Living love

The Kite Runner is Afghan American author Khaled Hasseini's story of two boys growing up in Kabul on the eve of Communist occupation. They are fast friends though Amir is of the more prestigious Pashtun tribe, and Hassan is a Hazara servant in his father's posh household.

Amir is a writer of stories, introspective, and not brave. Hassan is illiterate, handy with a slingshot, fiercely loyal, and courageous. Amir watches, frozen, from a hiding place while three future Taliban teenage bullies have their way with Hassan in a cave. Unable to live with his guilt, Amir later connives to have Hassan banished from his father's estate. Though Hassan knows all this, he continues to show undying love to his friend --- even reaffirming his commitment in a letter written to the now California-based Afghan writer.

1 Corinthians 13 says that "love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things; love never ends." And I will tell you that I can hear that preached from the pulpit a hundred times, with fortissimo, and it will not have nearly the impact on me that one human incarnation of the teaching has. Oh, what power would be unleashed on the world if we only lived God's Word!