各位同仁平安：

以下是11月15日「週一禱告會」康克校牧分享的禱詞短文，

讓我們一起來親近天父—先求祂的國和祂的義。

誠摯邀請大家參加週一禱告會，一起禱告！

校牧室敬啟

A frog in a well. 井底之蛙。

It’s a vivid image that helps get across the limitations of a narrow perspective. You see clearly what you can see, but beyond that you are essentially blind.

這是一幅生動的畫面，有助於克服狹隘視野的局限性。

在你能見的範圍內，你能清楚看見一切，但範圍之外，你基本上是瞎的。

Sometimes we experience life that way. Things happen, both good and bad, and we can’t see the broader context. We can’t see God’s plan. We pray and don’t hear an answer, we knock and don’t see an open door.

有時候，我們以這種方式經歷生活。

當事情發生，有好也有壞，我們看不見更廣泛的視野，我們看不到上帝的計劃，我們禱吿卻沒有得到回應，我們敲門卻沒有看到敞開的門。

In situations like that, can we trust God’s response? Well, what does scripture say:

在這樣的情況下，我們能持續相信上帝的回應嗎？ 讓我們看看聖經怎麼說：

 9 Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:9-11)

9 你們中間哪一個人，兒子向他要餅，反給他石頭；

10 要魚，反給他蛇呢？

11 你們雖然邪惡，尚且知道把好東西給兒女，何況你們在天上的父，難道不更把好東西賜給求他的人嗎？(馬太福音 7:9-11)

This is not presented as a suggestion; it is presented as fact. What God gives you isn’t the stone, it is the bread. That is not interpretation, it is fact. 

聖經不以一個建議呈現，而是敘述一個事實——上帝給你的不是石頭，而是麵包。 這 不是一個闡述，這是一個事實。

 But this fact does not mean an easy way ahead, good health, high incomes, or all your dreams come true. God has a particular view of what it means for something to be good. It’s a view of good that can often leave us feeling like that frog in a well, blind to so much happening beyond our narrowed vision.

但這個事實並不意味著前方道路輕鬆、身體健康、收入高或所有夢想都能成真。 上帝 對什麼是「好(善)的」，有獨到的看法，也正是因為祂對善的獨到看法，常常會讓我 們感覺就像井裡的青蛙，無法看見超出我們狹隘視野之外的許多事情。

Jesus dying on the cross was good. Paul’s pains and martyrdom were good. Moses’ years in the wilderness were good. John the Baptist executed was good.

耶穌死在十字架上是好的。 保羅的痛苦和殉道是好的。 摩西在曠野的歲月是美好的。 施洗約翰被處決是好的。

That may sound like a strange kind of good, but God wants you to be forgiven, God wants you to be saved, God wants you to be whole and made new. And not just in this life, but forever and for always. That is bread and fish, and anything less is serpents and stones.

 這聽起來可能是一種奇怪的「好（善)」，但上帝希望你被寬恕，上帝希望你得救，上帝希望你變得完整和更新，不僅是你此刻的生命，並且持續到永恆。 這就是麵包和魚，在此之外的即是蛇和石頭。