Tribute Given by Richard Hsu

My Father

One strong characteristic that I wish to share with everyone is Father’s gratefulness towards anyone who showed any kindness towards him or his family. Father would remember these acts forever and do his best to reciprocate. As an example, he was very grateful to the University Presbyterian Church of Seattle who had sponsored our family to the United States in 1957 and to its many very loving members who helped us get our start in this country. My parents brought us week after week, usually by bus but often by foot after a one-hour walk, to the Sunday morning services on 15th Avenue. This was repeated for years despite their inability to understand most of what was being spoken. I hope that he’ll forgive me for divulging that he continued to offer to the church for some time even after he began attending Evangelical Chinese Church for language reasons. He loved the many church members who cared for our family, including the Irwins, Koopmans, Adkissons, Wilsons, Rutherfords, Swansons, Keenes.

Father was the most grateful to the Lord and acknowledged God as the source of all good things. In his prayers Father would often give thanks to the Lord for all His care and for giving Himself to die for us, whom Father would describe as “useless servants.”

I am reminded of the verse in 2 Timothy 3:2 where it says that in the difficult last days people will be ungrateful or unthankful. My father was a refreshing anti-testimony to this condition of decline.

Father’s grateful heart towards the Lord issued in faithfulness to Him in speaking the good news of God’s salvation to one and all, in season and out of season. Father truly enjoyed speaking to others about the Lord who loved him and whom he loved. I was fortunate to have accompanied my parents on their last trip to China three years ago and witnessed my father doing the work of an evangelist with our relatives at each dinnertime. I was curious to see if Father’s gospel-speaking streak would be broken when we were invited to dinner with some city officials and other dignitaries. I was truly impressed and inspired. Father proceeded very naturally to share his experience of the Lord’s saving grace and of his own realization of his need for God. Father’s love for the Lord and love for man was displayed in such words of care to total strangers.

May we all follow the example of my father in his gratefulness towards others and especially towards God for all He has done for us and given to us. And may our lives issue in faithfulness in fulfilling the commission that He has given to each of us.

RH
4-26-05