Remembered
AI Can Notice. Only Love Remembers.
A note before we begin: Carol, Justin, and the other diner patrons are fictional — a constructed scenario, not a reported story. The opportunity they illustrate is real.
Carol opened the Drafts folder on her laptop. She quickly approved and sent the customer survey e-mails the POS system had created, along with the loyalty reward e-mails. She took more time on the birthday and anniversary ones. She added personal notes for the regulars who had been coming for years.
Stacy and Allan had met at the diner and now were bringing 2-year-old Levi with them every Saturday morning. She congratulated them on their 3rd anniversary and changed the coupon to three free donuts.
She shared her delight that Marilyn was celebrating her 75th birthday and hoped that she and Marvyn would come in for a pair of free cookies. M&M, as they liked to be called, had been coming to the diner since Carol’s parents opened it in the late ’80s, before Carol was even born, and had watched Carol grow up, go off to college, and return to take over the family business.
When Carol got to the “Miss You” e-mails, she paused on the one to Justin. For several years he’d sat at the counter almost every morning, starting his workday with a hearty meal. But the system flagged that he hadn’t been in for three weeks, an unusually long time for such a regular customer.
Through her office door, Carol could hear the chatter picking up as the early Tuesday morning crowd continued to swell. She put on her apron and walked out to the grill area. On the other side of the counter, several young professionals scrolled on their phones as they sipped their coffee or ate their breakfasts.
“Becky, you know Justin, don’t you?”
“Mostly from here, but I bump into him from time to time.”
“I haven’t seen him lately, do you know if he’s away for work?”
“I doubt it. His company announced a big round of layoffs a few weeks ago to help pay for their AI investments. I just assumed he got caught up in that.”
Carol thought of the plate she’d served Justin hundreds of times — French toast, three eggs, bacon, cinnamon roll — and wondered, for the first time, if that was his one big meal of the day, and what he was eating now. “I had no idea,” she said quietly.
What Carol Did
Instead of sending the generic “Miss You” e-mail to Justin, Carol found his phone number in the system and sent him a personal text. “We’ve missed seeing you at the Route 66 Cafe. I hope all is well. Even if your schedule has changed, we’d love to treat you to a free breakfast if you can stop in sometime.”
The next morning, during the lull between breakfast and lunch crowds, Justin sat down at the counter in shorts and a t-shirt. Carol greeted him with a big smile and a cup of coffee.
“Thanks for texting me back. I’m sorry to hear about your job. Do you want your usual?”
She clicked the order into her tablet and then turned back to Justin. “This might sound odd, but would you mind if I prayed for you?”
“Sure. I’d appreciate that!”
Carol and Justin bowed their heads and Carol prayed. “Lord, we thank You for how rich You are towards us. I thank You for Justin and what a blessing he is to those around him. You know all our needs even better than we do. I pray that You would help Justin find meaningful and rewarding work, that You would encourage him in this time, that You would provide for all his needs, and that You would bring alongside Justin others that could encourage and help him. We pray all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
Get Russell McGuire’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
“Amen. Thank you, Carol.”
“Is there anything else we can do to help?”
Justin chuckled. “If you know anyone who needs an accountant… No big corporations, though; I’m done with those. I’m thinking of opening my own bookkeeping business, but I guess I could use prayer for wisdom on that as well.”
“Lord, give Justin wisdom about opening his own business. Amen.” Carol smiled.
“Hey, you probably don’t know Marilyn and Marvyn, since they usually come in on the weekends, but they were in yesterday afternoon to celebrate Marilyn’s birthday. Marvyn mentioned he needs to find someone to take over bookkeeping at his family business so he can fully retire. I don’t know if that’s a job or maybe your first client. Would you like for me to introduce you?”
“Sure! That would be great!” While Justin had been smiling, now his smile seemed genuine and he sat up on the barstool a little taller.
Love and GRACE
What Carol did was simply a small exercise in Christian remembrance, hospitality, and love. AI cannot become compassionate, but Carol used a tool without surrendering her calling to love her neighbor.
Paul wrote to the church in Colossae, and in this passage the Spirit instructs Christ’s people more broadly:
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (Colossians 3:12–17 NKJV)
Carol is living this out in her business. Her MBA might have taught her about cash flow and technology, but her parents, her pastors, and the Word of God taught her to put on love, mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and to bear with others.
The AI features in Carol’s systems help her manage communication, send routine reminders, and notice opportunities to care for customers, but Carol keeps those tools in their proper place: the actual work of love, judgment, and responsibility remains hers.
From a GRACE perspective, Carol’s AI systems help deliver two types of Goods in Tension: efficiently messaging hundreds of customers, and enabling Carol to personally care for customers as people rather than treating them as transactions. Carol takes Responsibility for these customer relationships and doesn’t outsource that to AI. Carol’s Allegiance is clearly to honoring Christ by treating people mercifully and truthfully rather than maximizing profit, and that shows up in how she uses the systems. God uses the conditions of Carol’s work, including the tools she employs, to sanctify Carol and develop her Character. He also uses her ordinary interactions with others to shape the culture of the diner. In this story, the Effect of AI is most strongly felt through Justin’s former employer’s decisions, their impact on him, and even on the local businesses that had served those workers. In contrast, Carol’s use of AI helps her to recognize the value of Justin as one made in the image of God.
A Few Questions Worth Wrestling With
- What can AI genuinely not do in your business — and are you protecting space for that, or letting the tool’s speed crowd it out?
- What kinds of customer care can be responsibly assisted by AI, and what responsibilities should never be outsourced?
- Does you use of technology help you notice and serve real people, or does it tempt you to treat them like transactions?
- How might your technology decisions affect not only your business, but also your employees, customers, and the surrounding community?
- Is prayer part of how you actually run your business day to day, or something reserved for church on Sunday?
- What would it look like for Christ’s commands about kindness, patience, forgiveness, and love to shape your use of business technology?
I’ve helped businesses navigate a few of these waves — the Internet in the ’90s, wireless in the ’00s. Each month I work with a small number of owners on these kinds of questions around AI. If that’s you, feel free to reach out. I also publish a weekly AI market intelligence newsletter with a strategic and faith-based lens. Find it on Substack at Faithful Intelligence.
A note on process: This article was developed in collaboration with AI tools — reflecting the very intersection this newsletter explores. The research, theological convictions, and editorial judgment are my own; AI assisted in drafting and refinement; human editing shaped the final version.
