Hero of My Life

By: Katherine Chin

Uncle Felix grew up in a small town called Shinzhu, located on the north side of Taiwan. His family was not able to afford extra clothing or toys or even to pay for his education. Uncle Felix learned to take what life gave him, and to always look on the bright side of things. Working hard during school and pushing himself gave him an opportunity to attend National Taiwan University, the best university in Taiwan. Graduating at the top of his class, he began working in a large insurance company. Uncle Felix advanced his career when he left his home in Shinzhu, and headed for Taipei as a branch manager for quite a few years. In order to be successful, he worked day and night, and traveled overseas most of the time for meetings, conferences and marketing researches. With his determination and skill, he was able to advance to a high ranking position within the company. After fifteen years of his career life, he was promoted to be the CEO of the company in Taiwan. In his career, Uncle Felix consistently demonstrated his loyalty to the company, and he was admired among his business partners for this.

Uncle Felix’s faith began when he was still in his mother’s womb. His parents were faithful believers and brought him to church when he was very young. He was raised in a strong Christian family, and his parents taught him not to take what he had for granted. Regularly attending church, he was baptized when he was fifteen. Since then, he volunteered at the church and saw how the Lord had blessed him. When he heard the pastor’s sermon one Sunday, he felt that God was calling him to fully serve the Lord. At the age of fifty, Uncle Felix closed his business, and decided to completely devote all of his life to Christ. He spent most of his time serving others in his church, and began attending Taiwan Baptist Seminary in Taipei. After taking courses of Biblical theology for five years, he began to get involved in teaching at Sunday school, organized youth fellowship, preached in his church, and shared the gospel with non-believers in the community.

Unfortunately, Uncle Felix was not able to preach for long, as he suffered a heart attack in 2008. Doctors found that there were many blood clots in his aorta, and he needed emergency heart surgery. The hospital required him to reside there for three months, so that they could monitor his recovery from heart surgery and health condition. Many of his cardiologists did not believe he would survive the surgery. While he was in the hospital, close friends and family members went to visit and pray for him. Many people asked him about his faith in God. They wondered why he was still committed to the Lord, even when things went wrong. As a response, he told them that God gave him everything he had, and there was nothing to do except to be grateful. Since then, he has made a remarkable recovery, and he was released one month early from the hospital.

Uncle Felix came to visit us only a few weeks ago. Joyful as ever, he praised the Lord for helping him to live, and be healthy. When he is around, he is such a positive influence to everyone around him. He is not pessimistic, and makes you want to be a better person.

To me, Uncle Felix is the model of all I aspire to become. His successful career makes me realize that I need to be well-prepared for my future education and career goal. His selflessness and compassion towards others reminds me to continuously consider the meaning of life. His strong faith encourages me to consistently keep my faith during the difficult times in my life. Uncle Felix’s life testimony is an inspiration to people of all ages. He makes me want to become just like him, so that someday, I too, can be someone’s hero