Manna issue 73 - Once Stiff-necked and Foolish 英文嗎哪雜誌中譯 73 期 - 硬心和愚拙
Peter Wong—Malacca, Malaysia 麻六甲，馬來西亞
翻譯 By SaSaYa
In the name of Jesus, I testify. My
father came to believe in the Lord
when he was in his thirties. He
used to gamble and, even after his
conversion, he did not stop until God
personally reminded and moved Him
through a series of events. Like my
father, I am also a rather stiff-necked
person.
奉主耶穌聖名作見證。我的父親在他三十多歲的時候信主。
他以前有賭博的壞習慣，甚至在他信主之後。他仍未改掉他的壞習慣，
直到神親自用了一連串的事情來提醒他、感動他。我的個性也和我的父親一樣，是非常硬心的人
◎gamble 賭博◎remind 提醒◎stiff-necked 硬心的
REFUSING GOD’S CALLING
拒絕神的呼召
In 2008, a few preachers proposed
to the board of ministers at my local
church to ordain me as a deacon.
When I heard the news, I was
shocked. I was extremely unwilling
to serve as a deacon; I felt that a
person with my character would not
be suitable. I rejected the proposal.
在2008年，有些傳道向我所在當地教會的職務會提出任命我成為執事，
當我聽聞這個消息，我非常的驚訝。我極為不願意成為執事。
我認為我的性格非常不適合成為一名執事。我便拒絕了這項提議。
When a few ministers reprimanded
me on my rejection, I believed I was
in the right and I even became upset
with them. I felt that it was good
enough to be active in the church
without being a deacon. I had a
very good career, and I enjoyed my
personal and church life. Moreover,
I thought that this was my life and
the church had no right to decide
what I should do. I was wrong. From
the moment we are baptized, our
life does not belong to us because it
has been redeemed by the blood of
Jesus; our life belongs to Jesus Christ
and we are members of His body—
the church.
當有幾名傳道訓斥了我對這項提議的拒絕，我深信我是對的，甚至對他們感到不高興。
我認為只要熱心教會事工就好了 不一定要成為執事。
我當時有一份不錯的職業，我也享受於我的私人生活和教會生活。
何況，我當下認為這是我的個人生活，教會是無權插手決定我應該做甚麼。但我錯了。
從我們受洗的那一刻起，我們的生命不再屬於我們自己了，因為我們的生命已被耶穌的寶血所贖回了；
我們生命是屬於耶穌基督的，而我們也是教會_基督身體的一員。
◎preachers 傳道◎propose 建議；提出◎ordain 任命◎deacon 執事◎unwilling 不願意
◎suitable 合適◎reprimand 斥責◎redeem 贖回
A STRANGE CONDITION
一個奇怪的情況
Not long afterwards, however,
something happened to me. One
night in 2008 at 3 a.m., I suddenly
felt a sharp pain in my back, as if
somebody had just punched me very
hard. I woke up and asked my wife
for a massage. But that did not help.
I walked up and down the stairs in
my house, trying to relieve the pain.
Suddenly, I lost all motor functions and
could not stand. Before I collapsed, I
called to my wife, “I’m going to fall!”
Lying on the living room floor, I could
only move my head. The rest of my
body felt completely numb. I was
shocked but I tried to calm myself.
After my wife and I prayed together
for about an hour, amazingly, there
was a soothing feeling in my neck
and suddenly, I could move again.
Deep in my heart, I knew something
was wrong, but I suppressed the
feelings of my conscience.
因此在不久之後，有事情發生在我身上。
在2008年的一個晚上大約3點，我的背部突然感受到一陣劇痛，就像有人重重的打了我一下。
我便起身叫我太太幫我按摩，但是卻於事無補。我只能在我家的樓梯來回走動，試著減緩疼痛。
突然間，我失去了身體機能並且無法站立。
在我暈倒之前，我打電話給我太太，「我要倒下了！」
躺在客廳的地板，我只能移動我的頭部。
我身體的其他部分感覺完全麻木了。我嚇呆了，但我試著讓我自己冷靜下來。
經過和太太一起禱告了一小時，令人驚訝的，我的脖子有漸漸舒緩的感覺，突然間，我可以再次移動。
在我心的深處，深深的知道甚麼事做錯的，但是我壓抑我良心的感受。
◎massage 按摩◎motor functions 運動機能◎numb 麻木的◎suppress 壓抑
After the incident, I went for an
MRI scan but the results showed
that there were no problems. I was
relieved and continued my life as
usual. About one year later, in 2009,
the symptoms reoccurred, and I
collapsed another three times—
twice at home and once at church.
Each time, after prayer, I recovered.
Clearly, God was trying to tell me
something. My wife even asked me,
“Have you done something wrong?
Do you need to repent?” I answered,
“Of course not.” However, deep in
my heart, fear began to build up. I
knew that God was trying to teach
me a lesson, but I kept suppressing
that feeling. I was stubborn and
foolish.
事件發生後，我去做了核磁共振掃描，但結果顯示沒有問題。
我鬆了一口氣，繼續我往常的生活。
約一年後，在2009年，症狀又發作了，我又暈倒了另外三次，兩次在家中，一次在教會。
每次禱告後，我復元。很顯然，神是想告訴我些事情。
我的妻子甚至問我，「你做錯了什麼？你需要悔改嗎？」我回答「當然沒有」。
但是，在我的心底，恐懼逐漸高築。我知道神是想給我一個教訓，但我一直在抑制那種感覺。當時的是如此的我固執和愚蠢。
◎MRI scan核磁共振◎symptom 症狀◎reoccurred 又發作的◎repent 懺悔；悔改
◎stubborn 固執
After these incidences, we
consulted various doctors. All of
them said that there was nothing
wrong with me. One physician
wanted to refer me to a psychiatrist,
and another doctor even asked me to
see a medium. I also went to see a
Chinese physician for acupuncture.
I almost died in that clinic. About
five minutes after the physician had
started the acupuncture and had
left the room, I lost all my motor
functions yet again. In addition, I
could barely breathe and I felt as
if I was going into a seizure. It was
terrible. I was shaking, and I shoute
for help but no one came. Then I
prayed and struggled to reach out to
grab my mobile phone. Thank God, I
managed to call my wife, who then
rushed into the treatment room with
the physician.
經過了這些事情，我們諮詢了各種醫生。他全部都說我身上一點問題也沒有。
有一位醫生將我介紹給一位心理醫生，另一位醫生甚至叫我去找靈媒。
我也去給中醫做針灸。我還差點喪命於診療所。
在醫生開始針灸後離開診療室時的五分鐘，我又再次失去身體機能。
此外，我幾乎不能呼吸，我覺得若是我快要抽慉了。那將會很糟。
我開始戰抖，大聲呼救，但是沒有人來。然後，我只能禱告，掙扎著伸手拿我手機。
謝天謝地，我設法打電話給我的妻子，之後她便和醫師衝進診療室。
◎consult 諮詢 ◎psychiatrist 心理醫師 ◎acupuncture 針灸 ◎seizure 發作
They were shocked when they saw
me. At first, I couldn’t move but after
about an hour, I regained mobility
and went home. The Chinese
physician urged me to see a surgeon
immediately.
當他們看到我時他們非常震驚。
起初，我動彈不得，但大約一個小時後，我恢復活動力並且回家了。
中醫要求我立即去看外科醫生。
◎surgeon 外科醫生
REMAINING STUBBORN
依然固執
The next morning, on June 14,
2009, I went to the hospital and
was admitted straight away. For
that whole day I just lay in bed,
without anyone coming to check on
me. The surgeon checked my MRI
scans, which had been performed
one year earlier without revealing
any problems, and he thought that it
would be impossible for anything to
happen to me in such a short time.
第二天早上，在2009年6月14日，我去了醫院，立刻就被接納。
對於整天只是躺在床上的我，沒有任何人來檢查我。
外科醫生檢查了我早在一年前就執行的核磁共振資料中，但卻沒有顯示出有問題，
他認為在這麼短的時間裡，任何發生在我身上的情況都是多麼的不可能。
◎admit 接入；接納
However at 7 p.m. that night, my
pain returned and I endured it until
midnight. I was given painkillers but
to no avail. The pain reached a point
where my body couldn’t handle the
stress and I went into a seizure. I
started convulsing horribly on the
bed. I don’t even remember what
happened afterwards, but it was as
though I had completely lost all my
senses. According to my wife and my
sister, I began randomly shouting at
people.
然而，在當晚7時，我的痛苦回來了，而我忍耐著痛苦，直到午夜。
我拿到了止痛藥，但那仍然於事無補。
痛苦到我的身體無法處理這個壓力的地步，而我便抽搐發作。我開始在床上嚴重地抽搐。
我甚至不記得之後發生了什麼，但好像我已經完全失去了我所有的感官般。
根據我太太和我妹妹所說，我開始隨機亂喊人。
◎painkillers 止痛藥◎convulse 抽搐
Apart from the pain, my whole
body felt numb and I could not
breathe. The doctor came with some
nurses and they pricked my body with
needles to test my sense of touch—I
could no longer feel anything. I truly
thought that I was not going to
survive. Yet, even at this agonizing
moment, I remained stubborn. Other
people would have started to repent
and ask God for forgiveness, but I did
not. I did not want to promise God
anything.
除了痛，我渾身麻木，我無法呼吸。
醫生和一些護士們。他們用針來刺我測試我的痛覺，我甚麼都感覺不到了。
我甚至真以為我不存在般。然而，即使在這個痛苦的時刻，我依然固執。
其他人可能都已經開始悔改，請求神的原諒，但我沒有。我不想答應神任何的事情。
◎needle 針◎survive 生存◎agonizing 慘痛的
That night, I went through another
MRI scan and CT scan before the
doctor finally found bleeding behind
my neck. I had to undergo life-saving
emergency surgery. The doctor was
still uncertain over the cause of the
bleeding and told me that the surgery
would be very dangerous. He also
said that if I did survive, I might lose
some of my motor functions. Deep
within me, I knew that I would not
die, yet I told my wife that I loved
her, just in case I did not wake up.
那天晚上，在醫生最後發現我的脖子後部出血，我透過另一次核磁共振掃描和斷層掃描檢查。
我不得不接受挽救生命的緊急手術。
醫生仍然不明白出血的原因，並告訴我，手術將是非常危險的。
他還表示，若是我就算活下來，我可能會失去我的一些運動機能。
在我的內心深處，我知道我不會死，但我告訴我的妻子，我愛她，以防萬一我沒有再次甦醒。
◎CT scan 斷層掃描◎emergency 緊急的◎surgery 手術
The next morning, I underwent the
surgery. Thank God, I did wake up
afterwards, and I recovered within
the week, despite having three
vertebrae removed from my neck. I
also thank God that I did not have
any side effects from the surgery
apart from some memory loss.
第二天早上，我經歷了手術。
感謝神，我做完手術之後醒來，並且在一周內復元，儘管有將三個椎骨從我的脖子上取下。
我還要感謝神，我沒有得到一些在手術後會記憶喪失的副作用。
◎undergo 經歷◎vertebrae 椎骨◎side effect 副作用
From the moment we are baptized, our life does not belong to
us because it has been redeemed by the blood of Jesus; our life
belongs to Jesus Christ and we are members of His body—the
church.
從我們受洗的那一刻起，我們的生命不再屬於我們自己了，因為我們的生命已被耶穌的寶血所贖回了；
我們生命是屬於耶穌基督的，而我們也是教會_基督身體的一員。
SERVING GOD STARTS WITH SUBMISSION
開始順服地事奉神
After this incident, I started to think
about why this had happened. I
started to pray to God. I knew that I
was not submissive and that a deacon
who is not submissive would cause
much trouble in the church. I told
the Lord: “God, if you want to use
me, you have to change me.” Later
on, I realized that God had indeed
changed me through this experience.
He left a very deep scar on my neck,
which would always remind me not
to be stiff-necked.
在這次事件發生後，我開始思考為什麼會發生這樣的事。
我開始向神禱告。我知道我是不順服的，以及一個不順服的執事會使教會陷入麻煩。
我告訴主：「主阿，若是你想用我，你要改變我。」。
後來，我才明白，透過這次的經驗神已確實改變了我。
他在我的脖子上留下了非常深刻的傷痕，這總是提醒著我不要硬著頸項。
◎submissive 順服◎scar 傷痕
In 2013, local church board
members once again approached me
regarding deaconship and this time,
I accepted the calling. Ever since,
my views regarding divine work
have changed significantly. In the
past, I was quite self-centered and
I would only do divine work that I
liked. However, I came to realize that
church work is not a hobby; it is our
service to God. So when we humbly
carry out divine work that we do not
like, we are submitting to and truly
serving God.
在2013年，當地教會的負責人們對關於執事職分的事再次主動找我的時候，我接受了呼召。
從那以後，我對聖工看法有了顯著改變。過去，我很以自我中心，我只想做我喜歡的聖工。
不過，我才明白教會的工作是不是一種嗜好；而是我們對神的服事。
所以，當我們謙卑地，作我們不喜歡的聖工，我們便是順服且真正的事奉神。
◎significantly 顯著地◎self-centered 自我中心的
After my ordination as a deacon,
God continued to change me. Today,
I always pray to God to mold, change,
and help me to do things according
to His will instead of my own will.
Sometimes, I still have negative or
stubborn thoughts. Whenever that
happens, I reach out and touch my
neck. I truly thank God for the second
chance to serve Him according to His
will and for teaching, molding, and
changing me the hard way.
當我被按立為執事後，神持續的改變我。
在今天，我總是向神禱告求塑造，改變，以及根據他的旨意來做這些事而不是我的意願。
有時候，我仍然會有負面或頑固的想法。
每當出現這種情況，我便伸手摸摸我的脖子。
我真的很感謝神給了我第二次的機會來事奉他藉著他的旨意費一番苦功來教導，塑造，並改變我費一番苦功
◎ordination 按立◎negative 消極；負面◎mold 樹立；塑造
If we are stiff-necked and try to
challenge the Lord, we will find
that we have already lost the battle,
because we will never win against
God. However, if we submit ourselves
completely to God, we will find peace
and joy in our service to Him.
May all glory be to our beloved
Lord Jesus. Amen.
如果我們硬著頸項，並嘗試挑戰神，我們會發現，我們早已輸了這場爭戰，因為我們是永遠不會戰勝神的。
但是，若我們完全地順服神，我們將會在對他的事奉中發現平安和喜樂。
願一切的榮耀歸予我們親愛的主耶穌。阿們。
小頁 markvmax@hotmail.com
Manna 嗎哪 56 (1)