The Real Miracle of the Lost Phone

 

After a day on the water, Joshua Plohocky and Rich Winget realized they had lost track of time and soon needed to head downstream quickly to make it off the river before dark.

 

As they prepared to leave, Plohocky got out of his kayak to remove it from a shallow rocky area. After moving it to deeper water, he slipped while entering the kayak and a little water got into the boat, but quickly got back into the kayak and the two paddled down river.

 

Before long, Plohocky realized that it was getting increasingly difficult to keep up with Winget and his kayak was feeling very heavy. Winget looked back and noticed the rear of the kayak was sinking. The kayak’s drain hole was sucking in water. Plohocky was paddling with over 100 pounds of water in his boat!

 

He quickly headed for shore to attempt to empty the water where rapids immediately filled the kayak and it fully submerged under water. Using all his strength, Plohocky swam around the rapids while holding onto the kayak, attempting to keep it from going all the way to the bottom of the river. Once on shore, he was able to empty the water.

To his surprise, nothing was missing from the kayak except his phone! The sun was quickly going down, and the two men still had a long way to go. They had no time to search for the phone, because they needed to leave and quickly and retreat down the river to safety.

 

Tired and exhausted after paddling back to their cars, the reality of the lost phone began to sink in. Plohocky was overwhelmed--he had no insurance and still owed on the phone, and the phone was vital to his job. The next day he asked Winget to go back with him to search for the phone. Evan, a young man planning to be baptized the following day, wanted to join the pair and help.

 

As they floated down the river to the spot where the phone had been lost, it became apparent that God brought them together for more reasons than just to look for a phone. By the time they arrived at the place where the kayak sank and the phone disappeared, their conversations had turned to spiritual topics and prayer. Winget shared how important it is to heed the voice of God and even shared how the previous day he had not done well at listening to God’s still small voice.

 

The conversation was ringing through Plohocky’s thoughts as he docked his kayak and walked over to the area where the boat had gone down while the other two friends paddled a little farther down the river. As he prayed, he realized that only God could find his phone. Plohocky didn’t know the exact location, there were rocks and crevices everywhere, the water was murky, and to top it off, a drop off into the deep occurred rapidly, and chances that the current hadn’t carried the phone far away were miniscule. But he sensed God’s direction, and entered the water, looking and praying for an impossible miracle.

 

As he looked down into the water, doubt washed over him. Overwhelmed, he wondered why he had bothered to come. He called out to God. “I heard Him say, ‘lay down in the water,’” Plohocky shares. “I wanted to object, because I did not want to be soaked unless I was sure I would find the phone. As I wrestled over this, one word entered my mind, ‘Naaman’!”

 

He lowered himself into the water and immediately saw an object tucked between two rocks, covered in algae. His phone!

 

“Overwhelmed with joy and taken aback by the sheer awesomeness of God, I began to laugh, realizing the impossibility of the miracle that God had so easily accomplished,” he says. “But it gets better! As I held what should have been a dead phone in my hand, texts began rolling in! After twenty-four hours in the water, the phone was still charged and fully functioning! According to Apple, this phone is water resistant and can handle being submerged at no more than three feet for a maximum of thirty minutes. The phone was in currents over three feet deep for twenty-four hours with no--I repeat--no damage!!!”

 

Winget and Evan were amazed. Evan told Plohocky, “It’s as if you knew exactly where the phone was!”

 

“No, Evan I know Him who knew exactly where the phone was,” Plohocky responded. He believes we can each witness miracles in our own lives. How? “Slow down, pray, listen to what God is telling you,” he shares. “The real miracle wasn’t a lost phone being found, but the impact it had on myself, on Evan, on others with whom I shared the story of a God who answers prayers and still does miracles.”