One of the more memorable films was the second film, The Wrath of Khan.
There was this brief exchange between two of the characters in the film:
Kirk: A no-win situation is a possibility every commander may face. Has that never occurred to you?There is uncertainty about how long we will live. In a car-centric city like Los Angeles, we hear on the traffic reports, "a fatal accident occurred at ..."
Saavik: No sir, it has not.
Kirk: How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life, wouldn't you say?
I've been involved in two automobile accidents where my vehicle was declared a total loss by the insurance company. In one case, the speed involved was high enough that a fatality could have occurred. I can still play that split second in my mind's eye when I realized the car coming at me was going to hit my car... the slamming sound ... the side and rear widows exploding ... my car slamming against the sidewalk ... then the strange quietness ... the radio was still playing ... I looked around and realized I was still alive ... then the people in the neighborhood running out from their homes to check on the two cars and the guy saying to me, wow, that crash was so loud I can't believe you are still alive! The other driver also walked away from the crash but the front end of his car was crushed.
As a big city with some serious crime problems, the lead story on the local TV news is often the latest fatality as a result of some a robbery or homicide or gang activity. And sometimes violent crimes happen in the places you least expect.
22 years ago, June 30, 1985, I was going to church like any other Sunday morning. I sat in the third row on the left side. It was a gray Sunday morning: LA June gloom. We sang some songs and it was time for announcements just before the sermon. The man was dressed in a suit and tie and was walking up to the podium. I noticed him and figured it was an usher wanting to pass a message to the moderator that someone had left their lights on or was blocking a driveway or something. Then, I heard the gun shot. All told, to this day, I can't remember how many shots were fired. I remember seeing a gun flash from behind me and wondered, what the heck? In what was probably only 60 to 120 seconds, 3 people were shot. The gunman fatally shot the moderator, Senior Deacon Fook Kong Li, in the chest. He turned and fatally shot Pastor Greg Owyang in the head. The gun shot from behind me was from an off-duty sherif who happened to visit our church that morning and happened to be running late from work such that in his haste he didn't leave his gun in his car. He shot and killed the gunman. It was later reveled that the gunman had many additional clips of ammunition in his jacket pockets.
These types of deaths are traumatic and if mercy can be found in such situations it is that death comes swiftly.
But the type of death that I think would be tough to face is one where it is slow and painful and inevitable like cancer or some other terrible disease.
One of my friends is dying. She sends out the occasional email to let people know how she is doing. Here is an excerpt:
My cough is noticeably more prominent and I find myself more easily running out of breath. I need to sleep with my head elevated and sometimes on oxygen. My pain level is manageable with my current meds ... I'm certain that your many prayers on my behalf have sustained me more than I will ever know. Keep them coming!Thank you Lord for the faithfulness of my friend. Please give her Your sufficient grace to see her life through to the very end faithful to whatever you have her to do in each day that remains. Help me to remember that I too suffer from the same human condition: death. And while I live and breath, help me to remember that I go nowhere by accident and that wherever I go, God is sending me and that wherever I am, God has put me there. He has a purpose in my being there. Help my friend to know this and help me to know this day by day. Amen.
....
I don't know how or when I will die, but I will trust Him that He will be in the midst of it and will carry me through.
....
Pray that for every morning that I wake up, I will ask the Lord what He wants me to do for that day. Since He hasn't taken me Home, He must still have a purpose for me on earth; ask Him to help me discern what that purpose is.
2 comments:
Dear Rene,
I hope you are still on this blog. I just read this today. I put Fook-Kong Li's name as a search term. I think of him this time of the year. It was the last time I saw him alive. We were at a CBMC Christmas party. He had just returned from the Holy Land. I asked him if he was afraid to go to that part of the world. He took me aside and he said, "Never be afraid to go anywhere you need to go because you could be killed in your own home town." Six months later, he was killed, so I think he knew it would happen. Since then, I traveled to 48 countries, mostly with the military, and I was shot at in the Holy Land. I was never afraid because of Fook-Kong Li's words to me the last time I saw him. Thank you for giving me an eyewitness account because I have imagined the scene so many times in my head. I wanted to know what happened in his final moments of life. I saw him at his funeral. I think of him so often. Thanks and God bless, Debbie Roberts, Glendora CA
I fondly remember Pastor Greg Owyang when he was a frequent guest minister at a church in Vancouver. He was truly inspirational, funny and many young people could identify with him. I remember the shock when I attended service and a church associate broke out in tears to announce that Pastor Owyang had been shot. Many of us could not attend the funeral services, but he was never forgotten. I cherish the words of God that he shared with us. In Him, Daryl Jung, Northridge, CA
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