Smoldering wick

Jinmu’s funeral on Sunday, March 13, went very well. His mother didn’t come, so we were spared the potential problem of her kicking up a fuss about his photograph not being on display. We started about 15 minutes early, but the small room was already packed with over 50 people - up to 20 of Jinmu’s relatives and the rest brothers and sisters in the church. I was hosting it with Shuyuan, and we were both a little nervous about the first hymn because it was in Taiwanese, which neither of us speak very well. But it was terrific, and although Shuyuan forgot how to say “relatives” in Taiwanese, he did his explanation of the words all in Taiwanese as well.

The obituary from Shuzhen and the children was good, and the testimonies were inspired. There wasn’t much good to say about Br. Jinmu - he was drunk all the time, and that was about it. But without hiding the fact that he drank himself to death, they managed to pull out some nice little vignettes, especially Br. Zhong (who gave his entire testimony in Taiwanese, even the Bible quotations). He said, the only time Jinmu went to a Sunday service, he noticed how he was watching his children, and understood how he felt, because Br. Zhong was also separated from his family. Jinmu then told him he thought it was great the kids were in church.

The theme of the whole funeral service was summed up in Isaiah 42:3, “He will not break a crushed reed or snuff out a smoldering wick;” Jinmu was a crushed reed - when you tried to get a decent tune out of him, the air would just escape through the sides and a whining sound would come out; and he was a smoldering wick as well - the more he burned the blacker the room became. But Jesus never gave up on him. At the end, I asked Jinmu’s brothers if it was okay, and they said it was fine, and thanked us for our help. Later when Shuzhen got back home in the evening, her sister-in-law called her up and told her she wants to come and “Amen!” with us. Praise the Lord! Who would have believed someone could get saved from attending Jinmu’s funeral.

The day before the funeral, at a young professionals training on Saturday, I gave what was possibly the most uninspiring testimony ever. It sucked. I was unprepared and was talking about something above my head. Perhaps I’m being too harsh on myself, but I think I insulted three groups of people in ten minutes. Oh well, like Paul says in Philippians 3:13, “Forget the past, push on to the prize...”.

I went to see Joey at Taipei Prison last Thursday. It was good to see him again, and have a proper talk with Allen on the way in the car. I’m trying to get him to get back into the church - he has problems getting up on Sunday morning, so perhaps I can persuade him to come to the trainings at our hall in Beitou on Sunday evening.

Fear and Trembling

I met up with my old boss, Z, for coffee this morning. He was arrested last year for a hit and run while driving drunk after leaving a KTV at 4 o’clock in the morning. The other guy died in the crash. The poor bloke was delivering newspapers, working two jobs to support his ailing mother, so of course the Taiwanese media went crazy over the story: “Drunk rich foreigner in a big Mercedes kills poor filial son in a hit and run”. There was also stuff about Z trying to scrap the car and flee the country through Jinmen. After his arrest, he denied he was driving the car - saying he’d asked a valet from the KTV to drive him home. Although a CCTV showed the valet getting into the driver’s seat, the same camera caught him walking back to the KTV about 5 minutes later, saying Z had thrown him out of the car, and driven on by himself.

I have to admit, I thought he was guilty at the time, and still think he’s guilty now. I also have to admit I’m biased. My short experience of working for him wasn’t good, and our relationship ended very badly when a contract we’d worked on together went belly up.

After the hit and run made the headlines, I realized how easily it could have been me driving the car. But for the grace of God, and my inability to hack it in the business world, I could have been behind the wheel. I felt like writing to Z to offer some sympathy, but worried how he’d take it. Apart from the TV and papers, I got snippets of news about him through a mutual friend, and his side of the story on the foreigner’s chat forum. In the end I decided to write him an email. He wrote me a very nice reply; and when his court case came up for the final hearing a couple of weeks ago, he invited me - as well as every other person he knew - to go and give him some support. So I went.

Listening to the evidence, you could tell both sides were lying. The police investigation was unbelievably sloppy, and the testimonies from the KTV guys were full of holes. But there was a lot of cock and bull coming from Z’s side too. We’ll see what the verdict is next week, but I fear the judge will take a look at the crucial few minutes when the accident happened, and conclude that only Z could have been driving.

After the court appearance, Z wrote me another email to thank me for coming, and suggested we meet up for coffee. I said yes, and after a couple of delays I eventually found the time. To be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to it. I didn’t know what I was going to say if he asked me about the trial, and my memories of him were dominated by his ruthless, manipulative and paranoid nature; but I’d forgotten that he can also be a really nice bloke. He was bearded, so he didn’t get recognized. I bought him a coffee, because he was broke - which I believe this time - and we sat down in the Starbucks in Q-Square for a chat.

We had a long talk. Z said since the accident, he’s been unemployed so he’s had a lot of time to read and search for spirituality. He went through Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, and now he’s interested in UFOs. I talked about Christianity of course, but we both tried really hard to find common ground. In the end, I was surprised to hear myself inviting him to my home on Sunday. I told him about the funeral and everything, and he said he’d ask his girlfriend - who is also mixed up in the case - to come. When we'd run out of things to say, Meihui - who lives in the apartment block above Q-Square - turned up, and went back to her home to get me a memory stick with some gospel download on it, and a copy of The Mystery of Human Life for Z. So I took that as a good sign. However, I don’t know how I’m going to get this past our more conservative group members, if he really does come. But I hope he does.