爸爸大聲的呼喚。。。 Dad’s loud call…
記得小時候常因貪玩而忘了時間，到了晚上就不敢自己一個人走回家了！
原因是回家的路上要經過樹林，小孩子常幻想有怪物或鬼魂會出現，所以就會賴在表姐家不敢回家。。。
半夜時，突然會聽見很大聲的呼喚：“義忠！”，就在表姐家窗外響起。。。
雖然大聲，卻是非常的溫暖人心，那是我很期待的聲音，我知道救星到了！
我會急忙衝去窗口往下喊：“爸，我在這裡，等我！”。。。然後開開心心跟著爸爸一起回家。
I remember when I was small, I often, due to too much play, forgot the time to go home, and when night fell, I did not dare to walk home alone!
Reason being I had to walk past some forest on the way home and children tend to imagine monsters and ghosts and all sorts of things, so I would drag on at my cousin’s house not daring to go home…
Suddenly in the middle of the night, I would hear a loud call: “Gee Tiong!” just outside my cousin’s window…
Though loud, it warmed my heart as that was the voice I had been waiting for, I knew help had come!
I would quickly rush to the window and shouted downstairs: “Dad! Wait, I’m here!”… then I would be going home happily with my dad.
看我童年的家，屋頂都被樹葉遮蓋了。。。照片中的是大學生的我。。。
See my childhood home, the roof is hidden by the trees… that’s the university me in the photo…
這是回家的路。。。看我的褲，我爸做的咧！當年很流行哦！
This is the road home… notice my pants, tailor-made by my dad! Very popular then!
其實是爸爸發現這麼遲了我還沒回家，他擔心我的安全就出來找我；而他通常也知道在哪裡找得到我，找到我時，他也不責備我，就讓我開心的跟他回家。。。
他知道我很欣慰他來了。這就是父愛吧。。。
上帝對我們的愛何嘗也不是如此？但我們卻常誤解他。。。
那天禱告會時讀的經文就讓我聯想到這童年往事，也更認識父神的愛。。。
詩篇139章3節說：
我行路，我躺臥，你都細察，你也深知我一切所行的。。。
第7節：
我往哪裡去躲避你的靈？我往哪裡逃躲避你的面？
往往這經文會讓一些人感覺上帝很清楚知道我們的罪和做錯的事，我們怎樣躲也躲不了。。。
所以這經文讓一些人感到壓力和恐懼感，那是基於我們對天父不夠認識。
難道上帝找到我們真的就是要定我們的罪和斥責我們嗎？我不以為然。。。
就像我童年的回憶一樣，其實是我做錯，貪玩，忘了回家，可是爸爸來找我是要帶我回家。
他的大聲呼喚不但沒叫我害怕，反帶給我安全感因我知道我不需要再害怕我黑暗的路途，而可以有爸爸陪伴平安的回家了。。。
Actually it was my dad who discovered I was still not home when it was already late, worrying about my safety, he came to look for me. And normally he knew where he could find me too, when he found me, he did not scold me, he just allowed me to follow him home happily… He knew that I was glad he came. That must be a father’s love…
Is not God’s love the same towards us? And yet we so often misunderstand Him…
The verses I read from the Scripture during the prayer meeting that day rekindled this childhood memory of mine, and helped me understand the love of our father God more…
Psalm 139 verse 3 says:
You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways…
Verse 7:
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Where can I flee from Your presence?
Very often these verses cause some people to feel that God knows all our sins and wrongdoings, and there is nowhere we can hide from Him…
That is why these verses cause some people to feel under pressure and fearful, that is due to the lack of knowing our Father God truly.
Is it really God’s purpose to condemn and scold us when He finds us? I do not think so…
Just as in my childhood memory, I was the one who did wrong, I was playful and forgot to return home, but dad came looking for me to bring me home.
His loud call not only drove away my fear, it gave me a sense of security to know that I needed not to be afraid of the dark journey home anymore, as my dad had come to accompany me home safely…
爸爸本身現在也已安然回到天上的家。。。
Dad himself has also returned home safely to heaven now…
