the man with 6 ribs missing

had the pleasure of meeting this particular elderly person through my dad. the first impression he gave was that of your normal senior citizen next door, though he currently resides in the states. but the moment he starts to narrate his experiences ... that is when you know that this is a special person, touched by God. i wasn't able to catch every single detail when i heard him speak. below is a rough recollection of what he told me, to the best of my memory and interpretation.

he escaped out of china and made his way to hong kong when he was just 17. with no food, no money and no where to go, he ended up taking refuge in a school. in exchange, he had to help the teachers copy their teaching onto the blackboards prior to classes. his bed at night was simply 4 student tables put together. due to the harsh living conditions and malnutrition, he often had not enough to eat. health wasn't something he had and it wasn't uncommon for him to cough out blood regularly. not exactly what any normal 17 year old would experience.

then, tragedy struck and for a period of time, he was unable to use his right master hand. unperturbed, he took it as a sign that God wants him to learn to write using his left hand. now, he's ambidextrous and writes with either hand as easily as a fish takes to water.

at the age of 27, he lost the use of a portion of his right lungs. due to his conditions and certain complications, 4 of his ribs had to be removed. local anaesthetic was administered and through a large part of the op, he retained consciousness. he felt that doctor cutting up his chest and he saw the doctor preparing the saw to cut off 4 of his ribs.

bearing in mind that it was in the 1950s, and without modern day medical equipment, the best way to visualise that operation saw would be to think of the normal hacksaws you'll see in technical workshops nowadays.

he felt the saw making contact with his ribs and felt the grinding. though pain didn't grip and coarse through his entire being, fear did. but that was when he looked through all these, and onto the model of Christ. the cruxifiction must've easily been a thousand times worse; so what were all these compared to Christ's suffering?

halfway through that operation, the nurse in the operating theatre could take it no more and fainted. still, the operation went on, and finally, while the doctor was sewing him up, he drifted off into unconsciousness.

at the end of his whole ordeal, a total of 6 ribs was taken out from his right rib cage, and his right lung retained a mere 30% of its operating capacity, even till this day.

i suspect that there was more to what this man went through, but alas, time was a limiting factor and i wasn't able to learn more about him. the interesting part is that this frail old man, who had gone through so much suffering, later went on to started a ministry. this ministry currently spans across the states and has branches in hong kong as well as singapore. a ministry that translates bibles.

and in his words: "so you see, now when my right hand is tired from all the writing, i simply transfer the pen to the left and continue on."

nothing can describe the wonder of how God works.

anyone who saw me walking with him would say i was standing next to an old man, more than twice, almost thrice my age. a man who walks with a slight hunch and has problems breathing properly.

and yet, look not with your physical eyes, and there you will see, standing next to me, a giant in any other aspect. and as an after thought, how fitting it is as well, that he's name is Paul.