Today's Scripture Reading (September 14, 2022): 1 Chronicles 23
In 2017, HuffPost released its list of eight jobs that would go extinct by 2030.
And there were some surprises among the occupations on the list. As with many prophetic utterances, the list
may be optimistic, and technological changes might not come quite at the pace that some might expect and sometimes not even in the direction we wish for them to take. One of the extinct jobs that made
the list, which I found surprising, was delivery and taxi drivers. HuffPost argues that because of the onset of delivery
drones and driverless cars, our future may not need humans to do these tasks. A drone could deliver your online
order straight to your house, and the driver of your ride after 2030 might be a computer. I have to admit that I am a bit skeptical. While it is technically possible, I
think delivery
and taxi or ride-share drivers will still be needed for several years following 2030. But, at some point in the future, what
Huffpost predicts will likely become our reality.
David looks at the Levites
and realizes that his dream of a fixed Temple in Jerusalem will significantly change some of the
Levites' lives. When the tabernacle was
mobile, the
Levites were given the task of moving all of the furniture and utensils used within the tabernacle. And then they packed up the tent itself
and carried it
to wherever the place might be that the tabernacle was to be set up again. At this point, the tabernacle stood in Gibeon. But,
for the Levites, there was only one more move for the tabernacle. After David's life had ended and Solomon had built a Temple for
God in Jerusalem, that would be the last time that the articles of the tabernacle would need to be moved. For David, that meant there would be a whole class of
people who would
be out of work, regardless of
how infrequently that task had to be done. The Levites took great pride in
the fact that their job was to move and set up Israel's holiest place. But David understood how valuable the Levites were.
They might not be needed for moving the tabernacle, but they could be utilized in the new
Temple differently.
When I was a teenager, I had
a job as a pump jockey at both an Esso and a Shell service station. As a young adult, I
was part of the ownership of a full-serve Texaco station. But I can't remember when the last time was that I saw a
full-service gas station. The task I performed for some spending
money during my youth has become another victim of our increasingly technological society. I have to admit that I am a
great supporter of self-checkout at the stores I visit, although I have friends
who see self-checkout as just another job once done by humans that a machine can now replace. But the trick is not to stop allowing technology
to take occupations but instead recognize that it increases the chance to change the
focus of those jobs into other much-needed tasks. My plea to department stores is that
any cashiers taken away from the checkout lines be used on
the floor of the stores, helping customers and keeping the items stocked and
easy to find. It is not that we will always be needed in certain jobs, but
rather that we can be utilized in different ways, and if it makes the customer
happy, it is a worthwhile change and expense.
Today's Scripture Reading: 1
Chronicles 24
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