In Loving Remembrance of My Dad
For as long as I remember, my dad lives the church life and is serving the Lord in the church. Many brothers called him “Brother No Problem” because you could fellowship many matters with him and he would always answer with the words “no problem" and would take care of the matter as need be. Praise the Lord that He called my dad to serve and he answered God's calling to serve full time to the end.
As many of you know, my dad had a long medical history. There were many close calls yet under the Lord's mercy and prayers in the Body, my dad was able to go through many ordeals and continue to serve. At times I wondered what it was that gave my dad the drive to serve in such a way. In 1 Chronicles 28:9 David said to Solomon, “Know the God of your father”. It was until I also began to serve the Lord in some capacity in the church life that I began to realize the God that my father knew. It is a great blessing for my family to live in the church life in the Lord's recovery and enjoy the riches of Christ as our daily supply.
Due to his service and circumstances, my dad and I actually did not talk much. To us no news is good news. In my youth it usually meant I would be in trouble if my dad wanted to speak to me. It was a blessing in disguise that in the last few years my family could spend more time with him during his dialysis treatment and especially during his recovery from massive heart attack in 2019. I am grateful that the Lord gave me the opportunity to bring him to meetings, to translate for him and to take care of him in some ways these last few years.
I thought that dad will be alive when the Lord comes. However, God's thought is higher than our thought. Few years ago, he mentioned to me that if he could discharge the burdens he bore to brothers who could continue to bear the responsibilities on his shoulder, he would retire and move to the U.S. That day never came as the Lord had His arrangement. Dad was calling on the name of the Lord in my last phone call with him before he went to be with the Lord. Perhaps he was fellowshipping with the Lord. He lived in Beer-sheba by the well of living water and the tamarisk tree, which is the church life today. Now he sleeps in Hebron on the way to New Jerusalem. He is now sleeping there, waiting for the day when he will wake up and find himself in the New Jerusalem. Hebrews 13:7 says, “Remember the ones leading you, who have spoken to you the word of God; and considering the issue of their manner of life, imitate their faith.” Dad is surely a pattern for us in following and serving the Lord！
I love you dad; I will see you in the New Jerusalem on that day. This is not of our choosing but of God's selection. As Paul says in Romans 11:36, “Because out from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”