On our way home from our holiday, we had a fender-bender. Good damage to the car I was in, but no physical damage to us. Yet the spiritual repercussions have been interesting to hear about...
The car belonged to Kieow's youngest sister, Gew. On the dashboard is a yellow bandana cloth with many Buddhist "lucky charms" sitting on it like a coin in a jewelry case, a gold Buddha, and some jasmine flowers. Above the two front seats on the ceiling of the car, three dots are painted as well as some writing which is a blessing placed on the car by Buddhist monks. And hanging on her rearview mirror are at least two jasmine flower chains and one necklace with a Buddhist idol inside. On our drive, they bought a new flower chain twice from roadside vendors. Once placed around the rearview mirror, they bowed to it and asked for blessings for their trip. As you can tell, its a religion where if you follow the right rules, live in fear of the spirits, and buy and worship the appropriate gods, you are supposed to be blessed.
Yet, on our way home, like I said, we had a fender bender. Kieow says one of the Buddha's fell off the dashboard during the accident. Huge deal! What is the meaning of this to a Buddhist person? Kieow, the only Christian in her family, would ask them that question and tell them that their god was not powerful enough to help them. Like a coward, he ran away at their time of need. Gew said she would take that Buddha out of her car and leave it in her room. Yet through this circumstance, Kieow tried to explain the trivialness of trusting in golden statues and "lucky charms" for our salvation.
Please continue praying for her family. Pray for God to open their hearts to Jesus Christ who died for their sins. God loves us and his only requirement from us is to believe in Jesus Christ and we will be saved. Not necessarily in fender-benders, but regards to our whole life and death.
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