in the Seventies). So, here's my real question regarding the rotary phone that prompted this post...
Do you feel like you are calling... calling... calling... without any answer? Do you feel like you keep getting the busy signal? Do you feel like, no matter how many times you dial God's number, you just can't seem to catch Him when it's a good time? Or maybe you feel like someone else answered and they told you He wasn't available at the moment. That's not true! He always has time to talk. The bigger question is... are we willing to take the time to listen? Are we only calling when we need something or do we really... really... REALLY want to talk to Him so bad that we will do whatever it takes to get through? Do we desire to sit in the silence of young love on the telephone, you know... when the other person is on the line and you have run out of things to say but you don't want to be the first to hang up... so you just sit there. Together. On the phone. If so, I can promise you this...
If you call... He will answer. He will talk with you. He will listen to you. He will respond with truths that tell you what you most need to hear. His line is never busy. He is always available. Reach out and touch Him. He is waiting to answer your call.
"The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call up on Him in truth." - Psalm 145:18
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