Len Fischer 分享禱告的故事。

吾友美國宣教士 Len Fischer 分享以下故事，

我將英文版增譯了中文，希望分享更多人！

In November 1970, at the height of tensions in Vietnam, a pair of college students launched a campaign to bring awareness to the plight of American POWs and MIAs. 

1970年11月（民國59年），正當越戰壓力緊繃時，兩位美國大學生發起一個運動，想法子讓大多數人瞭解美國戰俘和失蹤大兵的困境。

Their plan was to create inexpensive metal bracelets, each bearing a soldier's name and the date of his capture, and distribute them across the country as reminders for the average citizen.
他倆計劃要大量製作價格不貴的金屬手鐲，每個手鐲都刻著一位美國戰俘的姓名與被俘日期，將手鐲分送給全美國各地的同胞們作為「備忘鐲」。

Sharon Denney, now a 40-something college admissions counselor, remembers sending off her $2.50 for one of those bracelets in the early '70s. 

目前已經40餘歲擔任大學入學顧問的莎蘭丹尼仍記得，那是早在1970年代初期，這個「備忘鐲」花了她$2.50元美金。

Hers was etched with the name of First Lieutenant Ralph Galati, whose Air Force jet had been shot down in North Vietnam. 

她的「備忘鐲」上面刻著「雷夫蓋洛帝中尉」，他因戰機遭越共擊落而被俘。

Galati suffered through a year-long ordeal of torture and deprivation, including more than two months of solitary confinement.

蓋洛帝忍受了一年的酷刑折磨與挨餓，包含兩個多月的單獨監禁。

But back in her hometown of Morrow, Georgia, young Sharon Denney was praying for Galati--for his safety and for his release or rescue.

遠在莎蘭的老家喬治亞州摩洛市，莎蘭為蓋洛帝的安全、獲釋與得救不斷的禱告。

Many years passed before Sharon came across her POW bracelet again while going through some things in her parents' home. 

許多年後，當莎蘭返回老家探親，翻箱倒櫃時意外發現這個「備忘鐲」，

A few Internet searches and phone calls later, she had not only learned of Galati's release in March 1973 but had also found his home phone number. 

幾經網路搜尋和撥打電話之後，她不但得知蓋洛帝於1973年3月獲釋，她也得到了蓋洛帝家裏的電話號碼。

And when she was finally able to make contact with him, the former POW told her that she was one of more than a hundred he had heard from over the years-----men and women, boys and girls, who had worn his bracelet, had remembered his suffering and had prayed, prayed, prayed for their prisoner soldier.

當莎蘭打通了蓋洛帝的電話時，這位前中尉戰俘告訴她說，這些年來告訴他這個感人故事的已經有上百人，而莎蘭只是其中的一位而已，這些人有男士、女士、男孩與女孩，他們每個人都掛著一個刻了「雷夫蓋洛帝中尉」的手鐲，提醒他們時時不忘雷夫在戰俘營受苦，大家為了被俘的中尉不斷的禱告又禱告。

Prayer knows no boundaries of time or space, no limits of age or distance. Prayer is simply our link to the heart of God and to people's lives all over the world. Never underestimate what prayer can do in the short run or the long haul.

禱告無國界，也不受時空的限制，禱告僅是我們與神的心之間的連結，也是與世界各地人心的連結，切莫低估禱告的功效----不論短期或者漫長歲月。


Don't give up. Keep praying.
千萬別放棄，禱告要持續。

2013/08/01　星期四