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By Barry Buzza
 Kindness is a powerful virtue. Its positive influence can not be overstated. The simple Bible verse, "Be kind to one another", carries huge implications for both giving and receiving.
Gandhi was a kind man. The story is told about him as he was boarding a train one day. When he stepped up onto the rail car, one of his shoes fell off and landed on the tracks. It was too late to retrieve it because the train was ready to pull out, so without hesitation, the teacher calmly removed his other shoe and threw it along side the one on the tracks.
When another passenger asked him why he did that, he answered with a smile, "The poor man who finds the shoe lying on the track, will now have a pair he can use!"
It has been amazing to me to hear the controversy surrounding the winter Mat Program (giving a place of refuge for street people during the cold winter season) over the last month. Our church, Northside, was the first of four to open our doors to the homeless. We were pleased that the City of Port Coquitlam, BC gave us permission to be kind to the poor.
All of the worries of nay-sayers have been put to rest by the success of the program over this cold December month. It's gone even better than we anticipated.
On the first snowy night, when the bus arrived as its designated pick up point, an elderly lady, Suzie, was not there as expected. The driver took the time to look for her in some of her usual hangouts. When he found Suzie, she was in very rough shape. He drove her with the others to find nourishment, shelter and love in our church-without the extra effort, it's unlikely that Suzie would have made it through that cold December night.
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There's been between 10 and 17 guests sleeping in the basement on mats every night. Some are addicts (although they are not allowed to come if high on drugs or drunk), others are just going through a difficult stretch of life. A couple of the guys have to be wakened up at 5:30am so they can catch a bus to work every day. One of them promised, "When I get my first cheque, I'll come back and help."
We have been overwhelmed by the number of volunteers who've stepped forward. Church members are there at 5:30am to cook and serve breakfast, pack a healthy lunch for the guests and clean up the place after the guests leave at 7:00am. Then in the evening, others come to cook, serve, clean up and cover security.
Dozens of kind people have donated coats, scarves, gloves, thermoses and clean underwear. The food, which has been rated as delicious, has poured in. Boxes of drink boxes, oranges and fruit bars to send along with the guests, have mysteriously arrived.
The students of Riverside Elementary delivered a load of sausages and pancakes, along with ready packed lunches--it just keeps coming!
Those who have participated in the program have been overwhelmed by the response. Everybody, both those who are being served and those who have been serving, has been delighted. Kindness has bred not only more kindness, but it also has produced thankfulness, encouragement and happiness for scores of participants.
Barry Buzza, a regular contributor to canadianchristianity.com, is a veteran pastor, and also the president of the The Foursquare Gospel Church of Canada. www.barrybuzza.com www.foursquare.ca
January 10/2008
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