Coffee Reggiegram : who are the people you admire in your life!?

Have you thought of thanking them?

咖啡短语:在你的生活中，你敬佩的人有哪些?你想过感谢他们吗?

Something going on in the kitchen. Jan’s mom called out to her, “Jan what’s keeping you? I need you here in the dining room! What’s going on?” It turned out that Bruce was in the kitchen proposing to Jan right at that moment, unbeknownst to her mother, in a totally inappropriate circumstance. But, regardless of circumstance, Jan knew what the answer would be, a great one that would last beyond half a century. My wife and I were new in Cincinnati, and that evening we were guests of Jan’s parents. We were just chatting away with them in the dining room, oblivious of the nuances of American life in the kitchen. Though technically I suppose we became quasi-witnesses to this mutual affirmation.

厨房里发生了什么事。简的妈妈大声喊道:“简，你在忙什么?我需要你到餐厅来!发生什么了？”原来布鲁斯当时正在厨房里（一个完全不恰当的场景下）向简求婚，而简的母亲并不知情。但是，不管怎样，简知道答案是什么，那将是一个会持续半个世纪以上的伟大答案。那天晚上，我和妻子刚到辛辛那提，当时正在拜访简的父母。我们在餐厅里和他们聊天，没有注意到美国人在厨房里生活的细微差别。虽然严格地说，我想我们也成为了这次求婚的准见证人。

The untitled founding elder. We met Bruce at the “American church” that we first attended after we arrived in Cincinnati, to begin my training in Neonatology, the care of sick small infants. Our spiritual interests and focus on serving God were so similar that we hit it off instantly. Thereafter, Bruce would become an essential part of the beginning of our Chinese Church, literally a founding elder, though he never was given a title, and technically wasn’t even an “official member” of our church. Of course we didn’t have a true membership roster anyway! A truly unsung hero.

无冕创始长老。我们在“美国教堂”遇到了布鲁斯，我们在那家教堂开始我的新生儿学培训（也就是照顾生病的小婴儿），它是我们在达辛辛那提加入的第一间教会。我们在精神上的兴趣和对事奉神的专注是如此的相似，以至于我们很合得来。从那以后，布鲁斯就成为了我们中国教会初期的重要组成部分，算得上是创始长老，尽管他从来没有被授予头衔，严格意义上说他甚至不是我们教会的“正式成员”。当然，我们也没有真正的会员花名册!他是一个真正的无名英雄。

The one-year contract person. Bruce is the only person I know who makes a habit of only agreeing to do a new ministry project for one year. I’m guessing it’s his engineering background that made him “project driven”. He would graciously agree, but after that one year he’s gone!

只签一年合同的人。布鲁斯是我所认识的唯一一个有习惯对一个新的事工计划只同意做一年的人。我猜是他的工程背景让他成为“项目驱动型”的人。他会很有风度地同意接手一项新计划，但是满一年后他就走!

Actually it turned out to be a sensible idea, because usually after a year or so, most things had settled down. It was probably good then that we were left on our own to solve our problems, and not become too reliant on him. Enough help when needed, but goodbye when the time came. Maybe even a humble variant of “Don’t overstay your welcome, ” as some like to say.

事实证明这是一个明智的想法，因为通常过了一年左右，大多数事情都安定下来了。这样我们就要自己解决自己的问题，而不是变得过于依赖他，这也许是好的。在需要的时候提供足够的帮助，但时间一到就得说再见。也许就像有些人喜欢说的那样，它甚至是“不要在对你的欢迎中待得太久”的一个谦逊的变体。

Crossing cultures. Both Bruce and Jan were especially helpful for our developing youth and children’s programs respectively. On and off we would call them to “pinch hit” when needed. So even though it was beyond any “contractual relationship”, we often saw them: when called, they readily responded. They were excellent teachers who loved the youth and children, and were loved by our church.

跨越文化。布鲁斯和简分别为我们的青少年和儿童项目的发展提供了特别的帮助。我们会在需要时叫他们来做“临时替补”。因此，即使这超出了任何“契约关系”，我们经常会看到他们:当被叫到时，他们都立即回应。他们是优秀的教师，热爱青年和儿童，也受到教会的爱戴。

I’m sure crossing cultures was not that easy for them. Imagine walking into a hall of hundreds of Asians, and you’re possibly the only lao wai, technically and affectionately translated, “old outsider”, meaning lao or old as in “old friend”, but also wai as in “you are the foreigner”. Which is also funny, being an outsider or foreigner in your own country.

我相信跨越文化对他们来说不是那么容易。想象一下，走进一间挤满了数百名亚洲人的大厅，你可能是唯一的“老外”。这也很有趣，在自己的国家里居然成了“老外”。

The neck scar. Bruce had a distinctive large scar on his neck that was not only vivid, but a suggestion at least to me, that he had lived an adventurous life. He was tall and muscular, and had worked in Libya, North Africa, on a geologic oil drilling operation, so there was indeed an aura of adventure. After all, I loved to read books like Lawrence of Arabia, and other Arab intrigues which colored my childhood thinking. Unfortunately, he explained that his seemingly exciting macho scar was really only a thyroid operation scar, from a surgeon less refined in cuts and scars! This explanation was a bit of a disappointment for my imagination.

颈部瘢痕。布鲁斯脖子上有一个明显的大伤疤，这伤疤不仅引人注目，而且至少对我来说，暗示着他曾有过冒险的生活。他身材高大，肌肉发达，曾在利比亚、北非的一个地质石油钻探作业中工作过，所以他身上确实有一种冒险的气息。毕竟，我喜欢读《阿拉伯的劳伦斯》(Lawrence of Arabia)之类的书，以及其他让我童年思想多彩化的阿拉伯谋略的故事。不幸的是，他解释说，他那看起来彰显阳刚之气的伤疤实际上只是一个甲状腺手术的伤疤，一个不太精致处理伤口和疤痕的外科医生给留下的!这个解释让我的想象有点失望。

Model teacher. Bruce was a math teacher at the arguably top public school of the city. He must have been a model teacher, since the Cincinnati public schools appointed him as master teacher to teach other teachers. I felt they made a wise choice, since I had seen his excellent teaching on numerous occasions. Teaching is such an important profession, and coaching by a passionate effective teacher like Bruce would seem to be a great idea.

模范老师。布鲁斯是纽约辛辛那提市顶尖公立学校的数学老师。他一定是一个模范教师，因为辛辛那提公立学校任命他为高级教师来教导其他教师。我觉得他们做了一个明智的选择，因为我在很多场合都看到他教学的出色。教学是一个非常重要的职业，由一个像布鲁斯这样富有激情且高效的老师来指导似乎是个很不错的主意。

Classical teacher. It is often thought that to be a good youth worker, you have to be able to play with the kids or provide lots of physical activities. Although Bruce was a fine sportsman, he was much more serious than that. In perspective, for our relatively studious Asian kids, his thoughtful approach to youth work and Christian apologetics turned out to be a great fit. He got along really well with them, without what might seem to me to be somewhat “frivolous” entertainment that some programs focus on to keep kids interested.

古典老师。

人们通常认为，要想成为一名优秀的青年工作者，你必须能够和孩子们一起玩，或者提供大量的体育活动。虽然布鲁斯是一名优秀的运动员，但在这一点上他非常谨慎。从长远来看，对于我们相对勤奋的亚洲孩子来说，他对青少年工作和基督信仰的深思熟虑的方法证明是非常适合的。他和孩子们相处得很好，没有那些在我看来有点“无聊”的娱乐节目（这类节目…在我的感觉上只是为了吸引孩子们的兴趣）。

He challenged their minds well, and I liked that. The youth were impressed particularly because of the faithful and passionate messenger that he was, in addition to the truths and strengths of his biblical message!

他很好地挑战了他们的思想，我喜欢这一点。布鲁斯之所以令年轻人印象深刻，除了圣经信息的真理和力量之外，还因为他是一个忠实和热情的信使!

I think our church parents also instinctively respected and trusted him for being somewhat closer to the Asian model of a serious classical teacher, who knew clearly what he was talking about! Or maybe that is just another Asian bias I have!

我想我们教会的父母也本能地尊重和信任他，因为他更接近严肃的传统教师的亚洲典范，他清楚地知道他在讲授的什么!或许这只是我对亚洲的另一种偏见!

Co-founder of English service. A good number of years after the beginning of the church, we began to plan a specifically English program for English-speaking adults. So even though Bruce was still not technically an official church member, he became essentially a founding elder again for this ministry!

英语服务的联合创始人。在教会成立多年之后，我们开始为讲英语的成年人筹划一个专门的英语聚会。因此，虽然布鲁斯严格来说还不是正式的教会成员，但他实质上又成为了这事工的创始长老!

It was a great encouragement to have a buddy by the side, especially someone with such integrity and enthusiasm for the gospel. He had no temper and had eminent sense. We started the English program quite smoothly, and amazingly, I don’t even remember a single argument with him!

有一个伙伴在身边是一种极大的鼓励，尤其是一个对福音如此正直和热情的人。他没有脾气，而且很有见识。我们顺利地开始了英语节目，更神奇的是，我甚至不记得与他有过一次争吵!

Old time preacher. Over the years Bruce would often preach on Sunday services. I like to think of him as a no-nonsense straightforward “old-time preacher”, in the great sense that he gave the message straight, not with a lot of humorous stories or something like that, but with good practical lessons and solid theology. For us as a small church with limited human resources, his spiritual maturity helped us to build a firm spiritual foundation.

老式牧师。多年来，布鲁斯经常在主日礼拜时讲道。我喜欢把他看作一个不废话、直截了当的“老式布道者”，从伟大的意义上说，他直接地传达信息，不是用很多幽默故事或类似的东西，而是用很好的实践课程和坚实的神学理论。对于我们这样一个人力资源有限的小教会来说，他的灵命成熟帮助我们建立了坚实的属灵基础。

Bruce the psychiatrist. In 1994 I helped start an international medical mission in China, with headquarters in Hong Kong. I needed a regional USA board, and Bruce of course naturally became its chairman. He and the board members became my regular sounding board, and probably my reluctant quasi-psychiatrists also! Building a new mission organization all the way in Asia was very difficult, particularly because of the multiple cultures involved. Diverse cultures brought diverse perspectives and tensions that sometimes quite stressed me out.

布鲁斯…我的精神病医生。1994年，我帮助在中国成立了一个国际医疗团，总部设在香港。我需要一个美国地区委员会，而布鲁斯自然成为了主席。他和董事会成员成为了我的参谋，也许还成了我不一定情愿的准精神病医生!在亚洲建立一个新的服务机构是非常困难的，特别是因为涉及多种文化。不同的文化带来了不同的观点和紧张感，有时让我自己都感到非常紧张.

It really wasn’t the same as starting a local church, where by definition we mostly knew everybody, and had been working close together, sometimes weekly for years. In this case, we barely knew each other, but had to plan from scratch an international organization that would ultimately span more than a dozen countries and territories. It was just very encouraging for me to come home and pour out my heart before a group of people I could “fully trust”. In essence Bruce became my “chief psychiatrist” and counselor, helping to tide me over some of the most difficult times of my life!

这真的不同于创建一个本地的教会。在本地教会我们基本上认识所有人，在很近的地方一起工作，有时几年来每周都在一起。但在这种国际服务机构，我们彼此几乎不认识，不得不从零开始策划一个最终跨越十几个国家和地区的国际组织。回到家，在一群我“完全信任”的人面前向他们倾吐心声，这对我来说非常鼓舞人心。实际上，布鲁斯成了我的“首席精神科医生”和顾问，帮助我度过了人生中一些最困难的时期!

The Eagle’s Nest. Bruce was heavily vested in training young men and women for the future, calling his group The Eagle’s Nest. His focus was on classical western philosophy and its continuing impact on young people. He trained his “disciples” not just to survive, but also to challenge our society, to bring it back to its proper Christian roots! From the Eagle’s Nesters, Bruce also sent some of his cream of the crop to help in our youth counselor team, an inspiration and encouragement for our burgeoning youth group.

鹰巢计划。布鲁斯被赋予了培养青年男女面向未来的重任，他把他的组织叫做“鹰巢”。他的重点是发挥古典西方哲学及其对年轻人的持续影响。他训练他的“门徒”不仅是为了生存，而且是为了挑战我们的社会，使其回到正确的基督根源!通过鹰巢项目，布鲁斯也派了一些他的精英来帮助我们的青年顾问团队，这是对我们蓬勃发展的青年团体的一种鼓舞和激励。

Teaching in Islamic madrassa. Bruce took the novel step of bringing his 13 year old son to join one of our medical mission teams in Southwest China. It was a great move. We were able to teach English in an Islamic madrassa (religious school) in China, to make friends with the local imam (Islamic pastor) and even ultimately to dialogue with him about faith issues, privately and publicly. I’m sure the mission trip was really inspirational for this young Midwestern boy.

在伊斯兰宗教学校教书。Bruce带着他13岁的儿子加入了我们在中国西南的医疗队，这是一个新奇的举动，也是一个伟大的举动。我们能够在中国的一所伊斯兰学校(宗教学校)教授英语，与当地的伊玛目(伊斯兰牧师)成为朋友，甚至最终与他们就信仰问题进行私下和公开的对话。我相信这次之旅对这个中西部的小男孩来说是非常鼓舞人心的。

Bruce and Jan, Sinicized. This boy became a young man who served 7 years in China, married a Chinese personal fitness national champion, and brought her back to small-town, USA. This young vivacious lady has brought China also, so that Bruce’s family now is well Sinicized in food and many habits! I sense that Bruce and Jan also have been basically rejuvenated by this development. Especially recently with a new grand-baby!
布鲁斯和简被中国化了。布鲁斯的儿子成为了一个在中国服务了7年的年轻人，娶了一个获得过中国个人健身全国冠军的女孩，并把她带回了美国的小镇。这位年轻活泼的女士也把“中国”带来了，所以布鲁斯一家现在在饮食和许多习惯上都很中国化!我觉得Bruce和Jan也因此更加恢复了活力。特别是最近有了一个新的孙女!

Conclusion. If you have a chance, you should meet Bruce. As befitting Asian guanxi culture, “Tell him you know me.” My buddy for 50 years, through coffees and lunches, and many insightful and meaningful chats. A new perspective has just become available on You-Tube, where Bruce recounts his stories, try it.

结论。如果你有机会，你应该见见布鲁斯。为了符合亚洲的关系文化，“告诉他你认识我。”我们是50年的朋友，在一起喝咖啡和吃午餐，以及聊许多深刻而有意义的话题。You-Tube上刚刚推出了一个新的视角，布鲁斯在那里讲述他的故事，去试试看吧。