Where were you when the phones stopped ringing, that January day? That January day was Wednesday, Jan. 14. For roughly 10 hours that day, I and approximately 200,000 other Verizon cell phone users had no service.
Perhaps you recognized my question as a play on Alan Jackson’s hit song, “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?” His song, of course, was in reference to the World Trade Center attacks and the events of 9/11. By no means, am I attempting to compare this past Wednesday’s cell phone outage to the horrific events of 9/11. No one tragically and senselessly died as they did on that day. The cell phone outage did, however, cause me to stop and think about how dependent we have become on our constant companion. About the only time my cell phone is not in my pocket, in my hand or by my side, is when I can’t remember where I put it down!
Of all days to have no phone service, for Jean and me, last Wednesday was not good timing. Wednesday is mid-week service night for many churches, including ours. I teach a Bible study each week on that night and we have a time of prayer. Jean had a meeting in LaFayette that afternoon. LaFayette is about 30 minutes from our Opelika home. Our church is in Lanett, which is also about 30 minutes from our home. LaFayette is about 30 minutes from Lanett, but not if you go through Opelika first. Since we didn’t know how long Jean’s meeting would last, we thought she might have to drive directly to the church, instead of coming back home first. So, we agreed she would call me when her meeting ended, so I would know whether to head on to church or wait for her at home.
As my time to leave drew near I grew anxious. Yes, I know the Bible says, “Be anxious for nothing.” I’m sure that applies to times of no cell phone service, too, but I disobeyed the command anyway. Each time I tried to call her, my phone said, “Your phone is not registered on a network. You can still dial 911.” They call that being in SOS mode. I thought I was having an SOS moment, but I knew not to call 911 for that kind of emergency.
I learned later that Krispy Kreme was handing out a free glazed doughnut to all customers suffering from interrupted-service-syndrome. I love glazed doughnuts…especially free ones. I had a couple of issues with that offer. For one thing, the free doughnut was only between 5-7 p.m. None of my “so-called friends” called to tell me until after 7. A few “claimed” they tried to call, but couldn’t get me on my phone. Boy, wasn’t that a convenient excuse?
The other problem was that I couldn’t have gone to church and Krispy Kreme at the same time. If I had only known, I could have called someone at church to tell them I couldn’t make it to church, because I had to go to Krispy Kreme. Then I would have felt too guilty for skipping church to go get my free doughnut. Of course, we all know that one “free” doughnut leads to a dozen “not so free” doughnuts, and that leads to more guilt.
If all of that makes absolutely no sense, you should hear some of the excuses I’ve heard, in a lifetime as a minister, for people not making it to church!
Anyway, Jean made it home and we made it to church. I do still have a gnawing Krispy Kreme Kraving!
Bill King can be reached at bkpreach@yahoo.com or 334-728-5514 (office).
