The Unseen Life, Part 21

Life is full of surprises! And grave tidings, no less unrelenting in the human predicament, form a substantial chunk of personal and world news. Mortalities within the immediate family, however, must be one of the most challenging to comprehend and process; particularly when they occur unexpectedly or during a survivours’ formative childhood years. When these familial relationships are functional and intimate, the repercussions can be catastrophic and enduring. Especially for children, these often tragic circumstances would elicit Yahweh’s instinctive paternal response of being “a father to the fatherless…” (Psalm 68: 5). It highlights God’s promised role as a protector, provider and guide for those who have lost their fathers, emphasising God's care and concern for the vulnerable and those without the traditional family support. They are certainly not alone as His invisible and, at times, palpable Presence becomes accessible and available; especially to those who seek Him. 
 
I was then in my mid-teens and was beginning to relish a somewhat mature interaction with my father since his earlier diagnosis for stage four cancer. I surmised that he probably realised that his time with us was growing shorter! Despite possessing a quiet and particularly reserved demeanour, he began to intermittently clue me in on his family history and background. Most of his eight siblings were politically more left-leaning and they chose to remain in mainland China. He was the eldest, an accomplished athlete during his college days, and was an agriculturist with the Chinese provincial government. The latter involvement inevitably resulted in his perilous escape from China prior to 1949, with his youngest brother. Furthermore, I discovered that my grandfather was a Presbyterian minister. The church he pastored subsequently disbanded and he went underground.
 
Dad had hung on to his responsibilities as a teacher, advisor for students’ affairs, and vice-principal of a notable local high school during his cancer treatment. Throughout his teaching career, he thoroughly relished his direct interaction with his students. Then quite suddenly, about six years after his initial diagnosis, the disease resurfaced with a vengeance. Within a month, he became quite sick. His best friend from his university days in China, a medical doctor, arrived every morning and evening to administer a strong narcotic analgesic. Every Sunday morning, despite the rapid progression of the disease, we supported him to an awaiting taxi, which ferried him to and from a church service in town. My father never broached the subject of his religious convictions with us. However, the reality of his regular Sunday church attendance, during his final weeks, intrigued me. Two months later, at 55 years of age, he passed on. 
 
It was a late Sunday evening when we were summoned by the doctor to my father’s bedside. Even though I was mentally prepared for his demise, having waited on him and assisted my mother with his daily care, when it finally arrived, a pall of sadness descended on me like a ton of bricks. This was the end of my journey with my dad; the time we had spent talking about his past suddenly ended. We were just getting to know each other! I had so many questions I wanted to ask him. My father’s abrupt absence devastated me. In the midst of grief, while standing around him with the family during those concluding moments, a soft voice spoke, “Don’t worry, I will be like a father to you. Trust Me!” At the time, the identity of the One Who spoke was shrouded in mystery!
 
It was some years later, when I became a Christian, that I began to understand Who represented that ‘still small voice’ on that fateful day. This mentoring process took on a new meaning when I committed myself to two Christian communities in London; where different mature believers drew alongside, over several years, to provide a measure of stability and oversight on my rudderless life at that juncture. On hindsight, it was an arduous but enlightening emotional and spiritual journey, with an eventual critical professional reorientation. The irony did not escape me that it required a fundamental relocation from Asia to the U.K. to unshackle me from my own complacency on spiritual matters, together with the inhibitions of cultural and familial influence over my deliberations. God had initiated and laid the groundwork for a new birth, and subsequently, an enduring relationship with Himself. This primary transformative conversion encounter with Him, further ignited my yearning to listen and talk with Him. 
 
Many of us possess a presumption that God only begins to involve Himself in our lives when we become believers, but by all indications in Scripture, Yahweh has chosen to inextricably immerse Himself with all that is going on in our lives even prior to our physical birth into this world (viz., Jer 1: 5; Ps 139: 13 – 16; Eph 1: 4 – 5), and that appears to be ongoing with each generation of those who followed Him (c.f., Ex 20: 6; Deut 7: 9; Ps 145: 4). This precious mystery of God’s engrossment over His created order is profound, and is indicative of Yahweh’s ‘chesed’ especially for His ‘imago deo,’  underscoring the inherent dignity and value of every human life.