In Memory of Steve C.--Sown in China

Bill Brown .... Xiamen University
"No one shows greater love than when he lays down his life for his friends." John 15:13 NAS

"He presented another parable to them, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.'" Matt. 13:24 ISV

[See end to give to Steve's Memorial Fund]

Steve and Esther Cochran came to Xiamen to teach English a couple years ago, and their infectious good humor and optimism touched the hearts and lives of Chinese and foreigners alike. But shortly after arriving in Xiamen, Steve was diagnosed with terminal skin cancer and given less than a year to live. After checking with doctors in the U.S., Steve decided to spend his last year where it would do the most good--back in Xiamen.

Steve's body slowly weakened but his spirit did not, and he and Esther kept teaching and reaching out to others until the pain forced Steve to return to the U.S. for his last few weeks. On his last Sunday at XICF a few weeks ago, he spoke to the fellowship, upbeat as always, and said, "Don't feel sorry for me. We are all terminal. We are all going to die. What is important is what we do with the time remaining to us."

On the day that Steve passed away last week, he did not ask for prayer for healing, or even relief of the agony, but that our Father would send more teachers to China.

It seems a waste to send someone like Steve to China for only two years, but as I see how many lives he touched, and consider the influence they in turn will have, I trust that Steve was a seed sown at just the right place, at the right time--not planted on rocky ground or amidst the weeds but in good soil (Luke 8:8). I can only imagine what fruit we shall reap from Steve's life, because a seed strategically sown yields infinitely more than a seed simply cast to the winds.

From Wheat Seed to Computer? Amazingly, until about 500 years ago, European farmers just tossed their seeds into the fields and hoped for the best. It was only after Dutch traders introduced the seed drills and plows used in China for 2000 years that we started planting crops in rows, and methodically planting seeds where they'd do the most good. This led to the agricultural revolution, which in turn allowed the industrial revolution, which led to the modern technology that eventually created the computer I am typing on--all because we quit tossing seed to the wind and planted it where it would reap the best harvest.

The Seed's Journey Seeds have an astounding number of ways to get about, and each has advantages and disadvantages:

Flying seeds are light; some, like maple seeds, even have wings. They can soar for miles, but they go only where the wind blows them.

Floating seeds, like coconuts, can float for a thousand miles, but go only where the current takes them; they never go against the flow.

Clinging seeds stick to animal furs, or our clothes, or the mud on our shoes. There is no limit to how far they can travel, but they can only follow the crowd.

Exploding seeds, like the squirting cucumber, have sacks that shoot out seeds at over 60km. an hour. They're fast, but they have no direction.

Sown Seeds are planted carefully, lovingly, strategically in rows, carefully spaced, in good soil, and nurtured with adequate nutrients, water and sunlight.

You and I can be blown about, follow the current, or cling to the crowds--or we can be sown strategically in good soil, and nurtured with living water, and Light. Unlike other seeds, we have a choice.

Bible Roulette In 1999, while in a Hong Kong hospital for two months undergoing cancer surgeries, I became so downcast that I resorted, for the first time in my life, to Bible Roulette. I prayed for an encouraging verse, opened my Bible to a random page, pointed, and read 1 Cor. 15:36, "You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies." That was not the verse I was hoping for.

Not so Good News? I hastily shut the Bible, prayed again, opened it at random again, and my fingertip fell like a lead weight upon John 12:24: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

I was astonished--and dismayed. With over 2,000 pages, and over 31,000 verses, what were the odds I'd hit upon the two verses about dying seeds? I considered a third go, but instead just closed my Bible and accepted the obvious. My time was up. So I sent up a feeble thanks for the many good years I'd had--and to my surprise I felt a warm wave of relief wash over me. The problems didn't go away, but I felt a peace during the rest of my stay in the hospital because I knew my life was in my Father's hands, not mine. And since that experience my life has been much more meaningful because I faced the stark reality of Steve Cochran's "We are all terminal. Use the time wisely."

Good Seed, Good Field In Matt. 13:24 Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like a man sowing good seed in his field. We are "good" seed, and because he has sown me in the right soil with even greater care than an ancient Chinese farmer, I know I shall bear much fruit until the day I reach the Terminal. Fortunately, the Terminal is not a condition, or even a Tom Hanks movie, but a destination; not an end but a beginning. But while I'm waiting to visit the Terminal, as my Father cultivates me, I need to cultivate patience.

Pulling Rice Shoots: In ancient China, a farmer hard up for money decided to gently pull on his rice shoots each night so they would grow faster. Unfortunately, his tugging of the rice plants loosened the roots and they all withered and died. Ever since, Chinese have used the phrase "tugging rice shoots" to urge people to be patient.

We can choose to be scattered or sown, but the harvest is in our Father's timing, not ours.

Give to Steve Cochran Memorial Fund Make checks payable to CEF, with Memo: "For Taiwan," and attach a note, "For Steve Cochran Memorial Fund. For tax deductible receipt, send to the U.S. or Canada. If not tax receipt needed, send directly to Taiwan:

CEF
1753 Cabrillo Ave.
Torrance, CA 90501-3697
USA
*Check pay to: CEF MEMO: For Taiwan (This is a Must!) Attach note: "For Steve Cochran Memorial Fund"

CCEF
Suite 718, 5863 Lslie St,Toronto,
ON. M2H 1J8,

Attach note: "For Steve Cochran Memorial Fund"

If NO tax deductible receipt, pls send check to:
CEF
P.O. BOX 13-144,
Taipei,TAIWAN
Web www.cef.org.tw
Attach Note: "For Steve Cochran Memorial Fund."

Esther Cochran's E-mail: kuanren@psmail.net

Additional.... Earlier Seeds in Amoy.
100 years ago, the average lifespan of a European serving in China was only seven years, and Xiamen was known as the "White Man's Graveyard." The little foreign cemetery on Gulangyu filled far too quickly.

Grieving at the Wedding Mary Doty, who was born in Xiamen on Gulangyu Islet in the early 1850s and lived here until she was nine, wrote in her memoirs of her mother Eleanor's wedding to Elihu Doty before coming to Xiamen in 1848: "A solemn, sad ceremony, listened to by friends and kindred from far and near, was performed. For the going into this Service [missionary work in China] was looked upon as about equivalent to death, certainly to all kinds of distresses; and to witness the ceremony that was to bind her to this life, was enough to fill everyone with sadness, that a beautiful young woman of their community was about to enter upon, and separate herself from them all in doing it. (And her mother did die just a few years after Mary was born; Elihu Doty had two wives die in Xiamen, and Elihu died on a voyage to visit his children in the U.S.--only 4 days from shore).

Read the Doty's Story.

A Seed Planted in 1939 (Walter DeVelder, in his unpublished memoirs, "A Missionary Journey Over Nine Decades):
"The Autumn was a beautiful time in Chang Chow and we were looking for the baby's coming in early January. We went down to be with Clarence and Ruth Holleman for Christmas, 1939. Margaret went into Hope and Wilhelmina Hospital with some bleeding, but things looked optimistic and we kept cheerful. On January four it was decided to do a Caeserian section for placenta previa. Margaret died on the operating table. The whole Chinese and foreign community was shocked, as were the friends in the United States. I could not believe the sun would ever shine again.

The funeral was held in Union Church with the Rev. Edwin Koeppe taking the service. Margaret was laid to rest in the Three Missions Cemetery beside her father's grave. Margaret died at age 34, her father Dr. John Otte at fifty.

Read: Dr. John Otte's Last Days

Read: Chuck Saunders (Founder of Asia Evangelical Mission, "Died with his boot on in China"1995)

Read: The Missionary Cemetery of Fuh-Chau (Fuzhou) by Rev. J.W. Wiley, M.D.

Acknowledgment: Coconut Photo by Wmpearl on Wikipedia (Common Domain)
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