9/11

On September 11, 2001, America was changed. But unbeknown to many, a little boy's life in Singapore was about to be changed as well. My son was a little over 4 years old at that time. His favorite TV show at the time was Barney. "Barney is a dinosaur from our imagination...Barney can be your friend too if you just make believe him," goes Barney's theme song. The program teaches children to use their imagination and to make believe things. One night the boy was afraid of the monster under the bed. We told him that there is no monster. It's just in your imagination. Like Barney, it's not real, we told him. Then we suggest to pray and ask for God's protection. After we pray, he asked, " Is God real? How do you know that he is not just our 'in-magician' (imagination). He doesn't feel real to me, you know." I immediately went oh oh. Bells were ringing in my head. I had a skeptic or possibly an agnostic to raise. Being trained to use his imagination by Barney didn't help at all. In the end I told him, "The Bible says so, and the Bible is never wrong" and it seemed to satisfy him.

Several weeks later, 9/11 occurred. He saw the images and we talked about it. Suddenly, my son at 4 years old realized how fragile life was. I didn't know how much he was effected until several months later. We were preparing to go to Indonesia by plane. Usually, he was delighted with the prospect of getting on an airplane. Weeks before our departure date, he mentioned several times how he wished we didn't have to go. It wasn't until 2 days before the date that he told me his fears. His fear was simple. At the bottom of it, he was afraid that if he died suddenly, God in heaven will deny him entry because he was a stranger to God. He understood that we didn't normally allow stranger into our house. So on that day I explain to him what he needed to do to become one of God's children. Then I said a prayer introducing him to God, and also helped him to say a prayer to receive Jesus Christ.

Whenever the anniversary of 9/11 comes around, I always remember how the event set the wheel of change rolling in my son's life. Daniel doesn't remember anymore how he became a believer, but he knows beyond a doubt that he belongs to God.