“So what does a Buddhist believe happens to them after they die?,” I asked. “They leave earth and don’t return. Some people believe you come back as something else,” my new friend Roni replied. “What about heaven and hell? Do you believe there is a heaven and hell?” She looked at me with a very blank stare, “Heaven and hell? What is heaven and hell?” As much as I was a foreigner, these concepts were even more foreign to her.
In that moment it hit me that what this beautiful 27 year old Asian was communicating to me was that for her there is no hope after this life. Though some Buddhists believe in reincarnation she doesn’t. She lives this life and once it’s over that’s it. For Roni she has been believing in a religion who’s god is Buddha simply because that is all she has been taught to know from an early age. She simply follows in her family’s traditions. In reality, the more questions I asked the less clear answers I actually received. During our first meeting together I recognized that she really didn’t know what she believed.
My friend Kira and I’s hearts have been beating to the same drum this month, so when first arriving we decided that we would invest the majority of our time establishing relationships and from there pour into others through discipleship. As excited as I was to see what would actually take place, I really struggled with doubt. “Lord, I know you’ve already shown me how big you are throughout the Race so far, but what can really happen in the short 2 weeks that we’re here? I know that every little thing we do for you matters, but I don’t want to just be doing temporary things to fill time or be busy. I want to be a part of the eternal.” Shortly after this is when Naomi and Roni were brought into our lives…
Roni and Naomi, 27 and 34, are very close sisters who have been raised in a Buddhist family. Kira has been going through the book of John with Naomi as she has been a Christian for about 2 years, but is deeply hungry for more of the Word. I have been focusing on planting seeds in Roni’s heart while listening to where she comes from.
“Do you have any questions about what we talked about last time?” I asked. “I want to know more about heaven and hell. I still do not understand,” Roni said. Though this soft-spoken young woman has been very resistant to Jesus the past few years, during our second meeting she was considerably open. We discussed heaven and hell, Jesus and the cross, humans and sin, grace vs. works, and how each person has a choice to make. She left that day thinking about what choice needed to be made in her own life.
“Roni, that’s great! What a great decision you’ve made,” I overheard Nicky (a YWAM lady that we’re also living with) saying to Roni after the youth service this past Saturday night. I whipped my head around to look directly at her. “What decision? What great decision did you make?!” She innocently smiled at me while looking like a little kid in a candy store, “For Jesus.” With tears of joy and huge smiles, a group of us ladies gathered in a circle to pray, rejoice, and literally jump up and down with her. There were definitely angels jumping right alongside of us.
Today was our third time together. “So, tell me! Why did you make that decision the other night to follow Jesus?” I curiously asked Roni. “I was at home thinking about the difference and then I saw the drama and felt his love,” she responded. I knew she was referring to the difference between Jesus and Buddha. Not only had the lightbulb come on for her, but she experienced Jesus for herself during church that night.
“Roni, there is something different in your eyes today. You’re even more beautiful than before!” Kira was so right. I saw it too. Her eyes were not just sparkling but full of life, His life.
The past couple weeks have shown me that to God “A day is a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day.” By bringing Roni into my life not only did He shove my doubt out the window, but He reminded me that He’s been pursuiing her for years. I was only a tiny part of the eternal picture. Two weeks is nothing to Him, but at the same time it’s an extravagant amount of time.
Lord, thank you for being such a gentlemen who pursues people through working within time, while also using us to accomplish your great purposes!
