A Buddhist and a Christian walk into the Burmese jungle and...
I don’t think anyone will soon forget the story that David Eubank of the Free Burma Rangers told on our recent episode, “Act With Courage, Pray With Love.” And truth be told, few people could tell an anecdote which successfully references both Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Mr. Bean! Yet this story, like so much else in David’s life, is both verging on the miraculous and yet entirely true. Even in the midst of the current struggle, it is comforting to hear instances where basic humanity is still making its presence.
“He’s a Buddhist, and I’m a Christian. And I held his hand on and I began to pray. And I felt this warmth, from his hand to mine.”
“We were at a place on the border that I had accidentally gone to, because I'm close to the KNIU and I knew the place. I didn't plan to go that day. And right when I was there, I see this delegation walking in, and there are Burmese soldiers, Burmans.
I was like, ‘Wow, it was a secret meeting I'd stumbled into, like Mr. Bean!’
And there was General Aung Min. I looked at him. He looked at me, I was wearing my Free Burma Rangers t-shirt.
He goes, ‘David Eubank,’ he said in English. And I said, ‘General Aung Min.’ And I said, ‘You know, if we'd met each other 24 hours ago in the jungle, maybe we'd both be dead. But look, we've met and God has given us a new chance.’
And my kids were with me. ‘Yes. Oh, I've heard of your children who grew up in the jungle. I want to meet your wife, who educated them, as she was right there. And maybe one day you can come to Rangoon?’
And I said ‘We'd love that.’ And he said, ‘Would you dare to train Burmese soldier teams?’ I said, ‘Yeah, we'll train anybody to help people and get the news out, for love. But if you attack the ethnics or anyone, we will stand with the people who are under attack. So I have to consider that too. We're not on the ethnic side against the Burman side. We're on the side of love and truth.’
I love what Alexander Solzhenitsyn said. He said, ‘The line of good and evil is not between peoples, nations, tribes, or races, but it is in the middle of every human heart.’ And also, he went on to say something I believe is true: In the most vile, evil persons, there is always a shred of love, a shred of hope. They love maybe their mom, their dog, something. There's always a shred of hope and possibility. In the most wonderful person, there's a shred of evil… and certainly potential evil. So none of us are perfect. We're all together.
And we have to choose, in my opinion, to be part of God's kingdom of love and light, or part of Satan's kingdom of evil. We got the two choices, good or evil. But when you choose good, it doesn't mean you're always good!
I remember one Karen leader told me a journalist was asking him, ‘What about the Free Burma Rangers? What do you think of them?’ And the Karen leader said, ‘When they follow God, they're good. When they don't, they're bad.’ And I would say that's true of me!
So back to general Aung Min. So we're talking about this back and forth. And I said, ‘General, can we pray?’ He said, ‘Sure.’
He's a Buddhist, and I'm a Christian. And I held his hand on and I began to pray. And I felt this warmth, from his hand to mine. And I said, ‘Lord, Jesus, thank you for this opportunity to be friends and to be new friends, please show us a new way in Jesus’ name.’ And he smiled, and I smiled, and we hugged each other. I took a photo with him and my family and, and he's a friend to this day, I still communicate with him.”