My Longkang

I don’t know when it all began. If I look back, it probably started when a member of the family became sick. Since then, Benghui has begun to pray occasionally : when the need arises. He kept it all from us but occasionally it slips.

Once the lights went out in my neighborhood. He was frightened. A few seconds later it came back as it probably did in a thousand other households in Sibu. He said God had answered his prayers. Once he felt sick. It was a slight fever and he was very tired. He woke up fresh the next morning and claimed God had answered his prayers for good health. Then a person he loved a lot came back when it was never expected to happen. He has this belief that God listens to his prayers. I hesitate to use the term faith. He is too young to understand that concept. This in itself isn’t a bad thing.

May I remind every body he is no saint. What brought on this post was an incident at Sing Kwong Supermarket this evening. There were many cars and parking spaces were hard to find. Suddenly a car reversed and left us an empty parking lot in a choice location. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Again Benghui declared that God had answered his prayers. As parents, the missus and I are a bit worried. Is he learning the right values? Are these really answers to prayers or just coincidences? We don’t want him to end up living life with an emotional crutch and yet find it hard to keep him away from Sunday school as he moans the fact that he has had to miss quite a few sessions recently.

Does God give directions in a general manner and isn’t life sometimes all about common sense? But to tell him the truth seems a bit cruel. Or are we ourselves wrong? We can talk about scripture but to a child, it doesn’t quite work that way. It is about how he interprets the Sunday school teacher’s lessons. He believes what he hears without much question. It is a dilemma for us. But sometimes, I think reality if presented to him might not make a great picture either