Winter Sky - a poem about Courage by Mao Tze Tung

一 九 六 二 年 十 二 月 二 十 六 日

雪 壓 冬 雲 白 絮 飛, 萬 花 紛 謝 一 時 稀.
高 天 滾 滾 寒 流 急, 大 地 微 微 暖 氣 吹.
獨 有 英 雄 驅 虎 豹, 更 無 豪 傑 怕 熊 羆.
梅 花 喜 歡 漫 天 雪, 凍 死 蒼 蠅 未 足 奇.

背 景 ︰ 此 詩 作 於 中 共 公 開 指 責 蘇 共 赫 魯 曉 夫 為 修 正 主 義
。 當 時 蘇 聯 撤 出 古 巴 導 彈 （ 受 到 中 共 的 嘲 笑 ） ﹔ 對 中 國
加 緊 逼 債 ， 撕 毀 了 所 有 互 助 合 同 ﹔ 蔣 介 石 在 沿 海 一 帶 也
加 緊 反 攻 大 陸 的 活 動.

written in 1962 Boxing day

my humble attempt at translation as follows ----
As the winter sky is whiten by the flurrying snow,
All flowers have wilted with only a few remained
As the air current streak across the distant sky
A warm breeze began to blow across the earth
Only the brave and heroic will ride on tigers and leopards
No man of valour ever be intimated by mere bear cubs
While the cherry blossom thrives in the chilling cold,
The weak and coward will perish like the flies.

Motive of our Service

Heard a very inspiring story from a Revival preaching lately

"Ten shekel and a shirt" by Paris Reidhead

In Judges 17, the prophet, Micah hires a Levite as his personal priest. The price for the Levite's services was ten shekels (of silver) and a shirt. The real point of this sermon is an indictment of individuals and organizations practising humanism behind a mask of Christianity!

Do we serve God out of self actualisation?
Out of pity for those who may go to a Godless place eternity?
Do we ask for power so that we can do greater things for Him but subtly get recognised in the process?
The real and most God glorifying one should be to make sure the suffering Lamb of God may receive the glory due to Him!


The closing paragraph was very moving indeed
............

Two young Moravians heard of an island in the West Indies where an atheist British owner had 2000 to 3000 slaves. And the owner had said, "No preacher, no clergyman, will ever stay on this island. If he�s shipwrecked we�ll keep him in a separate house until he has to leave; but he�s never going to talk to any of us about God. I�m through with all that nonsense." Three thousand slaves from the jungles of Africa brought to an island in the Atlantic and there to live and die without hearing of Christ.Two young Moravians heard about it. They sold themselves to the British planter and used the money they received from their sale, for he paid no more than he would for any slave, to pay their passage out to his island for he wouldn�t even transport them. As the ship left it�s pier in the river at Hamburg and was going out into the North Sea, carried with the tide, the Moravians had come from Herrenhut to see these two lads off, in their early twenties. Never to return again, for this wasn�t a four year term; they sold themselves into life-time slavery. Simply that as slaves, they could be a s Christians where these others were. The families were there weeping, for they knew they would never see them again. And they wondered why they were going and questioned the wisdom of it. As the gap widened and the housings had been cast off and were being curled up there on the pier, and the young boys saw the widening gap, one lad with his arm linked through the arm of his fellow, raised his hand and shouted across the gap the last words that were heard from them, they were these: "MAY THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN, RECEIVE THE REWARD OF HIS SUFFERING!" This became the call of Moravian missions. And this is the only reason for being, That the Lamb that was slain, may receive the reward of His suffering.