Living good enough! Tribute to Bae Gwang-Jin

It seems like fleeting moments. The last time I saw him physically present on his desk was Thursday afternoon, the 27th of March. Few days earlier he was busy phoning people in Myanmar checking whether the flight to Mandalay was booked and the car to be used to travel to Tahan was arranged. And on that Thursday afternoon before leaving the office for my English class, I checked his departure date and he said he and his two companion will leave on Monday the 31st of March and they will be Myanmar or Burma for a week. I bid him a safe travel and goodbye. That was the last time I saw him animated with friendly smile and gleaming eyes.

Last Friday, the 11th of April was his funeral service. My dear friend and colleague Bae Gwang Jin has joined his Creator. He died in Burma few days ago. Just like all his colleagues, friends and most especially his only daugther and family members were shocked at his demise at 41 years old. Four years ago, he came to our welcome party in Kang Nam Church in the Southwest part of Seoul and two years after when I joined the staff in the PROK General Assembly, he is one of those I closely work with. As a member of staff, he invited me for two consecutive years to give a talk on doing Christian mission in the East Asian context. The world Christian Academy of the PROK is the annual program he coordinates.

As ecumenical workers in Korea for four years, me and Gloria are indeed grateful for the friendship of Bae Gwang-Jin. When we moved in to our new house in Mapo-gu, he took time to facilitate some of the basic amenities in the house, such as the internet and telephone connections. He accompanied me to a second hand furniture shop to buy refrigerator and sofa. He is such a generous person, that somehow we feel orphaned by his departure to eternal life.

I can't help myself recalling the last few months when we interacted in the office, we are seated across each other with the glass divider separating our desks. Mary Collins sits on the desk to his right and diagonal to me. One lighter moments I recalled Gwang-jin was responding to Mary's queries, he said, "I've live long enough at 41." I'm not very keen on premonition, but with the events that followed I'd guess that what he said was a kind of anticipation. Well, we normally say to ourselves, you can die anytime, anywhere. We have to accept the fact that all of us will die. However the time between now and the time of death is very crucial to all people, especially to adult persons who have established matured relationships.

I believe in what Gwang-jin said that he lived long enough at 41. More so I'm convinced that he lived good enough as a person of faith. I might be in the stage of denial that he is no longer here with us, but there is that kind of confidence in my heart and in my mind that he is alive somewhere. Thanks a lot dear friend for living good enough!