Pulled Out Of The Pit – The First Page

PSALM 139
15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
我在隐密处被造，在地的深处被塑造，那时，我的形体不能向你隐藏。我未成形的身体，你的眼睛早已看见；为我所定的日子，我还未度过一日，都完全记在你的册上了。
神啊，你的意念对我何等宝贵！其数何其众多！BRAD

THE FIRST PAGE
In the sound of Music, Julie Andrews sang “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start”.
第一页
在《音乐之声》中，朱莉·安德鲁斯唱道：“让我们从最开始的地方开始，那是一个非常好的起点。”

Keith came into the world on the 5th March 1959, born at home at 247 Cooper lane in Bradford Yorkshire UK.
基思于1959年3月5日出生在英国约克郡布拉德福德的247 Cooper Lane家中。

He was the third son of Eric and Rita Hobkirk, he had two brothers, Philip and Peter, he was closest to his middle brother Peter, who sadly died in 2017.
他是埃里克和丽塔·霍布柯克的第三个儿子，他有两个哥哥，菲利普和彼得，他与中间的哥哥彼得最亲近，可惜彼得于2017年去世。

My parents were hard working people, they tried to do the best for this very small person, who was quiet all day but screamed at night.
我的父母是勤劳的人，他们尽力为这个非常小的孩子做最好的事，他白天很安静，但晚上会尖叫。

Later, I found out that I was only born, because my mother had a miscarriage of a baby girl, my father wanted a girl, but he got me, much later I was told that I was not really wanted.
后来我才知道，我之所以出生，是因为母亲之前流产了一个女孩，父亲想要一个女孩，但却得到了我；很久以后，有人告诉我，我其实并不是真正被想要的。

Has this been your experience?
这是否也是你的经历？

Maybe you have been told that you were unwanted or have been abandoned by your parents.
也许有人告诉你，你是不被想要的，或者你被父母抛弃了。

But you aren’t.
但你不是。

You aren’t a mistake. God saw you, He knew you even before you were born.
你不是一个错误。上帝看见了你，甚至在你出生之前就认识你。

His love is more than any human mother and father.
祂的爱超越任何人类的父母。

I do not hold any bitterness towards my parents, they did their very best for me, but it was and is the true love from God and of course my dear family, that has transformed my life.
我对父母没有任何苦毒，他们为我尽了全力，但真正改变我生命的，是来自上帝的真爱，当然还有我亲爱的家人。

I can’t remember much about my early life, the first memorable event, was me moving to Morecambe, where my parents were to take over the operation of the retirement home run by Bradford council.
我对早年生活记得不多，第一个值得纪念的事件，是搬到莫克姆，我父母在那里接管了布拉德福德市政委员会经营的养老院。

Before I left for Morecambe, I had an eye operation to correct a squint in my left eye, all through my life I have needed to wear glasses.
在去莫克姆之前，我做了左眼斜视矫正手术，一生中我都需要戴眼镜。

So, at age 5, I was moved to the sunny seaside town of Morecambe, life was about to change in a big way.
于是5岁时，我搬到了阳光明媚的海滨小镇莫克姆，生活即将发生巨大变化。

So off to Morecambe we went, a whole new adventure.
于是我们出发前往莫克姆，全新的冒险开始了。

Devotional Thought
灵修思想

People today are seeking for value, one of the major causes of suicide is that people lack value.
当今人们在寻找价值，自杀的主要原因之一就是人们缺乏价值感。

Some of you who are reading this, feel unwanted or even deserted by their parents, some of you were born in very dubious circumstances, maybe you were the results of rape or sexual assault.
阅读这些内容的你们有些人，感觉不被想要，甚至被父母遗弃；有些人出生在非常可疑的环境中，或许是强奸或性侵的结果。

Whatever you situation, however and wherever you were born, God was there, he saw everything.
无论你的处境如何，无论你如何或在哪里出生，上帝都在那里，祂看见了一切。

As I said earlier, you are not a mistake, I was told that I wasn’t wanted, yes, I was loved but not wanted.
正如我之前所说，你不是一个错误，有人告诉我我不被想要，是的，我被爱着，但不是被想要的。

Only when you come to Christ, can you find your real value, only in Christ, can you find the true love of God the father and be filled with the pure indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
只有当你来到基督面前，你才能找到真正的价值；只有在基督里，你才能找到天父上帝真正的爱，并被圣灵纯洁的内住充满。

Verses to Ponder
值得思想的经文

Ephesians 1:3-14
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In Christ, He has given us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places: just as God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight; and because of His love for us, He predestined us according to His pleasure to be adopted as His children through Jesus Christ, to the praise of His glorious grace. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace; this grace He has lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding, according to the purpose He set forth in Himself, to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. In Him we also obtained an inheritance; this was according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that the glory of His grace might be praised through us who have hope in Christ. When we heard the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation, and believed in Christ, we were marked with the promised Holy Spirit as a seal; this Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own people, to the praise of His glory.

赞美我们主耶稣基督的父神！祂在基督里，曾赐给我们天上各样属灵的福分：就如神从创立世界以前，在基督里拣选了我们，使我们在他面前成为圣洁，无有瑕疵；又因爱我们，就按着自己意念所喜悦的，预定我们借着耶稣基督得儿子的名分，使他荣耀的恩典得着称赞；我们因基督的血，得蒙救赎，过犯得以赦免，乃是照他丰富的恩典；这恩典是神用诸般智慧聪明，充充足足赏给我们的，都是照他自己所预定的美意，要叫我们知道他旨意的奥秘，要照所安排的，在日期满足的时候，使天上、地上、一切所有的，都在基督里面同归于一。我们也在他里面得了基业；这原是那位随己意行作万事的，照着他旨意所预定的，叫他的荣耀，从我们这在基督里有盼望的人，可以得着称赞。我们既听见真理的道，就是那叫你们得救的福音，也信了基督，既然信他，就受了所应许的圣灵为印记；这圣灵是我们得基业的凭据，直等到神之民被赎，使他的荣耀得着称赞。（和合本简体参考翻译）

Jeremiah 29:11-13
The Lord says: I know the plans I have for you are plans to give you peace, not plans to bring disaster, to give you hope in the future. You will call upon me and pray to me, and I will answer you. You will seek me, and if you wholeheartedly seek me, you will surely find me. (Hebrew Union Version Simplified Reference Translation)

耶和华说：我知道我向你们所怀的意念是赐平安的意念，不是降灾祸的意念，要叫你们末后有指望。你们要呼求我，祷告我，我就应允你们。你们寻求我，若专心寻求我，就必寻见。（和合本简体参考翻译）