Westmont杂志 在以色列寻得平安

南希·沃斯库尔祈祷教堂

作者:Kim P. Kihlstrom，计算机科学教授

11月. 14, Ken and I were traveling in Israel with Westmont’s Europe Semester. We’d had an amazing time as co-leaders with English Professor Randy VanderMey and his wife, 丹娜, 尤其是43名学生中包括我们的儿子, 凯文. 三个多月了, 我们在13个欧洲国家学习和访问过, 最后在以色列待了三周.

在我们离开欧洲前的晚祷仪式上, the student chaplains asked everyone to write down a one-word answer to “What I want” and “What I need.当他们大声朗读答案时, I noted how many times “peace” was mentioned and how appropriate that seemed as we looked forward to being in Israel. Shalom是希伯来语中和平的意思，是众所周知的问候语. 在圣地寻求和平, 这是耶稣走过的地方，也是早期教会诞生的地方, 似乎正确的. 我们无法预见到在那里和平对我们会变得多么重要.

马克•托马斯, 谁的儿子, 瑞安, 旅途中有学生牧师吗, 在仪式上用富有挑战性和鼓舞人心的话劝诫我们. 他自己去过以色列, he told us this part of the trip would be life-changing and spiritually transforming in a qualitatively different way than the rest of our time in Europe had been. 他的话变成了预言.

11月11日上午. 14, we received a phone call telling us that a brush fire threatened Westmont and our neighborhood. 我们和卡特里娜·哈曼谈过了, 我们不在时住在我们家的四个学生之一, and she told us that they’d been forced to leave rapidly but were safe with a relative in Carpinteria. They’d not been able to get our cats or any of our belongings out of the house, 但对我们来说重要的是他们都很安全.

我们在早上7点左右乘公共汽车离开.m. 我们对本杰明的实地考察. 我们把火灾的事告诉了大家，然后一起祈祷. It was encouraging to learn that students on campus were safe in the gym, the designated shelter. We also cautioned them that early information about the fire would be sketchy and sometimes inaccurate.

We heard a report that the prayer chapel, Bauder Hall and the physics and math buildings had burned. 然后肯接到了卡特里娜的电话. “我有一些坏消息，”她说. “我在看电视上的媒体报道, 我有95%的把握看到了你家着火的画面.” I felt shock; however, a remarkable sense of peace fell on me. 我们告诉了凯文，我们三个挤在一起. Then I went to the front of the bus and used the microphone to tell the others what we had just learned. I said that we felt great peace; the loss was that of material possessions. 最重要的是人，他们都很安全. Kristen Shomber, one of the student chaplains, took the mic and prayed for us. At our next stop, we sang “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” which is the college hymn. The text is based on Lamentations 3:22-23: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, 因为他的怜悯永不止息. 它们每天早晨都是新的. 你的信实何等伟大.”

We continued our field study that day, receiving updates via cell phone and encouraging each other. That night, we received positive confirmation that our house had been burned to the ground. 我们继续体验着难以置信的平静. 约翰和黛比·普雷斯顿, 亲爱的朋友们, filed an insurance claim on our behalf within about an hour of the visual confirmation. 我也从我的朋友Lesa Stern教授那里得到了一些好消息. 在前往欧洲之前, we packed up some of our personal items to make room for the four students. Most of these things we put into a newly purchased storage shed on our property (which also burned), 但在最后一刻，蕾莎把我的婚纱拿到了她家, 而且很安全. We felt so supported and blessed by our friends at 首页 and by those with us in Israel.

第二天, 我们拜访了多米纳斯·弗拉维乌斯, 纪念耶稣在耶路撒冷哭泣的教堂. 卡尔·拉斯穆森, 我们在耶路撒冷大学学院的导师, 描述了圣经如何强调上帝的存在. 创世纪第23章, God is present in the Garden of Eden; in Genesis 12, God makes a promise to Abraham; in Exodus 29:45-46, God says he will dwell among the Israelites; in Psalm 132, David speaks of finding a dwelling place for the Lord; and in 1 Kings 8, 所罗门为这殿行奉献之礼, 耶路撒冷的圣殿. 然而，所罗门也说:“神果真住在地上? 天，即使是最高的天，也容不下你. 何况我所建的这殿呢.那座殿被拆毁，又被重建. 正如我们的家园被摧毁一样，它可以被重建. Even more importantly, in 1 Corinthians 3 we learn that we are the temple of the living God. 我们是上帝的使者，不是圣殿. 神住在我们心里，不住在人手所造的房子里. 这对我来说意义重大. 我们的房子可能丢了, 但神的同在并不在我们家的建筑中, 但我们永远在一起.

卡尔还引用了马太福音23:37, “我多少次渴望把你的孩子们聚在一起, 就像母鸡把小鸡聚集在翅膀底下.” He pointed to a mosaic on the altar depicting a hen spreading her wings, 并解释说当谷仓着火时, 母鸡会在小鸡身上展开翅膀, 牺牲自己来保护他们. The reference looks forward to the death of Jesus, who sacrificed his life to save us. But it also had special relevance to me that day as I realized that our three children (and all the Westmont students, 我们的“收养的”孩子们从火灾中获救了. 正如Ken后来评论的那样, we had visited Auschwitz earlier on the trip and saw what real tragedy looks like. 我们的照片丢了，但照片里的人还在.

我们在弗拉维乌斯的时候, Ken received a cell phone call telling us that our entire neighborhood had not burned as we had thought. 我们的家是仅有的几个被摧毁的家之一. 这是一个震惊. It seemed so unfair; why didn’t God spare our 首页, 尤其是当我们不在那里试图拿走珍贵物品的时候? Ken, 凯文, and I huddled together on the steps for a few moments, sharing a few tears of sorrow. 许多人安慰我们，表达他们的关心.

然后我们参观了客西马尼园. 当我们穿过花园时, 我经过一块牌匾, 但出于好奇，我又回头看了看. 它读, “我的父亲, 如果可能的话, 求你叫这杯离开我。然而不可照我的意思, 但如你所愿. 马太福音26:39:哦，耶稣, 在最深的黑夜和痛苦中, You spoke these words of trust and surrender to God the Father in Gethsemane. 在恐惧和痛苦的时刻，我想说的是爱和感激, “我的父亲, 我不明白你的意思, 但我相信你.’”

在那一刻，这些话对我来说是难以置信的! No, I didn’t understand why God would spare other 首页s and allow ours to be destroyed. 但在我恐惧和痛苦的时候，我确实信任他.

That evening, the student chaplains organized a prayer service for Montecito, Westmont and us. 我们为ag娱乐官网祈祷, 对于消防员来说, 为毕比校长和其他学院领导准备的, 为学生, 还有那些失去家园的教职员工. 最后, 他们问肯, 凯文, 而我要去中心, 他们就按手在我们身上，为我们祷告.那是一段充满安慰和鼓励的美妙时光! 我们听到了圣经的话, 对我们事工的肯定, 希望的话语, 和同情的话语. 我们一起哭了，这句话淹没了我们，使我们沐浴在安慰之中. One particular passage (prayed by student Greg Poyar) stands out in my memory, “我从母腹里赤身而出, 我要赤身而去. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.(约伯记1:21)

真的，上帝给了我们所拥有的一切. 当我们第一次来到韦斯特蒙特时，这是一个艰难的选择. Ken’s other offers had promised more prestige, more money and dramatically less expensive housing. We had almost nothing at the time; we had never owned a 首页, 我怀了我们的第二个孩子. 其中最突出的一节是马太福音6:33, 你们要先求他的国和他的义, 这些东西都要加给你们了.”

God called us to Westmont very clearly through an amazing orchestration of people, 事件和时间安排, 并且他丰富地供应我们的需用. The college offered us the opportunity to rent a 首页 near campus when we first arrived, 我们没看见就搬进去了. 从我们走进这个家的那一刻起，我们就爱上了它, 一年后，当学院决定卖掉它时, 我们可以共同拥有，这样我们就可以留下来了. 这是我们唯一拥有的房子, 我们的孩子就是在那里长大的, 另一间是我们定期开放给学生学习圣经的, 超级碗派对, 饼干, 烧烤和热水浴缸. God has blessed us in so many ways through that 首页 for 24 years, and we are so thankful. Now he has chosen to take it; and we will choose to trust him.

几天后, we received a message from a trustee family offering us the use of their guest cottage not far from the college. 真是难以置信的祝福! 肯、凯文和我将有一个可以回家的地方. Our two daughters who live out of state (Kathy at Princeton Theological Seminary and Karen in the Wheaton College area) can spend Christmas with us. We will process together, grieve together, comfort each other, and celebrate Christmas together. Our hearts are full and overflowing with thankfulness to this wonderful family!

我写这封信的时候，我们还在以色列. We have heard the words of Matthew 6:33 recited on the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus spoke them. We had the privilege of baptizing several students in the Jordan River. 我们已经乘船渡过加利利海，就像耶稣经常做的那样. We have learned so much, and scripture has become so alive as we have walked where Jesus walked.

我们不知道未来会怎样. Just as the temple was destroyed and rebuilt, we hope and plan to rebuild our 首页. And yet we are confident in the knowledge that God does not dwell in temples built by hands (Acts 17:24), 但在我们心中. 我们在以色列中得了平安. 耶和华的名是应当称颂的.