Like sands through the hourglass…whose time is it, anyway?

Two days ago as I was getting dressed in my bedroom, I caught my watch in my shirt sleeve and the back popped off. After a bit I went into the kitchen where the light was better and managed to get the back replaced on the watch, but it didn’t start running – I thought the watch was damaged, never thought about the battery at the time.

But on the kitchen floor I saw this tiny little circle looking like black sewing thread. I picked it up, wondering what on earth it was and thinking about just throwing it away. Not knowing for sure what it was, though, I went back to the bedroom and put it with my watch in my jewelry box.

And then the thought “popped into my mind” that perhaps the battery had fallen out and that’s why the watch wouldn’t run. But the battery is quite tiny, I didn’t see it anywhere, so I just planned to buy a new one.

Later on in the kitchen, I was using the hand vac to clean up crumbs from the cats’ breakfast when I saw a little metal fleck go into the vacuum. Aha! Watch battery? I dumped out the almost empty vacuum, and sure enough that’s what it was. Into the drawer with the watch it went.

Yesterday after the weekly ladies’ prayer meeting I took the watch, battery and little black circle to the jewelry shop where I always get watch batteries.

I could hear Billy’s (shop owner) voice from the back room talking on the phone. He is seldom there but I have known him slightly for many years. He was one of our dependable volunteers when Tim and I worked with Christian Coalition in the 1990s.

A nice young woman took the watch, battery and little black circle, saying “That’s a gasket, it’s really important, it keeps the watch waterproof.” In just a few moments she had the battery back in place, the gasket back in place and the watch running like new. (No charge.)

Then she said, “I need Billy to check on this, the gasket seemed a bit stretched.” Billy finished his call, came out and said with a smile, “Long time no see!”

“Yes, it has been, how are you doing?” I asked him.

“Do you want the usual answer, or do you want the truth?” He asked. “The truth,” I answered, knowing suddenly that I knew what I knew – here was the reason for my watch adventure.

“I have a pinched nerve in my neck.”

I motioned for him to come closer and told him to turn around, which he did without question. Laying my hand lightly on the back of his neck, I prayed and commanded his spine to be completely healed, whole, and normal, from the top of his head to the base of his spine. He thanked me and I left, thanking the Lord that I had paid attention.

That’s only the second or third time in the last ten years that I had actually seen Billy…

Isn’t God good?