Often I crack a joke to church kids when they are naughty; “You’re so naughty, one day you might become a minister!” God uses all kinds of people, and sometimes it does seem like He takes the naughtiest kids, and makes them into ministers or missionaries.

我经常开玩笑的对教会里顽皮的孩子们说“你很顽皮，你有一天可能会成为传道人！” 神使用各样的人，有时候祂好像真的是拣选最调皮的孩子们，使他们成为传道人或传教士。

There is a vivid historical story of Saul, who became Paul, the Apostle. Saul was more than naughty: as a young man he persecuted the very early church. But when God’s light shone on him, he instantly changed, and he became the premier evangelist of his time, writing a majority of the books of the New Testament, and suffering much in his lifetime for his Lord.

那后来成为使徒保罗的扫罗的故事就是一个很鲜明的历史故事。扫罗超级顽劣，并且误入歧途。他在年轻时迫害了许多最初期的教会。但是当神的光找到他以后，他即刻改变了。他成为了当时最重要的福音传播者，写下了大多数新约里的书卷，并且甘心为了神的缘故在他一生里受了许多苦难。

As part of the 40th Anniversary of our church in Cincinnati, I illustrated this point by recounting the stories of three of “our kids”, whose names are slightly altered to “protect the innocent.”

我在辛城教会四十周年庆的时候回顾了我们教会里三个孩子们 的故事来说明我的论点。为避免他们太尴尬，以下我用化名来称呼他们。

El was always getting into trouble. My son Trev was always the innocent little kid tagging along with the older El, who was often trying to teach him to do things he shouldn’t do. One day, Trev was visiting with El, and El made this dramatic scene that his dad was very upset, and Trev should quickly hide under his bed. He described how his dad had this furious temper, and he was sure that he would be beaten severely. Then he ducked out of the room where Trev was crouching under the bed, and went into the next room, presumably to bravely meet his father’s anger. Then Trev heard horrific screams from El being beaten by his father, who incidentally was a highly respected Elder of the church. Finally, the yelling stopped, and El came into the room sheepishly; quietly, he told Trev to leave by the back door, and not to tell anyone of how vicious his father was.

El经常闯祸。我的儿子Trev常常只是无辜的跟随着比他年长的El就被El教导做一些他不该做的事。有一天，Trev去找El。El很戏剧性的说他父亲很生气所以Trev应该马上躲到他的床下。El形容他父亲火爆的脾气并且说他一定会被痛打。说完，El迅速地离开了躲在他床下他的Trev，周到了隔壁房间，仿佛英勇的去面对他那愤怒中的父亲。之后，Trev听到了El被他父亲痛打时凄厉的喊叫声。顺便一提，El的父亲在教会里是一位很受人尊敬的长老。最后，呼声平息了，El也像一只小羊般回到了他的房里。El轻声的吩咐Trev从后门离开并且千万不要对任何人说出他父亲是如何凶恶。

Of course, we found out later that El had been beating the table with a belt himself, while he screamed out his cries of anguish.

当然，我们事后知道其实El是自导自演，一边用皮带鞭打桌子一边叫出痛苦的哭声。

El became a respected Youth Director, Youth Speaker, English Service Minister, and Chinese Church Senior Pastor. Perhaps El’s dramatic creative skills gave him great insight into how kids function, and obviously great story telling abilities!

之后El一步一脚印的成为一位可敬的青少年事工主任，青少年讲员，英语传道人，到今日他已是一位华人教会的主任牧师。很可能El戏剧性的想象力正好使他能够理解青少年的行为也给了他很强的说故事的能力！

Exhibit 2, Jos was one of the brightest kids in the Youth Group and was made Valedictorian of Walnut Hills, the highest scholastically ranked school in Cincinnati. He even composed a Christian song that he was, surprisingly, allowed to sing at his Valedictory speech. This was a creative (even mischievous) action, since as we all know, public schools in America are very sensitive when anything “religious” pops up! As a child, he had a devious streak: he would often be the master planner, and devise schemes which pushed other young kids into action while he stayed behind the scenes and out of trouble.  At the time most of the youth were boys, so one can imagine the amount of trouble the boys easily got into, especially with a good planner.

第二例。Jos是我们青少年组里最聪明的孩子。他是Walnut Hills，辛辛那提学业排行第一的学校，的第一毕业生致辞代表。他还自己写了一首称崇耶稣的歌曲并出乎意料学校准许他在毕业典礼时唱那首歌。这得归功于他出人意表的创意，也可以说是一种顽皮，因为美国公立学校对和信仰有关的事都特别敏感。他小时候有着狡猾的小聪明。他常常策划，促使别的孩子们去做他计划中的事而他自己却在幕后，远离麻烦。那时候教会里大部分青年都是男的。因此，你可以想象男孩们在一个聪明淘气的策划者带领下可以带来多少麻烦.

God used his creative skills and his fertile mind to strategize and plan, and he is now serving on USA campuses at the national level.

神用了他的想象力和泉源不尽的策略计划思路 。他现在是校園基督徒團契的全国领导人之一.

Exhibit 3, is Mic. Mic lost his father when he was only a child. His father disappeared during a swim in California. His mother was not a believer at that time, but was comforted by ladies of the church, who brought her to church. His mother recounted often that Mic was a terribly naughty boy, quoting his father’s comment that his total score for 3 subjects combined did not reach the pass mark. At home he did things like put rice into the clothes washer. At a friend’s home he would go into the closet and empty out the clothes. His mother was just terrified if something would happen when he visited a friend’s home, not being sure what would happen.

Mic是第三例。Mic很小的时候就失去了他的父亲。他的父亲在去加州参加会议后抽空游泳时失踪了。他的母亲当时并不是信徒。教会里的姐妹们去安慰她并邀请她来教会。Mic的母亲常常回忆说Mic是一个非常顽皮的孩子，并说他父亲曾经说到Mic三门科目的成绩加起来还不够及格。他家里曾把生米导入洗衣机里，到朋友家时也曾把朋友的衣物从衣柜里全部拿出来。每当Mic去朋友家，他母亲总是战战兢兢，因为她不知道Mic可能做出什么事来。

One day at the annual Children’s Vacation Bible School, the elder’s wife introduced the Lord to Mic. He went home and announced to his mother that: “Today, I have a new Father”.

有一天，在一年一度的兒童假期聖經學校里一位长老的夫人把主介绍给了Mic。他回家对她母亲宣布说“今天我有一位新的父亲”

After he became a believer, everything started to change: Mic started to put his creative naughtiness to good use. He would often “sneak” into public toilets and leave Christian tracts, which paved his way to become active in Campus Crusade, an active ministry to college students. As part of his ministry, he was sent to East Asia, and Albania, and finally he is now in US church ministry.

在他信主以后，所有的事都改变了。Mic开始把他有想象力的顽皮用在好的地方。他曾经常“潜入”公共厕所在哪里留下基督教小册子。这为他将来在学园传道会里为大学生传道铺了路。他曾为神的事工被差传到东亚和阿尔巴尼亚。他现在在美国教会里事奉。

I guess we could interpret naughtiness as expression of an active, creative, and inquisitive mind, that when idled, results in unconventional actions, or pure disobedience. The beauty of spiritual rebirth is that it re-channels these energies into creative pursuits for God. Impulses that if left unchecked could bring disaster, can be turned for good. Young people, if you’re reading this article, I trust that your “naughtiness” can turn into good, and bring blessings to others. You might even become a minister or missionary!

我猜想我们可以把顽皮理解作为当一个活跃的，有想象力的，以及好奇的头脑在不被正面应用时所带来的不合常规的举动或者是叛逆。信仰上的重生则将这些能量导向为神所做有想象力的事工。冲动不羁的行为可能带来灾祸，正面的导向则能带来好处。青年人，你若正在读这篇文章，我相信你的“顽皮”可以变成有益的并且为他人带来福分。你甚至有可能成为一位传道人或传教士！