I won’t use those self check-out counters at Wal-Mart or Home Depot. I’d rather stand in line for ten minutes and talk to a real person at the register and even real people in line with me than swipe a card and punch a few buttons and have no human interaction with anybody. My kids say it’s because I’m old. I tell them, no, it’s more important to interact with people than to be in such a hurry.

I can’t show God’s love and grace to a machine. I can’t smile at a machine or talk to a machine (I suppose I could, but I’d probably get arrested). If a machine miscalculates my change or forgets to give me a receipt, my attempts at a Christ-like patient and pleasant attitude will have no impact on a machine. I can’t talk to a machine about the pictures of its grandchildren on its apron. A machine will never ask me about my empty tomb T-shirt or where I go to church.

Our time and technology — calendars, clocks, computers — are increasingly robbing us of more and more human interaction. This frantically hurried culture is chipping away at Scripture’s contention that we are not a collection of individuals but, rather, a Body with each member belonging to all the others.

We invest our lives in one another. We commit ourselves to one another. It happens at weddings and funerals. It happens at ballgames and graduations and potlucks.

“Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality… Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” ~Romans 12:13-15

I can’t rejoice with you unless I know what you’re rejoicing about. I can’t mourn with you unless I know why you’re mourning. That’s where the time investment and the sharing come in. That’s where loving human interaction with one another should take the priority over our busy schedules.

Today, make that phone call you’ve been putting off. Tonight, reconnect with that family member or neighbor you’ve been too busy to visit. And ask the cashier about her grandkids.

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Congratulations to Central’s own Ellie Cornett and Logan Brittain! Man, we’ve got some really talented kids at this place! Ellie just won the Class 2A State Cross Country Championship as a member of the Bushland High School Lady Falcons. It’s the first ever state title for Bushland. And Ellie’s got a great shot at repeating next year as a Senior. And Logan has just made it official, signing with the University of Texas Longhorns as a Class 4A High Jump Champion from Randall High. As a Senior this year, Logan also stars as a wide receiver and defensive back with the Raiders playoffs-bound football team and as the starting point guard for Randall’s basketball team. Congratulations to these great kids and their wonderful families. We’re very proud of these two.

Peace,

Allan