BETWEEN SEARCHING AND SERVING

1923-1926

Although Sung had made a name for himself as a budding scientist, although he was endowed with another scho­larship, this one for the Master's program at Ohio State University, his soul was restless and often depressed. Why? The answer might be found in St Augustine's famous utterance: "O Lord, Thou hast made us for Thyself and our souls are restless, till they find rest in Thee."

In search of that indefinable something called rest, farth­est from the young scholar at this time, Sung signed up for an international student convention which was scheduled to be held at Lake Geneva, the long summer vacation of 1923. Being a poor student with only "two sleeves full of cool breezes" he was glad to find a companion to hitch-hike together to the convention grounds.

As part of God's training of His chosen vessel, Sung must go through the school of hardihood. For a whole hot summer's day he and his friend did not make much head­way. By nightfall they were still struggling through some isolated farmland. As there was no sign of any habitation in sight, they made the best of a bad situation by sheltering in a haystack under the starry sky. Too tired to do anything they fell asleep with neither food nor drink.

Waking the next morning Shang Chieh remembered to pray. Man's extremity is God's opportunity. Trusting that God had heard his supplication, he and his companion continued their hike with higher spirits. Jehovah Jireh, no sooner had they hit the main road this time than there came along a young honeymoon couple from Wesleyan their alma mater. With God's help they who were so far from home and friend were brought so near. Immediately the couple recog­nized Sung to be the one whose photograph had recently appeared in the papers, the "whiz kid" from China everyone were talking about. As the couple was headed for Chicago they would not be far from their destination now. "Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass" (Ps 37:5).

Though Sung had come to the convention with high expectations, he soon discovered to his dismay he was barking up the wrong tree. As there was nothing in the meetings that could satiate his longing soul, he withdrew without apology to a corner, to a hillside overlooking the Lake to meditate by himself. As he sat above the Lake his thoughts were drawn to another, to the Sea of Galilee upon whose slopes our Lord had fed Five Thousand.

But how did Jesus perform the miracle to begin with? Was it not by first accepting five loaves and two fishes humbly brought to Him by a little boy? Suddenly it dawned on him that small and insignificant though we might be, we can equally be used of the Lord. If we are to "present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God" (Rom 12: 1), what five loaves and two fishes can we offer Him? Every Christian can make his life count if he will yield himself totally, wholeheartedly, to Him.

A beautiful sermon was projecting itself allegorically on the screen of his mind. And the words he could hear, almost audibly, spoke thus: "Don't you have the powers of your five senses, five viscera, five fingers and five toes to serve Him? Two eyes, two ears, two hands and two feet? What God wants of us is not so much our possessions as our being --- body, soul, spirit. One little lad who gives himself up to God can feed thousands upon thousands! But to give up oneself to God, one must pay the price of holy consecration. "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Rom 12:2).

The Lake Geneva trip that led him to this encounter with God was not taken in vain after all! Brimming with joy and with a new determination to walk in His ways he returned to his daily grind. For, there were near four months that intervened between end of May and mid-September in what was called the summer vacation. This gave the self-earning student a wonderful opportunity to work his way through College. This is one genius of the American educational system.

When Sung got back to Ohio, he was glad his brother had found a factory job. As for himself Delaware seemed to be his second home. There he also got a factory job, but before he had gone very far he was downed by a running fever.

Tuberculosis! What a dread disease in the twenties before the advent of modern drugs. If he was to work, and he had to, it would not be in a factory, but on a farm or in some other open air situation. After further hard knocks and disappointments in job hunting, the Lord led him to one he liked - mowing grass by the roadside at 45 cents per hour. Basking in the sun that brings with it "healing in his wings" (Mal 4:2), Sung found a natural cure in a matter of weeks! His health fully restored and his spirits refreshed, he re­turned to his new alma mater with a greater determination to achieve than ever before.

Ohio State University had a student population of ten thousand hailing from thirteen countries. It exuded an atmosphere conducive to the fostering of international understanding. "Like fish taking to water," he plunged into various students' activities, foremost among them being the resuscitating of the International Students Association. For taking a leading role he was elected President. He joined another students club - the International League for Peace. As president of the former he organized concerts and an international food club at which menus from different countries were prepared on a rotary basis. By such inter­cultural activities he hoped to promote goodwill between students from different nations and backgrounds and there­fore remove color bar and racial prejudices. He organized a students aid society whereby money earned from students' functions would be loaned to needy ones free of interest.

As he trotted the broadway of social service he unwitting­ly stepped on the snares of the social gospel. His ideas of Jesus his Lord began to fall in line with the doctrines of modernistic and liberal theology. He began to trample underfoot the Blood of Christ, like Cain refusing to bring a lamb but rather the fruits from the ground, the works of his own hands. How precarious! He had forgotten that the social gospel propounded at Lake Geneva could little allevi­ate his sin sick soul. Neither could he now offer a solution to seekers of peace and rest. He became like one lost in "a five li (pronounced lee) fog" (one li = one third English mile). But what he did was in line with the world and from the world he received many rounds of applause. The press spoke of him as "Ohio's most famous student." Oh the folly of falling into the webs of flattery! "A man that flattereth his neighbor spreadeth a net for his feet" (Prov 29:5)!

After nine months of study at Ohio State University, Sung was conferred the M.Sc. in June 1924. Again he stood at the forefront of his class and received further honors --- the Science Society's medal and gold key. Being an Oriental, he became the cynosure of all eyes. Strutting down the podium with the highest academic decorations, he felt an irresistible urge to go on to the PhD.

Chemistry being his forte and favorite subject, he re­solved to take the doctor's degree along this line of least resistance. Now, to qualify for the PhD in Chemistry he must have French and German. French he had studied, but not German. This challenged him to bury his head in the new language the summer of 1924. Having grasped the rudiments of the German language in two months, he applied to take the test. Given a German book on chemistry to translate, he did so well that the professor thought he had studied the language for years!

Being a doctoral student and a Chinese subject it qualified him for a grant from the Chinese Government. He also applied for a part-time lectureship in the University. Sung was no more that poor student with "two sleeves full of cool breezes". By working on the subject he loved day and night he covered all readings and assignments in one year and nine months, way ahead of the others. March 1926 saw Sung Shang Chieh obtain his PhD "with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereunto". Offers of jobs and high positions came from his alma mater, from China his own country and from Germany. He was now carried to the dizzy heights of his own achievements, floating on golden clouds of glamour more than even before.

Waking up the morning after the glamorous night of his self-exaltations, there came a still small voice, however, from his innermost being, "For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" (Matt 16:26). Again the words came, now loud and clear, "For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" From the pinnacle of inflated egoism he was plunged suddenly into a swelling tide of emptiness. Musing over this famous saying not from Confucius, nor from Laotse, he heard a knock-knock, so sudden, on the door. Of all people, Rev Wilbur Fowler, the Wesley Found­ation man at Ohio State, had come to visit: "Why, you don't look a bit the scientist that you are. You are more of a preacher," remarked the unexpected visitor.

In the ensuing conversation Dr Sung revealed his original purpose of coming to America and the conflict ever more raging in his soul! "Why not study at Union Theological Seminary in New York then?" suggested Rev Fowler.

The attractions of seeing America's No.1 City where is located the world-famous Columbia University were in his consideration, but the yes he said to Rev Fowler at the end of this fateful visit had been prompted from Above. "The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord" (Prov 16:1). Pastor Sung having dedicated his son from birth to the Lord, and the same having yielded to the vow of his father, would not the Lord accept the twice-uttered offering in the fullness of His time? The die was cast for Union Seminary.

On his way to New York City, God showed Sung a greater sight than the skyscrapers of New York, the mute work of puny man, which seemed to beckon him. The thunderous waters of Niagara Falls, booming the awesome majesty of the Creator like a thousand-thousand voice choir humbled him to the dust. Rising up, he prayed, "O Lord, let me be a Niagara for Thee."