Shan Dai Advocacy

#17 His Next Verse: Earthly Tents

October 10, 2007 on 7:47 pm | In His Next Verse, PrayerGrams |

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.