Put down the cell phone and talk!

"Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." - Hebrews 10:25 (NIV)¹

Perhaps a strange quote combination, Garrison Keillor and Hebrews, but there is a correlation here.

too many young American men suffer from a desperate lack of social skills ... just the simple art of extending yourself in a friendly manner to someone you don't know, which is crucial in any job in which you brush up against the great unwashed public. (Or in politics, or spreading the gospel, or simply living a rich life in multivarious America.) Over and over and over, you run into young men with the personalities of warehouse security guards.²

Garrison blames our electronics, cell phones, e-mail, text messaging, etc. Here's his advice:

We can talk L8R about bad spelling and whassup with the acronyms — my concern is that electronics, which seem to open up new vistas in the world, may be shutting us down. Put down that cell phone, good sir, and look me in the eye and tell me something. How are you? Good. I like those tattoos. And the big safety pin in your ear. You from here? No? You're from Oklahoma? Really? Where the waving wheat can sure smell sweet when the wind comes right behind the rain? Cool. Awesome. Totally.²

Life is more than information exchange. Social skills are developed ONLY through personal interaction.

Almost like it was planned that way, real Church fellowship gives believers a future spiritual and social advantage; don't neglect it!

- fritz

^{1 - Hebrews 10:25 (NIV)
2 - The Silent Brotherhood, Prairie Home Companion, April 20, 2010}