Gospel Prism

On Saturday morning July 15th, my cousin Royce left an inaudible message on my cell phone. I figured I could call him back later. Later that afternoon, I received a phone call from my sister telling me that my cousin Brian, Royce’s brother, was murdered early that morning. I immediately called Royce back to ask for the full details. At the time, the details were quite murky, as even Royce had an incomplete picture as to what exactly happened. Even right now, LAPD is still trying to put the pieces together. Various news outlets have picked up the story describing the event, from the local CBS News to the Korea Times (this account is very inaccurate). LAPD also has a press release concerning the murder. But there have been many rumors about what actually took place, such as Brian was attacked by a rival gang, or Brian was attacked in revenge to things he had done in his past. To be honest, given the earliest of circumstances, I was also led to believe that some of these options were a possibility. However, this seems to have been based on many false assumptions.

From what I have been able to piece together myself through talking to family members, getting a picture from a friend of Brian’s who was maced by the culprits, this is what I think happened thus far… [please note that these details might need further corroboration]

The Events Surrounding Brian’s Death

Brian and his family had driven down to Southern California to meet his newborn baby for the first time. They arrived Friday and that evening as they went to bed at Royce’s place in San Diego, Brian couldn’t sleep because he was so excited about the birth of his son. A couple of friends of his had also come into town, and so they decided to meet in Los Angeles to talk and celebrate. Since the baby was with his mother in Los Angeles, Brian figured instead of trying to sleep without success, he might as well go near to the baby to see him as soon as possible. So they met at a café/bar in Koreatown, Los Angeles.

As they were sitting in the Café at a table, two groups of people were engaged in some type of argument. Brian and his friends decided to leave the café due to the fact that things were getting out of hand. For some reason (and this is where the details are still murky) Brian and his friends were followed outside by a small group of Asian men and women to a parking garage. I received an email from one of Brian’s friends who wrote this for the reason they were followed: “He actually tried to break up the fight but left as things got worst and got followed to the parking lot…Please also pray for the perpetrators to be brought to justice - supposedly there were 20+ people surrounding my 3 friends - this is a targeted homicide case…â€?

It also seems that they had called some other friends to meet them at the garage, where now 15-20 people had surrounded Brian and his friends. They were able to mace the two friends, leaving them on the ground immobilized and temporarily blinded. Brian had broken free and was holding one of the men who had a knife and was trying to stab his friends. Seeing their comrade was in trouble, a large group of them rushed Brian with knives and stabbed him 12 times in the back and 4 times in the front.

My Relationship With Brian

Right now, his mom and family are terribly grieving over his loss as you can imagine. But I’d like to share a few things about Brian and in particular my relationship with him. Brian is my first cousin (my mother’s brother’s second son). My first recollection of Brian was at a family reunion at Big Bear Lake in Southern California. He was a happy-go-lucky kid who loved to laugh, to run, to tell corny jokes. He was a good-natured child, well-liked, and essentially your average American child. After that reunion, the next time I would see Brian again was three years ago. Brian had graduated from Long Beach State and had moved back to the Bay Area to work for a mortgage company. I really didn’t interact with Brian much then. He seemed to have his own life and his life was removed from mine. But things changed on one particular night.

Brian’s Trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior

I received a phone call from my cousin Royce (Brian’s oldest brother). He called to tell me that his father was bleeding profusely from a wound on his hand and virtually unconscious. I went over there and saw all of my cousins uncertain of what exactly to do. This would be the beginning of a year and a half’s journey for Brian’s family and the many trials they would face concerning their dad’s/my uncle’s health. My uncle, Brian’s dad, passed away a few months ago. But that ordeal gave me sovereignly-ordained times to have meaningful interactions with Brian concerning the Gospel. He shared with me quite honestly about a past that was far away from God and His mercies. He shared with me how angry he had become throughout his life, in many ways towards God and his dad in particular. But through this trying year and a half, he also shared with me how he came to some deep revelations of how he needed to forgive those whom he had hurt and had been hurt by. One of his friends writes this about Brian’s testimony:

I also found out Brian was reborn about after his father passed away, realizing that the love that his father had for him was a reflection of how much his heavenly Father loved him. Brian confessed everything to his pastor and cousin, and decided to live a life of Christian ministry, following Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord, according to his mother, especially helping out those that are in prison and with the new generation of babies at his local church.

Brian was certainly not a perfect person. He was a person who was a depraved sinner, as he himself would readily admit. But I am so thankful that in the last few months of his life, there were three significant events that I can say I was blessed to share with him. First, Brian joined our church for our annual Men’s Retreat. He spent a good amount of time in the car ride to Tahoe with a few guys who cared for him just as he was. They cared for him as Jesus would and for that, to those men, I am forever grateful. I know that he was deeply challenged by the messages of what it means to be a son of God (through the light of the Gospel), a brother with other brothers in Christ (in the Church of Christ), and as a soldier who would live this life anew for His Savior. In conversing with Brian after the retreat, and even before it, he was interested in spiritual things. He asked me what Bible he should get (a regret I have is that I did not buy him an ESV). He began to read Scripture on his own. He was hungering for God’s Word and His mercies. Brian left that retreat longing more and more to be like Jesus in His life, to go from darkness to light.

Second, Brian and his family came over to our place for dinner on July 1st. Afterwards, the two of us sat down and talked quite openly about his life. He shared with me for the first time that he was about to have a son out of wedlock. He shared with me the joys that he felt in having this son, the responsibility he felt, but also the wish that this child would have been born in marriage. Thankfully, I was again able to share with him the Good News that while having a child outside of marriage is a sin (which he readily admitted to), it is not an unforgivable sin. Jesus died a horrible death on the cross so that all of us dreadful sinners could know the power of the Gospel. I told Brian that he and Tina were forgiven of their sin if they trusted in Christ’s power to heal them and if they believed in Him. And He did believe in that. I told him that he should go down there (something his mom had been telling him all along) to LA and see his baby and love Tina and marry her. And that I would do everything I could within my power to counsel them with pre/post marital counseling so that they could live a life pleasing to the Lord together as husband and wife, and also experience the Lord wanted them to know as a couple in Christ. I told him that when he returned with Tina and the baby, they could be a part of our church and we would care for this new family, this now blessed marriage in Christ. I told Brian that despite the beginnings of sinfulness, that God’s amazing grace was so powerful that even that which is sinful can be used for His glory and our joy. And he agreed!!! He was ready and willing to honor the Lord.

After Brian’s death, Shua told me that Brian’s mom had told her that Brian wanted their baby, Jaden, to be dedicated at our church. I wish I could have dedicated that baby and have seen Brian and Tina both say with full assurance before Christ’s church, “I love Christ, I wish to honor Him with all that I have, and I will raise my baby with this same love for Christ.� This was Brian’s heart at the end of his life.

Third, I saw Brian at the end of his life make a concerted effort to mend his broken relationships, with his family and with his friends. Given enough time, I know the Lord would have pressed Him by His Spirit to do this with all those around him. But he certainly made every effort at the end of his life to live in peace with all around him (Hebrews 12:14) as many can attest to.

Someone asked me, “Why would God take Brian so early when he was just transforming to be like Christ?� I don’t fully know the answer. But I am thankful that many people began to see this transformation of Brian Chin before our eyes, a person who now saw Jesus as his hope and life. His faith was new and still unformed, but in Christ by grace through faith, it was very pleasing to Jesus. And I believe the legacy that he would have desired for all those around him, was that all of his friends might trust in the Savior that he now trusted with his life and with his eternal life as well.

To Brian, thank you for teaching me once again that there is nothing more powerful in this world than the grace of God and His sovereign mercy. That no matter how far a person turns from God, running with all of his might away from him, our Savior’s love is so great that it can rescue the darkest and deepest of sinners. And no one is beyond the great love and grace of God because of Jesus Christ’s finished work. Through your wounds, you have reminded me of Jesus’ pierced side as well. That that same love extended to you which you now have with Christ eternally, is for all sinners as well, sinners like me. I hope everyone who might read this account will know what Brian believed at the end of his life:

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. 17For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.� (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Giving to the Brian Chin Memorial Fund

If you’re interested in helping out with the funeral costs, you can give to the Brian Chin Memorial Fund. The info is as follows. You can send a check to:

Bank: Wells Fargo
Account #: 8351346146
Name on account: Memorial Fund fbo Brian Chin

Or you can paypal at this email address:

royce.chin at yahoo . com

For further updates on Brian’s death, reflections from others, or his funeral details, you can click on the following links:

Update 1 and Royce’s Letter

Update 2

A Brian Chin Memory

Brian in the San Jose Mercury News

Yahoo and Brian

Update 3

BRIAN’S FUNERAL SERVICES INFO

Seeing Brian’s Body for the First Time

Brian in the LA Times

Meet Brian’s God

Pictures from the Funeral