To a Dear Friend

"STEWART WU, M.D. Stewart Wu, M. D. was born in Guangzhou Province, China, on December 8, 1928 and passed away in Chicago, IL, on June 21, 2015. He grew up in China, where he attended Pui-Ching Boys School and Lingnan University in Hong Kong. He came to the U.S. in 1949 to attend Oklahoma Baptist University followed by the Wake Forest University Bowman Gray School of Medicine. Dr. Wu and his wife, Fannie, settled in Valparaiso, where he practiced as a surgeon.He served on the board of several Christian mission organizations, many of them focused on evangelism or aid to China, and offered free medical clinics at churches in both Valparaiso and Chicago's Chinatown. Following his retirement in 1996, he devoted his time and energy to mission work. At home in Valparaiso, he hosted Bible studies in his home every Sunday afternoon for international students attending Valparaiso University, becoming a beloved mentor and surrogate uncle for many students and university faculty and staff. In China, Dr. Wu traveled, often with recruits from Chicago, to remote villages where people living in primitive conditions had little or no access to medical care. There he offered both healthcare and soul care, explaining the story and sacrifice of Jesus Christ to a people he dearly loved.  He is remembered as a kind and gentle, self-effacing and generous man, who was devoted to God and family. All his life, he obeyed the Great Commission given by Jesus to his followers in Matthew 28:19: "…go and make disciples of all nations…" He will be sorely missed." 

As a young man in ministry, Dr. Wu took me under his wing. He was at least thirty years my senior and I found it a bit weird that he would take a liking to a white farm kid new to the ministry. I wasn't the one who initiated the relationship. He sought me out. I had no interest in the Asian community at that time and it was all quite foreign to me. But...who wouldn't love a trip into Chicago to visit the non-tourist side of China town. He always told me that it was to get some Chinese spices for his wife but I knew better. He liked the food. I told him on one of our forays into town that he better not have a heart attack and die because I would never find my way out. I also remember the first time we did go into one of those back alley grocery stores...the one's where the ducks were freshly killed right out front and hung in the store window - the clerk hosing down the blood into the street sewers. Talk about culture shock! Then came lunch with food I could never pronounce - food I had never eaten before nor I think, since then. Shark fin soup and barbecued rooster feet were not on the main menu in my mother's kitchen. 

I often wonder if Dr. Wu had a divine secret from God regarding my life's journey. He ended up introducing me to the three most preeminent Chinese leaders in North America and to author and apologist Dr. Samuel Ling who gave me a four volume commentary on ministering to Chinese in America. Boy did that come in handy about 16 year later. Lesson:  Never give away your books and take note of important people that you "randomly" meet. Almost three years into serving the people at Chinese Faith Baptist Church and I am thankful for the divine humor of it all. 

Looking forward to seeing you at the trumpet call of God and the return of our Savior, Dr. Wu. For old times sake I'll have to go to a good Chinese bakery in honor of you sometime soon. I'd go for some dim sum but I still wouldn't know how to order.