2553???

Did you know the year is 2553 in Thailand!!! What??? How can that be? I was really confused. Well, confused would be an understatement. It was more like "Where has time gone?" So, really, how could it be 2553? And on top of that, it isn't A.D. It is B.E. Randy had noticed several days ago on paperwork that he was filling out that in the place for year there was 25___, like our American paperwork normally has 20____. So, we asked our teacher during class because we noticed her calendar. According to the symbols for the numbers that she had just taught us, the calendar said the year was 2553!!! She said the year really is 2553 because Lord Buddha was born 543 years before Christ! That is also the reason they use the letters B.E. It stands for "Buddhist Era." I sat there speechless. I didn't know what to think. Here I was in a country that even their calendar is based on Buddha and not Christ! Something I had not even thought about. I guess even the year is another thing we take for granted being from "one nation under God." The thought blew me away. And yet, she had just said the name "Christ." How much does she know of Christ? Just His name? Randy has made mention of the Bible and Jesus and stories from the Bible while talking about cultural issues with her. She has never given any indication to whether she knew or didn't know about the Bible and Jesus. Please pray for us that God may use even the little things like this to open a door to talk with the Thai people about Christ.