文：郑嘉文、刘安玲
一个月前，我们一位在宣教航空使团（MAF）担任宣教飞行员的朋友，在印度尼西亚一次空难中去世。听到这则消息，我们异常震惊和悲哀，脑海中第一个念头是：“真是浪费”。 朋友花了10年的时间装备自己成为传教士，但在印尼服事不到两年就过世了。
朋友去世的消息和她的生活点滴开始在媒体上广为流传，我们也受到提醒，她的一生为基督而活。当全球很多人因她的生命见证得到启发和鼓励时，上帝的荣耀得到彰显。我们内心感受到鞭策，就如同一个女人把昂贵的香膏浇在耶稣的头上，门徒责备她“何用这样的枉费”时，耶稣这样责备他们： “为什么难为这女人呢？她在我身上做的是一件美事（太26:7-10）”。我们有何权利判断，如果她活得更久，她的生命对神的国度会 “更有成效”？朋友的一生都在为基督而活，包括去印尼前装备自己的10年时间，都是献给祂的“美事”。
疫情期间，我们每天辗转在家庭、工作和事工之間，似乎所有的日子都混在一起，经历无休止的 “清洗、过水、重复”。我们等着去日本开始下一个人生阶段，认为那样“生产力”会更高。但圣灵是否正通过朋友的见证提醒我们，过程与目标同等重要？当目光只放在终点，我们常常看不见神不仅自己在做工，也呼召我们在等待中为祂做工。我们不知道神何时为我们打开去日本的门，但可以肯定，我们在这里度过的时光，与在日本度过的时光同等重要。
在非常时期，我们会努力寻找神所定义的 “美事”，感恩祂给我们的每一天、祂的鞭策，和给我们的重新定位。祂让我们看到，每做一件事，每一次与人相交，都是在爱祂、服事祂、敬拜祂，也在平淡之中找到美。神一直在做工，也邀请我们同工。祂提醒我们生命的每一天，都是把“美事”献给祂的机会。
作者是本教会长老夫妇，跨越桥（英文部）事工核心团队同工，并准备在今年底受教会差派成为海外基督使团（OMF）赴日本的全职宣教士。请为他们的服事祷告。
翻译并责任编辑：潘澜
Why This Waste?
by Chris and Emily Cheng
A month ago, one of our friends serving in Indonesia as a missionary pilot with Missionary Aviation Fellowship passed away in a plane crash. The news was a huge shock as grief and sorrow poured over us. One of the first thoughts that came to our minds was, “Why this waste?” Our friend had spent 10 years of her life working towards being a missionary pilot and had not even been in Indonesia for 2 years.
As news of our friend’s death and memories of her life began to circulate widely in the media, we were reminded of how her whole life exemplified a life lived for Christ. We saw God glorified as many around the world were inspired and encouraged by her life testimony. And we felt rebuked, just as Jesus rebuked his disciples for asking the same question when a woman poured expensive perfume on Him. “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me.” (Matt 26:10). What right do we have to judge whether our friend’s life had been wasted? What right do we have to question whether her life would have been more “productive” for God’s kingdom if she had lived longer? Our friend lived her life for Christ, and each day of her life, including the 10 years leading up to Indonesia, had been given to Him as “a beautiful thing”.
As we navigate family, work, and ministry during the pandemic, each day blends with the last as we mindlessly go through cycles of “lather, rinse, and repeat”. We find ourselves waiting to begin the next stage of life in Japan, when we can be more “productive”. But is the Spirit reminding us through our friend’s testimony that the process matters as much as the goal? As we anticipate our destination, we often lose sight of how God is working and calling us to work during the journey. We may not know when God will open the doors to Japan, but surely how we spend our time here in the US means as much to God as how we will spend time in Japan.
And so we find ourselves convicted to look for “beautiful things” as God has defined during these abnormal times. We are thankful for each new day God gives us. We are thankful that God rebukes us and reorients us daily. We are learning to find beauty in the ordinary by seeing how everyday tasks and interactions with people are ways to love, serve, and worship God. We discover beauty as God reminds us that He continues to work and invites us into that work, reminding us that each day of our lives is an opportunity to give back to Him “a beautiful thing”.
Editor note: Chris Cheng is an elder of CBCGB. He and his wife Emily are members of the CrossBridge core leadership team. They are scheduled to be full-time missionaries of Overseas Missions Fellowship (OMF) to Japan at the end of the year. Please pray for their ministry.