You’re Really Not Supposed To Take Pictures Inside The Temple
But am I ever going to see a 35-foot tall Buddha statue again in my life? I shouldn’t…I should be respectful, right? Where is everybody? Wow, that thing’s tall! Nobody’s here…my friend is pulling out his camera…ok, I’ll do it! CLICK, CLICK, CLICK.
This is the thought process that rushed through the synapses of my mind as I examined the largest Buddha statue I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I was in the foothills of the Himalayas for a weekend trip with some of my coworkers. We were spending time experiencing the local culture, learning about the powerful religion that permeated that same culture, and praying as we were walking through some spiritually dark places.
The local religion is a mix of Buddhism and an older, darker religion known as Ban (pronounced bahn), which is essentially idol worship. This syncretism of beliefs results in an empty religion
of fear and greed that gives a lot of power to the enemy. There is a small group of Christian’s in the town, and some of our friends are preparing to start working there next year. With this in mind, we spent some intense times praying in the middle of enemy strongholds in order to prepare the way for their work.
While this place was spiritually very dark, it was physically and culturally very beautiful. The local people would dance in the square every night, and I dined on several forms of yak meat
throughout the weekend. Every road I walked down had a mountain at the end of it, and many of them were snow-capped. Due to the high elevation, the mornings and evenings were frigid, and this was the first time I’d seen snow since I came to Asia. Honestly, I didn’t miss the snow that much.
Just as my friends provided some “backup” for the Christian’s there and for our friends who will be working there soon, all of you have been my backup through this time, and I’m grateful for it. Your prayers are effective and powerful. We are water baptizing some new brothers soon, and seeing our friends mature in the Lord, but we don’t have much time left before our return.