Part IV: The Journey From Sight To Faith
Chapter 3: The Giants to Dallas, Texas
On Monday morning, my wife and I drove the car with our two children in the back seat, while my brother, Ken drove the truck by himself. He has always been a good older bother to me and my family. He willingly and graciously helped me on very short notice. We traveled on I-5 South. We would alternate driving the U-Haul truck to give each of us a break.
As we were about three hours from San Francisco, I saw white smoke coming out of my car. We pulled over to the side of the road with the truck behind me. As we lifted the hood up to look what was the problem, steam was coming up from the radiator. Fortunately, we knew that we weren’t to open the radiator cap until it was cooled.
As we stood there looking under the hood, a state patrolman just happened to walk up to us. He asked us what was wrong and I explained that steam was coming out of the car. He opened the radiator cap and asked us if we had any radiator fluid. We handed it to him, and he poured the radiator fluid in for us and capped it. As suddenly as he seemingly came from nowhere, it appeared that he was gone. I looked down the highway, but I didn’t see the car! To this day, I wonder whether the Lord sent an angel to help us or was it a real highway patrolman. As we continued to drive, I was puzzled why the radiator didn’t leak or steam anymore. It was kind of strange.
We drove into San Francisco to my father-in-law’s home. I flushed out the radiator to make sure it was clean. I wanted to make sure the radiator was in perfect working condition before we continued our journey. Looking at what lay ahead, we had to drive up a steep mountain after Bakersfield and get through that mountain pass and then down into the Mohave Desert. Our next overnight stop was Flagstaff, AZ. We just had one minor hiccup; everything was still on schedule.
We left Tuesday morning and drove into Bakersfield to gas up. After driving a few miles outside of Bakersfield, the radiator started steaming again! We pulled over the side of the road and we were in the middle of nowhere. Oh, no. I thought to myself. What are we going to do? We had our two young children in the car and the temperature was getting hotter by the minute.
As I look down the road, there was nothing but weeds as far as my eyes could see. No signs, no houses, nothing resembling civilization was in sight. As I turned to look back, I saw a tow truck across the road helping another stranded motorist. I ran across the freeway and asked him if he could help us. He said that he will come back and help us after he tows the other car. We waited for him and thankfully he kept his word and came back for us.
He towed us back to a radiator shop in Bakersfield. By the time we got there it was late in the afternoon. The man said that the radiator needs to be boiled overnight as there was dirt inside of it. I was puzzled how dirt could get inside of my radiator, and I just flushed it out in San Francisco. He said that the car would be ready sometime tomorrow. We stayed overnight at a hotel. We were so thankful to the Lord for allowing us to be at the right place at the right time and to see that tow truck helping another car. Was this another sign that the Lord was with us and going ahead of us? It seemed that way to me as it would have been so much worse if the radiator blew out in the Mohave Desert.
Early Wednesday morning, my wife and I decided to take the truck and drive on ahead into Dallas while my brother would catch up with us when the car was ready. Now, we were one day behind schedule. We were supposed to be in Flagstaff, AZ but we were still stuck in Bakersfield!
To make up the time, my wife and I drove as far as we could that day until we were nearly exhausted. Instead of staying at a hotel, we decided to stop and park beside the road to get some rest. We pushed on the next day, trying to get to the DTS office before they were closed to meet with our student contact. With our extra efforts of driving, I calculated that we should make it.
I thought we had enough time, but I forgot the time change. We were on Pacific Time instead of Central Time! We were two hours behind time. I wasn’t going to make it. I needed to contact him. But all the contact numbers were inside my briefcase, and it was in the car! Now, we just had to get there before the DTS office close. We pressed on as fast as we could go.
We drove the truck to DTS and found a parking space. I jumped out and ran to the office. The doors to the school office were closed. What was I going to do now? I’m completely exhausted. I don’t know where to stay. I don’t have any connections. I’m not even sure how to get in touch with my brother who has my kids. As I walked back to the truck, a man said, “Are you Kingston Tong?” I said, “Yes, I am!” He shared that he was expecting us yesterday, but we didn’t show up. He was wondering what happened to us and if we were alright. I briefly shared with him what happened to our car. He graciously led us to his apartment. There, he, and his wife had dinner for us, and they even let us sleep in their own bed. I don’t remember much or even where they slept because we were exhausted from the two days of almost non-stop driving. As I pondered these events, “Was this just a coincidence or God’s providential care for us? What was the probability that I would parked there, and he and I would meet at the same time even though I was late?!”
I don’t quite recollect how my brother and I reconnected. If I am not mistaken, on Friday morning I called Dallas Chinese Fellowship Church and I was given the number of Kuang Fu. I called that number and he gave us his address. We thanked our host and proceeded to drive the truck there. Kuang Fu warmly welcomed us to his home and later that evening we met his wife, Winnie. My brother came later that day, I believe. I don’t remember whether he stayed that night with us or left that day to fly back to San Francisco. I greatly appreciate all his love and support for us.
While at Kuang Fu and Winnie’s home, I learned that he was laid off from work a few weeks ago. Being free, he offered to help us find an apartment that we could move into. That Saturday we signed the lease and by Sunday afternoon we moved into an apartment complex with two-bedrooms. While the apartment didn’t have all the comfort of our previous house, it had a swimming pool and our children loved it.
As I reflect on that road trip to Dallas, we had two breakdowns on the road. We had two people who came to help us: a patrolman and a tow truck driver. We had two people who provided housing for us until we were able to move into our two bedroom apartment. Again, God was going ahead of us with every step we took.