Sambeg Shakya studies amongst his classmates at his school in Kathmandu September 16, 2011. Photo by Navesh Chitrakar (Reuters)

That’s the experience for some kids in Kathmandu, where a five-year-old boy has been proclaimed a living god:

A five-year-old Nepali boy, worshipped by many as a god, sits cross-legged with a stuffed teddy bear in his brick-and-cement home in Kathmandu. Sambeg Shakya was hailed last year by Buddhist priests as Ganesh, or the god of good fortune, since when he has led several processions of Nepal’s better-known ‘living goddesses’, also known as Kumari.

On Wednesday, skinny Sambeg, his eyes rimmed in black kohl and wearing a gold brocade dress, walked at the head of a line of nine tiny girls to another girl believed to be the bodily incarnation of Taleju, the goddess of power. The centuries-old ritual, once used by now-toppled kings who thought it would make them stronger, was the climax of the annual Hindu festival of Dasain, which lasts for two weeks and has become a major tourist attraction in Nepal. Sambeg will continue in his supporting role until he is big enough to fit in a chariot pulled by men, after which he must return to real life.

via Nepal’s boy ‘god’ wants to become a doctor; photographer reflects on divine subject | FaithWorld.  Read the rest for some interesting thoughts from the photographer who shot the divine boy.

John pastors the American Church in London.  He and I were seminary classmates.  He’s written a poignant and heartbreaking post about the death of a childhood friend.

The four of us had and have lots of other friends, but there was something special about our relationship that became even more so over the years. Once we got into our 40s we saw a new value or preciousness to the fact that we’d been together so long. It was clear we would do anything for each other, and even better, we began to go out of our way to make sure the others knew it. In the movie “Stand By Me” the narrator says: “It happens sometimes. Friends come in and out of our lives, like busboys in a restaurant.” In my friendships with John, Shane and Earl it was more like friends who entered into each other’s lives and then sat down and stayed for a long meal.

via An American Minister in London: Saying Goodbye to a Friend.