Jeremiah Tangianau John Glassie’s Story (aPP 19)

This story is based on the recollections of

• Tangi & Lilly Glassie (Miah’s Parents)
• Marty Barrett (Miah’s youth pastor at the time)
• my own conversations and observations of Miah

Jeremiah was given a ukulele when he was young and later taught himself the guitar. He had a musical ear at an early age and could just pick up a song and play it despite not being able to read music.  While the family were gathered around singing, Jeremiah would be outside playing with the kids and then he would come in and play the song the others had just been singing. He just picked up the tune and played it.  Jeremiah started singing from when he was first at the Seventh Day Adventist school from the age of five.

He learned lots from the events surrounding his cousin Nia Glassie’s death in August 2007. Miah had a photo of Nia in her coffin to remind him to pray for people. Jeremiah lost his phone at the zoo and so he prayed for his phone to be returned. Those who found it knew it was his phone because of Nia’s photo. From that moment on prayer was always foundational for Jeremiah and he would pray for people intensely. Jeremiah was seven when Nia died. Prayer became of paramount importance to him. When Jeremiah fell ill he was always asking his mum to let the church people know to pray for him.  He knew prayer was his lifeline. When anything went wrong his first thought was to pray. Jeremiah learned quickly who God was.  From thirteen onward he began to call the family to worship and family devotions and give input to the family from his time in God’s Word.  He had a burning desire to know God. When he started at  Howick College (2016) he said, “Mum it is strange not going to a school where we start the day with worship or prayer.”

Miah started to get migraines from when he started high school at Howick College in 2016. The school would often call to advise that he was in the sick bay with a migraine. During that time he started canoeing seriously and his mum, Lilly told him she thought it was too much for him and the reason for his headaches. He was on the Cook Island Outrigger Canoe team. They competed on the Sunshine Coast in Australia against all the other teams from the islands of the Pacific. The team won bronze when the competition was held off Takapuna Beach in Auckland. They also competed at Karapiro in the National Championships. Lilly said, “It wasn’t that he was a great sportsman but when he did something he would always do it to the best of his ability. He had a good relationship with the team and with the coach and was known for his guitar playing. He would go down there with his speaker as well and sing to everyone.  He just loved people. That’s why the team honoured him when they brought him in to the service and at the cemetery, bringing him through the salute of the archway of paddles.”

From sixteen to eighteen years of age he wrote a lot of songs as a part of his course work at school.  He was following a course in music where he had to compose / write songs and record them. The first songs he recorded were Cook Island songs. He recorded those a couple of years before he got sick. Two people came from the Ministry of Education to evaluate him. While they didn’t understand the words Jeremiah was singing, they were touched by the music and the passion with which he sang to the point of crying. There was a hush that came over everyone when he was singing that song and all were touched. People loved him. He was always there available with his guitar, ready to step into the role of leading the music. Jeremiah tuned all the instruments in the school music department when they needed it, despite not ever having learnt music formally or having any music lessons. Without training he knew what to do to set up the studio at home. The music resided within him. The music teacher at Howick College said “I don’t know how your son did it but the music he had to compose for his assignment just came out of him in the last week.”

The kids at school loved to hear him sing. He would sing at assembly on special occasions.  He was also asked to play the Cook Island drums and sing for Papatoetoe High School when they were highlighting Pasifika music or holding Pasifika festivals and Cook Islands music.  During the time he was sick and couldn’t attend school they would give him credit for the times he recorded songs or sang for school events and festivals.  Tangi helped him set up a recording studio at home to record the songs he wrote. Jeremiah couldn’t read music and he didn’t know the Cook Island language but when it came to songs he could sing them despite not knowing the language or reading music. In the last period of time Jeremiah was wanting to record an album with his own songs that he composed.  He would often talk with Tangi late at night about a song related to something and then the next morning he would hand his dad a recording of the finished song. Lilly recalled, “His passion for God just bubbled out of him. It came straight from his heart and he was not ashamed of God or His Gospel and he didn’t care who knew.”

In early 2019  Jeremiah went to hospital for tests to check what was going on. Up until then they had said it was just migraines. That was when they diagnosed him as having a brain tumour. Marty, Jeremiah’s youth pastor at the time, was asked to go with the family. Marty recalls, “They invited me along in the very early stages to talk with the specialist. Even right from that point, Jeremiah had a calmness about him over everything that was happening. I remember the day that he was diagnosed with having a brain tumour he was calm. Through the journey as he got sicker it was like he grew in his faith. He had a deep understanding of who God was and how he was cared for. There wasn’t a fear of what was coming, it was more that he used it as an opportunity to always bring things back to the need to pray.”,

Jeremiah joined the group praying over the seats in church after the all night prayer burn in 2019. Long after the others had stopped Jeremiah had to keep going because he wanted to lay hands on every chair in the auditorium and pray over each chair for the sake of the person who would sit in it.  [That was the first time I noticed the passion of this young man Jeremiah Glassie I had heard about. He stood out to me for his desire to go the extra mile for God.  Ian]

Lilly recalls, “Having gone through the tough times with his cousin Nia’s death from abuse, as his own journey with sickness progressed it made Jeremiah tougher and stronger in terms of facing adversity. Jeremiah came to know well that praying to God was the only way of overcoming it.  Miah was given the grace to go through what he was suffering. It didn’t make him angry or blame God for his situation. He accepted that what was happening to his body was what God was allowing. It was the family who were asking the why questions and the why not questions.”  

Jeremiah had a passion within himself to take the glory of God that was in him and share it with the people around him. Tangi recalled, “A guy stepped out on the road in front of us one day when I was driving. Jeremiah said, “Jesus died!” Later he told the family he meant Jesus had died for that man who almost died crossing the road. His first thought was for the man and his relationship with Jesus. Jeremiah always lived in such a way that inspired others to go all out for God.” One day someone in church told Jeremiah that he wanted to take a break from God and the things of God. When Jeremiah was telling his mum he said in a shocked way, “God doesn’t take a break from us. How can he say he wants to take a break from God? You can’t stop and take a break from going to church.”

Jeremiah’s sickness didn’t weaken him; it made him stronger. He became more zealous to ensure the family had their daily devotions. Even if it had been a full day at hospital or medication and tests and they were getting home late, it was important for Jeremiah to finish off the day right and spend time in worship and having time in His Word as a family. Or if Tangi and Lily came home late and saw Jeremiah, Teaea and Autym together, then Miah would say, “Don’t worry mum, we have had our devotion time.”  He was the one to prompt the others to worship and spend time in the Bible. Marty remembers, “Even in the harder times when he was physically in pain his response was not to complain to rather to turn on worship music and have worship music playing.  I would walk in the house and hear the Gaither’s country music playing. It was instantly calming for Miah despite the fact that everything he was going through was painful; what we might see as hopelessness, he turned into an opportunity to point people toward God.

Jeremiah had a passion for people. He had huge patience for people, especially little kids. Miah always saw the best in people. Marty would often take his young son Levi when he visited Miah. “One of the things that I really loved is the way he cared deeply for Levi. There was a real connection between Levi and Jeremiah. He was always excited to see Levi which made Levi really excited. Levi would then send Jeremiah videos when we were in lockdown, “Hey, how are you?” Jeremiah would then send videos back. Miah cared on-goingly for others. For Levi’s birthday he put together a big celebration box full of lollies.  He was always thinking of other people before himself. A real caring nature – as with animals and his cat, he just loved looking after other people. He’s a big gentle guy.”

Easter weekend 2020 Alistair, the senior pastor, was talking about the death of Jesus from the Gospel of John and Jeremiah was quiet while the family watched online but Lily could see he was crying. “Are you alright son?” She wanted to ask him what was wrong because she could see he was troubled. This was around a year after being diagnosed with a brain tumour. She could see he was scared and asked him why. It wasn’t because of his sickness or the possibility that he would die. He was worried about the changes that were taking place in his body. The medication he was given for his cancer was making his body swell. His skin was having to stretch and became thinner which resulted in him being easily bruised and his skin was getting stretch marks. He didn’t know what was happening to his body.  

The day he was suffering from extreme pain from the tumour in his head and was taken into hospice care to ease his pain on 28 November 2020 was the first time he asked “Why me Mum? What have I done to deserve this?” Lily said, “I am sorry son. I don’t know why?” But even at that time Jeremiah didn’t get angry with God or blame Him for what happened. There was always a calmness upon him. During that time he would often either take his guitar to sing or listen to the old country hymns online or via YouTube. The worship music calmed him and gave him peace.  “This is My Desire” and “Majesty” were his favourite go-to-songs for bringing the sense of God’s Presence to him.  

Marty noted, “Miah’s got natural ‘woo’; people are drawn to him. You talk to the family and find out he was always looking after his cousins. They often went to him to talk about their stuff. I think he had that natural leader ability in him but what he was going through changed the dynamic of the advice he would give people. You don’t want to see somebody go through what he went through but he talked about the fact that God was present  through that whole situation and the suffering he went through. You can ask those questions “Where is God? Even the fact that the nurses at hospital were people from church was sign that God was with him.  You know when he was suffering he was cheered by a familiar face; there’s Donna from church. God’s people were all around him because God placed them there. It changed the dynamic of what he was going through.

You see his natural character coming through. He is a guy who loves his car, he loves his music and he put his sounds in his car. You know all of these things. I saw him maturing when that stuff wasn’t possible, he didn’t complain or get upset like a normal teenager would.  He took it all in his stride and I think the way that he dealt with things actually enabled Lily and Tangi to process stuff in a way that they wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.”

I [Ian] got the idea that he had the inkling that Christianity and faith was a community thing. You go to church not necessarily because you want to get something out of it. But you go to church because when you’re there you can contribute and be a help to other people. Marty agreed, “It felt like we want to be there not because we have to turn up on a Sunday but because we want to be part of the body. Baptising him on 15^th December 2019 was incredibly special. I saw the transition in his life and it was a privilege to baptise him. Despite the fact that his body was hurting at that stage it was like “I want to do this.” Lily said that both the boys wanted to get baptised. When I sat down and talked to them about it, there was a real understanding of . . . I need to do this.  Out of obedience, it is one of the things God asks of me . . . to get baptised. It was an awesome experience to baptise both Miah and Teaea.”

Soon after seeing Miah in the online service Easter 2020 I was impacted by the things Miah shared and saw that he had the same spirit and attitude as Bethany Joy Wake. I knew I had to take him Bethany’s book Heartbreakingly Beautiful (pictured). There were several readings that I suggested he read and then when he had read them, let me know and we would talk about them. I then started visiting him and the family weekly. We talked about all sorts over those times. We joined our prayers with the prayers of the church and many others asking for God’s miracle of complete healing for Jeremiah. I could pray with complete trust that God could reach down or say the word and Miah would be healed, knowing Domi’s story and seeing the scars. But we also talked about death and dying and when we did I had a very strong sense from the Lord this brave young man was prepared and ready for meeting his Maker, his Lord and Saviour.

One of Jeremiah’s favourite verses:

But as for me, I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love. For you have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress.

Psalm 59:16

Jeremiah often used to say or ask his mum Lilly to post: “Thank you LORD for blessing us with another day of life. TO GOD BE THE GLORY!”

Miah certainly did honour God with all that was within him.

Jeremiah Singing one of his Favourite Songs:

Well Miah, God has not only given you another day of life but He has opened the door to LIFE, the kind of Life that God always intended for mankind.

ZOE LIFE – The Life of the Age to Come: when God will restore the LIFE He meant for us in the Garden of Eden.

Jeremiah Tangianau John Glassie passed from life to the Life of the Age to Come on December 17th 2020.

Following this Nugget I will begin to draw from these remarkable stories the common elements which indicate the depth of what God does behind the scenes and then share with you some more amazing truths of God’s word as we move toward wrapping up this Nugget series on A Puzzling Paradox. With the last Nugget in this series, I will offer you an answer to the doozy of a question that I put before you at the beginning of this series, one which will include what I believe to be the ultimate Bible paradox. Don’t miss it.

Why does God heal an eighty five year old woman and allow a 20 year old young man to die?