God's Sufficient Grace

confusion

"I pray to Buddha and to Jesus. Miss Jaime, I don't understand. If I don't pray to Buddha, I won't get merit and I'll go to hell. But if I don't pray to Jesus, I go to hell. I don't know what I'm supposed to do..."

I had a long talk with one of my friends this afternoon in which she shared with me the above quote from one of her second graders during a class discussion (I'm probably mis-quoting it somewhat, but that's the main gist). Although this particular second grader thinks and speaks way beyond his years (Jaime described him as her "Socrates"), his comment seems to capture the feelings of the whole class. These children are confused - and rightfully so. Jaime (who lives downtown and works at the smaller, downtown campus) says that every morning she passes by a corner where a Buddhist monk stands, surrounded by 8-12 people who are offering him gifts and provision as they wai to show him their humble respect. She imagines her own students standing there (as they probably do) with their parents handing them incense and gifts and teaching them how to wai to the monk; then a few minutes later they are sitting in her classroom hearing the Bible lesson of the day. What is going through these children's minds each day? How on earth do they sort through the conflicting messages they are hearing? And if they choose to believe in Christ, how do they go against their parents' teaching and instructions?

Last Friday a couple of Thais at the larger campus (X and Yo - both are Kindergarten aides, dear sisters in the Lord and are becoming good friends of mine) shed some light on this last question when they shared their testimonies in chapel. Both of them are from Buddhist homes and are currently the only Christians in their families (except Yo, who has a Christian mom but Buddhist dad). They became Christians in their late teenage/early college years, but they were still expected to go to the temple with the family for worship. I think in both cases they waited a few years before telling their parents about their faith in Christ while in the meantime they often made up excuses to not go to the temple or to sneak out to go to church on Sundays. When they finally did tell their parents, it caused an explosion: a huge argument and the very painful words "You are not my daughter anymore." I cried as they shared (X cried too and had to stop many times during her testimony). The Lord has since worked in each of their family's hearts and they are back on good terms with them, but they still do not know the joy of worshipping with their family members. I can't even imagine...

Please pray for these precious young ones in their confusion and inner turmoil, that the Lord will reveal His truth to them and give them the faith and courage to believe in Him.

posted by Catherine Rogers @ 7:01 AM