Computers and Wooden Boxes

I had an interesting conversation with a brother in Christ not long ago. As I understand it, his family has owned and operated a lumber yard for many years. I think he served as the second generation owner/operator of the business. In recent years, he has basically turned most of the responsibility over to the next generation. He refers to himself now as a buyer.

This Christian brother is sort of a “cut to the chase” kind of guy. There is not a lot of “fluff” about him. I think that is reflected in the slogan of the lumber yard. That slogan just states that Wood is Good.

I was told that, sometime after his first wife had passed away, he remarried. As might be expected, somebody asked him why he had decided to do that. As I understand it, his answer was something along the lines of, “I liked being married the first time and I think I’ll like it the second time.” His answer, like him, was uncomplicated, straightforward, and honest.

Somehow, a part of our conversation turned to technology. Specifically, we started talking about computers. He told me how the younger members of his family make fun of him for not learning to use a computer. They try to get him at least into the twentieth century, if not the twenty-first. His answer to them is that he didn’t learn to use computers earlier in life and has no interest in learning how now. His “solution” is to ask those who know how to use computers to print (on paper) what they want him to know in order for him to deal with it in a way that is comfortable to him.

He also told me something that he thought was interesting and that he thought I would find interesting. He was right. Here, if my memory has not failed me, are his exact words:

“Guess who they come running to when they want a wooden box built to certain specifications.”

I think that there is a lesson here for the Lord’s people. The church is composed of those who are in the “computer generation.” It is also composed of those in the “wooden box generation.” 

We can isolate ourselves into our own “cells.” We can criticize and make fun of those who are not just like us in ability, skills, knowledge, etc. If we choose that route, the church will become segmented, weakened, and impotent in the eyes of the community and society at large.

The other option is for the computer generation, the wooden box generation, and all the generations in between to join hands and hearts in an effort to do the Lord’s work as effectively and efficiently as possible.

The Holy Spirit has already informed us about which option should be chosen by those who truly love the Lord:

“For as in one body we have many members,

and the members do not all have the same function,

so we, though many, are one body in Christ,

and individually members one of another” (Rom. 12:4-5).

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