How often in my human weakness and introverted nature, I don't encounter the other, but meet them. To meet another is to keep any interaction on the surface level. To encounter another touches deeply the lives of both parties, because each becomes vulnerable to the other. A true encounter impacts me. In a sense I cannot be the same afterwards. Lord, you didn't just meet people,  you encountered them. At times, something happened to you. You were moved with pity and love; you reached  out to teach or heal, to love or to forgive. Something takes place in the one encountered. Either they respond or they walk away. A mere meeting fails to interact. An encounter causes interaction. the former may lead to indifference, while the latter to something new and exciting. There is divine grace in an encounter.