Vintage Phone

I love to go into antique stores.
I mostly like to browse and see all of the old things.
Sometimes I have something in mind that I am trying to find.
Such was the case this past week.

I was looking for a depression era mixing bowl.
There is a specific one I am trying to find.
The color I am looking for makes it a bit of a challenge to locate.
I am in no rush; I will find it eventually.

As I was perusing the downstairs of this antique shop, I saw something.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw it right below the staircase leaning against the wall.
It was an old crank wall phone.
The kind you see in Ike Godsey’s store on Walton’s Mountain.

I was not in the market for an old wall phone, but this one seemed to call to me.
It was in pristine condition, except for the crank, which was lying on the small ledge.
I argued with myself in my head.
You came here looking for a mixing bowl, not a phone.

All afternoon, I couldn’t get the phone off my mind.
When would I find an item like this ever again?
I called the shop and asked if the price was firm.
It was a fair price, but with the crank lying on the shelf, I knew the price was negotiable.

It was.
Two days later, I went back to the shop and bought the wall phone.
I knew of a few places it could go.
I knew my engineer husband would figure out a way to fix the crank.

He was delighted when he saw the phone.
He couldn’t believe the marvelous condition it was in.
He got out a screwdriver and opened the case.
We were both surprised at what we saw.

The inner workings of the phone were still there.
Some pieces were missing, probably to provide parts for another phone, he thought.
He was intrigued with the schematic drawing that was still on the inside of the case.
It diagrammed the wiring and how the phone worked, so you could repair it yourself.

My husband got out his iPad and did some research.
Because of the picture frame design that is around the transmitter, it is dated 1909-1911.
After 1911, they stopped making the picture frame design altogether.
The company, Western Electric, manufactured the phone and was noted inside as well.

Now, he was more excited about my find than I was.
He went on e-bay and saw how much a phone like this really costs.
It was far more than I paid for our phone, so that made it even nicer.
It is far too heavy to hang on our walls.

There is only one weight-bearing beam that this phone could possibly be hung.
It is not a good location so we decided against it.
Finally, he lifted the phone up on our stone hearth and then on the mantle.
There on the mantle, near the cast iron pans hanging from the hearth, it will remain.

No one can actually make a call from this old phone any longer.
Not unless all the replacement parts were purchased.
But then it would not be old; it would not be original.
Something would be lost; it wouldn’t be the real thing.

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. This then is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:5-18)

Can you imagine if our prayers depended on that old phone?
We would be talking incessantly but we would never be heard.
The phone looks good on the outside, but the inner parts are not connected properly.
It is as if the line is cut; the transmission will not go through.

That is what sin does to our prayers.
Sin hinders the transmission; we end up babbling for show with no substance.
We need Jesus, the Son of God, to come between God the Father and us.
We need to pray in Jesus’ name so our prayers will be heard.

My phone is missing the Western Electric plaque that is usually on the front.
My husband said that we could buy a reproduction.
Buying a reproduction and tacking it on the phone is not the real thing.
It looks good, but it isn’t real.

Praying in any other name but Jesus’ name may look good and sound good.
But it isn’t real; it isn’t true; it is something reproduced in our image.
It is the stamp of approval we think we need in order for our prayers to be heard.
Reproductions don’t count; we need the real thing.

We need Jesus.

If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay His hand upon us both. Someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more. Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot. (Job 9:33-35)

We need a perfect go-between so our prayers can be heard.
We need Jesus, the Real Thing!