ForeverMissed
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His Life

Life Journey

December 13, 2021
Our father came to the United States in 1967 to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was there that he was invited to Bible study and first encountered the teachings of the Bible. During this time, he would often go in the early morning to swim laps at the pool for exercise. Since it was so early in the morning, he was usually alone during these exercise sessions and one in the second year of school, he must have been very tired and nearly drowned – he actually doesn’t remember what happened or how he was rescued. He spent a long time, over a month, in the hospital and infirmary. Our father knows this was a miracle, that God sent an angel to save him. Even before our father knew God, God was watching over him and ordering his life.
After receiving his master’s degree, our father went on to the University of California in San Diego to study for his PhD. An elderly couple, who the students called Uncle and Aunt Liang, invited our parents to their bible study. Their attitude toward life and their endless love really made an impression on our father and he continued to attend bible study at their home. After more than a year of studying the Bible, our father came to accept the existence of God and the story of redemption provided by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Our father would admit that this was more an intellectual and rational understanding than an assurance of his heart. Still, the Lord was pursuing our father.
In the Summer of 1970, our father taught a children’s Sunday School and told the story of Jesus dying on the cross and His resurrection. While riding his bike home, our father saw a vision of Jesus Christ right in front of him: Christ had his arms open and pointed to his side and said, “My blood, this was all for you!” Our mother remembers that our father came home crying. This was truly the moment that our father fully understood the grace of salvation. Jesus was wounded for our transgressions and died to cleanse us from our sin.
After completing his degree, our father took a job with the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC. Our mom took us to Taiwan while our father went to DC to look for a house. He was alone one evening and ended up watching the Billy Graham Crusade on television. He was deeply moved as he saw people coming to Christ, to the point of tears, and it was that night he heard and accepted God’s call to go into ministry.
After the move was complete, our dad and mom started looking for churches, and we started attending a local church where our father started serving in many ways – teaching Sunday school and even becoming ordained so that he could preach from the pulpit. However, God placed a burden on our parents’ hearts that there was no Chinese church in the area and that many of their Chinese friends did not know the Lord and did not feel comfortable going to an American church.
After many months of prayer, our parents responded to God’s call to start a Chinese church. They started by looking for Chinese names in the phone book and sending letters inviting people to come to their house for bible study. Only three friends came the first night, but each week the gathering grew and soon the living room was full. In 1974, our father dedicated himself to God’s call to serve the Chinese. That summer, there was the first formal gathering at our home and people filled our house – sitting in the living room, the dining room, and even on all of the stairs. Within a few months, the Northern Virginia Chinese Christian Fellowship was started.
After many years serving that church body, our father was transferred at work to Orlando and started the ministry of this church with other brothers and sisters who also heard the call of God. For years, our father worked at his regular job in addition to his work in the ministry, but in 1997, by the grace of God, was able to retire early and to enter full-time ministry.
One of our father’s favorite bible verses was I Corinthians 15:10: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain.” All of this is truly God’s grace – God pursued our father even before our father had heard the gospel, God prepared our father for a life of ministry, and God was our father’s hope and his true prize. It was our father’s greatest joy to share this hope with others and so we want to share it with all of you today. It is this hope in Christ Jesus that gives us cause for celebration today rather than grief and despair. Our father has fought the good fight and finished the race that was set out for him - and we imagine God in Heaven saying to our father, “well done, my good and faithful servant!” It is this same hope that assures us that we will be reunited with him in Heaven one day and join with him in singing praises for eternity.
Praise God for His love and grace. For His hope. For His salvation.