III John: 12-14 “I had many things to write to you, but I am not willing to write them to you in pen and ink; but I hope to see you shortly, and we shall speak face to face.”   We live in a world today where we can speak to other people through all types of electronic communications: email, phone, texting, face book, group me, twitter, and many more.  While many of these are wonderful tools available to us to keep in contact and communicate important messages and information, there are times when should speak face to face.  We should use wisdom and discretion to know these times as John wrote in our Scripture today.  This applies to every walk of life and nothing can ever replace the personal face to face meeting.  I once had to terminate the employment of a worker who simply could not go speak face to face with someone about an issue. He would rather send a harsh email with inappropriate copies to others who did not need to see it.  I had warned this individual that he had to get up from his desk and go the person whom he needed to speak and address the issue face to face.  It is too easy to write an email out of anger, frustration or cowardly attitudes and then hit the “send” button.  Face to face meetings may not be easy, but they are still the best way to deal with an issue of importance.

While the example above involves the work setting, the same face to face principle holds true in the home.  As the leader in your home, you must develop an open, free and inviting environment for everyone to speak with each other face to face.  Yes, there are times to use the electronic media, but real relationships and trust are built on personal touch.  A number of years ago, a book titled Megatrends had an important statement: “High tech requires high touch.”  In our Scripture today, pen and ink constituted high tech for its day, but John knew that what he needed to say should be done face to face.  We must know that our leadership requires discretion and wisdom as to when to use high tech versus high touch of speaking face to face.  It becomes personal when we speak face to face and there is no substitute or alternative high tech which can replace it.  Face to face and eye to eye communications are and will always be irreplaceable.