Jasper Fu drives two hours a day for Uber, an app-based taxi service. He doesn’t do it for the money, since he already has a fulltime job. He says he does it because it’s a good way to “talk to people.” Chinese culture encourages quiet restraint, so it can seem inappropriate to walk up to a stranger and start a conversation. It’s different when you’re picking them up in your car. Jasper says, “Under no other circumstance can I find a stranger to talk with me for like 10 to 20 minutes.”

Jasper isn’t alone in his desire to connect with others. A lot of us long to matter to someone, and we receive little help from our culture. If an evil villain wanted to make sure we have as little human contact as possible, this is the society he would have created. We’re separated by houses with backyards but no front porches. We’re separated by cars, in which we travel alone. We buy groceries, pump gas, and withdraw money from our bank—all without making eye contact with others. We’re separated by technology. In our free time we scroll and text alone.

In our isolation we might feel like David crying out from his cave, “No one gives me a passing thought! No one will help me; no one cares a bit what happens to me” (Psalm 142:4). But we won’t go down without a fight, for we know it’s not good for us “to be alone” (Genesis 2:18).

Since our triune God created us for relationship, may we follow Jasper’s lead and find ways to foster friendship. We can text our friends to meet up face-to-face. We can bring cookies next door to share with neighbors. And we can view unexpected visits not as interruptions, but opportunities to reflect the relational nature of our loving God who never leaves us nor forsakes us.

NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: 1 Kings 21:1-29