「勇氣」是在失敗、困頓的境遇裡，醒悟歸屬、回轉歸向神。任意放蕩、耗盡資財的浪子醒悟過來，就說：「我父親有多少的雇工，口糧有餘，我倒在這裡餓死嗎？我要起來…，向他說：父親！我得罪了天，又得罪了你；從今以後，我不配稱為你的兒子，把我當作一個雇工吧！」（路加福音15:17-19）
「勇氣」是在悔改、赦罪的恩典中，更新生命、誠實面對神。稅吏長撒該歡歡喜喜地接待耶穌，站著對主說：「主啊，我把所有的一半給窮人；我若訛詐了誰，就還他四倍。」（路加福音19:8）
「勇氣」是在私慾、誘惑的試探中，持守身分、不得罪神。約瑟不從主人的妻的引誘，對她說：「看哪，一切家務，我主人都不知道；他把所有的都交在我手裡。在這家裡沒有比我大的；並且他沒有留下一樣不交給我，只留下了妳，因為妳是他的妻子。怎能作這大惡，得罪神呢？」（創世記39:8-9）
「勇氣」是在轄制、威嚇的權勢下，堅持敬拜神、事奉神。但以理的三個朋友沙得拉、米煞、亞伯尼歌對尼布甲尼撒王說：「…即便如此，我們所事奉神能將我們從烈火的窯中救出來…；即或不然，王啊，你當知道我們決不事奉你的神，也不敬拜你所立的金像。」（但以理書3:16-18）
How do we explain our stubborn hearts and conniving ways? How do we explain Auschwitz, human trafficking, abuse? If I were the devil, I’d want you to feel attacked by an indefinable force. If I were the devil, I’d keep my name out of it. But God doesn’t let the devil get away with this. He tells us his name: splitter, a divider, a wedge driver. Don’t fault the plunging economy or a raging dictator for your anxiety. They are simply tools in Satan’s tool kit.
We can’t understand God’s narrative without understanding Satan’s strategy. Scripture says, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). God calls the devil by name and promises to defeat him. Be alert to the devil, and be assured his days are numbered.
How bold are your prayers? As John Wesley crossed the Atlantic, he was reading in his cabin and became aware of heavy winds knocking the ship off course. He responded in prayer. A colleague wrote it down:
Almighty and everlasting God…Thou holdest the winds in thy fists and sittest upon the water floods…command those winds and these waves that they obey Thee. Take us speedily and safely to the haven whither we would go.
Having offered the prayer, Wesley took up his book and continued reading. On deck his colleague found calm winds and the ship on course. Wesley made no mention of the answered prayer. His friend wrote, So fully did he expect to be heard that he took it for granted he was heard.
How bold are your prayers?
耶利米書 29:11 耶和華說：我知道我向你們所懷的意念是賜平安的意念，不是降災禍的意念，要叫你們末後有指望。
申命記 33:25 你的鞋(亦做:門閂)是銅的、鐵的。你的日子如何，你的力量也必如何。
在我父親的家中有一個小房間，裡面藏著我家幾代所用的許多手杖。有的是爬山用的，有的是走平坦大道用的，有的是走泥濘之地用的，有的是雨後雪後行路用的，每種手杖的樣式各不相同。有時我回故鄉去探望父親，他老人家常喜歡和我出外散步；每次出發之前，我們總先到手杖室中去揀選我們那一次所適用的手杖。因此我們常想起神的話語是我們生活中的手杖，會給我無限幫助和安慰。
在打仗的時候，緊急的風聲使我們心慌意亂，神給我們的是：『他必不怕兇惡的信息；他心堅定，倚靠耶和華』（詩112:7）。這杖扶持我們經過許多黑暗的日子。當死亡奪去我們的孩子，使我們心碎的時候，我在應許中找到另一根安慰的杖：『一宿雖然有哭泣，早晨便必歡呼』（詩30:5）。
You have bills to pay, beds to make, and grass to cut. Your face won’t grace any magazine covers, and you aren’t expecting a call from the White House. Congratulations—you qualify for a modern-day Christmas story.
Step into the stable, cradle in your arms the infant Jesus. Listen as one who knew him well puts lyrics to the event. What no theologian conceived, what no rabbi dared to dream, God did. John 1:14 proclaims, “The Word became flesh.” Christ in Mary. God in Christ. The Word of God entered the world with the cry of a baby. God writes his story with ordinary people like Joseph, like Mary. People like you, like me.
詩篇 103:12 東離西有多遠，祂叫我們的過犯離我們也有多遠。
跟朋友談天時，常會有這樣的對話：
你記得嗎？你說你最討厭大紅大紫的顏色，怎麼今天也穿得大紅大紫了？
哦！真的嗎？我甚麼時候說過這樣的話？你記錯了人吧！
碰到幾十年不見的朋友，那就更加記憶紛亂而衝突：我記得你……。
沒有的事，那時我根本不在那地方。
明明是你，我記得清清楚楚。
你胡說八道，我腦子中完全沒這回事。
如果是一件不相干的事，彼此吵吵鬧鬧一番，也就算了。
假如是一件事關緊要的案子之類，那就成了一方否認，一方作假見證了。
路加福音 1:78-79 因我們神憐憫的心腸，叫清晨的日光從高天臨到我們，要照亮坐在黑暗中死蔭裡的人，把我們的腳引到平安的路上。
「耶穌能拯救黑暗中的人，願意的人請舉手，我為你們禱告。」那年的大專福音營，講員在最後結束的時候這樣說。奇怪！我是好人，我聽父母師長的話，考上前幾志願國立大學，潔身自愛，常做善事，愛護動物，我怎麼可能是在黑暗中的人？但那一刻，我竟然意識到自己就是。
路加福音書第一章記載，祭司撒迦利亞被聖靈充滿，預言自己的孩子要成為至高者的先知！撒迦利亞接著宣告，上帝要差來「清晨的日光」ἀνατολὴ，從高天臨到，要照亮坐在黑暗中死蔭裡的人，把他們的腳引到平安的路上。（路1:78-79）ἀνατολὴ不易翻譯，其他中文聖經譯作「旭日」、「昇起來的光」、「救恩的曙光」、「黎明的曙光」，那就是彌賽亞耶穌。
聖經關於道路的詞語，多用來比喻一個人生活或做事的方式。人生道路是連續行為的累積。那年暑假，昇起來的光照亮坐在黑暗中的我，回首才知道原本走在錯誤道路，是朝向自我毀滅而不自知。上帝差來「救恩的曙光」——耶穌，使我回頭轉向正確道路行走，漸次把我的腳引到平安的路上。
Everything changes when you know the rest of your story. In 2 Samuel 22:25 (MSG) David says, “God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.” But what is the text of our lives? Self-help gurus and magazine headlines urge you to “find your narrative.” “Look inside yourself,” they say. But the promise of self-discovery falls short.
Your story indwells God’s. This is the great promise of the Bible. “It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone” (Ephesians 1:11-12 MSG). In his story, you’ll find there’s more to your story.
羅馬書8:28 我們曉得(神使)萬事都互相效力，叫愛神的人得益處，就是按祂旨意被召的人。
「萬事都互相效力，叫愛神的人得益處。」（羅馬書8:28）這句話常被理解為，不管發生了甚麼，無論是好事、壞事，愛上帝的人都會在其中得到好處。這句常出現於安慰告白失敗、失戀被甩的人，或求職工作不順利。
最後一次用到這句，是在數年前。我維持讀書、打電腦的姿勢太久，沒有起來走走，做一下伸展運動，結果肩膀沾黏。這是壞事。那陣子全世界COVID-19肆虐，我們家打疫苗，丈夫和孩子們都肩膀腫痛哀哀叫。這也是壞事。我就用了這句話：「肩膀沾黏的徒手治療更痛，打疫苗的痛真是小菜一碟。真是萬事都互相效力，叫愛神的人得益處啊。」說自己更倒楣，多了肩膀沾黏的壞事，但負負得正，壞壞變好。
這句話被節錄，然後濫用、亂用。直到我閱讀希臘文聖經羅馬書第八章，才知道自己對這句話理解錯誤三十多年。
We love to know where we came from. We need to know where we came from. Knowing connects us, links us to something greater than we are. That is why God wants you to know his story.
Framed photos hang in his house and lively talks await you at his table. A scrapbook sits in his living room, brimming with stories. Stories about Bethlehem beginnings and manger miracles. Enemy warfare in the wilderness and fishermen friends in Galilee. The stumbles of Peter, the stubbornness of Paul. All part of the story. But subplots to the central message of the headline story: John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life!”
God saves his people—God’s story. And we are a part of it.
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