Life at the Crossroads

By Dr. Henry Phung

Have you ever wondered about the quality of your life? Have you ever quested for the purpose of your life? Given the fact that you learn about your calling in life, and do you know how to get started or deal with your calling? Are you called to serve something bigger than yourself? If you have had these questions, you are not alone in the journey of this life.

Do you feel your experiences are complicated and the problems you face are challenging? Life today is quite different, and recovering from setbacks is not always easy. The ability to find direction and purpose is equally difficult. You cant choose where and when you will be born and what kind of family you will have. However, you can choose your attitude and lifestyle to carry on with your life.

We live in a time in which traditional beliefs have been attenuated, ridiculed, and mocked. Dealing with obstacles is stressful and overcoming diversity can be fearful, but not impossible. It is imperative that you are willing to move forward before you see how detrimental your life can become. Life would be better if you learn to listen to your inner voice and the Holy Spirit. When you follow your own heart, you can find passion and dream to redefine your purpose in life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Oct 5, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512750812

Dr. Henry Phung

Dr. Henry Phung was a young and naïve teen during the war and economic crisis in Southeast Asia. He doubted the existence of God, but was touched by the love of God. In his early twenties, Henry was guided by the Holy Spirit to read the Bible, and he heard the call to serve the Lord. However, he did not know how to serve the Lord since he was standing at the crossroads of life. Not until a series of events transpired did young Henry realize that he had a second chance to enhance the lives of those around him whether in the academic, healthcare, community, family, or church settings. Dr. Henry Phung is an unknown inspired man with outstanding leadership values. He has learned, “Faith is what we Christians have in common, but we fall short of the strength to endure to the end. Grace is what is needed and given to us so that we can claim victory for the Kingdom of God. Although we are in the crossroads of financial hardship, storms of sickness, and drawbacks in relationships, we are assured by Almighty God to receive the gift of peace.” Dr. Sherrie L. Riddiough

Book preview

Life

at the Crossroads

Dr. Henry Phung

68906.png

Copyright © 2016 Dr. Henry Phung.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scriptures marked KJV are taken from the KING JAMES VERSION (KJV): KING JAMES VERSION, public domain.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5127-5083-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-5082-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-5081-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016911732

WestBow Press rev. date: 09/28/2016

Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1: Wake-up Call

Chapter 2: The Tsunami of Life

Chapter 3: End Road or Crossroad…But Heaven was real

Chapter 4: Lessons of Faith

Chapter 5: Science and Divinity

Chapter 6: Is God real?

Chapter 7: Life was full of surprises…

Chapter 8: God had plans

Chapter 9: What to do at the crossroads?

References

This book is

dedicated to Chhieng Phung, my beloved father, who experienced extensive challenges and learned many lessons in life. He was called to use his personal life and extraordinary experience to enrich both the intellectual and spiritual growths for his family and children so that they can be sanctified by faith and purified by the forgiveness of sin.

Acknowledgments

M any thanks to all the pastors of Heatherwood Baptist Church and the deacons and elders of the Victory Revival Church in Riverdale, Georgia, for their continuous, persistent prayers and spiritual support. Thanks to so many surgeons, doctors, nurses and hospital staff who provided encouragement, advice and support. Finally, my heartfelt thanks to many of you, who choose to be anonymous but contacted and showed your great love and deep respect to my father during his unforgettable journey, his strong battle against several diseases, and his peaceful departure from this life.

Foreword

PersonalPhotograyscale.jpg

I n loving memory of my dad, Mr. Chhieng Phung (1921-2015), a survivor from both the Pol-Pot Era (1975-79) and Vietnamese Economic Crisis (1980-81). He is also a survivor from a stroke in 2008 when he was almost completely paralyzed and thought to be dead. He then survived a series of diseases and several remissions of them. Under the grace of our Almighty God, he lived for an additional seven blessed years after the stroke. He indeed is loved and will be forever missed after living a full ninety-four years of age until he was called home by our Lord by leaving a legacy behind so that his children can remember and follow in his footstep. In honoring of the dedication he made for fatherhood and mentorship, I learned the lesson of unselfish devotion and service through humility in my growing-up years. Everyday occurrences and interactions can be as complicated as typhoon, and he taught me how to find peace in the stormy periods even when I was still in my early childhood. When I’m struck by errors, bruised by tragedy and hurt by low spirits, he inspires me to see through role modeling and mental toughness to live my adult life.

Born slightly before the outbreak of a cruel civil war that led to the Cambodian genocide, I have learned and taught how to live through the socialist policies and the propaganda of a better ethnic cleansing. By successfully escape from the bloody war, I learn how to truly appreciate life with the lesson from arbitrary executions, physical tortures, and widespread famines. By living through the communist government and socialist institution in Vietnam, I gradually value more on the notion of human rights and liberty than the idea of segregation and/or revolutionaries combined.

For years, I learned good common sense that says one does not foster a relationship not until mutual trust has developed. Inexplicitly, I always think that a good common sense should be easy to maintain in every walk of life…until common sense turned out to not be so common. Despite cultural differences, I believe that we should live and guide by core value and set of standard that are to do the right thing for others in terms of tolerance and acceptance. As far as I am concerned, the journey of my faith starts out by not following the traditional way or conventional path until series of incidents happen. As a healthcare professional, I acknowledge that the concept of health is a combination of total well-beings in term of body, mind, and spirit. I also acknowledge the greatest wealth on earth is to have good health that can be defined as not being the absence of symptoms or disease but rather the maintenance and achievement of total body function through the state of homeostasis. As a human being, I always have been fascinated by the paradox and interplay between beliefs and rationales. From time to time, I recall that gifting is something that we tend to do day in and night out. It also gives us great skills and advantages to do things that other people are having a hard time to match up with. Time and time again, I learn the reason why each of us can be gifted differently is because God places us with a mission and a vision so that we not only can find our own purpose in life, but we can live our life with a big heart, great passion and extraordinary love. I also happen to believe one amazing, incredible and great understanding of our purpose is to face our challenges from the past and to thus embrace choices from our current situations by focusing on the vision for our future, redefining the passion in our life, and maintaining the spiritual connection so that we can transform our faith and reconnect to the unlimited possibilities leading to a healthier and happier life.

Introduction

T he story about to be told details those incredible sufferings from hunger and the dangers he faced in the time of war or political changes. The story also reveals the overcoming of obstacles both in the economic crisis in the Southeast Asia and the recovery from setbacks in due time. This story reflects the sense of personal development in terms of sin, sickness and death from a daily perspective. Despite the need for revolution in culture, tradition, religion and beliefs, this book truly reveals the myth and mystery that the world of science has with recognizing the anomalous events.

This story is written on behalf of a young man who has never finished anything big and hasn’t had any great achievement other than standing in the middle of or on the sideline of something but doesn’t get a chance to tell people around him that he can make through obstacles and setbacks in this life because of the special encounters and unique connections come from the superb authority or supernatural gifts. This story reflects the struggles and conflicts in terms of spiritual and intellectual mindsets that almost every human beings have by going through different phases of changes in life. This story indeed affects my personal life, my professional life, and even my Christian life to a point that I hardly imagine its turning point when I look back at those journeys. And for the first time, I find myself having a second chance not only in my academic and business settings but also in my very life from war and even to the overwhelming void of sickness and death that my dad has suffered. That little hope and faith have led me to the still water and by His amazing grace, I’m not only saved but gradually I learn how to fully understand and appreciate the facts that His word is perfect and His love remains steadfast.

In fact, each of us is absolutely unique and our experience of life is also extraordinary. Though we can be seen as a separate entity, but we are just a part of a much larger story because we are interconnected in some meaningful ways that allow us all to reveal His intelligence, love and light. I have, from time to time, felt that life can be defined by the evolution of science or conviction from any analytical means. I believe suffering, sinning and dying beliefs are fiction and unreal. I have never learned that death can almost and instantaneously occur on every plane or any phase of existence until the spiritual understanding of life reaches.

Life indeed can come in all forms of storm, hail and lightning, but I’m strongly convinced that God is still the anchor. I believe that there will be a day and time we can inspire others by sharing our story so that we can motivate and encourage others to live and fight through the similar predicaments in term of the deep and thin water of sorrow, failure, brokenness, despair, addictions, sickness and even death. At many levels, I have never thought of healing coming off prayers until I experience heaven is real. By all reasons, I have never seen peace, joy and comfort coming to the dying soul during the very moment until I witness my dad willingly and comfortably surrenders his life when God calls him home peacefully because daddy knows that his mission on this earth has been completed. With no reservation, I truly believe that faith is what we have but strength is what we tend to fall short of and besides, grace is what is given to us so that we not only can claim victory for his Kingdom, but we can assure peace coming from our Almighty God even though we happen to be in the crossroads of financial hardships, storms of sicknesses, drawbacks in relationships, and even at the end of life.

Chapter 1: Wake-up Call

"If I could wake up in a different place, at a different time, could I wake up as a different person?" Chuck Palahniuk

T here is always a time for everything as an old proverb proclaims that not a fallen leaf goes without Her will. Whether it is in motion or not, subconsciously, we might feel that thing seems to move in her way. The sun rises as the day begins when the first dew disappears and the dawn breaks through the clear sky. The sun sets in a golden picturesque landscape over the western horizon to dress in a dark gown. Flowers bloom, rivers flow, and wind blows as the clock ticks. The bird flies, the lion roars, and the snake crawls. Days in and nights out, life begins and ends in the cradle of the universe.

Every life has a story and every story has a line. From the creation of universe to the era of modern science, every life or living creatures begins with a journey. Some life goes through a simple change while others might evolve through a complex or even difficult process. As a human being, we are born, grow up, marry, have kids, get sick, become old, and then die. No one can foresee exactly how this journey will play out. What the future might behold is difficult to imagine because of the myriad infinite possibilities that lie ahead.

Life teems with mystery. The driving desire to find a solution for life’s enigmatic situations is woven into our nature. We can’t deny the fact that we are curious about what happens in and around us. Relentlessly, we work to find a solution for all that confounds us. From time to time, we question in confusion or frustration and think that life is indeed a conundrum. Do we perceive the incongruity between dream and reality? Do we become aware of the paradox of idealism and the perception between human achievements versus material nothingness? Do we know those who are lost in self-indulgence or addictions are unable to identify the relationship between dream and reality? Do we know who we are and even what we want? Indeed, everyone has a purpose and everyone has an answer. At times, the more we think about what we are going to do, the more confused and frenetic we become. When we look into the mirror of life, our thoughts can become cloudy and what stands in our way is difficult to see. And sometimes when we look at our situations, we can be disconcerted by the sudden attack of our emptiness, especially when we cry out for help and no one answers.

Life begins as a journey. Some journeys turn into an adventure itself. Whether it is by chance or coincidence, we have to understand that any adventure can be complicated if it does not go as planned. Even if it can be planned out in advance, we still can feel that we are somehow off track. For most of the time, we really don’t know where we are heading and what awaits us. We see our life can be overwhelming and what we encounter can be frustrating. Imagine that we are driving in circles several times. Many times in our life when we’re going to a place that we are familiar with, we still are unable to find a parking lot and are confounded by the one-way streets. We might slow down to look for an intersection, but there is no stopping in the middle of traffic. We try to catch our breath from an open window but soon find the air that we breathe in tends to suck us out. While we wait, we can’t help but get bored and might want to jump on to somewhere else.

Indeed, perception is a very strange thing. It is mostly sensual but sometimes can be very hard to fully describe as factual. Our mind or perceptual senses can indeed give us a reflection of what we see, touch, smell or comprehend from environments that we are part of. With the fact that the mind can create an idea or reflection of matter and it gradually transforms into the sentiment of material form known as perceptual sense and therefore develops into the sixth sense. The mind also can trick us with the simplicity of our nature or the obsession from the material world. To a certain limit, there will be few distractions to draw our attention from any conventional programs.

Sometimes the true nature of mind and thought can possibly be understood in form and substance with its divine intervention. Certainly understanding the origin of life can give us great insight to facts and truths so that we can make a distinction of where we stand among the true ideas or the principle of man. In the physical senses, life contains matter, but mind pays tribute to matter. The love of life gives rise to power, wealth, sin, sickness and eventually mortal senses. The love of spiritual gatherings can lead to a calm and quiet life with full godly devotion and seriousness without paying a disrespectful attitude toward any secular authority or cynical world.

Everyone has a life and every life has an expectation. By definition, how do we know that we are living up to our expectations? In fact, no one can possibly argue that life can somehow fill us up with the unexpected. But no one can possibly deny the fact that the unexpected can and will lead us to the unknown. The same principle also can be applied when the unexpected leads to the expected or vice versa.

No one lives without an expectation. Sometimes an expectation, just like a blueprint, is a representation or form made from our desire, and our desire is indirectly affected by our thought process. And over a period of time, this kind of representation can be reinforced and transformed by action or labor, and hence, it becomes the result of performance or workmanship. Whether the expectation is small or large, it is a reflection of hope and desire that are recognized as belonging to us and thus drive us to pursue as that in a dream. For the vast majority of people, our expectation in some fashion allows us to seek the material possession or worldly things with great eagerness and pride.

There are times and circumstances that may cause or turn the expected into the unexpected. From almost all walks of life, you might find out that things can be accomplished by the search of matter, but matter can be scrutinized by substance, mind, or material sense. Every now and then, you might find that many people feel they are successful when they find themselves on the mountaintop of their career, school, business and love. They start to enjoy a little bit more in the provision of wealth, fame and power. There is a time when people somehow forget who they actually are – and some of them hadn’t even bothered to figure out how they started in the first place. Gradually they might be trapped or are in the process of being trapped in the trio of addictions, greed or confusion. There seems to be no room left for fear or worries because the mind is driven in the possession of material life. There is no covenant relationship between the spirit and the mind. There also is no connection between the body and soul because enjoyment plays a big factor and it allows the sense of pleasure to be the centerpiece of life.

Certainly, health is the greatest gift one can have. It can be built under the evolutionary theory of day-by-day process and the healing efficacy from natural science. It can be destroyed by corporeal senses in term of guilt, sin and curse. It also can be ruined by the mythological material sense resulting from the disease process, mentally, morally and physically. In fact, the concept and awareness of health can be different from one person to another, culture to culture, and country to country because the difference is enhanced by education levels, family values, religious beliefs, technological innovations and socioeconomic status.

No one really care about their health until they lose it. There are times we are too busy with things around us, and we somehow leave no room for our own health. It is very easy for us to find time shopping on what kind of clothes should be matched up with what type of shoe and then what kind of cologne or makeup we need to put on to best fit in at a certain party, meeting or networking event. We usually don’t mind spending hours and even days to figure out what kinds of foods we need to prepare for the family or for some special events. We like to complain of having no time to exercise regularly for ourselves, but we are likely to be too busy talking on the phone, texting, playing video games, watching television, or using social media to exercise. From time to time, we get so frustrated, worn out and upset with our lifestyle, especially our body weight, because we tend to forget health indeed is more than substance and matter combined.

There has never been a time until we create the time. Every day we like to make room for people around us, but we tend to forget about and most likely we tend to not bother to spare some time for ourselves. Every day we spend more time to care for our children, family, friends and pets. Whenever the children cry, we are and will always be there to help care for their needs. We find that it is our responsibility to find out what kinds of friends our kids are hanging out with, what kind of movie or music they like, who they are talking to, and how they do in school or work. We discover that it is a good idea to find out what our friends like, where they are used to hang out, and how they think. Whenever our pets are less active, we kiss and play with them until they get back on their feet. Whenever family members are sick and moan in pain, we become a first responder or advocate so that they can be healthy again. Eventually we stress ourselves out. Our care and love for our loved ones can drive us into a condition that turns out to be more problematic and disappointing than their refusal of our help.

There is nothing more disheartened, disappointing or frustrating than the depressed mind. Certainly caring for others and especially our loved ones always can be a wonderful experience and quite noble. That sense of responsibility can fall upon any one, both men and women. Since the Stone Age, males have served as a provider to both the family and society. Even up to this date, most men believe that they are still the main contributor to the emotional, spiritual, physical, financial and mental well-beings of their family despite the facts that equality and feminism are found in this modern day which seems to be politically incorrect. Even from the Biblical truth, man is the bread winner and protector of his family. He is the laborer and leader in the marketplace. He should be responsible for what is happening in and around his family in term of marriage, parenting, discipline, and activity level. Women by nature are caregivers and helpers. She is honored and respected by the sacrifice and passion she has for her family and children. She also is commemorated by the value and love she shares responsibility with her beloved in term of what is in and out of the family. Sometimes this role can be interchanged and interdependent in term of society, cultures, religion, beliefs, class and ethnicity.

For years, I have sought a purpose in my life and have repeatedly asked myself why I am here on this earth. Oftentimes, I love waking up each morning knowing that I have one thought in place but not too many loosen things to catch up with. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and also before dawn, and I love sitting up in the center of bed without lights on or music, just my listening to my breathing and to my heart beat without any interruptions. I love to feel whatever comes into my mind. I want to live my life the way that all of us know that we should. But in reality, we usually don’t and we always can’t. In some strange ways, I know that I am running at a great speed. I gear up very high to chase for my dream. I think the blueprint and expression of success are the measurement in term of money and the ownership in term of property, fame and power. From months to years, I seem to not understand what I look for and surely enough I fail to find out why I am still running after. I even write down what I plan to do hoping to see from what I want. From time to time, I go over my to-do-list in comparison to my result list. Regardless of how much energy I spend, how much time I put into, and how much works I do, I always find out that they are not aligned with my goal, value and mission. With endless nights, I find myself in tears when I try to connect them with my purpose.

Perhaps stepping out of the box, telling the truth, and living out loud are ways to rediscover myself. The possibilities for reaching out and making a difference in other people’s lives are not in my textbook at a time when I don’t understand the relationships between what it is that really holds my life together and what propels me forward. I learn the fundamental drive in human existence lies in the need to find meaning in life but I never come close to learn self-fulfillment emphasizing on individualism that eventually drive me off from serving others as well as myself until I take a close-up look at my family.

What draws me into this is the concerned response I get when seeing my dad seriously ill for the first time. In retrospect, I see that my dad has been living his life in taking care of his family. He puts all his time in the nurture and growth of his children. I always remember what he used to say – that every seed needs to be grown in a good environment. To have a fruitful result, a plant needs to undergo careful irrigation, trimming, and cultivation because storm, wind, mold and locusts can threaten and disrupt growth. The same theory can apply to mankind as well. With strong family values and a good, nurturing environment, a child can and will develop strong character and good physical and intellectual health, as he or she grows older.

There has never been a day that my dad led his life without showing his passion and concern to the ones he loved and so to the people he associated with. Ever since I was a kid, dad always told me that a man needs to stand by his words, to work hard at all times, and by all means to complete his responsibility and his God-given assignment. On any given day or occasion, people happen to forget who you really are and what you actually do, but they won’t necessarily forget what you do to them and what you speak to them with little to no objection or rejection at the time. The only reason for that is no one knows how far reaching those words can be and what can those words and deeds do to influence people’s mind and thus to change their attitude and behavior. Sometimes, even a simple word or phrase might mean nothing to you at the time, but it can turn out to be a significant factor in another people’s life. Dad also reminded us that we shouldn’t count on having family, except in memories, unless we truly show them our true heart.

As an entrepreneur, dad worked very hard every day to support his family. He usually left home shortly after dawn and then came home late after dark. When he was in the store, he made sure that every customer got his or her merchandise at a reasonable price. When the store ran out of things that customers needed, dad would personally go out to other suppliers or factory where he could stock up on the merchandise. He never would charge his clients additional charges or take their tips for special services. He always said that customers are a part of his family and they should be treated with respect, honesty and love. He also told us that customers give us good opportunity to enhance the quality of our service and provide us a chance to improve our personalities in term of attitude, thought, and discipline, not to mention our reputation and integrity.

As a master and keeper of the house, dad showed us the great wisdom and love he had for the family. As always, dad was a good chef, and he was very picky in the use of ingredients, preparation and taste of food. Since teenagers and up to the recent days, we usually saw him sticking around the kitchen with mom to ensure the dishes were perfectly prepared before serve. Dad used to say, Food is one of the best gifts God gives us to enrich and nourish our flesh, and it should be fully enjoyed in our labor or leisure and by the art of fine cooking as well. We found that is absolutely true, especially during holidays, birthdays, and special events because daddy always was there to show us the secret of fine cooking or culinary art. In addition to that, our family was blessed to have a wonderful dad who constantly reminded us children to study hard and master the skills or knowledge we have. Dad always reminded us of his favorite phrase to first work hard and then desire more. Dad constantly encouraged us to set school as our priority because a higher education and training will better prepare us for good career and future so that we won’t need to make our living with the way he did it, through physical labor. From time to time, he made sure that we children had completed our homework assignments before dinner was served. If anyone of us was caught in idleness or cheated in school, he or she would be reprimanded and not allowed to eat dinner. He or she was then sent to their room to reconsider or figure out what he or she had done wrong. This helped us to remember his teaching, and it indeed triggered in our thoughts about our own actions in term of shame, guilt and redemption. Further, it alerted us to the need to change for goodness sake!

Growing up in a middle-class family, dad had built himself a strong sense of independence after undergoing the devastation of war and economic turmoil from the Great Depression in Asia. He demonstrated to us the life of his strong will, belief and devotion to foster a family with happiness despite of his lack of a higher education or college degree. Though he has lived a tremendously busy life in work, dad never failed to show us the better way to achieve a healthy life. With serious planning and preparation of a better future for his children, dad constantly feeds us with tough questions and proper solutions to the challenging problems we face.

His health was derived in part from nutritional supplements, vitamins, herbs and exercises. Since I was a kid, I seldom saw dad taking drugs or medications, unless he was at least moderately ill. Pain killers, muscle relaxers, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) would be seen as unnecessary in his daily conditions. He frequently told us that there should be an alternative way to the taking of a pill. He believed that the prevention of disease should focus on a day-by-day process, but it did not mean the reluctance or stupidity of not seeking care in any episodic events. He always stated that there was no reason for us not to ask if we didn’t know an answer or were in doubt, and there also was no justification for us if we do not search for an answer unless we truly know what it is. From time to time, we remember what dad once told us that things usually would not be changed a lot unless we acted upon them.

As far as I can remember, dad liked to add herbs into his daily cooking. He often put Chinese herbs and medicinal black mushrooms in selective dishes so that more flavors would be found in meats and vegetables. That preparation not only became tastier, but it tended to increase the nutritional level. Due to his being highly active in outdoor activities such as mountain hiking, bicycle riding, jogging, spinal hygiene exercise, gardening and vegetable planting, we usually saw dad takes zinc, Ginseng and herbal teas. Dad explained to us that those products were important and necessary for our health because they helped to improve our energy in term of Chi, which can form the foundation for good circulation and joint movement. They can also provide us with pure and natural supplements to maintain Yin and Yang balances that can eventually lead to strong immunity, productivity and detoxification. Furthermore, they can help the body to develop natural harmony through duality and enhance strength, vitality and youth for a healthier life.

No one knows how important one’s health can be until he or she loses it or is at the brink of losing it. Whether we care or not, health does mean something very significant and sometimes can cost us dearly. To some younger individuals, getting sick may mean discomfort, high fever, bruising, or a cut. They usually carry a take-it-easy attitude because they simply believe a pill or bandage can help to cover the problem and recovery is just a couple of days away process. To some middle-aged individuals, getting sick may suggest some kinds of pain, dysfunction, illness, weakness or disruption to the normal process of their physical, psychosocial and even sexual activities. Most of the time, these people will initiate a more aggressive, direct, honest and straightforward approach because they strongly believe that seeking a cure can help to eliminate the stressful tomorrow. To the elderly, getting ill may not only mean the loss or deprivation of health and painful symptoms, but it may also suggest prolonged suffering or distress and perhaps long-term disability. In general, the elderly believe treatments are indispensable, and that process indeed can go beyond a pill or bandage.

In retirement, dad usually started his day by drinking his favorite French-style coffee mixed with condensed milk going through the filtering drip. Then he did some simple laundry. He liked to keep the house clean at all times whether it was the floor, sofa, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom or garage. Dad always reminded us of his commitment to love, his devotion to work, and his dedication to serve. Dad always pointed out that if a person did not know how to work or to put his or her heart out in every small thing, he or she would have tougher times and bigger challenges dealing with any larger, more complicated problem. As time goes on, we found that is absolutely true, as dad became physically weak to a point that he was incapable of doing things he was used to do since he suffered from hypertension and diabetes.

One early morning before daybreak, my mom called me into dad’s bedroom. As I rushed to the room, my sisters told me that dad felt very sick. Suddenly he became chilled and pale, his pulse weakened, his breathing turned shallow, and he was in pain. After knowing dad recently took some prescriptions for cold, sinus, and loss of appetite, I immediately call his doctor’s office to see if dad can be seen in his office at the first hour in the morning. The answering service from the doctor’s office advised us to immediately take him to the hospital if we felt the illness was life-threatening.

After