Eulogy for my father: June 27, 1928 - October 9, 2010

My dad was a very capable, amazing, and ambitious man. He was good at many things. When he cooked, the entire table was covered with plates of Chinese cooking. When he gardened, his crop would grow to an enormous size. He knew how to make dumplings and bao-zi's from scratch. His backyard was teeming with vegetables and fruits, and he even had some chickens. He was always surprising me with what he could do. In eighth grade, I was trying to teach myself how to knit, and he saw me struggling with casting my yarn, and then he said, "Give me that" And the next thing I know, he was casting yarn for me at blazing speed. My dad was always quite a charmer. He managed himself very well in social settings and could make friends wherever he went. Even though he didn't go to school, my dad was quite a well- read person who knew how to make his way around, whether it be making a sale or discussing current events. At his peak of worldy achievement, he was a political activist and, for a couple of months, ran a daily 1 hour radio show, where he discussed Democracy in China. All his activities got him honored at some Republican convention but got him blacklisted from ever visiting China again.

My dad overcame a lot of struggle, and that's probably what contributed to him being a very tough person for the most part of his life. He was born in an extremely poor place in China called Anhui. Most of you have probably never heard of it because the harsh reality of life there is just something that keeps it off the map. But my dad made it a point for me to never forget his birthplace, because my Chinese name is named after the province and county where he was born. My dad was the youngest child and only surviving son in his family. At the age of 14, his parents encouraged him to leave home to make a better life for himself. First he was in the army, but when that route seemed hopeless, he eventually escaped China by swimming to Hong Kong. He always acknowledges that when he got to Hong Kong, God saved him by letting him get rescued by a Lutheran Bible School, where he got his education and eventually became an ordained minister. According to my dad, my grandparents were Christians in China, so I believe they must have been praying for him. But from the age of 14 on, my dad never saw his parents again because they both died of starvation during a massive famine in China. As tough as my dad tried to be, he would always start tearing up whenever he thought about his parents.

I wonder if it was after his parents died that he became restless and lost. When I was born, my dad was rarely home. He was a sailor traveling the world, and his goal was to move his family to the land of promise and dreams. Eventually, he became a jeweler in Hawaii, and that's how my family and I were able to immigrate to this great country, in January, 1976, when i was a month shy of turning 4.

My dad was very unsettled for most of his life. As most of you know, he didn't live the typical life of having 1 wife and 2.5 kids and maybe 1 career change in life. He also had a fiery temper, which was why I was kind of scared of him growing up, and he had a tough exterior. During my whole life, I didn't get to spend as much time with him as a normal child. But I know that he cared for me the whole time, and I know that he wanted to be there. He made a lot of mistakes in his quest to justify having to leave his family at such a young age. And despite being able to accomplish so much, he would always tell me that he was a giant failure.

These past few years I've seen my dad suddenly get old, and it's been very hard. He used to do so much, and he couldn't do anything by himself anymore. His body was getting weak and the rate of decline was steep. But our God is a God of redemption and of second chances, and he never gave up on my dad. God used my dad's weakness to show his amazing power to transform my dad's heart. First, my dad had the heart to seek out my brother, Benson, and that was the first time I knew of him to take initiative with his child. With, what he called, God's blessed timing in the housing market, he sold his home to move to Arizona to be closer to my brother. Next, he became tender-hearted. When I visited him the past few years, he was so sweet, so pleasant, so loving. He would just sit with joy watching his grandkids play. He stopped being angry at people , and he stopped blaming people. He acknowledged that he made a lot of mistakes himself. Finally, he prayed a heartfelt prayer. In February of this year, I heard him pray for the first time. He asked God for forgiveness of his weakness, and for God's grace to be upon him and his family. I still miss my dad so much and wish that I could have enjoyed our closer relationship a lot longer. But I can have hope that my dad is in Heaven, and that some day I can see him again, because the Lord gave my dad a chance to reconcile with his family and with Him. Praise God for his amazing grace.