January 4th, 2025. Two days ago I lost my phone while shopping, discovering its absence at my final shop Sainsburys Supermarket on the outskirts of Oxford. I had made two earlier payments using the phone in a department store, where I regularly have coffee with my friend Cliff, but was able to pay this last bill with my physical cards from my wallet. Arriving home, I did the obvious checks in the car, shopping bags, and other pockets, before ringing (on my landline, of course) Sainsburys and the department store where I had used the mobile, my phone contract supplier, Oxford Buses (having used a park & ride service) and my Bank (having its details on the phone). I discovered the police no longer take details – you have to register with ‘Immobilise’. The guy at my contract supplier asked if I’d installed ‘Find my device’, which I had, so I googled, and, lo and behold, my phone was sitting somewhere at Sainsburys. I made two calls to the store manager, then drove back there, where a lady at the security desk inside the entrance amazed me by showing video footage of my entering and exiting one of the toilets (fortunately not the intervening footage!). She explained that the phone could have gone home with me, as the location software updates periodically. The next day I recollected having to get down on the floor while shopping to reach inaccessible coffee packets right at the back of the bottom shelf, and some things had slid out of my pocket in the process; I was pretty sure I had picked them all up, but I wish I’d looked there when I’d revisited the store. I shared this information with the Midday Zoom Prayer Group I still am privileged to lead on Fridays, and they prayed about my lost phone. Straight after, I rang the supermarket manager again, and as soon as I mentioned Irish Latte coffee packets, she replied that my phone had been found right there. I swiftly went back and retrieved it, much to the amazement of the phone contract guy and the online banking lady.
I’ve learned a few things from this brief but anxiety-making event: (a) The reaction of the contract and bank reps at my successful conclusion, tells me that these losses usually end badly, with phones being sold to clever people who can strip the phone and resell at a profit, and, worse, steal personal information to adversely affect me; (b) I learned that I am much more dependent on my phone than I intended to be. eg I do my banking on my desktop PC, and, to enter my account I normally use a card reader and insert my debit card; but that was no longer possible because the bank lady said my card should be disabled, as it was linked to the phone accounts; the alternative to getting online was to enter an access set of numbers (which I knew) but then enter more information…(you guessed it), from my smartphone, which the contract guy had disabled! (c) While a deep inside pocket is a pretty safe place for my phone, it is useless when I have to scramble around the supermarket floor trying to reach Irish Latte packets right at the back of the lowest shelf! When pre-smartphone handsets were small, it was easy to slide it into a pouch on my trouser belt; nowadays so many people have them protruding precariously from back pockets! (In quick response I looked for and purchased a perfectly-sized pouch which can hook on my belt with a carabiner clip, or hand round my neck or from my wrist with thin straps).
So, thank you, whoever found it – staff or customer – and did the honest thing. Thank you to my wife and Midday Prayer group who prayed for a happy reunion. And – being a Christian and a Bible Reader – I am thanking God, and reminding myself of Jesus’s triple parable of the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin and Lost Son (Luke 15). Indeed, when (Burmese) pastor Man learned of my relief, she suggested it might be a propetic sign of the lost souls who will be flocking to us to find salvation and healing. I will take that by faith as yet another divine encouragement for the ministry he is preparing us for.
I wrote most of the above on my local ‘Next Door’ site. The morals of this story which I shared with them – and which could be many – were: secure your phone on your person / install ‘Find my device’ (or equivalent) / don’t assume everyone is dishonest / report your loss / pray and read the Bible!
Ingria and I wish you a Happy New Year!
Healing in Jesus' Name 