从昏迷到遇见基督

当时年仅7岁的彼得在穿越学校外面的人行道时被车撞了，那时，他正从澳洲布里斯班的学校走路回家。

       冲击力将男孩撞飞50多码（公尺），背部直接落地，从此便昏迷了六个月。

       在彼得昏迷不醒时，他的祖母担心他的救恩问题，所以安排他受洗。 按照她的宗教传统，一位牧师为昏迷的男孩行了点水礼。

       当彼得恢复意识时，很明显这场车祸影响了他的智力。 他不得不重新学习基本的技能，比如吃饭和上厕所。 他在阅读上非常吃力，也不懂人们在说什么。

       尽管面临挑战，他在接下来的八年里坚持不懈地学习。 在那段时间里，他的祖母有时会带他去她的教堂聚会。

       彼得喜欢上教会。 他意识到自己内心有一种上帝赐予的饥渴感，他渴望填补它。 他踏上了属灵之旅，试图满足这种饥渴。

       他 16 岁时，他问他的母亲自己是否可以更频繁地去教会，而不仅仅是偶尔跟祖母在星期天一起去。 妈妈同意了，彼得开始每个周末去跟祖母上教堂五次：周六晚上一次，周日早上三次，周日晚上一次。

       在接下来的十年里，彼得参加了许多礼拜，也造访了许多教会。 他结了婚，生了两个女儿。 他做起了橱柜制造商，也正是那时，他从一位复临信徒客户那里听到复临教会。

       时间过去了，彼得搬进了布里斯班郊区、复临教会所在街道上的一栋房子。 他每天步行往返火车站时就会看到教堂，他想知道在那里敬拜会是什么感觉。 一个安息日的早晨，当他看到许多汽车开到教堂内时，他决定进去一探究竟。

       教会成员向彼得表示接纳和友谊。 他受邀参加一个安息日学课的班级。 他结交了新朋友。 聚会结束后，甚至有人主动提出开车送他回家。

       彼得在下一个安息日和下下个安息日都回到教会聚会。

       “我发现教会的人非常友善而且有爱心，”他说。 “这是让我持续来这个教会的原因之一。”

       彼得和教会牧师一起学习《圣经》。 当他阅读时，彼得感觉到他对公义的属灵渴望得到了满足。 他第一次发现他所有的需要都在耶稣里得到满足。 他决心透过《圣经》教导的全身入水浸礼将他的心献给耶稣。 他第一次受洗是在他处于昏迷状态，不知道发生了什么事。 现在他想以自己的选择而洗礼。

       2021 年的一个安息日，卡布尔彻复临教会的教友之中响起一片热烈掌声，因为他们的朋友彼得从洗礼的水中出来。 他的属灵追求之旅有一个美好的结局，也有一个同样美好的开始。

       耶稣说那些饥渴慕义的人必得饱足―并且他们会喜乐。 “饥渴慕义的人有福了，因为他们必得饱足。”（太5:6）。

来源：本文译自《圣工消息》（社会青年季刊）2022年第四季

From Coma to Christ

When Peter was 7, he was hit by a car as he crossed a crosswalk outside his school. He was on his way home from school in Brisbane, Australia.

The force of the impact threw the boy more than 50 yards (meters), and he landed on his back. He was in a coma for six months.

While Peter lay in the coma, his grandmother worried about his salvation and arranged for him to be baptized. Following her religious tradition, a priest sprinkled the unconscious boy with water.

When Peter regained consciousness, it became clear that the car accident had affected his mind. He had to relearn basic skills such as eating and using the toilet. He also struggled to read and to understand what people were saying.

Despite the challenges, he persevered in his learning for the next eight years. During that time, his grandmother sometimes took him to her church.

Peter liked going to church. He recognized a God-given hunger within him, and he longed to fill it. He embarked on a spiritual journey to try to satisfy that hunger.

When he was 16, he asked his mother if he could attend church more regularly, not just on the occasional Sunday with his grandmother. Mother agreed, and Peter began attending his grandmother’s church five times every weekend: once on Saturday evening, three times on Sunday morning and once on Sunday evening.

Over the next decade, Peter attended many worship services and visited many churches. He got married and had two daughters. He was working as a cabinet maker when he heard about the Seventh-day Adventist Church from an Adventist customer.

Time passed, and Peter moved into a house located on the same street as an Adventist church in a suburb of Brisbane. He saw the church as he walked to and from the train station every day, and he wondered what it would be like to worship there. One Sabbath morning, when he saw cars arriving at the church, he decided to go inside and find out.

Church members showered Peter with acceptance and friendship. He was invited to join a Sabbath School class. He made new friends. After church, someone even offered to drive him home.

Peter returned to the church the next Sabbath and then the next.

“I found the church people to be so friendly and caring,” he says. “This is one of the things that has kept me coming to this church.”

Peter studied the Bible with the church pastor. As he read, Peter sensed that his spiritual hunger for righteousness was being satisfied. He found all his needs met in Jesus for the first time. He resolved to give his heart to Jesus through the biblically taught method of baptism by immersion. He had been in a coma during his first baptism, unaware of what was happening. Now he wanted to be baptized by his own choice.

On a Sabbath day in 2021, members of Caboolture Seventh-day Adventist Church burst into spontaneous applause as their friend Peter came out of the waters of baptism. His journey of spiritual seeking had reached a beautiful end and an equally wonderful beginning.

Jesus says those who hunger and thirst after righteousness will be filled — and they will be happy. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Mat 5:6). 

Please find the original article at: https://am.adventistmission.org/mqa22q4-14