林肯的信仰

"When I left Springfield I asked the people to pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ. Yes, I do love Jesus."

Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years:

Lincoln attended one of Cartwright's revival meetings. At the conclusion of the service, the fiery pulpiteer called for all who intended to go to heaven to please rise. Naturally, the response was heartening. Then he called for all those who wished to go to hell to stand. Not many takers. Lincoln had responded to neither option. Cartwright closed in. "Mr. Lincoln, you have not expressed an interest in going to either heaven or hell. May I enquire as to where you do plan to go?" Lincoln replied: "I did not come here with the idea of being singled out, but since you ask, I will reply with equal candor. I intend to go to Congress."

The defeat of General Ambrose Burnside at Fredericksburg followed by the defeat of General Joseph Hooker at Chancellorsville sent Lincoln into a deep depression. "If there is a worse place than hell I am in it," Lincoln told Andrew Curtin in December 1862.

When a pious minister told Lincoln he "hoped the Lord is on our side," the president responded, "I am not at all concerned about that.... But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord's side."

some former slaves in Maryland presented Lincoln with a gift of a Bible. Lincoln reportedly replied: "In regard to this great book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Saviour gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man’s welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it.”

After the death of his son Willie, and his visit to the battlefield of Gettysburg, he said, with tears in his eyes, that he had lost confidence in everything but God, and that he now believed his heart was changed, and that he loved the Savior.

林肯的就职演讲和书信

以下是林肯在第二次就职时的部分演讲，林肯人性的美德和宽容帮助了一个被内战撕裂的国家愈合伤口。他也可能是美国总统中文笔最好的一位。

他提到为什么南北双方读着同一本圣经，向同一位神祷告，却互相残杀， 虽然他觉得奇怪会有人一边从别人脸上的汗水收取果实，一边竟然敢向公义的神寻求帮助。但我们不要评价别人，免得我们自己被审判。
Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged.

南北双方的祷告不可能都被垂听，到现在双方的祷告都没有完全被垂听。神却有他自己的目的。“世界因着绊跌人的事有祸了；绊跌人的事是免不了的，但那绊跌人的有祸了。”
The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh."

无论我们多么迫切地希望和祷告让这场杀戮的战争过去，如果神许可，它将继续直到250年来奴隶贩子们积聚的所有财富完全沉没，奴隶主鞭打的鲜血被刺刀偿还，正如3000年前的预言 “主的审判既真实又公义”。
Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

最后林肯呼吁我们与每一个为善，不对任何人行恶，在正义里站住，如同神给我们看到正义的事。让我们完成手中的工作，为战乱的国家裹伤，去关心每一个士兵和他们的孤儿寡妇，来实现我们之间和与所有国家的持久和平。With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right asGod gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne thebattle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

One of the best English writings is this letter to a mother of five (appeared in Saving Private Ryan as quoted by Gen. Marshall) .

Nov. 2I, 1864.

To MRS. BIXBY, BOSTON, MASS.

Dear Madam—I have been shown, in the files of the War Department, a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which shall attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours very sincerely and respectfully, A. LINCOLN.

P.S. It turned out later that 2 of the five were killed in the battlefield, one deserted or killed as POW, one discharged honorably, one deserted from army.

诸天的国是强力夺取的

Lord is looking for a strong man. The kingdom of God is for strong man who forced in. It is not for the weak, the passive, the lazy. We need to have the inner strength and the inner light. May Lord help us build up our strength and keep our light on.

诸天的国是强力夺取的，强力的人就夺得了。马太福音11：12
从此神的国当作福音传开了，人人强力夺取要进去。 路加福音16：16

马太福音25章
25:1 那时，诸天的国好比十个童女，拿着她们的灯，出去迎接新郎。
25:2 其中五个是愚拙的，五个是精明的。
25:3 愚拙的拿着她们的灯，却没有带着油；
25:4 但精明的拿着她们的灯，又在器皿里带着油。
25:5 新郎迟延的时候，她们都打盹睡着了。
25:6 半夜有人喊叫：看哪，新郎来了，你们出来迎接他。
25:7 那些童女就都起来，整理她们的灯。
25:8 愚拙的对精明的说，请分点油给我们，因为我们的灯要灭了。
25:9 精明的回答说，恐怕不够我们和你们用的，不如你们到卖油的那里，为自己买罢。
25:10 不料，她们去买的时候，新郎到了；那预备好的，同他进去赴婚筵，门就关了。
25:11 其余的童女随后也来了，说，主阿，主阿，给我们开门。
25:12 他却回答说，我实在告诉你们，我不认识你们。
25:13 所以你们要儆醒，因为那日子、那时辰，你们不知道。

刀锋战士：飞奔的玉如意

老弟看过残奥会男子200米决赛发来Email：残奥会其实更让人感动，目睹这200米短跑决赛的时候，我很吃惊这些生活的强者没有小腿竟然跑的像飞一样。 朋友们把他们的弧形片状假腿称作‘玉如意’，可是在赛场最陶醉的并不是观众，而是踩着‘玉如意’飞奔的人们。


我查了一下，找到这位“刀锋战士”的介绍：http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_493d44d40100apmy.html?tj=1

“Oscar Pistorius 这位不足22岁的南非小伙儿，至今已经刷新了26项残疾人世界纪录，保持着100米（10秒91）、200米（21秒58）和400米（46秒56）的世界纪录。 他出生时没有腓骨和踝骨，11个月时做了膝下截肢手术，以保全幼小的生命。16岁时投身到对抗异常剧烈的英式橄榄球运动，后来膝部也严重受伤，不得不放弃这项运动。仅用一年时间，戴上J形假肢，旋风式地一举成名……2004年后他参加的比赛中，80%都是与健全人同场竞技。他的成功，除了运动天赋之外，最主要的是靠他强大的内心力量。他拥有爷爷又狠又猛的拳头般的意志——爷爷是个职业拳击手。我们发现，许多残疾人，身体虽有缺损，但内心都十分强大。”

相比之下，鸟巢里的看客们惊奇地发现，四肢健全的我们竟然跑不过没腿的，游不过没脚的，... ,我们不更是残疾吗？只是这残疾在心灵，不在肉体。我们在这些强者面前实在无法自夸什么，我们不更应该对自己的啤酒肚感到羞耻吗？不应该对自己用烟酒麻醉自己感到羞耻吗？我们除了永不知足地索取，除了自以为聪明的算计，我们不应该停下来聆听自己心灵的呐喊和空虚吗？我想起了保罗在哥林多前书1章26-30节的一段话：Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

1:26 弟兄们，你们看你们蒙召的，按着肉体有智慧的不多，有能力的不多，出身尊高的也不多；1:27 神却拣选了世上愚拙的，叫那有智慧的羞愧；神又拣选了世上软弱的，叫那强壮的羞愧；1:28 神也拣选了世上出身卑下的，以及被人藐视的，就是那些无有的，为要废掉那些有的，1:29 使一切属肉体的人，在神面前都不能夸口。1:30 但你们得在基督耶稣里，是出于神，这基督成了从神给我们的智慧：公义、圣别和救赎，1:31 为使，如经上所记：“夸口的当在主里夸口。”

p.s. 我们这些内心原本软弱的人，并非全无希望，两千年来一代又一代的人在人生的某一个时刻遇到了神，摸到了主。“从救恩的泉源欢然取水”，在钉十字架的耶稣身上找到人生复活的力量。因为“神的愚拙总比人智慧，神的软弱总比人强壮。”愿这复活的耶稣能成为你内心力量的泉源!

Three Egonists in "the Coldest Winter"

"It reminded him of Napoleon saying, after he had advanced all the way to Moscow in his ill-fated invasion of Russia, "I beat them in every battle, but it does not get me anywhere." - P.603

Comment: Classic example of winning the battles but losing the war, same as Americans in Vietnam. A general's job is to win a battle tactically, but a commander-in-chief's job is to win the war with strategic visions.

"MacArthur saw himself as someone descended linearly from Washington and Lincoln, Harry Truman saw him less flatteringly, as the modern reincarnation of George McClellan. McClellan was the general who, in Truman's view, not only served Lincoln poorly in the field, but had treated him with open contempt, often deliberately keeping him waiting before their scheduled meetings. McClellan openly referred to Lincoln as "the original gorilla."
McClellan's ego was enormous, greatly exceeding his talents. He had seen himself as nothing less than the savior of the country. If, he said, "the people call upon me to save the country - I must save it & cannot respect anything that is in the way." .... He greatly preferred the idea of dictator, and he was willing, he sometimes added, to make that sacrifice. He hungered to run against Lincoln, which he finally did, unsuccesfully, in 1864, gaining 21 electrol votes to Lincoln's 212. ' A great egoist', Truman later said of McClellan. "A glorified Napoleon. He even had his picture taken with his hand in his overcoat, like Napoleon."
Comment: What a egoist! what a clown! You talking to me?


"After a long and often distinguished career, MacArthur's lesser side had finally caught up with him. He was, as Max Hasting summed up, 'too remote, too old, too inflexible, too deeply imprisoned by a world view that was obsolete to be a fit commander in such a war as Korea.'"
Comment: this sums up John McCain too in my opinion. John is a good man, but his world view is obsolete and his vision, if any, is blur if not in a rearviewing mirror.