And the angels are rejoicing in heaven...

I haven't posted for over 2 months, but here's something exciting - last night, one of my piano students (the son of my piano teacher) accepted Jesus as his Saviour and LORD!!  Party in heaven!! (insert Skype rock and party emotes) This boy (Elliot) is 8 years old and his 9 yo brother (Redmund) had just accepted Christ as his Saviour 2 weeks before (my sister shared the gospel with Redmund as I was giving Elliot lessons).  Supposedly their father claims to be Catholic and I think their mom is Buddhist.  Strange situation, but our God is great! :D

Anyways, last night my family and their family met up with some other families for "Thanksgiving dinner" where turkey and stuffing were side dishes.  :P We ate mostly Chinese dumplings with fresh chives from our yard (yummmmmmmy)... and were stuffed.  So, we kids (7 of us) decided to play for a bit before desserts.  After several rounds of hide-and-seek I made the kids sit in a circle in the playroom with me.  I had no idea where I was going, but I hinted to Alice that I wanted to share the good news with these kids and she was really helpful in making sure I was clear in everything I explained thereafter.

I started out with asking what the kids knew about Thanksgiving.  They kind of mumble something about Pilgrims, Squanto, turkey and cranberry sauce, etc.  One little Muslim girl, named Tajin (sp?), did say we were supposed to give thanks for all our food, clothes, friends, family, etc. 
Me: "But, who are we supposed to thank?"
The kids are looking at me like they never thought they had to thank anybody on Thanksgiving day.  I tell them that we should be thanking GOD for all things.  We went through some other things we could thank God for and then I asked, "And, do you know who God is?"
A couple coherent answers were "Supreme being," (impressive) and "Creator".
I grabbed the word, "Creator" and told of how God created the universe in 6 days and how He created Adam and Eve, the first 2 people on earth. (We stayed on this for a while, since they couldn't get "creating life out of dust and ribs" :P ). I continued with the story of the fall of man, of sin and its consequence, and its effect on all mankind. 
Me: "But God loved us, so He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins and on the third day, conquered death and rose from the dead. If you believe this and pray for Jesus to come into your heart, you can have eternal life with God.  If you don't, you will have to go to hell."  I had unintentionally scared Elliot with some simple descriptions of hell.  So he was practically begging that we pray immediately.  And I quote, "Can we please just pray now!?!"  I almost chuckled at his fear, but it is so real for him and he had every right to be afraid.  I'm just so glad his heart was open then.  Alice prayed a "prayer" and Elliot repeated after her.  It was a beautiful thing to see.

And why can't joy be free from the taint of regret? *sigh* Remember the Muslim little girl?  Well, she was very active in all the discussion above.  I even spent extra time to make sure she understood what I was talking about, since I knew it would conflict with her religion.  Initially, she was ready to admit she was a sinner and that she was open to accepting Christ as Lord and Savior.  She first asked, "Can Jesus just be my prophet?" I firmly replied that she had to have Jesus as both LORD and Savior. We had a little more talk. She sat and thought for a while. Suddenly (I don't know what was going on in her mind), she said she couldn't become a Christian and burst out crying bitter tears.  She said she was a Muslim and could not become a Christian, that Muslims were good people and would go to heaven, etc.  But I think, deep down, she knew she had sinned and they were not cleared off her slate.  She also feared hell.

On the side, I'm not sure if Tajin already knew, but Muslim parents frequently abandon or disown their Christian children.  Later this afternoon, a friend told me, in the Koran, it is taught that any Muslim who leaves or believes something other than Islam, they must be killed.  Oh the power of Satan... why can't you leave the little children alone?

And perhaps, if you think of it, please pray for Tajin and her family.  As well as for me, so that the next time I see her, I won't let the opportunity slip again to pray with her into the arms of our Heavenly Father.

Everyone have a blessed Thanksgiving weekend! 感恩節快樂!!

~Victoria