I refer to this blog post in the video. The address below is not a transcript of the video, but is complimentary to it.
[This is an anonymised version of what was to be my full address at my Father-in-Law’s homegoing, we had to edit it down so that the interpreter could manage within our time constraints]
First of all, let me express how much of an honour and a privilege it is to be asked to speak to you today. I have always felt most welcomed into this family, I have never felt excluded despite not being able to speak your language. I deeply appreciate every member of the family I have met and been able to spend time with. I believe it was … that suggested I could be the “pastor” or “minister” today!
However, today is not about me, but it is to remember and celebrate the life of Papa. I met Papa and Mama first in December 2015 when we came for New Year when Papa and …. gave me lots of raw things that I had never eaten before, I just closed my eyes and swallowed, they were actually really oishī! I believe they were testing me to check if I could become a …. family member, it took a little longer to pass Mama’s test, “I had to make her daughter happy.”
So, because everyone had been so accepting, one thing I wanted to do before I left was to give every family member, I had met what I believed the Lord Jesus wanted to say to them. I believe in a God who speaks and wanted to give a blessing to every family member I had met. I believe on three different occasions, twice in person and once through … this has happened.
Whenever I came to pray for and speak to Papa, the Lord said something to me about him that I have never heard Him say about anybody else, ever. Let me emphasise that, he said something about Papa that I have never heard Him say about anybody else – this is God speaking to me about Papa.
No matter what else he said to Papa when I prayed with him and spoke over him, the first thing which the Lord would always say is that “Here is an honourable man.” Stop and think about that for a moment – when you stand before your Creator and receive a report about how you lived your life, would He say to you, ‘you lived an honourable life’ ? It does not say a perfect life or one without failings or faults, but an honourable one.
We have had some challenges finding a good translation of the word “honour”, so I am going to try and make it clear as I need to confess I did not understand other than in some vague way that it is was a good thing to be honourable, what God meant. In such cases, it is good to ask, and this is what I believe He has shown me.
First, an honourable man admits to their mistakes, takes responsibility for them, and apologises. … has told me so many times in the last few months as she has been here and Papa has been frustrated and upset at not being able to be boss but forced to be dependent on others, that he would always apologise when he had said things which had upset her.
Second, honour is about doing what is right just because it is right, for no other reason (and God, not men define what is right). It is about dedicating yourself to a higher purpose than your own immediate comfort and desires. Papa lived a life of service to his family – first to Mama, he has been faithful and by her side for over fifty years, and then his love for his children and grandchildren.
As I look at … I see three new families all who have learnt from Papa and who he has taught and lived as an example of how to live a life of love and commitment, of how to live a life valuing other people.
Third, in [the grandchildren] there is another generation who have been impacted in a profound way by his life and example. In … I see someone who is a sweet fragrance of healing to those around her. When I saw the look on … face when he arrived on the day Papa left us, I saw a mature and confident young man more concerned for his grandad than anything else in the world at that point. In … I can see in their acute sensitivity and sense of right and wrong, how much Papa gave them not just through … as their Mum but through Papa directly. … the greatest gift he could give them is that of critical thinking.
As I was with Papa in his final hours, I could see here was a man that meant something to those there beyond which words can express. When I saw the look on … face, I knew someone very precious to all present was leaving us. That “something” that had created such a love, that is what is called honour.
I could just finish there but … ‘hired’ me to be pastor and there is a little extra that I should say to finish off. Papa had always been a man of faith but not the Christian faith until a couple of months before he graduated to heaven. I want to say something about that and maybe bring some understanding to us, as that might be confusing for us, or we might think Papa’s brain malfunctioned or was suffering from dementia and had become confused over what he believed.
There is a story in the Bible of the very first non-Jewish convert to Christianity after Jesus had been crucified.
[Prior to Jesus, only the Jews could claim that God had spoken to the founder of their race called Abraham the Hebrew (Hebrew means ‘one that crosses the river’) in 2000 BCE. As the Hebrew scriptures grew into which we now call the Bible, they promised the coming of Jesus. Jesus then said He had come to make the Way clear for all men of every nation (you understand, of every nation), in His death was the life for all men (John 1:1-12).]
This man’s name was Cornelius, he was a Roman centurion – in charge of at least 100, perhaps as many as 10000, Roman soldiers. He was an elite soldier, who although a person that had experienced much violence, had nevertheless demonstrated a character and form of life that attracted God’s attention. An angel from God spoke to him and said that his “prayers and life of service” had got God’s attention, and he was to send to Joppa for Simon Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples, so that he could hear the ‘way of salvation’ (Acts 10).
This brings me back to Papa – sometimes in his struggle with his health, he would get frustrated and say things which were hurtful and … would tell me that she might come home, I believe Mama and her conspired one afternoon to pretend she had gone home! I would then tell her that anytime I prayed to the Lord about whether she should come home, he would give me this verse: “With long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation.” (Ps. 91:16) What God was going to show Papa, just as he had shown Cornelius, was His salvation through the revealing of Jesus as Papa’s Saviour, the one who sacrificed himself for our sins and transgressions from the Law of God (summarised in what is called the ‘Ten Commandments’, Ex.20, 1-17). Jesus offered himself that He might satisfy the justice of God and bear the just punishment for sin in our place (Isa. 53).
Papa had been thinking from time to time as he got more unwell that maybe it was time for him to go, but he told … that Jesus had spoken to him and told him it was not time yet. Subsequently, he improved and got a little stronger, he saw the New Year in and said that it was the “best one ever,” then it was his time. As I was flying over on New Year’s Day, the Lord spoke to me that Papa was getting ready to go home. On the day he departed to heaven to be with Jesus, he was struggling to communicate but he was still there, using sign language – he was enjoying being massaged, had something to eat and drink, then he closed his eyes. He was satisfied (saying to … when she asked him, that there was nothing else he wanted to say), and the Lord had shown him His salvation.
So, my final thought for you, is that Papa got God’s attention because of the way he lived, and God responded to an imperfect but honourable man, let us learn and remember that precious example that he gave us all.