{"id":44045,"date":"2011-06-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-27T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/david-brooks-on-our-need-for-relationships\/"},"modified":"2011-06-27T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-06-27T00:00:00","slug":"david-brooks-on-our-need-for-relationships","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/david-brooks-on-our-need-for-relationships\/","title":{"rendered":"David Brooks on Our Need for Relationships"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[The 19th century English poet] Samuel Taylor Coleridge described how his own [son], then three-years-old, awoke in the night and called to his mother. &quot;Touch me, only touch me with your finger,&quot; the young boy pleaded. 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