請為我的好友代禱

人生變幻無常，很多事無從掌握。人真的很軟弱無能，面對一個惡耗已經手足無措。來不及避，談不過擋，就只眼白白肉隨針板, 見步行步。  

上星期日在台灣還在吃早餐的時候收到朋友的whatsapp，告知她入了醫院, 原因在星期五感到不適, 非常頭痛, 眼濛。但起初不太了解病情, 半天後到了眼科去看, 初步懷疑是視覺神經發炎, 引致視力出現問題, 由於亦有可能是腦部問題或中風, 或其他問題, 所以難以對症下藥。但視力問題每況愈下, 頭痛難耐,  情況不佳, 星期六晚決定進私家醫院疹治。專科醫生的判決亦同樣是神經發炎, 所以就開始藥物療程。直至現時，只能看見白影，不能再whatsapp，不能正常行動，甚至因藥物走路也開始不穩，現在唯有等藥物發揮作用，再從詳計議。 

此時此刻，慇請各位為我這位好朋友代禱。

或許年輕的你覺得病患離你很遠, 無從想像，

但我卻發覺，它要來的時候，你連想清楚了解在與誰打仗的機會都沒有。

我的好友很年青，還愛四處周遊列國。今天去探望她時，第一時間來了一個深情的擁抱，傾刻間她好像得到釋放一樣，淚流如雨，久久未能息懷。抱著戰抖的身軀，我不禁地問，為何她要受這些苦?  她佮似一個很堅強的人，但不竟就算再堅強的人碰到這事也受不了。我們說到底也只是一個軟弱的平凡「人」。 除了這刻作一個陪伴者，帶上食物與祝福，我也沒甚麼可作的。但我亦覺得這個發洩的機會，這個面對面的接觸空間，對於友人來說很重要。有時不必擔心探病不知與病人說甚麼，因為那個時候，他們可能只想要有一個伴，不管談些甚麼，有人在，已有個很實在的感覺了。我與友人談這談那，氣氛也變得輕鬆。最後臨別時，與她散步了片刻，然後我又匆匆地回到自己的事裡，但腦內，心中卻充滿著這個朋友的事。

「日頭照好人, 也照歹人, 雨降給義人, 也給不義的人」(太5:45)  

人能控制能改變，甚至能理解的事情十分有限，我只為我的好朋友送上最大的祝福，叫身邊認識的基督徒為她代禱。你問我為何  神容許這件事情發生，我也不懂回答，因為我真的不知道。從來苦難都不是三言兩語可以說明，而且人的智慧太有限了。很多時候我們只把焦點放在 "why me?" 為何，就會失去了重要的學習 "how to" 也許問  神一句"我可以怎樣渡過，會令整個經歷不一樣。

真心十分期望她身心靈可以得著醫治，更希望能將永恆的盼望送給她。我們不能理解世上的事，但卻可以明白永恆的去向，並且在人不能陪伴我們的時候，有主耶穌與我們相伴。我想這是基督徒最大的祝福。 

NBA stage

As an NBA fanatic, I have been chasing the matches this season and couldn’t hide my surprise to some of the great players, James Harden, Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook who definitely deserve to be the MVP this year.  This season, fans have a chance to witness the legendary Kobe Bryant reached the glorious milestone in his career when he surpassed Michael Jordan, standing in the third position as the all-time most field goal points made player in the NBA history. Unfortunately, suffering from a shoulder injury, the black mamba is out for the rest of the games. Kobe only made an appearance in less than 20 games this season which couldn’t help the Lakers to save a spot in the playoff, leaving the Lakers fans a rather disappointing year.

There are a lot of things to learn from all these exhilarating games, especially how people behave under the spotlight of the media’s magnifying glass while they are on the peak of their career. 

I came across two very interesting vids this week which kept me thinking how honest these people were even though they knew that all their little acts were recorded by cameras!

The first clip: In one of the night shows (Jimmy Kimmel's show), while the host showed Kobe a short clip of the celebration in a postgame interview of the Lakers’ players after their long needed win to the Boston Celtics, Kobe was asked if the team would celebrate the same way if he was present in the game. In reply, Kobe was unamused and unimpressed, not responding to the question.  

I believe that one win doesn’t mean a lot but the interesting thing to me is, Kobe is the one who commented other people taking too serious of themselves most of the time. Obviously, he and his team members don’t click - not a good sign for the whole team. Maybe what the young players needed at that time was a celebration to loosen up a bit after a long losing streak. So why hate it?

The second clip: This is a match between the Houston Rockets and Cleveland Cavalier on 2 March. There was a rivalry between LeBron James and Patrick Beverley, and another one between James Harden and LeBron James. No one knows who was right and who was wrong in each occasion but the reaction I saw on people’s faces and their responses suggest something much deeper.  Maybe LeBron really thinks that he's the King in the Basketball court, whereas Patrick Beverley and LeBron James have some history and James Harden’s reflexive action shows that he couldn’t hide his disgust. 

It seems like the more attention you receive, the more easily you will go out of control.  I guess there’s no real gentleman on the NBA stage.  It also shows that Poverty or Adversity won’t be the best mean to test a person, but Power is a more efficacious bait to lure people from unveiling the true self.