There is a Happily-Ever-After

Just when I was up to my neck in gloom-n-doom reflection
of the mess this world is in, comes a real-life story (courtesy of a cell-mate's email) that really perked up my spirit. This time, it's yet another woman.

She was immemorialized as the Vietnam Napalm girl in an attention-grabbing photo that won the Pulitzer Prize for World Press Photo of the Year 1972. Her name - Kim Phuc Phan Thi. Her age - 9 years old then. Caught in the action of fleeing from a pagoda which had been hit by a napalm bomb, she had stripped off her burning clothes as she ran for her life. She survived 14 months of hospitalization and 17 surgical procedures, but she struggled to come to terms with her deep physical and psychological scars.
Still she went on to med school, where in her 2nd year, she discovered a New Testament Bible in the university library. The rest, as they would say, is history...as she chose to believe that God had a plan for her life. She never did finish med school, but she did get married (to a fellow Vietnamese she met in Cuba) despite her doubt that any man could ever love her with her disfigurement. Both were granted political asylum in Canada. She went on to have children, was designated UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Peace 1994, published her biography and established the Kim Foundation International with centers that provide medical and psychological assistance to child victims of war all over the world.

In a speech given in New Zealand on the 40th anniversary of the bombing, she recalled, "My heart was exactly like a black coffee cup. I wished I died in that attack with my cousin. I wish I died at that time so I won’t suffer like that anymore ... it was so hard for me to carry all that burden with that hatred, with that anger and bitterness." At age 50, she testified, "Forgiveness made me free from hatred. I still have many scars on my body and severe pain most days but my heart is cleansed. Napalm is very powerful, but faith, forgiveness, and love are much more powerful. We would not have war at all if everyone could learn how to live with true love, hope, and forgiveness..."

Talk about a feel-good story. Perhaps some question, What's God got to do with it? Well, perhaps it's the simple fact that Kim survived at all. She talked of 3 miracles that happened as she recalled the horror of that day in her life. First that despite suffering extensive third degree burns to her body, the soles of her feet were not burnt and she could run. Secondly after she collapsed and lost consciousness, it was the timely intervention of the photographer (Nick Ut)who took her to a Saigon hospital. And thirdly in the aftermath chaos, her mother found her whilst searching for the (scattered) children. She could have died, another unknown statistic in a senseless war, she could have been permanently separated from her family from then on. But she was re-united with loved ones and lived to tell her story.

How often we all tend to take our lives for granted. If we are reasonably healthy, we all assume when we go to bed tonite, we will wake up tomorrow morning. How many, or rather how few, of us actually feel we are living on 'borrowed time'? A dear fren once commented that sometimes she doesn't want to read my 'ramblings' coz they are so full of gloom-n-doom , ha ha. Well, actually you don't have to read my blog for that; just read the daily news if you wanna get a major major case of depression.

Indeed, I do write a lot of gloomy stuff. But I am not morbidly obsessed with gloom and doom. On the contrary, I love life too much, and I am especially looking forward to the eternal life my God guaranteed me. I am just a realist. Come on, let's face it, in real life, there is a lot of gloomy stuff. Reality for the majority of the world's population isn't about drinking coffee lattes in some fancy joint every other day, or checking out the latest movie, clothes, bags or what-have-you sales. It isn't about fast-tracking a career to earn enough bucks to get married, have kids, buy that foreign car and comfortable condo. It isn't about seeing my first book in print and dreaming of being toasted as the next JK Rowling. There's nothing wrong per se with those stuff, but there's something wrong when that's all we are interested to pursue. Because the world is a much bigger place than that little window our eyes look out of everyday. Because life is so much more than those stuff. Stuff that I accumulate around and about myself don't make 'a' life, as much as I enjoy them.

Kim's story reminds me how fragile life really is, and how much I owe God for everyday that I am still alive. I could have been raped, robbed, kidnapped, murdered, hit by a car, slipped on the bathroom floor, suffered a stroke and become paralyzed...I could have ended up homeless on the street, exactly like the band of 'vagabonds' I serve every week; I could have been a drug addict, a prostitute, infected with AIDS, my parents could have disowned me.... you get the idea. Being aware of the horrible 'could-have-beens' makes me very conscious of how blessed I am, that God is so gracious to me, when really I don't deserve it. I am not 'gooder' than the next guy/gal. I have done lots of things I shouldn't have. I have not done lots of things I should have. Yet He has kept me alive these 50 odd years. Make no mistake; the reason I woke up this morning has nothing to do with my breathing mechanisms; it's because in grace and love, He allowed me to wake up one more morning.

Kim's life was preserved despite a napalm bomb being dropped on her, despite so much pain and bitterness, till that moment in time when a Bible in a uni library landed in her hands, at which point she discovered a God who had a plan for her life. Why does God make it so complicated? Seems so cruel to have a young child suffer so much for so long just to 'teach' her about true love, hope and forgiveness. Hang on, why is it we are so quick to blame God? He wasn't the one who dropped the bomb. Sure, He could have stopped it, after all, if He is God, He can do all things. But would that teach the human race anything about consequences and responsibility for our actions or inactions? If God went around fixing all the evil in the world committed by man, would we stop being evil to each other?? How would we even differentiate evil from good then?

God had a better idea way of dealing with evil; instead of removing it, He takes us through it, making us over-comers and more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. The most evil deed was committed by man on a perfectly innocent Man 2000 years ago when Jesus was hung on the cross. God didn't rescue Jesus; He simply raised him up from death. That's the greatest come-back story of all time. God specializes in come-back stories even now - just look at Kim's life, which started out so horrible, robbed of all beauty and sense, once given back, redeemed and healed by God, turned around to become such a blessing for others. There are many who have made and are making the same journey - finding self and finding God.

I guess that's why I have been given this precious thing called life - that I may live it to be a blessing to others. Like the saying goes, Life isn't always about me. In fact I would revise that - actually, life (as God meant it to be) isn't about me at all; it's about me and Him together; He enabling and empowering me to make a difference (no matter how small) to this world that He put me in. It's about experiencing the certainty that there is a happily-ever-after eternity and that as I live out my life each day, I am one step closer to getting there. All because like Kim, I have chosen to believe that my life belongs to God and is no longer my own.

"For Christ’s love compels us....And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again." - 2 Corinthians 5:14-15