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Pastor's Corner by Larry Tong

August, 2006

A couple of weeks ago, I accompanied my wife to Washington, D.C. where she had to attend a medical related conference. I also used this trip to rest and to catch up with writing the devotional journal.

While Helen was in the conference, I spent a day visiting the Smithsonian. I even watched a 3-D movie, the Aliens of the Deep. It is amazing to see living creatures not only surviving, but thriving at the bottom of an ocean where sunlight can’t even penetrate. How can countless shrimps survive at the mouths of volcanic openings with extreme heat while the freezing ocean water is just inches away? As technologies bring us up close to a deeper ocean and higher space, the more we are amazed with the unknown. God’s creation is truly beyond our understanding. No wonder after God appeared to Job, he uttered “Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” (Job 42:3c). With human’s technologies and knowledge, we are still incapable of knowing the all-wise God. We are only capable of being in awe of the God who created all the amazing lives, some of which can only be seen with a high power microscope.

The hotel we stayed in Washington D.C. is only about four blocks from the zoo. On our last day there, we decided to walk to the famous zoo, which was in the midst of a residential area that houses the Panda from China. On our way back to the hotel, sirens, police cars, paramedics and fire trucks caught our attention. Our curiosity drove us to walk a couple of blocks to find out what happened. I asked a resident on the street who watched what happened. She told us that a water-main was broken, and that the water shot twenty-five feet up in the air for at least thirty minutes. She even showed us the “geyser” picture she took with her camera. Within minutes, the whole area was declared “unsafe” by the authority. Cars that were parked on the street had to be towed away. We didn’t stay long enough to find out whether the residents in the area had to be evacuated. I was thinking what caused the authority to determine that the area was unsafe. When we got there, the water had already been turned off, and everything seemed to be as normal as it could be. There were no visible sink-holes or cracked pavements.

I thought of life from this incidence. Things can look very “normal” from the outer appearance, but beneath the surface, there may be a big void that makes us feel empty, like a street with broken water main. It may look perfectly normal, but when too much pressure is on top, the street will crumble. It is the same with our lives. If we don’t fix the void inside our heart on time, disaster awaits us when we are under pressure. Life isn’t what it appears from the outside or what it should have been or could have been. It is what is underneath the surface. If we are strong inside, we can withhold pressures from the outside, but if we only look good from the outside, without any strength from the inside, we will be crippled when pressure comes our ways.

Before I sign off, I would like to quote what a theologian, Pascal, once said. It goes something like this: “Inside a man’s heart there is void that only God can fill.” When God fills your inside, you will develop strength from within to withstand pressure. God, in His love, came to die on the cross so that you may not only have life, but have an abundant life—a life with meaning and purpose. That’s what life is all about: thriving, not mere surviving.

Pastor Larry

在幾個星期前，我陪伴太太到首都華盛頓，她是去參加一個與醫藥有關的會議，我就利用這次旅程來休息和趕緊要寫的每日靈程。

當師母參加會議的時候，我用了一整天去參觀〝史密森〞(Smithsonian)，我甚至欣賞了一部立體電影〝Aliens of the Deep〞。看見有些生物不單只在那陽光不能透進的海洋深處生存，更是茁壯地成長，實在令人驚訝。無數的蝦如何能夠在那極高溫的火山口生存，而冰冷的海水就在指尺呢？科技不斷讓我們能夠接觸更深的海洋和更高的太空，但同時我們對未知道的事物就更覺驚訝，神的創造真是超乎我們所能明白的。無怪當神向約伯顯現之後，他說：「…這些事太奇妙，是我不知道的。」﹝約伯記四十二章三節下﹞。以人的科技和知識，我們仍然不能完全了解這位全智慧的神。我們只能夠以敬畏的態度來到這位創造所有奇妙生命，包括一些只可以在高倍度顯微鏡才能夠看見的生物的神的面前。

我們在首都華盛頓停留的酒店離動物園只有四個街口，在最後一天，我們決定步行到這個位於住戶區中間，養有中國熊貓的有名動物園去。在我們回程到酒店的時候，一陣陣的警號聲、警察車、救傷車和消防車引起我們的注意，我們的好奇心引我們行前去看個究竟。我問一位在街上目擊事情發生的居民，她說是一條主要水管破裂，而水噴射二十五呎高達三十分鐘，她更讓我們看她拍下來的〝噴泉〞照片。在很短的時間當局宣佈整個地區為不安全，停泊在路上的車輛被拖走。我們沒有停留太久，所以不知道該處的居民是否要被疏散。我在想是什麼令到執法人員決定那地區是不安全，當我們到達那地方時，水源已被停止，而情況已經好像回復正常，也沒見到地面下陷，或行人路上有裂痕。

我從這事件想到人生，事情的外表可能看似正常，但內裡卻可能是空虛的令我們感覺空虛，就好像有水管破裂的一條路；在外面來看，好像是完全正常，但當壓力增加的時候，這條路便會倒塌。我們的生命也是一樣，如果我們不及時處理我們內心的空虛，當我們面對壓力的時候，災難就等着來臨。生命不一定好像外表所看見的，應該或是可能是這樣的。它的真實是內在的，如果我們是內裡堅強的，我們就可以承受外來的壓力；但如果我們只是金玉其外，敗絮其中的話，當壓力來到的時候，我們就會馬上跌倒。

在擱筆前，我願意引述神學家Pascal曾經說過的一句話。是這樣的：「在人心靈的深處有一個空的地方只有神才可以將它填滿。」當神充滿你內心的時候，你會培養出內在的能力來面對壓力。神因為祂的愛，來到世界並死在十字架上，以至你不但可以得著生命，更可以得著一個有意義和有目標的豐盛生命。生命的意義不是為著生存而已，生命是要過得豐盛和有意義。

唐若愚牧師

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