Author Larry Davies, in his book Sowing Seeds of Faith in a World Gone Bonkers, tells a story with which many of us can identify. He says the check‑out line at his local grocery store was long and he was in a hurry. Seeing another line nearby nearly empty, he walked over and stood behind the only customer still to make a purchase. A young twenty‑something woman was holding a small basket with fifteen to twenty jars of baby food. There was nothing else in the basket: just baby food.

“This is great,” he thought. “She’ll only be a minute and I can be on my way.”

The clerk took the woman’s check for seven dollars and forty‑three cents and efficiently typed in the numbers and slid it in the proper slot on the register. At this point the cash drawer was supposed to open and a receipt printed, …