皮乌斯（Pius）

空难余生

一位复临信徒计划去拜访他在刚果一个偏僻地方建立的教堂时，奇迹般的在空难中幸存了下来。

皮乌斯是一位53岁的刚果籍信徒布道家。空难中他跟着飞行员在An-2单引擎双翼飞机坠地前跳了出来，机上其余五名乘客全部遇难。

“只有他俩的手机幸存下来，”皮乌斯的太太妮可（Nicole）说。

事故后不久，她从一位朋友传来的照片上看到了出事的丈夫，他的头和腿都受伤了，却没一个地方发生骨折。

她从照片上看到皮乌斯一脸茫然、穿着血迹斑斑的衬衫，手里还拿着一部手机。

快三天了，妮可都没能和她丈夫通上话。他他传来的第一条讯息就是充满赞美上帝的话。 “我永远不会离开这位上帝，”他告诉妮可，“祂是奇妙的上帝！”

空难的原因尚未查明。这架由当地航空公司运营的苏联制飞机，在从卡马科镇（Kamako）起飞后不久，引擎就出现了故障。该航班原计划是飞往位于安哥拉（Angola）边境附近的奇卡帕市（Tshikapa），飞行距离为 90 英里（150 公里）。

飞行员穷其所能想要找个地方降落，但是引擎问题却更严重了。 随着飞机的高度下降，浓烟充满了机舱，皮乌斯看到飞行员从驾驶舱出来了。

就在这时，他感应到一个声音对他说：“跟着飞行员”，他看到飞行员打开一个出口跳了出去，他也跟着跳了出去。 片刻之后，飞机撞上了灌木丛并起了火，飞机在距离机场约 2 英里（3 公里）处坠毁。 

空难发生后，当地复临教会的领袖向遇难者家属表示哀悼。遇难的乘客有几名商人和一位安哥拉籍的母亲。

皮乌斯是一名平信徒布道家，同时也是一名钻石商人。他登上了这趟航班，是想着去看看在布道会后创立的、由 15 个人组成的教会。 但当他想要预订直飞教会所在城镇的航班时，得知那趟航班只在安息日起飞。

他向航空公司的代表解释，他不在安息日搭飞机。 “我不能在这天搭飞机，因为我守安息圣日。”他说。

“但航班只在周六有，”航空公司代表回答。

那天皮乌斯又想到一个能去那的办法。在他再三思量后，他买到了一张命中注定的机票，他从机场打电话给太太，向她报备行程变更的计划，他希望能有别的途径可以去教会。

那天下午，妮可一直等着丈夫打来报平安的电话，但她并没有接到。

终于，一个表弟打来电话问：“你老公还好吗？”

妮可说他们从早上到现在都没通过电话，并问表弟是否有他的消息，他什么也没说就挂断了电话，妮可立即回拨给他，部他到底怎么回事。

“继续祷告和侍奉上帝，”表弟说，“你丈夫那趟航班失事了，除了他和飞行员，其他人都遇难了。”

妮可走进卧室，跪在地上祈祷。 不久之后，一位朋友打电话来说，他把她丈夫和飞机失事的照片传到了网上，妮可赶紧跑到一家网吧，接上wifi查看照片。当她看到皮乌斯虽然受伤却还活着的消息，她松了一口气。

妮可对于那天发生的事情仍有许多的疑问。她不明白为什么只有她丈夫和飞行员活了下来，而其他人却都死了。 她不知道她丈夫遵守安息日的事是否在这场事故中起了作用，但她相信丈夫就如诗91：14中所应许的那样被拯救，耶和华说：“因为他专心爱我，我就要搭救他。” “忠于上帝，因为他可以随时保护我们，”她说。

来源：本文译自《圣工消息》（社会青年季刊）2023年第二季

Fiery Plane Crash

Seventh-day Adventist miraculously escaped a fiery airplane crash as he sought to visit a church that he had planted in a remote region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Pius, a 53-year-old Congolese lay evangelist, and the pilot jumped from the An-2 single-engine biplane moments before it hit the ground. The other five people on the flight perished.

“He survived with only his cellphone,” said his wife, Nicole.

She received confirmation about her husband’s condition via photographs sent by a friend shortly after the crash. Pius had a head and leg wound, but he had no broken bones.

The photos that she received on her cell phone showed her husband looking dazed and wearing a blood-soaked shirt, with a cell phone in his hand.

Nicole was unable to speak with her husband for three days, but his first words by phone were filled with praise to God. “I will never leave this God,” he told her. “He is wonderful.”

The cause of the crash was unclear. The Soviet-built plane, operated by a local airline, apparently developed engine trouble shortly after taking off from the town of Kamako for a 90-mile (150-kilometer) flight to Tshikapa, located near the border with Angola.

The pilot looked for a place to land, but the engine problem got worse. As the plane lost altitude, smoke filled the cabin, and Pius saw the pilot emerge from the cockpit.

At that moment, he sensed a voice saying, “Follow the pilot.” He saw the pilot open an exit and jump out. He also jumped out. Moments later, the plane slammed into the bush and burst into flames. The plane went down about 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the airport.

In the aftermath of the crash, local Adventist leaders offered condolences to the families of those who died. The passengers included businesspeople and an Angolan mother.

Pius, a lay evangelist who also works as a diamond dealer, had boarded the flight in hope of visiting a church plant of 15 people that he had opened after evangelistic meetings. But when he tried to book a direct flight to the town with the church, he learned that the plane would only depart on Sabbath.

He explained to the airline representative that he chose not to fly on the Sabbath. “I can’t because I worship on Sabbath,” he said.

“But the flight only goes on Saturday,” the representative replied.

Pius resolved to find another way to reach his destination that same day. After looking around, he bought a ticket on the doomed flight instead. He called his wife from the airport to announce his change in plans. He hoped to find another way to reach the town with the church plant.

That afternoon, Nicole waited for her husband to call that he had arrived at the alternative airport safely. But he didn’t call.

Finally, a cousin called and asked, “How is your husband?”

Nicole said they hadn’t spoken since morning and asked whether the cousin had heard from him. The cousin hung up without replying. Nicole immediately called back and demanded to know what was going on.

“Keep praying and serving God,” the cousin said. “The plane that your husband took crashed, and everyone died except your husband and the pilot.”

Nicole went to her bedroom and fell on her knees to pray. A short time later, a friend called to say that he had sent photos of her husband and the plane crash over the Internet. Nicole rushed to an Internet cafe to access Wi-Fi and to see the photos. She was relieved to see that Pius was alive despite his injuries.

Nicole has many questions about what happened that day. She doesn’t understand why her husband and the pilot survived but the others died. She doesn’t know whether her husband’s decision to keep the Sabbath played a role in the story. But she believes that he was delivered as promised in Ps. 91:14, where the Lord says, “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him” (NKJV).

“Be faithful to God because he can protect us at all times,” she says.

Please find the original article at: https://am.adventistmission.org/mqa23q1-08