捨身成仁：一個奇妙的傳道故事

承蒙Mr. Samual Tam的同意，轉載以下文章跟各位分享，Samual的文章來自：
http://blog.waxduck.hk/nil/articleDetail.php?id=46731http://www.hkvcas.org/clotho/read.php?81

英文原文來自：http://www.twr.org/alumni/flook_story.htmhttp://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/14168.htm

故事內容：

1921年，David and Svea Flood帶著他們兩歲的兒子從瑞典來到非洲，在當時還稱作比屬剛果（Belgian Congo，今日的Zaire）。他們遇見了同樣來自北歐斯堪迪納維亞地區 （Scandinavian）的Ericksons夫婦，四人都感到主要他們將福音傳至邊遠地區。

他們來到一個名叫N'dolera的村莊，可是酋長不准他們進入他的領地，他們只可在半里之外的山坡上蓋起了一間小茅屋。唯一與他們有接觸的是一個小男孩，他獲准一周兩次賣雞和雞蛋給他們。Svea心想，既然她只能和這一個非洲人交談，她就要把他領向基督。

後來，瘧疾將這個小小團體裡的成員一一擊倒。Ericksons一家相信他們受的苦已經夠多了，他們要回國去 。David和Svea決定繼續留下，這時Svea懷孕了，小女孩出生時，命名為Aina（名字源於北歐意思是永遠；在非洲則解作困難的生產）。然而Svea因數度患瘧疾而身體虛弱，在嬰兒出生後只熬過了17天。

David埋葬了他27歲的妻子，把Aina交給Ericksons夫婦，「我現在就回瑞典去！我失去了妻
子 ，照顧不了這個嬰兒。神毀了我的生活！」

他帶著兩歲半的孩子直往回國去之港口，不僅拒絕了神對他的呼召，也拒絕了神。

八個月之內，Ericksons夫婦二人因染上不知名的疾病而相繼離世（有說是被當地土人所毒害），Aina則轉交到某個美國宣教士的家裡，他們把她的瑞典名字改成了「Aggie」（Aggie的希臘字根意思是好）。

當她三歲時，他們把她帶到了美國，在南達科塔長大，她就讀於North Central BibleCollege in Minneapolis，在學校認識了Dewey Hurst，二人婚後，生了一子一女。當她的丈夫前往西雅圖地區 、就任一所聖經學院的校長時，她發現那一帶有著極其濃厚的斯堪迪納維亞（Scandinavian）傳統。一天，一份瑞典的宗教雜誌出現在她的信箱裡。她既不知道是誰寄來 ，也不認得裡面的任何一個字。在她不經意翻閱的時候 ，突然裡面的一幅照片令她瞠目驚舌：原始的背景、一個十字架 、十字架上刻著一個名字 - SVEA FLOOD（就是她過身母親的名字）。

Aggie跳上吉普車，飛快地奔向學院裡一位教員的家 ，她知道他能夠翻譯那篇文章。

「它講什麼？」她急切地問道。

教員概述著那個故事：很久以前，宣教士們來到N'dolera……一個白人嬰兒的出生……年輕母親的去世……一個非洲小男孩被 領向基督…… 以及所有的白人離開之後，男孩長大了，最後說服酋長允許他在村子裡 建起了一座學校。文章講到他最後如何為基督贏得了他的所有學生 ，甚至連酋長也成了基督徒。今天，那個村子裡共有六百名基督徒……完全因著David和Svea的犧牲。

Hurst夫婦結婚二十五週年紀念的時候，學院送給他們的禮物是前往瑞典的假期。Aggie在那裡找到了親生父親，原來他再婚，並多了四個兒女，而且常常將生命揮霍在酒精裡。他剛剛經歷了一次中風，更糟的是，他在家裡立下一條規矩：「不許提神的名字 ，因為神奪走了我的一切。」

與同父異母的兄弟姐妹會面之後，阿吉雅提出要見見父親的事 ，其他人都猶豫了：「你可以和他談談，」他們回答說，「雖然他現在病得很厲害，可是你要知道，每次一聽見神的名字 ，他就火冒三丈。」

Aggie沒有知難而退，她走進骯髒的公寓，踏過滿地的酒瓶 ，來到正躺在亂七八糟的床上的73歲的老人身邊：「爸爸？」她試著呼喚著。

他轉過臉，哭了起來。

「Aina，」他說道，「我從來不想把你送掉。」

「沒什麼，爸爸。」她說，將他輕輕摟在懷裡，「神照顧我。」

老人一下子倔強起來，他的眼淚也止住了：「神把我們都忘記了，都是因為他，我們今天才活成這個樣子。」

他的臉再次轉向牆壁。

Aggie並不放棄，她撫摸著他的臉，繼續說，「我有一個小故事，一個真實的小故事，要說給你聽。你沒有白白去非洲，媽媽也沒有白白死在那裡。你們為神贏得的小男孩已經長大了，他為基督贏得了全村。今天 ，因著你們生命中對神有過的忠心，六百個非洲人在事奉主……」

「爸爸，耶穌愛你，他從來沒有恨過你。」

老人轉過神來，望著女兒的眼睛。他的身體開始放鬆下來 ，他開始講話。就在那個下午，他又回到他棄絕了好幾十年的神那裡 。後來的幾天，父女一起享受著溫馨的美好時光。

Aggie和丈夫很快就不得不回美國了。幾個星期之後，David Flood也去了永恆國度。

幾年後，Hurst夫婦到倫敦出席一個大型的福音聚會。會上一位來自扎伊爾（Zaire，前比屬剛果former Belgian Congo）教會的代表，代表全國11萬受洗的信徒講話，介紹福音是怎樣傳遍整個國家。

過後，Aggie迫不及待地問他是否聽說過David和Svea Flood。

「是的，我是Svea Flood帶領信主的。我是在你出生之前，為你父母送食物的男孩。直到今天，你母親的墓和對她的記憶仍是我們的驕傲。你一定要去非洲看看，因為你媽媽是我們歷史中最著名的人。」

Aggie Hurst和丈夫果然成行，他們受到村民們的熱情歡迎 ，她甚至見到許多年前她爸爸找來用掛藍將她背下山的老人 。最引人注目的時刻是在牧師的引導下，她來到親生母親的十字架前 ，跪在土地上祈求與感恩。

「我實實在在地告訴你們，一粒麥子不落在地裡死了，仍舊是一粒 。若是死了，就結出許多子粒來。」（約翰福音12章24節）

《David and Svea Flood: an amazing missionary story》英文原文：

Back in 1921 a missionary couple named David and Svea Flood went with their 2 years old son to what was then called the Belgian Congo. They met up with another young Scandinavian couple. In those days of much tenderness and devotion and sacrifice, they felt led of the Lord to set out from the main mission station and take the gospel to a remote area.

This was a huge step of faith. At the village of N'dolera they were rebuffed by the chief, who would not let them enter his town for fear of alienating the local gods.

The 2 couples opted to go half a mile up the slope and build their own mud huts.

They prayed for a spiritual breakthrough, but there was none.

The only contact with the villagers was a young boy, who was allowed to sell them chickens and eggs twice a week. Svea Flood - a tiny woman only four feet, eight inches tall - decided that if this was the only African she could talk to, she would try to lead the boy to the Lord. In fact she succeeded. But there were no other encouragements.

Meanwhile, malaria continued to strike one member of the little band after another.

In time the Ericksons dedided they had enough suffering and returned to the central mission station. David and Svea Flood remained near N'dolera to go on alone.

Then, of all things, Svea found herself pregnant in the middle of the primitive wilderness. When the time came for her to give birth, the village chief softened enough to allow a midwife to help her. A little girl was born, whom they name Ain.

The delivery, however, was exhausting, and Svea Flood was already weak from bouts of malaria. The birth process was a heavy blow to her stamina. She only lasted another 17 days before she died.

Inside David Flood, something snapped in the moment. He dug a grave, buried his 27 year old wife, and then took his children back down the mountain to the mission station. Giving his newborn daughter to the Ericksons, he snarled, "I am going back to Sweden. I've lost my wife, and I obviously can't take care of this baby. God has ruined my life".

With that, he headed for the port, rejecting not only his calling, but God himself.

Within 8 month both the Ericksons were stricken with a mysterious malady and died with days of each other. The baby was then turned over to some American missionaries, who adjusted her Swedish name to "Aggie" and eventually brought her back to the United States at the age of three.

This family loved the little girl and were afraid that if they tried to return to Africa, some legal obstacle might separate her from them. So they decided to stay in their home country and switch from missionary work to pastoral ministry. And that is how Aggie grew up in South Dakota. As a young woman, she attended North Central Bible College in Minneapolis. There she met and married a young man name Dewey Hurst.

Years passed. The Hursts enjoyed a fruitful ministry. Aggie gave birth first to a daughter, then a son. In time her husband became president of a Christian college in the Seattle area and Aggie was intrigued to find so much Scandinavian heritage there.

One day a Swedish religious magazine appeared in her mailbox. She had no idea who had send it and of course she couldn't read the words. But as she turned the pages, all of a sudden a photo stopped her cold. There in a primitive setting was a grave with a white cross - and on the cross were the words SVEA FLOOD.

Aggie jumped in her car and went straight for the college faculty member who, she knew, could translate the article.

"What does this say?" she demanded.

The instructor summarized the story: It was about missionaries who had come to N'dolera long ago … the birth of a white baby … the death of the young mother … the one little African boy who had been led to Christ … . and how, after the whites had all left, the boy had grown up and finally persuaded the chief to let him build a school in the village.

The article said that gradually he won all he students to Christ … . even the chief had become a Christian. Today there were 600 Christian believers in that one village … All because of the sacrifice of David and Svea Flood.

For the Hursts' twenty fifth wedding anniversary, the collage presented them with a gift of a vacation to Sweden. There Aggie sought to find her real father.

And old man now, David Flood had remarried, fathered 4 more children, and generally dissipated his life with alcohol.

He had recently suffered a stroke. Still bitter, he had one rule in his family: "Never mention the name of God- because God took everything from me."

After an emotional reunion with her half brothers and half sister, Aggie brought up the subject of seeing her father. The others hesitated. "You can talk to him," they replied, "even though he's very ill now. But you need to know that whenever he hears the name of God he flies into a rage". Aggie was not deterred. She walked into the dirty apartment, with liqueur bottles everywhere, and approached the 77 year old man lying on a rumpled bed.

"Papa?", she said tentatively.

He turned and began to cry. "Aina", he said. "I never meant to give you away."

"It's all right, Papa," she replied, taking him gently in her arms. "God took care of me".

The men instantly stiffened. The tears stopped. "God forgot all of us. Our lives have been like this because of him." He turned his face back to the wall. Aggie stroked his face and then continued, undaunted. "Papa, I've got a little story to tell you, and it is a true one. You did not go to Africa in vain. Mama did not die in vain. T he little boy you won to the Lord grew up to win that whole village to Jesus Christ. The one seed you planted just kept growing and growing. Today there are 600 African people serving the Lord because you were faithful to the call of God in your life…. Papa, Jesus loves you. He has never hated you." The old man turned back to look into his daughter's eyes.

His body relaxed.

He began to talk. And by the end of the afternoon, he had come back to the God he had resented for so many decades.

Over the next few days, father and daughter enjoyed warm moments together.

Aggie and her husband soon had to return to America – and within a few weeks, David Flood had gone into eternity.

A few years later, the Hursts were attending a high-level evangelism conference in London, England, when a report was given from the nation of Zaire ( the former Belgian Congo). The superintendent of the national church, representing some 110,000 baptized believers, spoke eloquently on the gospel's spread in his nation. Aggie could not help going to ask him afterwards if he had heard of David and Svea Flood. "Yes madam," the man replied in French, his words then being translated into English. "It was Svea Flood who led me to Jesus Christ.

I was the boy who brought food to your parents before you were born. In fact, to this day your mother’s grace and her memory are honoured by all of us." He embraced her in a long, sobbing hug. Then he continued, "You must come to Africa to see, because your mother is the most famous person in our history".

In time that is exactly what Aggie Hurst and her husband did. They were welcomed by cheering throngs of villagers. She even met the man who had been hired by her father many years ago to carry her back down the mountain in a hammock-cradle.

The most dramatic moment, of course, was when the pastor escorted Aggie to see her mother's white cross for herself. She knelt in the soil to pray and give thanks.

Later that day, in the church, the pastor read from John 14:24: "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds."