Protector

We were driving to school. Listening to Emily’s portable ipod player. It was raining. I instantly became thankful that we were in a car and not on motorbikes like many of those around us. We pass the same monk almost every day. He looks a lot like the monk in this picture as he wears his traditional orange cloth and is carrying a large quantity of food. These are the offerings from other Buddhists to the monks for the day (from my understanding, I’ve never actually asked him). Every day, it’s the same. He’s walking up the same street in the same direction with the same robe and the same pot to hold his offerings. Today I saw him in a different light than usual because it was raining. He was holding an umbrella (it happened to be the same color orange and mentally, I gave him bonus points for matching). It caught my attention. He was using his umbrella to protect himself from the rain. Protect. I looked around to see the coats, the rain jackets, the roofs, the protectors from the rain. Protect. I got to thinking about that word.

picture from google images

As I people watch (which I do a lot of here – especially when making conversation is sometimes extremely difficult), I ask myself what’s protecting that person. Yes, their clothes, their umbrella, their car. Also, their hoody in the middle of hot season to protect from the sun (NO THANKS!). But what protects their hearts? What protects their souls?

I watch people burn their incense and leave bananas and milk (or something of the like) at their statue of Buddha or their Spirit House. From how it’s been explained to me, most people have Spirit Houses to entertain the bad spirits. The bad spirits are appeased in the Spirit House which is usually outside of their house in the corner of their yard. If the bad spirits are kept happy, they won’t bother the people. There is a lot of fear in this culture.

picture from google images

I walk in the markets and stores and see men who are wearing high heels and wearing women's clothing and makeup. Their is a large amount of trans-sexuals here. People searching for their identity. Turning to wordly ideas, trying to find ways to live that will make them happy. Searching for acceptance and fulfillment.

Our director and his wife shared a story that a while back, they accidentally hit a motorcycle with their car. The man was okay, his bike was just beat up a bit. They apologized and offered to pay for the necessary repairs to his motor bike. He said no. He said no because he had just come from the temple, trying to make up for something he had done. He felt that being hit was Karma’s way of making him pay. He had paid his price just there with getting hit. Now he had something of a clean slate. There is a lot of belief in levelling the playing field, making merit.

picture from google images

Recently, I taught my students about tree trunks. We talked about how you can tell what the age of the tree is by looking at the rings when you cut the tree horizontally. We made drawings of what our lives would look like if we were trees. We drew the circles to represent each year. Once they got over the shock that I had to draw 26 lines and they each had 12 or less to draw, we talked a bit about the outside of the tree. The bark. I explained that the bark protects the tree. It’s on the front line of the external effects. If it rains, if it’s windy, if it’s being chopped down, the bark takes the initial brunt. We talked about what the bark is in our lives. The kids listed things like dogs, mom, dad, nice people, skin, brain, clothes, etc. All of these are protectors. Yes. Then we talked about our #1 protector. God. I am thankful to be able to tell my students about that.

My heart breaks for the monk, for the old woman at the spirit house, for the man on the motorcycle, for the trans-sexuals – you don’t have to make merit, you don’t have to appease the bad spirits, you don’t have to have something bad to happen to you to make up for what you’ve done before you can move on, you don't have to keep searching for your identity. Jesus paid it all. Allow Him to be your protector. Who took all of our pain and sin on death on a cross? Who shields us from the storms of life? Who clothes us and feeds us? Who rids of us of fear and replaces it with peace? In whom is our identity found? JESUS. He’s my protector.

"The Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and

protect you from the evil one."

-1 Thessalonians 3:3