My Lost iPad

I am NOT addicted to my technology, but I get rather nervous when I don’t have it with me.

You can judge whether I am addicted or not.

Early in the week Martha and I flew to visit Brad, Emily, Reagan, and Luke (our second daughter’s family) in south Florida. As we were getting in the car to take Reagan (age 5) to gymnastics, I put my iPad on top of the car while I placed baby Luke (11 months old) in his car seat. Knowing exactly what I was doing, I made a note to myself to retrieve the iPad from the top of the car. But with two children and the logistics of getting everyone out of the door, I never received the mental note I addressed to myself.

You, of course, can guess what happened.

On the busiest highway on the coast, my iPad fell in the middle of the street. No one thought about the iPad until we arrived at our destination. You can imagine the sinking feeling when I finally remembered where I had left the tablet. We didn’t know when or where the tablet dropped from the top of the car, but we did know the chances were small for an undamaged recovery.

As soon as I started retracing my steps, the phone rang from my office in Louisiana. Our receptionist relayed the message. “Tim from Stuart, Florida, called. He recovered your iPad. No one even ran over it.” What a nice guy.

I immediately called Tim to set up a meeting to get the iPad. He was right about the tablet. Nothing was damaged, and you couldn’t tell it had fallen from a car right in the middle of a busy intersection.

I couldn’t get over what Tim (age 30?) did to retrieve the iPad and get it back to me. He stopped in the middle of the street to pick up someone’s lost notebook and discovered a valuable iPad without any damage. He went out of his way to find the owner, call a strange number, and wait for the owner to call and arrange for the pickup.

I insisted on a reward and left feeling good about a stranger.

The next day I texted Tim to thank him again for his help. Here’s how he replied: “Great hey I’m sure in your pastorship you have helped more than I ever will. Thanks for the reward but honestly I was stoked just to get it back to you. I think I am going to buy supplies for our church’s VBS with the dough.”

We all know the imperfection of the body of Christ. We are all waiting for the day when we will be presented to Christ without spot and blemish. Until then we groan under the weight of our imperfection.

At the same time, we see how God is working in the body of Christ to make new people (like Tim) who go out of their way to help strangers. God is in the process of changing our selfishness into His loving concern for others.

I thank God for those who live out their faith when no one else is watching. I thank God for the Tims of the world who are not disobedient to the heavenly vision.

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13 Responses

  1. What a great story, Waylon!! First of all, Incan sympathize with the misplaced mental note regarding something off on the top of a car…been there done that (the bouncing blackberry in the rearview mirror on Peachtree in Atlanta comes to mind). Second, it is awesome how his works through seingly insignificant circumstances. Thanks to your undelivered mental note, some lucky children will be led to Christ through that VBS. thanks for sharing. Hope you enjoyed your trip. Tell Emily I said hello!

  2. Waylon, Sloan dropped his wallet last week in a parking lot in Mandeville. Not only was his debit card & license in there, there were also some checks he had received for graduation. Some honest person turned it in to a nearby store and the store phoned us. Isn’t it refreshing knowing there are such honest people out there?? Thankful! And thankful you got your iPad back!

  3. Awesome story ! You need to share this on Sunday so we all can enjoy it. Everyone’s not tech attached like us!

  4. Waylon, sounds like God is using your mental lapse to create connections and bless others!
    THANK YOU TIM!
    Better send this before I forget 🙂

  5. How marvelous is this experience. Reminds me of forgetting my purse in shopping carts at k-mart and Home Depot and being blessed by great folks turning it in intact.

  6. Waylon: I loved that story!! And I so identified!! There should be another name for God in Hebrew that is “God is My Returner”. I am thinking you already know what this is!

    You know there is so much more than we realize in these things. First of all God knew you were caring for your grandchildren and would forget, so He prepared an angel to probably catch the flying IPad and practically sit on it until Tim got there. It was his job to make sure no one rolled over it. You think I’m exaggerating? I went to the Apple Store recently and I saw some samples of phones and ipads that were “run over” mostly by the owners themselves…..not a pretty picture. And yours was where? Oh, in the middle of a busy intersection? Uh huh. God had it covered. And the angel made sure it wasn’t stolen either. That was another miracle. Oh well, all in a days work for God. He watches over us more than we even realize. More than the sparrows. Not to say that the person who might have stolen it from you might have gotten saved just reading your notes, but God knows how valuable it is in your ministry. So instead God used a lost IPad into blessing another ministry. Way over my head. He is so awesome!!!

  7. Wow! Thanks for sharing this wonderful story. I just bought an i-pad yesterday and can relate to how I would feel if I misplaced or lost it. There ARE good folks in this world.

  8. That is an awesome story – even better than the one Martha told at her Bible study about her purse . Every time I go over that bridge I look to see if Martha may have lost a purse. It is amazing how God works in mysterious ways. We will never know how the money you gave Tim will help win some child over to Christ during that VBS. Hope you enjoyed your visit with Emily, Brad and family. Happy for you that you have your iPad back in good condition.

  9. Awesome refreshing example of God showing up.

    How many ways can we count? Your readers named a few…

    Tim, you, I-pad Angel, traffic, your insistence on showing appreciation, Tim again, each of the readers who shared, and the list as a ripple from the a stone thrown in a pond will continue as long as Romans 12:5 is employed for His Glory.

    Blessings

  10. I’m betting that story will find its way into a sermon or two! Thanking God for Tim’s Christ-centered concern, and the VBS outreach at his church.

  11. Waylon, What joyful and refreshing news. God is so good to have placed an honest man in the right place and at the right time. What an encouraging story. We serve an awesome God; isn’t He wonderful!

  12. Hey it’s Tim (age 37). I decided to click on this link one more time before deleting the shortcut and was surprised by all the comments. I am glad to have had this opportunity to serve. We had a fantastic VBS. Finding Waylon’s ipad continues to be a blessing as I am subscribed to this blog now and so are some of my friends and family.

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