Shan Dai Advocacy

#18 His Next Verse: Monks Migrating from Myanmar

Images of the recent abuses suffered by the monks in Myanmar may no longer flash across the media but they remain in the minds of those whose hearts cry out to God for justice and peace. Some of the monks that have been released from horrific situations have fled to near-by Thailand. Although Thailand has less than 2 percent of its kingdom trusting in King Jesus, please pray for the Buddhist monks to encounter Christians who can offer hope in a Kingdom of Peace that has no end. God, we pray also for the families of the monks who suffer as their sons and communities are in great need of You for healing. Help our hearts not to grow cold to the injustice in this sin-filled world, but to take our many needs to You. Amen.

For more info on the tragedy in Myanmar, please turn to the page of Nahum in His First Bible and as you read and journal be thankful and have hope: “The Lord is good, a strong refuge when trouble comes. He is close to those who trust in him.” (Nahum 1:7)

In Myanmar, an Ominous Calm Settles

This is a collection of photos from the New York Times that convey the calm and normalcy (or lack of it) that has resulted in the wake of protests there recently. Let’s continue to pray for true peace to be brought to the Burmese and all the ethnic groups that live in that great country.

#17 His Next Verse: Earthly Tents

The photo in the His First Bible for the devotional of 2 Corinthians wonderfully captures a Shan Dai grandmother viewing her own “earthly tent”. Death is certain. And the older one gets, the more certain it becomes. Beliefs of what happens after death varies and a life lived in peace or fear can largely be traced back to how death is viewed. A funeral was held for a Dai grandmother. She, her daughter and granddaughter all embraced forgiveness of sins and new life in Jesus. But due to strong Dai Buddhist community, the funeral was performed in Buddhist tradition. A monk chanted, candles were lit, and food and water were presented to “feed” the grandmother (the monks later ate this offering). Other offerings were made in the form of burning paper money, a paper car and a paper T.V. –all things the grandmother would need in the afterlife. The daughter and granddaughter were respectful to the ceremony and yet it was clear when they did not bow down that they no longer believed in the Buddhist values. Father, we pray today for the peace that You bring would be experienced by more and more Shan Dai to where whole villages see You as the way to live life and communities are changed by hope. You are more certain than death. “For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing.” (2 Corinthians 5:1-2)

Thank you for your partnership in praying for the Shan Dai. May God bless your days with full life in Him. Amen.