Tibetan Prayer

What a day! Today I walked at least 4 or 5 miles to Happy Valley - a Tibetan refugee camp on the outskirts of Mussoorie. I could have taken a taxi but it was such a beautiful day and God gave me pretty good legs so I avoided all of the taxis and rickshaws and just kept walking! It took me two hours from where I started.
I got there and wandered around the Buddhist Temple. I took my time to look at all the ornamentation, the shrine outside, the prayer wheels, the flags. It was painted beautifully with bright reds, yellows, and greens. I peeked inside to see about a dozen people sitting on the floor reading the Buddhist scriptures aloud. A few monks were around.
Then I walked up the hillside nearby to see all of the prayer flags on top. I ignored the stares - what the heck was this white guy doing around here? After many steps I got to the top. Thousands of flags blew in the wind. I took a few pictures and looked around. Some young guys invited me to sit down with them on the rocks overlooking the valley. I love the friendliness and hospitality of India!
I shared a little bit about me - that I'm an architecture student, that I'm working with a non-profit design firm, a little about my family. They shared too. Three of them were Indians born to parents who left Tibet because of the tension. Two had come to India from Tibet to study. All were Buddhist. I sat and asked a little bit about Tibet and Buddhism and they were glad to share. Though their English was limited, they were able to share very well about the situation with China and the main ideas of Buddhism.
I prayed silently to God that it would be pretty cool if I had an opportunity to share about Jesus with the two guys that were sharing with me. I don't think I've seen prayer answered so fast! They asked me if I was a Christian and I quietly nodded and smiled. They talked about how Christianity and Buddhism has a lot of similarities - about compassion, love, peace. They totally set me up!
As we were on the topic of reincarnation - that the good find a better life or heaven and the bad find themselves in a worse of life - I talked about how Jesus taught that no man was good. I shared how no matter how hard I try, before God I am full of sin. I may help the poor or volunteer my time, but my heart is often wicked and jealous. I shared how Jesus taught that if we even hate our neighbor in our hearts we commit murder. That we are to pray for our enemies and not just for ourselves and loved ones. They seemed to follow were pretty interested about the teachings of Jesus..
Then I shared that Jesus also said that he was the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no one comes to God except by him. I told them that even though its hard and very countered to the thinking of many religions or of modern thought, I believe it to be the truth. I shared that Jesus claimed to be the son of God and that he proved it by living a sinless life and dying on the cross as an innocent man in place of us. I told them that just one sin is deserving of death - just as a little drop of poison makes a glass of water a death wish. It needed to be paid for - and God paid for it with his own blood because of his love for us.
I shared how I followed Christ and believed not because the words are good to read or because I believe with my mind but that I know that Jesus lives inside my heart today. That he has changed my heart and given me grace to live a life somehow honoring to him.
We got back on the idea of loving our enemies and I was even able to share my friend's testimony about how God rescued him from the jaws of death and freed him from his heart filled with hate and vengeance to the point he was going to kill the family of many of his enemies! But Jesus spoke to his heart and changed his life and now it is filled with blessing and peace.
There was no magical acceptance moment but I told them the Truth. I told them about the Savior of the world who taught us how to love and live in peace better than any man - Buddha, Muhammad. I told them that Jesus paid the price for the sins of man and that he is the one and only Way.
It was a great time on the top of that hill covered in prayer flags. Before I said goodbye I prayed for us too. They thought that was a little weird but they let me. Prayer is pretty powerful and something as small as it has been a huge part of a couple of testimonies of some amazing Indian Christians I've met. Please pray God will do amazing things in the lives of Guru and Jimmy and that he will reveal himself to them as the One True God!