Have you ever heard a 9-year old boy think seriously about life after death? Try to seek the reason why he is born into this world and what would be his final destination. Well ... many of you may not have heard or seen such a boy. Then why bother to think about it? Do you deem it is unnatural for a young boy or girl "too" to seriously think about life after death? Here is an insight for you.

AN AGE OF SUPERFICIALITY

Some say now is an age of superficiality--that means people do not like "complicated" reasoning, commitment or relationship. So whatever is demanding their deep reasoning power, long-term commitment or sincere relationship, they shun it. They even don't want to contemplate on their own destination after their death because it ruins their taste of superficiality.

Are we, as CEF workers, to accept this trend as a fashion of our post-modern days? If that should be our attitude, we may not want to talk about heaven and hell to boys and girls, because the notion of the heaven – let alone the hell – is too serious to the young ears, even though it sounds a very nice place to be!

Also, the world is bombarding our little ones' minds and hearts with all kinds of superficial materials including movies, drama, music and sports. They are buried under these media flood and never have time to deeply think about life after death. Furthermore, people nowadays don't take death as seriously as before. This tendency might have also been influenced by the so-called superficiality. According to newspaper reports, even young boys and girls easily take their lives when life becomes rough. They think, "Life is just a dream. I can wake up somewhere else even if I take my own life. If not, I don't care who knows what ...?" They really don't know that it's not safe to die if they don't know where they are going!

THE ULTIMATE QUESTION

Let me tell you a story of a Korean boy who was born in 1912. When he was about 10 years old, he went to swim with his brother at a branch of a river running near his town. Unfortunately, his brother dived into a deep water pit and never came back. Later the body was searched and found by the servants of his household. The boy was so shocked by his brother's death that he started to ask the question, "What is the truth of life? Where will I go after death?"

It is the kind of question we all are very familiar with, isn't it? Yes, it was basically the same question that little Jessie Irvin Overholtzer raised when he was a boy some decades before this incident happened. Just like Jessie, nobody answered his troubling question that time. And his wandering started. However, unlike the case of Jessie, his wandering took him to a religion which claimed that man could and should find the ultimate truth hidden in his own self – the Buddhism! He became a very famous Buddhist monk and influenced millions of Koreans.

I imagine, what if a CEF worker had approached this boy when he was in agony and presented him the true Good News of Jesus which would sufficiently answer his question of life after death? If it were the case, I trust we would have seen a Korean version of Mr Overholtzer in the land of the Far East!

Let me tell you my own story this time. I, too, seriously raised the same question of life after death when I was about 10. And nobody answered the question until I became 19 years old. During those nine years of wandering, I thank God that Buddhist monks did not approach me with their blinding doctrines. Also, I have to confide that it was entirely God's grace to me that Jesus found me at the end of my wandering.

OUR EARNEST DESIRE

I'm afraid even now there would be millions of boys and girls in our region wandering through their young days with the same ultimate and unquenched question. Then who should approach them with the truth and lead them to the life-giving Way? Needless to say, it should be you and I.

My fellow workers in Christ, break the superficiality and approach the boys and girls in your neighborhood with the Gospel before their wanderings lead them to a dead end. And it is my earnest desire and prayer that if you find a child with serious life-after-death question, treat him as if he would be a future Mr Overholtzer. Otherwise, he might turn out to be a strong and influential leader of another religion which can never truly answer the life-after-death question!

Yours for the children of the AP Region,

DAVID RA
Asst to the Regional Director
CEF AP Family News
Jul-Sep 2006