November 23, 2008
In the years that I have known Tom, I have come to trust Tom to do very important things around the church—to hold a paintbrush! Before I only trusted Pastor Mak and myself to go around the church touching up the walls with white paint. I didn’t want drips and spills on the carpets and the floors. But with Tom, he was careful and meticulous and a detail person. While before, I brought my expensive brushes from home to use, this last time, Tom brought his own from home. I trust Tom to paint the church.
Being a detail and careful person is what Tom does for work as a pharmacist. None of us want him to grab the wrong bottle of pills when he fills our prescriptions! He needs to take that plate and that stick to count out just the right number of pills so that we won’t take too many of a good thing!
We know that testing new drugs involves trials of their effectiveness and side effects, and in order to avoid bias, these are usually done on a double-blind basis. This means that neither the patient nor the doctor following up on the patient knows whether the active drug or an identical-looking placebo is being given. Well, it was told that an American doctor, active in the field of drug testing has now moved beyond from double-blind trials to triple-blind trials: The patients did not know what they were taking; the nurse did not know what she was giving; and the doctor did not know what he was doing! Our Tom Wong always knows what he is doing.
One of Tom’s greatest passions is to go fishing. Tying those complicated flies is hard work. It needs detail work with steady hands and good eyesight too. He told me one time that his freezer was filled with fish that he caught.
There’s a story about a fellow who came ‘round to Mark Twain’s house twice every day trying to sell fish, and Mark Twain kept saying, “No, thank you, no thank you.” But finally, he felt that the man’s sheer persistence ought to be rewarded, so he told his wife, “I am going to buy a fish from that man,” which he accordingly did. When the fish was prepared for lunch, it was found to be highly unsatisfactory, and when the peddler came around again, Mark Twain went out, hailed him, and said, “Look here, that fish wasn’t edible. It was too old,” and the fish man turned calmly and said, “Well, it wasn’t my fault, boss. I gave you two chances every day this week to buy that fish, and if you were foolish enough to wait until it was spoiled, don’t blame me.” Tom won’t serve you old fish because he’s a man with integrity and great honor. Besides, fish in the freezer lasts forever.
Tom, your love and care for Maureen set an example for us of taking time to love a person dearly and daily. The way you carefully paint and beautify our church for everyone who comes to worship makes God’s house a welcoming community. The way you carefully make flies and catch fish symbolizes how we have been called by Jesus to become fisher of men and women. May God bless you on your birthday and may God continue to care for you as you carefully care for others.
Don Ng, 11/22/2008