The case of the dissappearing mobile

It happened at the end of the day.

We were packing up to leave - after having hosted about 80 odd young ones for that day's Vacation Bible School.

One of the teachers was looking upset. Word got out quickly - her mobile phone was missing.

Where had it been? In her bag.

Now it was gone.

One of our young volunteers was calling the phone repeatedly using her own mobile. It kept ringing - no one was picking up.

I thought back to some years ago and the anger and frustration of knowing that someone in the packed local train compartment had taken my mobile. I asked people to call my number but no one did for some time. When a person finally got around to it - the phone was off.

And so there we were - with a missing mobile. My thoughts were not very charitable. Something along the lines of: "What happens when we organise things like the VBS for these kids - one of them flicks their teacher's phone."

Not knowing what to do else I moved away to pack up and head for home.

As I was in the empty hall - putting things in their bags I heard something faintly.

At first I thought someone had left a mobile in their bag. But there were no other bags other than the ones I was packing. Then I looked around in the room - nothing.

The faint mobile sound could still be heard.

I looked out the window at the neighbouring lot - where a huge building is being built.

Still the faint tune of a mobile ringing.

Then I looked down out the window - and in the rubbish which the school cleaners had been dumping out of this particular window - there nestled in all of that trash was the missing mobile!

A few minutes later it was back in the hands of the teacher.

But what stuck in my mind is how quickly my thoughts had turned to the accusation of theft. How quickly I was hard in my spirit and angry. How quickly I had swept away the possibility of anything else but a deliberate taking of the mobile phone.

And then the miraculous finding. There I was packing up next to the window. A minute later and I would be gone - the phone would stay outside in the trash - and we would all be convinced that one of our kids had swiped the dear thing.

In a universe where either everything makes sense - or nothing does - I definitely and completely throw my lot for the former.