Lost and Found: My Phone

Had a long day today, started at 5am, last event of the eventful day was worship practice at church, ended at about 10pm.

By then I was tired, and there were 8 messages on my phone demanding my attention. While we were preparing to leave, I was distracted, trying to reply solutions to all the problems posted to me in the messages.

4 of us took the bus home. I was the first to alight. We said our goodbyes while I tap my EZ-link card to pay my bus-fare on the way out. In one hand was my phone with a half-texted message in it, wrapped in the song sheets I was using during worship practice, and my small handbag. On the other was my purse containing my EZ-link card, and with a quick wave to my friends with my EZ-link-card-hand, I got off the bus in a hurry (the bus captain was in a even greater hurry). That was when I hear a thud. The doors close and the bus drove off.

I continued to text my message...wait, where did my phone go? I was clutching paper and nothing else. NOTHING ELSE!??

I can't believe myself. That thud must have been my phone.

By now I should have panicked. But it was total calm. Very very peaceful. I knew that peace.

Ask my closest friends and family, they will tell you I'm the biggest prawn head, most careless, naive and happy-go-lucky girl they know. They would be right.
I had in the recent months misplaced my purse, my library books, my favorite shoes, my I-can't-remember-how-many-more-stuff before, and many of those were cases worth panicking over. YOU would be right to ask "haven't she learnt her lesson?" But let me say that over all these experience I have learnt one thing if nothing else--if i have peace when I first notice something missing, I will be getting it back and soon. If I panicked it would mean I would have to suffer the permanent lost of my treasured possession.

As I watch the bus drove off, I had peace, I peace that I did not understand but recognize well...it always reminds me of God.

I had no way of contacting my friends on board the bus, so all i could do was to first get back to hall.

I had good hopes that my friends might have notice it and picked it up. Perhaps that was where the peace came from. The walk form the bus stop to hall and my room normally takes 10-15mins. On the way I met Mitchell, whom I first told the incident to, in a rather casual way. "You look calm," was his amused comment. "I'll panic when all hope is lost," came my reply.

Next person I told was HuiShan, my neighbor. She offered me her phone and I dialed my number on it. If my friends picked it up they would have answered it by now. They didn't. This is good time to loose my calm. I became agitated, but the peace was still there.

Think fast. I buzzed Shumay on MSN for my the numbers of my friends on board the bus, hoping i could catch them before they alight. She didn't reply.

Why hadn't I thought of Ruth?

She stays just a few doors away from me. I knew she has Shumay's number. Her door was wide open but she wasn't there. Her phone was on the table. I grabbed it and went through her contacts list one by one until I found Shumay's entry under "N-Shumay"...WHY "N" ?? It felt like an hour passed as I was looking for Shumay's number. I dialed. She picked up. "Will you call Jeremy for me?" The optimum would be that Jeremy has it cos i'll meet him in school. Why would I think the optimum would happen? Call me a spoiled child =)) Ruth came back, amused that I'm in her room, on her chair, using her phone as if they are all mine. She is the only one here I dare do that to without prior permission =) The wait for news from her was excruciating. Shumay called with negative news. I was lying on Ruth's floor by now, letting self-pity take the better of me.
Shumay called again. Weijia has my phone, she caught him just in time before he alighted from the bus. AFTER ALL THE TIME I HAD LOST, SHE CAUGHT HIM IN TIME.
I made noises of relief. I suppose those noises would had been sobs of relieve had I have tears, but the tears did not had enough time to develop--I had too much of that peace. If you name the 5 stages of grieve, you can say I never had the chance to move out of denial. haha

I have come to know that peace as God's promise that He will, in all His grace and mercy, spare me from well-deserved heartache and trouble. It was with that same peace that I found my purse, my library books, my student card. It was the same peace that led me say..."the rain will stop before the next game" during IHG.

Today I must say, LORD, you are so so so so so so GOOD. And I thank You!!

Conveniently enough, I have settled most of all I wanted to do with my phone before I dropped it, so now i shouldn't be bothered of not having it till Friday, when i meet WeiJia in CG. Can't wait to share this thanksgiving item with the CG in greater detail.^^

This entry makes for a lousy discussion, I'm too worn out to make it an art piece. But I do hope you would consider the rough draft I drew here for you, and still come to the conclusion that I did having know all the details of this entire incident--that the LORD is SO GOOD, His ways are above our ways, He's pleasure is sweet, and His mercies endures forever.

Now i will get some sleep, and in the morning I can recount my blessings with even more intensity =).