God calls us to live by faith, believing that He will fulfill His promises.

上帝要我们凭信心而活，相信祂的应许必然成就。

He was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Hebrews 11:10

他等候那座有根基的城，就是上帝所经营、所建造的。-希伯来书11章10节

I parked my bicycle, fingering my map of Cambridge for reassurance. Directions not being my strength, I knew I could easily get lost in this maze of roads bursting with historic buildings.

回顾刚到剑桥时，我要常常停下脚踏车，拿出地图再次确认方向。我一向缺乏方向感，在充满历史建筑物的城市街道中，特别容易迷路。

Life should have felt idyllic, for I had just married my Englishman and moved to the UK. But I felt adrift. When I kept my mouth closed I blended in, but when I spoke I immediately felt branded as an American tourist. I didn’t yet know what my role was, and I quickly realized that blending two stubborn people into one shared life was harder than I had anticipated.

那时，生活对我来说，应该是浪漫美好的，因为我刚嫁给一位英国人，搬到英国居住。然而，我却觉得没有归属感。我不说话时和当地人没有两样，但只要一开口，就立刻被烙上美国观光客的标记。我甚至不清楚自己算是居民或是游客，同时也体会到两个顽固的人一起生活，实在是比预期的困难多了。

I related to Abraham, who left all that he knew as he obeyed the Lord’s call to live as a foreigner and stranger in a new land (Gen. 12:1). He pressed through the cultural challenges while keeping faith in God, and 2,000 years later the writer to the Hebrews named him a hero (11:9). Like the other men and women listed in this chapter, Abraham lived by faith, longing for things promised, hoping and waiting for his heavenly home.

我想到亚伯拉罕照着耶和华的吩咐，离开本地、本族、父家，在异地作客旅和寄居的（创世记12章1节） 。亚伯拉罕因着信，勇敢地面对文化冲击，两千年后，希伯来书的作者称他为信心伟人（11章9节）。正如同其他的见证人一般，亚伯拉罕凭信心而活，渴慕主的应许，盼望并等候天上的家乡。

Perhaps you’ve always lived in the same town, but as Christ-followers we’re all foreigners and strangers on this earth. By faith we press forward, knowing that God will lead and guide us, and by faith we believe He will never leave nor abandon us. By faith we long for home.

也许你没有在异乡生活的经验，但作为基督徒，我们在世上都是客旅和寄居的。我们因着信，竭力追求，深知上帝将一路引领和眷顾；因着信，我们相信祂永远不会撇下或离弃我们；因着信，我们羡慕更美的家乡。

Father God, I want to live by faith, believing Your promises and knowing that You welcome me into Your kingdom. Enlarge my faith, I pray.

亲爱的天父上帝，
我愿凭信心而活，我相信祢的应许，
深知祢欢迎我进入祢的国度。
求祢坚固我的信心。

Read: ??Hebrews? ?11:8-16? ?NIV??

“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

http://bible.com/111/heb.11.8-16.niv