March 11, 2011

一般上，提到宣教，很多基督徒就会联想乡村、偏僻地区、森林、沙漠，等等。。。
可是大城市、繁华都市也需要福音啊！
每个人有不同的恩赐和呼召，还在求学时我以为我最终会成为婆罗洲森林里的一位宣教士，但至今上帝仿佛是带领我到比较先进的地方，如二月底刚到过的雅加达。。。

Normally when we mention “mission”, many Christians would conjure up in their minds villages, remote places, jungles, desert, etc…
But big cities and busy metropolitans do need the Gospel too!
Everyone has different giftings and callings, when I was still a student I used to think I would end up being a missionary in the jungle of Borneo… but it seems till now, God has been leading me to more developed places, like Jakarta which I have just been at the end of February…

 

我的宣教住宿很舒服。。。这样可以吗？
My accommodation for the mission was very comfortable… is that allowed?

 

从所住的22楼看下去，有点难相信自己就在印尼，因为这住宅区还蛮西式的。。。
Looking down from the 22nd Floor where I was staying, a bit hard to believe I was actually in Jakarta because the residential area here seems quite western…

 

一眼望去就是大海，风景撩人。。。
You can just see the vast sea from the window, breath-taking view…

在家里很舒适安详，但其实印尼很多地方挺拥挤脏乱的，包括雅加达的街道，不是批评，只是报告。。。
哦，后面两姐妹是这公寓的主人，也是我印尼的助理和翻译员。。。前面的是毅伟，是我这一次从古晋带来的助手。
It is very comfortable and serene at home, but actually many places in Indonesia are very congested and dirty, including the streets of Jakarta, not criticizing, just reporting…
Oh, the two sisters at the back are the apartment’s owners, they are also my assistants and translators in Indonesia… the guy in front is Yi Wei, the assistant I brought from Kuching this trip.

 

印尼贫富悬殊差距很大。。。这是私人住宅，很夸张吧？跟我无关，拍照罢了。。。
There is a wide gap between the rich and the poor in Indonesia… this is a private residence, very extravagant huh? Nothing to do with me, just taking picture…

 

这种另一类宣教，除了好住，也很好吃呢！
This type of different style of mission, apart from good living, there was also good eating!

 

每天都被佳肴美食逼迫。。。引诱太大！
Persecuted by great food and cuisine each day… great temptation!

 

他们说我很瘦，要我吃胖一点，哈哈。。。
They said I’m very thin, they wanted me to eat more…

 

所以我就乖乖的吃、吃、又吃。。。
So I obediently ate, ate and ate…

 

我来宣教的对象。。。
My targeted audience for the mission…

 

他们都很专心聆听。。。
They were very attentive…

 

我有很棒的翻译员，杨晓娟姐妹。。。
I had a very good interpreter, sister Julie Wahab…

最开心是看到人回应主的呼召来信靠他。。。
The happiest thing is to see people responding to the Lord’s call to trust in Him…

 

这两位小朋友也在布道会中接受主。。。
These two boys received the Lord at the meeting too…

 

这次能来雅加达宣教还要谢谢这对可爱的夫妇的邀请，Adjito 和 Irene…
That I could come to Jakarta for mission this time, I must also thank the lovely couple who invited me, Adjito and Irene…

 

March 10, 2011

有时候把自己隐藏起来是好的，不要过于炫耀自己，不要让注意力一直停留在自己身上。。。
要不然会很容易自满、骄傲，因而夺去上帝当得的荣耀；同时也会给自己增添很多不需要的压力。。。

Sometimes it is good to hide ourselves, and not over-exalting ourselves, don’t let ourselves be the focus of attention always…
Otherwise it is very easy to become conceited and arrogant and thus robbing God’s glory; at the same time it adds on unnecessary pressure on ourselves too…

 

其实在茫茫人海中，有几个人真正认识你？即使很多人知道你是谁，又怎样？
Actually in a sea of people, how many truly know who you are? Even if many do, so what?

 

再有名、再成功，最后也还不是长江后浪推前浪。。。最后你也会渐渐被遗忘的。。。
“经风一吹，便归无有，他的原处也不再认识他” － 诗103:16 －
No matter how famous or successful, in the end you will be overtaken by uprising talents too… and ultimately you will be forgotten too…
“the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.” – Psalm 103:16 –

 

被遗忘在一个角落，但感谢主，上帝始终会记得你是谁。。。
Forgotten in a corner, but thank God, He will always remember who you are…

 

但话虽如此，该站出来的时候还是要站出来，因为上帝造你是有原因和用处的。。。所以也不应该永远躲藏在别人背后。。。
But having said that, when you need to stand out, then you have to stand out, because God created us for a purpose and we are useful… So, we should not be hiding behind others all the time too…

 

再加上，上帝看我们始终是宝贵的，而我们的确是很有价值的。。。只要记得时刻感恩和把荣耀归给他就是了！
Furthermore, God sees us as precious always, and we are indeed very valuable… we just need to remember to give thanks and glory to Him always!

 

(给那些好奇的，照片是去年(2010)九月带例外人去澳门时拍的。
For those who are curious, the photos were taken last September(2010) when I brought The Remnant to Macau.)

March 9, 2011

我不会写歌了！
I don’t know how to write songs anymore!

那段日子我真的是这样想过，特别是2003年。。。几天前翻开我旧创作歌本而回想起。。。
发现原来2003年就只写了一首歌！然后我也读旁边与下面的笔录。。。

During that period of time, I really had such a thought, especially in 2003… I recalled those days when I turned the pages of the song book of my older compositions…
I discovered I only wrote but one song in the year 2003! And I read too my notes I wrote down beside and below that song…

下面写着我已怀疑自己失去这恩赐，所以当写完“爱到永远”时都不会分辨这首歌好听不好听，却只有感恩无论如何还是写完了一首歌。。。

没写歌其中一个原因是有好几年我的喉咙出现严重状况，只要是不在台上我就无法好好唱歌，私底下无论是要灵修敬拜或尝试要写歌都会唱得非常辛苦，常常失声、走调，或唱不上。。。
久而久之私底下就放弃唱歌了，也逐渐失去写歌的灵感或因为我的状况而根本没心情写，所以也渐渐有这个隐忧在心中，认为说：我不会写歌了！

是什么又激发我写歌的恩赐呢？我当时写完”爱到永远“也有记录下来。。。
原来是去了印尼棉兰诗歌布道后，回程在飞机上的感动。。。

Below wrote, I wondered whether I had already lost my song-writing gift, that was why after completing “Love Forever” I was not even sure whether the song was nice, but I was grateful nonetheless then because at least I could complete a song…

The reason I did not write songs then was, for a few years I encountered serious vocal or throat problem. As long as I was not on stage, I was not able to sing properly. Privately, whether wanting to worship during my quiet time or attempting to write songs, it was a torture just to sing, I often lost my voice, sang out of key or could not reach high notes…
So after a while, I gave up singing during my private time, and I began to lose the inspiration to write or I simply had no mood to write at all due to my condition. So I slowly had that nagging concern in my heart: I don’t know how to write songs anymore!

What motivated my song-writing gift again? I recorded that after completing “Love Forever” too…
It was the conviction I received in the flight on my way home after my evangelistic concert in Medan, Indonesia…

因之前的“牵我的手”和其他福建诗歌在棉兰引起的共鸣，和救了许多灵魂，让我自觉惭愧为什么没有善用上帝给我的写歌恩赐来继续创作，祝福听福建话的社群。。。
但我的另一个问题是，我的福建词汇非常有限，所懂的福建词句就只那么几个，感觉是已江郎才尽！所以，我在飞机上就跟上帝认罪悔改因我没继续认真写歌，但也求他印证是还要我写福建歌，若是他就要给我新的感动。。。结果上帝就以这首“爱到永远”给了我印证，也让我发现在我糟糕的喉咙状况之下，在我软弱和放弃的当儿，他对我的爱是不改变的。。。

Because of the previous “Khan Gua e Chiu” (Hold My Hand) and other Hokkien songs that won good rapport in Medan, and saved many souls, I felt ashamed that I did not properly use the gift God gave me to continue writing songs to bless the Hokkien community…
But I had one other problem, my Hokkien language is limited, I thought my Hokkien vocabulary was totally used up and I felt I had nothing more to offer! So in the flight I repented to God for not continuing to write songs seriously, and I prayed for His confirmation too that if He wanted me to write Hokkien songs again, then He would have to give me new inspirations…
As a result, God used this song “Love Forever” to confirm, also to show me despite my terrible throat condition and in the midst of my weaknesses and giving-up, God’s love for me was still unchanging…

 

感谢主，“爱到永远”也是一首感动了很多人的歌。。。可是之后，我又没写歌了！很大的原因跟我的喉咙有关，结果2004年也只写了三首歌，而且没有一首是福建歌！
好吧，那就改天再跟你们分享我其他写歌的故事吧。。。
Thank God “Love Forever” is also a song that touches many people… But after that, I stopped writing again! The biggest reason was to do with my throat condition, so I managed to write three songs only as well in 2004, and none was a Hokkien song!
Oh well, I shall share with you some other song-writing stories again some other day…

 

但有一件事我很清楚知道，若不是上帝，我真的是不会写歌。。。
But one thing for sure, if not for God, I really don’t know how to write songs…