The One He Served the Longest Was Probably Me
For as long as I can remember, I remember that my dad was a very busy man. Every day when we were going to bed, he still had not come home; and in the morning when I got up for school, often I could not see him either.
Actually I was never very clear about what my dad was doing; I only knew that he was always very busy and worked very hard. And because he so seldom saw us, when he did see us behaving badly, he disciplined us especially strictly, so that my older brother and I were very afraid of dad from childhood. Yet despite this, my brother and I both knew that whenever we ran into any problem, we still had to go to dad, because anything he said was "no problem" was definitely no problem—and I remember he never once said "there is a problem." So from childhood my brother and I both revered and admired dad.
Because of dad, I also grew up in the Gospel Book Room from childhood, and, relying on dad's name, I ran wild in the bookroom and often caused dad trouble. In those days I often played with the computers in the editing department of the bookroom and frequently corrupted the data on them; so if the Holy Word for Morning Revival was ever issued a little late in those days, it was probably my doing. I also did not study hard in those days, so when it was time to test for high school, dad saw that my grades were really too poor and that I probably could not get into a high school, so he used a scheme to trick me into going to study in Seattle. When I first went to Seattle, I still resented dad a little in my heart—why did he have to trick me into coming to a place with so few Chinese to learn English? But resentment aside, every time dad came to see me, I hoped he could stay a little longer.
In Seattle I took part in the school choir, and whenever there was a performance, as long as time permitted, dad would make a special detour to Seattle to watch my performance, and then fly back to Taiwan from Seattle. I remember once I had the time wrong, so when dad came to see me there was no performance; I thought dad might be a bit angry, but not only was dad not angry—that night he even kept me company in my room, eating peanuts and chatting together. That night is my best memory of Seattle.
Later, after I graduated from college, dad first arranged for me to work part-time in the Gospel Book Room; in those days I often commuted to and from work with dad, and being able to be with dad so often was quite happy, and I finally understood why dad had to spend so much time on the things of the bookroom.
Later I went to work in Singapore. At the beginning I was really not used to Singapore's climate and culture; dad often flew to Singapore in those days to fellowship with the brothers, but actually he wanted to fellowship with me, telling me to learn to adapt to the environment and assuring me that I was "no problem." Every time after fellowshipping he would take me to eat something delicious again; because of dad's support, I stayed in Singapore for thirteen years.
Dad served many people in his life, but the one he served the longest was probably me; and because of this, I often relied on dad—as long as those three words, "no problem," came out of dad's mouth, I had incomparable confidence that I could finish the task. Dad has now gone to the Lord, and perhaps it will not be until we meet again that I will once more hear that confidence-giving "no problem."
Recently in Singapore we have been reading Knowing and Experiencing the All-inclusive, Extensively Limitless Christ. In dad I saw that he truly experienced the extensively limitless Christ moment by moment. No matter what he encountered, or what sickness was in his body, he was willing to experience Christ as his all, leading him to continue going on. He set a very good pattern for us, relying on the Lord in all things. Even in our most difficult and most sorrowful moments, we are to experience this Christ as our peace and our rest.
Finally, I want to say a word to dad: dad, I love you. This time it is my turn to say to dad, "no problem"—my brother and I will take good care of mom, we will continue to live a good church life, we will continue to serve the Lord, taking you as our pattern. You have only gone ahead to the Lord. We will surely meet again in the future. No problem. Thank you, dad. Dad, I love you.