Here’s a story I want to share, followed by the quote of the week. Can you relate to this?
Last week one day we had a warm, sunny day and my partner Joe was out running errands with the convertible when he saw a car with the hood open along the interstate. Being the kind and generous soul he is, he stopped to see if he could help, finding a young couple who lived locally. After some discussion, they made a plan, agreeing that Joe would drive the man to a nearby service shop and the woman, to her apartment a few miles away.
With the man in the front and the woman in the back, Joe proceeded with the plan, all the while the woman sat in the back seat with her eyes glued to her phone, texting, texting, texting. After the man got out at the repair shop, the woman moved to the front seat, continuing to be held captive by the hand-held device. The top was down in the car, the sky a gorgeous blue, the temperature, just right.
After several minutes of silence, with the woman ignoring him as her fingers flew across the screen of the phone, Joe asked incredulously, finding it hard to imagine that the woman didn’t want to LOOK around, enjoy the lovely day and the feeling of freedom that comes from riding in a car with the top down, “Do you ever stop texting?” The woman pulled her eyes from her phone and shook her head, saying “No, I guess not.” For the last few minutes of the ride she attempted small talk, but with the phone continually alerting her of new texts, she was obviously too distracted for much in the way of a conversation.
Is this what our world has come to? A time when we are so addicted to our devices we can’t even exercise a bit of common, human decency? We can’t engage in a 5 minute conversation with a generous stranger who has gone out of his way to offer assistance? That we care more about a few words on a gadget than about what’s going on around us?
That brings me then to this week’s photo and quote–a simple one with a powerful message:
Wherever you are, be ALL there.
–Jim Elliot
…and one more time just for good measure–Wherever you are, BE ALL THERE. May your Monday be special, wherever you are.