The fall of this year has been replete with unexpected happenings. There was a huge snowstorm in October. Also in October I was hired as Marketing Manager at a financial firm. New friendships have been forged, and old, forgotten ones rekindled.
In the three years that have passed since Mom K was called home, we have been brought through moments of unbelievable joy and profound sorrow.
But the events of the last two days have come upon us like a silent, speeding train, when we were all looking the other way.
Dr. Samuel Hsu, beloved teacher, mentor, friend, confidant, brother in Christ, elder, and pianist, to name a few of the ways people knew him, was unexpectedly (to us) called home to be with Christ in glory.
Here is the official announcement on the PBU website, which has all the pertinent details. (I highly recommend scrolling to the bottom of the page, starting the video, and listening while you read.)
A fellow alumnus and friend wrote this beautiful tribute in honor of Dr. Hsu. We are all truly standing on his shoulders. As Davey also stated, Dr. Hsu was a perfect example of "becoming all things to all men."
Jenny studied piano with Dr. Hsu as a student at Csehy Summer School of Music, then as a Piano Performance Major at PBU. All in all she studied piano with Dr. Hsu for just about a decade. And studying piano with Dr. Hsu is not merely a process of learning how to play a musical instrument, but to live a full, abundant life in Christ.
I never had the privilege of studying piano with him. However I did study music history with him, and had the indescribable pleasure of serving as his music history teaching assistant in my last year at PBU. This man was so gracious. I used to stay far past campus curfew in his office working on my compositions. One night I was so tired when I left at about 1:30 or 2 in the morning I left my music strewn about the office (My process was much messier then), fully intent on coming in early before him and straightening up so that he wouldn't be subjected to my mess. Of course I didn't get up at the appointed time, but when he arrived at school he simply left everything as it was, and tried his hardest not to disturb anything, so as not to disrupt my "genius." His word, by the way, not mine! If anyone in that building was a genius, it was Dr. Hsu.
To say that he will be sorely missed is trite and oversimple. Nonetheless, this man will be sorely missed. He is one of the dominant reasons that both Jenny and I have continued in music, and have continued in our education. Praise God for the immeasurable blessing of having known this singular man.
The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Dief - You've said exactly what I've been thinking; that his students did not learn music alone, but learned the following of Christ.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.