In This Issue

Just wondering ...

Caring and Compassion Conference in
New Jersey

Kindness Conference 2010

The Ripple Effect

Light Notes

Just Wondering What You Can Do?

Bible Stories

Just wondering . . .

—— Craig Bourne

What's all this talk about care and kindness? Why is it promoted so heavily? Why is there an entire conference about it? Is it really necessary?

Have you had thoughts like this? Have you heard other people express something similar? One woman dismissed the need for taking any time to listen to "care and kindness stuff", saying, "I'm the kindest person I know." She felt that she already knew all there was to know on the subject. Unfortunately, it will be difficult to help her to grow and become even more sensitive to others. She undoubtedly doesn't agree that there is room for every one of us to improve in our ability to respond to the stress, the suffering, the grief, the neediness of people that surround us everywhere we go.

Here is an excellent analogy to demonstrate how we each can do even better. At a Care Conference session, Dr. Jim Kok asked everyone to do a little experiment together. He had them all stand, and then asked them to reach their hands above their heads. They did, and he reminded them to be sure they were reaching as high as they could. Some people made adjustments and they all stood there with their hands in the air. Then he exhorted them to try to reach EVEN HIGHER. And everyone stretched a bit further! After inviting them to sit back down, he made his point — that even though he had first asked them to reach as high as they could, the fact was that they could do even MORE.

We need constant reminders that we can do better. The theme of the 2009 Care and Kindness Conference at the Crystal Cathedral was "Raising the Bar." The conference sought to stress that we can indeed raise the bar a little bit higher for ourselves. No matter how well we have done, we can actually do even more. As we watched the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, we heard again and again how athletes were

(continued)

Dr. James R. Kok has written a definitive resource detailing the key essentials in becoming a more caring person in his latest book, “The Miracle of Kindness” (available on Amazon.com, in either paperback or Kindle edition.) A handful of basic tools —wrapped in courage—are the secret to changing the world through intentional acts of kindness.

As the Koach Of Kare, Dr. Kok has been a pastor at the
Crystal Cathedral for the past 25 years and heads the Care Ministry department of the church. He is the author of six books and numerous articles, and he is the founder of the
Conference on Care and Kindness, held annually at the Crystal Cathedral.

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