April 1, 2011

哭有时，笑有时；哀恸有时，跳舞有时。。。
－传道书三章四节－

There is a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance…
– Ecclesiastes 3:4 –

那天，我们哭了。。。
眼泪是上帝给的，有时候眼泪是应该流的。。。
哭泣未必每次都是懦弱的表现，很多时候在人前掉泪是需要勇气的。。。

That day, we cried…
God gave us tears, there are times when tears must flow…
It is not always weak to cry, many times it takes courage just to shed a tear in front of others…

 

那天，我们发现我们都很爱田圣。。。
虽然田圣不善于表达情感，我相信他有感受到那份爱。。。
爱带来力量和盼望。

That day, we realized we love Daniel very much…
Though Daniel is not an expressive person, I believe he could feel that love too…
Love brings strength and hope.

 

 

可能有些人不太赞同基督徒丧礼有伤心落泪时刻，他们认为说圣徒死了是回天国，是好事，所以不需要难过。
讲这种话的人往往是“过于属灵”而不切实际，仿佛信了主就没了感情一样。我才不相信他们本身没有伤心难过的时刻！
一些父母送孩子到国外留学都舍不得到哭得稀里哗啦，更何况是生离死别呢？

保罗在罗马书十二章15节也说：与喜乐的人要同乐；与哀哭的人要同哭。。。
可见我们需要理解人伤心的感受，而不是“超属灵”还加以论断，那既不敏感也欠缺爱心，绝对不是神所提倡。

Perhaps some people do not quite agree with shedding tears of sadness at a Christian funeral for they think that when believers die, they are returning to heaven; since that is a good thing so we do not need to feel sad. And I do not believe they themselves will not have moments of sadness and tears!
People who speak like that are normally “over-spiritual” till not realistic or practical, as if our human emotions disappear after believing in Jesus.
Some parents would cry buckets of tears even when sending their children overseas to further their studies, what more to say in a life and death situation?

Paul said in Romans 12:15 : Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn…
This shows that we must appreciate and understand a person’s sad feelings, and not be “hyper-spiritual” to judge, that would be too insensitive and lacking in love, definitely not something God promotes.

所以那天我们哭了。。。
所以那天我们没有掩饰我们的眼泪。。。
所以那天我们没有假装我们没有心碎。

So we wept that day…
So we did not hide our years that day…
So we did not pretend we were not heart-broken that day.

 

那天天空也哭了，
但我们知道雨后一定天晴，
彩虹是雨后才会出现。。。
那天我们在伤痛中看到了爱。。。

That day the sky wept as well,
but we know there is always sunshine after the rain,
and rainbow only appears after the rain…
That day we saw love in the midst of sorrows…

 

我们也知道哀伤的田圣最后还是会喜乐，因为妈妈最想看到的还是田圣的笑容。。。
我们知道有那么多人爱和支持的田圣会重拾笑容。。。
我们也已看到田圣勇敢的面对，勇敢的继续走下去。。。
加油，田圣，我们爱你！

And we know the sorrowful Daniel would become joyful again, because it was his smile that mum loved to see best…
And we know with so many people loving and supporting him, Daniel would regain his smiles…
And we have alreay seen Daniel facing it boldly and carrying on courageously…
Fight on, Daniel, we all love you!

 

January 26, 2011

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…

January 9, 2011

去年九月底带着例外人去台湾时也抽空到夜市买一些西装外套，当时一口气买了好几件因很好看又廉价。。。
其中这几件就是当时买的。。。

Last September while I brought The Remnant over to Taiwan, I took time off to buy some coats at the night market, I bought quite a few at one go as they were very nice and rather cheap too…
Among them are these few…

去新加坡布道时穿的。。。
I wore to Singapore for evangelistic concerts…

生日晚会穿的。。。
I wore for my birthday dinner…

当然还有别件，但不知不觉，几乎都穿过了。。。
昨天下午看着吊在衣柜里的这些外套就想，明天主日好像没有新的外套好穿了；只是随便想想罢了，并不是说我每个主日一定要穿新外套，那也未免太夸张了！

Of course there are others still, but soon they have all been worn…
Yesterday afternoon I was looking at my coats hanging in my wardrobe and thinking: It seems I won’t have any new coat to wear for the Sunday service tomorrow, just a simple passing thought, not that I must wear a new coat each Sunday, that will be too much!

但就这样随便想想，上帝都听到了！我马上就收到一个跟我很要好的弟兄的简讯说：刚从吉隆坡回来，带了很多大衣给你，所以今天一定要拿给你。。。有在家请联络我。
结果又增添了六件新外套！
But it was just a simple passing thought, and God heard it! I immediately received a text message from a brother who has been very good to me that said: I’ve just returned from KL and brought back many coats for you, so I must hand them to you today… contact me if you are home.
As a result, I have an additional six new coats!

今天穿去教会讲道的就是其中一件。。。
What I wore to church to preach today is one of them…

想说的是：如果就连一个随便想想，不是很重要的东西，天父都那么注意与赐给你了，其他你很需要及很重要的，你还需要担心吗？
天父那么疼爱我也让我觉得很惭愧，他对我这么好，我却没对他这么好，唉！求主怜悯。。。

What I really want to say is: If for such a simple passing thought regarding something not so important, and yet our Father God would take note and give it to you, why then do you worry if it is something very important that you need?
The fact that Father God loves me so much also makes me feel kind of ashamed, as He is so good to me but I am not as good to Him, sigh! May God have mercy on me…

“他用美物使你所愿的得以知足。。。” －诗篇 103:5
“He satisfies your desires with good things…” – Psalm 103:5

“神能照着运行在我们心里的大力，充充足足地成就一切，超过我们所求所想的。” －以弗所书 3:20
“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us…” – Ephesians 3:20