I had been living in the neighborhood for about six months when the right time came...the time for me to share my faith with a neighbor.  She was exasperated when I passed by.  Everything had gone wrong during the day, and now her car wouldn't start.

"You're so kind," she said, after we had gotten the car started.  "It's good to know there are Christians still around." The perfect opening for me to respond and share.

I was a bit amazed that she put being kind and being Christian together.  Words often die or at least lose their power.  They need people to keep them alive.  The word kindness is a good illustration of this.  It doesn't carry the weight it should.  Maybe this is one of the prices we pay for technological progress.  We lose the crucial dimension of human existence -- how we relate to each other.

The recovery of the meaning and practice of kindness may be one of our greatest needs.