Auntie Deborah Wang - Never Alone

Auntie Deborah and her famous husband, Pastor Wang Ming Dao

By Dr. Harold J. Sala.

Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. Hebrews 13:5

It is said that behind every great man is a great woman. Unquestionably, that was true of Wang Ming Dao. The woman, Deborah Wang, a frail but vibrant saint, endured what no woman should ever have to face. Her husband, Wang Ming Dao, was one of the unofficial architects of the house church movement in China, and when her husband was sentenced to prison for what the Chinese government termed "anti-revolutionary" activities, his wife followed.

For 20 years, this saintly woman was in prison, facing the bitter cold of northern Chinese winters with thin clothes and insufficient food, but she never complained.

In 1989 I met the Wangs for the first time. I'll never forget the afternoon I sat in the humble little apartment in Shanghai and listened to them recount their experiences. While I deeply admired and venerated Wang Ming Dao, I was drawn to the strength of this saintly woman whose smile came from her heart. As she talked about the years of imprisonment, I asked, "Did you ever lose hope?" (After all, 20 years of separation, with very little news and few letters from the one you loved so deeply, is a long time.) Her eyes spoke far more than her answer as she said, "No, never!"

After the Wangs were released from prison, their home became a refuge for those who needed encouragement and counsel. God only knows how many cups of tea Auntie Wang (as her friends called her) served to weary men and women who traipsed up the stairs to their flat for encouragement and help.

What a woman! Two weeks after her husband passed away, at the age of 91, I again visited Auntie Wang. The ashes of her late husband were in an urn on the table near the chair which Brother Wang had used as a pulpit to share the Word. My son-in-law and I sought to comfort her, quoting some of my favorite passages of Scripture. But it was Auntie Wang who really comforted us. She was in her mid-eighties. Successful surgery a few months before had removed one of the cataracts from her eyes, and few details escaped her. When a small piece of paper fell from my lap, it was she who quickly leaned over to pick it up.

"Auntie Wang," I said, "I will pray that you will not be lonely." Pausing for just a moment she spoke with a clear and resolute tone of voice, "I will not be lonely; I was not lonely before." It was what she didn't say that spoke the loudest. On a previous visit, she told me that she had seen her husband but three times during the twenty years of imprisonment. That one word, "before," said so much. I knew what she was thinking.

Those words rang in my ears when a close friend told how Deborah Wang had developed pneumonia and was taken to a Shanghai hospital. With no rooms available, she was given a temporary bed in a hallway, and there in the early hours of the morning on April 18, 1992, she met Him who had been her stay and companion for so many years. As the leaves of the trees were budding, following the cold of a Shanghai winter, Deborah Wang made her entrance into the presence of the Lord, where a faithful and devoted husband awaited her.

The saddest part to me was that she couldn't be surrounded by friends and flowers when the angel sweetly took her hand and escorted her across the threshold of death. But I am sure of one fact: While she was alone, she was not lonely. She had the promise of her Lord who said, "And surely I am with you, always...." (Matthew 28:20). Deborah Wang experienced that, both in life and in death.
Resource reading: Hebrews 13:1-5



Dr. Harold J. Sala, well known speaker, author and Bible teacher, has served as founder and President of Guidelines International, Inc., since 1963. He is the featured speaker on the daily "Guidelines-A Five Minute Commentary on Living" which is broadcast on over 1000 radio stations around the world and translated in over 15 languages. Author of over 40 books published in various languages and hundreds of publications. Residing in Mission Viejo, California, Harold and his wife, Darlene, have three adult children and eight well-loved grandchildren.

Crappy Old Man

As I was searching through my writing resource files I came across the following item. It was sent to me quite some time ago as one those emails making the rounds. I don’t know why I saved it, but as I look at it now I seem to reflect on it more personally than I might have at first. I remember as my grandparents aged and as my mother reached the 100-year mark. I know of others who also found themselves in declining years with the declining abilities that come with the territory.

When I checked the story with Snopes, an Internet hoax tracker, I found it to be a well worn story with a number of different starting points, but not without a sense of authenticity. I decided that, for me, it didn’t make any difference where it came from. The story is worth repeating.

CRABBY OLD MAN
When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a small hospital near Tampa, Florida, it was believed that he had nothing left of any value. Later, when the nurses were going through his meager possessions, they found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital.One nurse took her copy to Missouri. The old man's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas edition of the News Magazine of the St. Louis Association for Mental Health. A slide presentation (here) has also been made based on his simple, but eloquent, poem.

What do you see nurses?......... What do you see? What are you thinking.......... when you're looking at me? A crabby old man......... not very wise,Uncertain of habit......... with faraway eyes?

Who dribbles his food......... and makes no reply. When you say in a loud voice......... 'I do wish you'd try! 'Who seems not to notice......... the things that you do. And forever is losing......... A sock or shoe?

Who, resisting or not......... lets you do as you will, With bathing and feeding......... The long day to fill? Is that what you're thinking?......... Is that what you see? Then open your eyes, nurse......... you're not looking at me.

I'll tell you who I am......... As I sit here so still, As I do at your bidding......... as I eat at your will. I'm a small child of Ten......... with a father and mother, Brothers and sisters......... who love one another.

A young boy of Sixteen......... with wings on his feet. Dreaming that soon now......... a lover he'll meet. A groom soon at Twenty......... my heart gives a leap.Remembering, the vows......... that I promised to keep.

At Twenty-Five, now......... I have young of my own. Who need me to guide......... And a secure happy home. A man of Thirty......... My young now grown fast, Bound to each other......... With ties that should last.

At Forty, my young sons......... have grown and are gone, But my woman's beside me......... to see I don't mourn. At Fifty, once more,......... Babies play 'round my knee, Again, we know children......... My loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me......... My wife is now dead. I look at the future......... I shudder with dread. For my young are all rearing......... young of their own. And I think of the years.......... And the love that I've known.

I'm now an old man......... and nature is cruel.'Tis jest to make old age......... look like a fool. The body, it crumbles......... grace and vigor, depart. There is now a stone......... where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass......... A young guy still dwells, And now and again......... my battered heart swells. I remember the joys......... I remember the pain. And I'm loving and living......... life over again.

I think of the years--all too few......... gone too fast. And accept the stark fact......... that nothing can last. So open your eyes, people......... open and see. Not a crabby old man.....Look closer....see......... ME!!

Remember this poem when you next meet an older person who you might brush aside without looking at the young soul within. We will all, one day, be there, too!

FEEL FREE TO SHARE THIS POEM. The best and most beautiful things of this world can't be seen or touched. They must be felt by the heart. God Bless. 

Dan Perin

Beaverton, Oregon

United States

The lonely man who called 911 over 27,000 times

John Triplette, a 45-year-old unemployed man, was charged for abusing the 911 emergency line: he made over 27,000 calls to 911.

Police says he was a lonely man who would call the dispatchers for company, sometimes hundreds of times a day. He would also make various noises, including grunts and other bodily noises, minimal conversation in a disguised voice, beeps from the touch pad, etc.

The prank 911 calls were made from a T-Mobile cell phone which leaded to his arrest after police tracked his cell signal. Police said he apologized for the calls. He said he made them "because they were free." He faces $1,000 fine and/or six months in jail.