We all know that 2020 was not an ordinary year. I feel it was a short year. I haven’t done many meaningful things, and it has passed. But God has let us hold hands with “Lazarus”, which brings me a little relief amidst all these regrets.
The “Lazarus” is certainly not the paralytic Lazarus in the Gospel of Luke, because this Lazarus is even more paralyzed, lying on the bed, not even able to move his fingers. That is, the organs above his head all function well, while the organs below his head are all unable to function. He is not vegetative, but he is like a plant and cannot move.
The surname of this brother is Cui. His registered permanent residence is in Hebei Province. He was not a believer at first, but just a stranger in distress. He had a car accident while he was working in Shandong and was sent to the city hospital. Because the accident happened at the border of two cities and involved multiple parties, it was a particularly complicated case. This unfortunate victim, however, has a more complex and unfortunate background.
His wife died of illness at an early age. His daughter grew up and had a family, but in an accident, all three people in the family died... He came to Shandong, worked hard, and wanted to start a new life. However, he encountered another disaster. His new girlfriend waited on him for two months, then suddenly disappeared, along with the seventy thousand yuan he had saved over the years. . .
For more than a year, the handling of the accident was still fruitless. As a result, he became a large debtor at the hospital. Lying alone in the back corner of the hospital ward, he had received special attention from some kind of medical staff and had also been miserable for days without eating.
When a brother was in the hospital, he heard of this special patient, so he went to see him, and preached the Gospel to him. Cui did not have any other choice but to accept the Gospel. From then on, this stranger with the surname Cui became our brother!
When the brothers and sisters from the church nearby heard of this, they went to see him from time to time. When I first saw him, he was lying on the bed, seemingly barely alive. He was extremely thin and his skin was pale. His fingers twisted and turned outward, his fingernails long as hawk’s claws... When our sisters washed his feet, the dead skin scraped from his feet almost filled half a bowl...
During this period, it took us some effort to contact the village committee of his hometown, hoping that they can come forward to receive him, but later they did not even answer the phone. Some brothers contacted a news hotline, hoping that they would pay attention to him and bring some help, but after learning of the situation, they responded negatively no matter how many calls our brothers made.
This year, already the third year after the accident, Cui’s case finally came to a conclusion. The insurance company paid more than 600,000 yuan, but the lawyer and the hospital held the money he owed to them, so Cui received nothing. After a few more months, he owed more than 70,000 yuan to the hospital. Later, a brother called Liang contacted a well-known charity group willing to take care of him for free, so he went to talk to the hospital.
After several negotiations, the hospital finally agreed to exempt all the fees owed, but an agreement must be signed and sealed by the higher church. So Liang called the first official of the local church, who also knew about Cui’s situation, and he said, “There will be the responsibility for this, I will discuss it with the other co-workers.” This discussion didn’t end well.
We had to negotiate with the hospital again. Finally, Liang and I signed and sealed the deal. By God’s special grace, the hospital agreed to hire a car to send him to the destination seven hundred miles away.
On that day, Liang and I went to the hospital before daybreak. We didn’t expect to see an old sister waiting in the ward, holding some soft quilts for Cui. Then there were two brothers and two sisters who helped him onto the car and waved goodbye to him as if they had been friends and family for many years!
We went together with a retired old sister. She took out a few thousand yuan and said this is the money somebody donated. There was 200 yuan, which was donated by an old sister that morning. The family of this sister was poor, and that was part of her subsistence allowance.
Liang said that taking care of Cui, which was the duty of the church, was being done by other people, and we must not bring an economic burden to the other people. Then he raised more than 20,000 yuan from his church...
After a few months, Cui now lives a happy life in that team, with the warm care of love and firm faith... After two more visits, I found that Cui has a rosy face and a cheerful disposition. I suddenly discovered that he is also a man who likes laughing and talking. But sometimes tears would well up in his eyes as he spoke of the grace of the Lord: With belief, a man who can’t even die could also live such a happy life.
I still remember on the way back to see Cui off. Liang, the other sister, and I talked about how few meaningful things one can do in one’s life that one cannot forget. I laughed and said, “Brother Cui is a Lazarus in distress. When we saw him off, we were carrying him on our backs.”
(The article is originally published by Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
都知道2020年不一般，我感觉不一般的短，未及把腰弯，事未做几件，2020已挥手成零。但神让我们拉手“拉撒路”，让我满满的抱憾中，有点点的宽慰。
“拉撒路”当然不是路加福音中那个瘫子拉撒路，因为他比拉撒路还更瘫，直接躺在床上，连指头都动不了。也就是他脑袋上面的器官都正常，脑袋下面的都失常，不是植物人，但像植物一样不能动。
弟兄姓崔，户籍河北，最初不是信徒，是一位落难的异乡人。他在山东这边打工，发生车祸，被送进市医院，因为车祸地发生在两市交界处，牵涉到多方关系，特别复杂，而这位不幸的落难者，有着更为复杂的不幸背景——
他的妻子早早病亡，女儿长大成家，却在一次事故中，一家三口全部罹难……他跑来山东，拼力工作，想有一个新的开始，却不想遭遇横祸，新结识的女友伺候了他两个月，就突然不见了，不见了的还有他这些年积攒的七万元钱……
而一年多的时间，他的事故处理仍无结果，结果他成了医院的欠债大户。他孤零躺在医院病房最里侧的一角，期间他得到过好心医护人员的特别关照，也曾有过数天吃不上一口饭的悲凉——
有一位弟兄住院时，听说了这么一个非常病号，特殊病人，就去看望他，并把福音传给他，他没有第二种选择的点头答应。从此这位姓崔的外乡人，就成了“崔弟兄”！
附近教会的弟兄姐妹，听闻了这事，就隔三差五，轮流去探看他。最初见到这位崔弟兄时，他躺在床上，不能算一个人，勉强算一具人体，并且是干瘦的那种，连皮肤都是干白的。他的十指扭曲外翻，指甲长如鹰爪……姊妹们给他洗脚，脚上老死的坏皮，差不多刮下了半盆……
期间，好不容易联系上他家乡的村委，希望能出面接收，但后来连电话都不接了；有的弟兄给联系上热门的新闻栏目，希望能关注一下，带来帮助，但一了解这情况，怎么联系，他们也不热了。
今年时，也是第三年上，崔弟兄的案子终有了结果，保险公司赔偿六十余万，但律师和医院扣留了欠他们的费用，崔弟兄一分未得，不几个月，又倒欠医院七万多。后来，有一位梁弟兄联系了一个主内非常知名的慈善团队，愿意无偿接收他，就去跟医院谈。
经过几番商谈，最后医院同意所欠费用全免，但必须签免责协议，并由上级教会盖章。弟兄就打电话给本地教会的第一负责人，对方也知道崔弟兄的事，就说：“这事要承担责任的，我要和其他同工商量商量。”这一商量，就再没得商量了。
只得再去和医院谈，最后由梁弟兄和我，两人具保，签字按印，谈妥这事。并神的特别恩典，院方答应出资雇一辆担架车，负责送到七百里外的目的地。
天未亮，我和梁弟兄就赶去了医院，却不想早有一位老姊妹，等在病房里，抱着一些被褥细软，打算给崔弟兄用的。随后又去了两位弟兄，两位姊妹，帮忙把崔弟兄抬上担架车，同崔弟兄挥手惜别，仿佛他们是多少年的朋友和家人！
我们一同去的还有一位退休的老姊妹，她又拿出几千元，说这是谁谁代转的。其中有二百元，特别说到就是今早那位老姊妹奉献的，她家境也不太好，这是她低保的钱。
梁弟兄说，照顾崔弟兄，本是我们这一方教会当做的事，现在却推给人家，所以绝不能给对方带去经济方面的负担，就从他本教会筹集了两万多……
仿佛一个转身投足，这事已过去数月余，崔弟兄在那个团队里生活的很好，有带着爱的温暖的照顾，有固定的信仰生活……特地又去过两次，崔弟兄面色润红，性情开朗，突然发现他也是个会说会笑的人。但有时也眼中盈泪，那就是谈到主的恩典，一个连死都不能的人，竟然有今天。
还记得送崔弟兄回来的路上，梁弟兄，还有那位姊妹，我们谈到，人这一辈子难得做几件有意义，自己也忘不了的事。我笑说，那今天算不算一件呢，崔弟兄就是落难的拉撒路啊，我们送他，就等于在背他。
2020难忘一幕：我们曾经背过“拉撒路”
We all know that 2020 was not an ordinary year. I feel it was a short year. I haven’t done many meaningful things, and it has passed. But God has let us hold hands with “Lazarus”, which brings me a little relief amidst all these regrets.
The “Lazarus” is certainly not the paralytic Lazarus in the Gospel of Luke, because this Lazarus is even more paralyzed, lying on the bed, not even able to move his fingers. That is, the organs above his head all function well, while the organs below his head are all unable to function. He is not vegetative, but he is like a plant and cannot move.
The surname of this brother is Cui. His registered permanent residence is in Hebei Province. He was not a believer at first, but just a stranger in distress. He had a car accident while he was working in Shandong and was sent to the city hospital. Because the accident happened at the border of two cities and involved multiple parties, it was a particularly complicated case. This unfortunate victim, however, has a more complex and unfortunate background.
His wife died of illness at an early age. His daughter grew up and had a family, but in an accident, all three people in the family died... He came to Shandong, worked hard, and wanted to start a new life. However, he encountered another disaster. His new girlfriend waited on him for two months, then suddenly disappeared, along with the seventy thousand yuan he had saved over the years. . .
For more than a year, the handling of the accident was still fruitless. As a result, he became a large debtor at the hospital. Lying alone in the back corner of the hospital ward, he had received special attention from some kind of medical staff and had also been miserable for days without eating.
When a brother was in the hospital, he heard of this special patient, so he went to see him, and preached the Gospel to him. Cui did not have any other choice but to accept the Gospel. From then on, this stranger with the surname Cui became our brother!
When the brothers and sisters from the church nearby heard of this, they went to see him from time to time. When I first saw him, he was lying on the bed, seemingly barely alive. He was extremely thin and his skin was pale. His fingers twisted and turned outward, his fingernails long as hawk’s claws... When our sisters washed his feet, the dead skin scraped from his feet almost filled half a bowl...
During this period, it took us some effort to contact the village committee of his hometown, hoping that they can come forward to receive him, but later they did not even answer the phone. Some brothers contacted a news hotline, hoping that they would pay attention to him and bring some help, but after learning of the situation, they responded negatively no matter how many calls our brothers made.
This year, already the third year after the accident, Cui’s case finally came to a conclusion. The insurance company paid more than 600,000 yuan, but the lawyer and the hospital held the money he owed to them, so Cui received nothing. After a few more months, he owed more than 70,000 yuan to the hospital. Later, a brother called Liang contacted a well-known charity group willing to take care of him for free, so he went to talk to the hospital.
After several negotiations, the hospital finally agreed to exempt all the fees owed, but an agreement must be signed and sealed by the higher church. So Liang called the first official of the local church, who also knew about Cui’s situation, and he said, “There will be the responsibility for this, I will discuss it with the other co-workers.” This discussion didn’t end well.
We had to negotiate with the hospital again. Finally, Liang and I signed and sealed the deal. By God’s special grace, the hospital agreed to hire a car to send him to the destination seven hundred miles away.
On that day, Liang and I went to the hospital before daybreak. We didn’t expect to see an old sister waiting in the ward, holding some soft quilts for Cui. Then there were two brothers and two sisters who helped him onto the car and waved goodbye to him as if they had been friends and family for many years!
We went together with a retired old sister. She took out a few thousand yuan and said this is the money somebody donated. There was 200 yuan, which was donated by an old sister that morning. The family of this sister was poor, and that was part of her subsistence allowance.
Liang said that taking care of Cui, which was the duty of the church, was being done by other people, and we must not bring an economic burden to the other people. Then he raised more than 20,000 yuan from his church...
After a few months, Cui now lives a happy life in that team, with the warm care of love and firm faith... After two more visits, I found that Cui has a rosy face and a cheerful disposition. I suddenly discovered that he is also a man who likes laughing and talking. But sometimes tears would well up in his eyes as he spoke of the grace of the Lord: With belief, a man who can’t even die could also live such a happy life.
I still remember on the way back to see Cui off. Liang, the other sister, and I talked about how few meaningful things one can do in one’s life that one cannot forget. I laughed and said, “Brother Cui is a Lazarus in distress. When we saw him off, we were carrying him on our backs.”
(The article is originally published by Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Nicolas Cao
2020 Memorable Scene: The “Lazarus” We’ve Carried
