Go Beyond

My cell phone rang just as I arrived home from lunch today. Although I did not recognize the unusual number on the Caller ID, I answered it anyway. I figured it was probably one of our international ministry partners. But, it wasn’t. I immediately recognized the caller’s distinctive voice and greeting — “Hello, Mr. Omar” — as that of one of my Muslim friends from Pakistan. In 2005, my friend Lee Pullin and I traveled to Pakistan to do relief work after the devastating earthquake that killed tens of thousands of people within the span of a few short minutes. Lee and I stopped to spend the night not far from the town of Balakot, the epicenter of the earthquake, in Mansehra District. While there, our translators met a man from a mountain village that had been completely destroyed. “No one has come to help our village,” he complained. We quickly concluded that this was a providential connection and that God had sent us to help this man and the people of his village.

The following day we traveled into the mountains to visit the man’s village. The devastation was heart-breaking. And, with harsh winter weather just days away, the need of the villagers for shelter was critical. After some deliberation, we purchased corrugated tin and empty rice and flour sacks and used these materials to build a model home in a matter of hours. We filled the empty sacks with dirt, stacked these bags to make walls, spanned the walls with timbers, and then added corrugated tin for roofing. Our crude model home was a hit and sufficient to help the survivors make it through the winter. Every year since the earthquake, our friends in Pakistan have called to express their gratitude for the kindness we showed to the people of their village. This year’s call came today, five years after Lee and I visited their village.

The destruction of the 2005 earthquake introduced Lee and me to the people of a remote mountain village — people we otherwise would never have met. But it was the kindness we demonstrated that has kept us connected with our friends there. Kindness is an amazing thing. When I was a kid, my grandfather introduced me to Aesop’s fables. I especially liked the fable of “The Lion and The Mouse,” a wonderful story that illustrates that no act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted. The writer of Proverbs (3:3-4) understood the power of kindness: “Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good repute In the sight of God and man.” You don’t have to go all the way to Pakistan to demonstrate kindness. But you do have to look for opportunities to do so every day. Don’t underestimate the power of a simple act of kindness to open unexpected doors of friendship for you and to help you make meaningfuil connections with others. And remember that no act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.