In Holy Encounters, we listen to the other person's pain--listen, just listen--and let God's holy word breathe through us to speak words of comfort and healing to a fellow sufferer. Such holy moments prove that to be alive is to be blessed. Sooner or later suffering comes to us all. We may ask, "Why?" But then we need to ask also, "Why is there beauty?" "Why is there redemption?" "Why does the daffodil bloom every April?" As the folk song says, the answer is blowin' in the wind, in the breath of God. It's spelled H-O-P-E.