My father died in 2007, in a tragic automobile accident. At that time I was in Beijing. I remember feeling “restless” that day and decided to go out (not one who would go out alone). I ended up in the Peoples Square,there is an archery tower built by the Ming. There is a museum dedicated to the history of Beijing and I saw a sign pointing upstairs to a gift shop. Not one who is big on touristy gifts, I decided to investigate. Upstairs I saw a large room with many red colored blessings left by travelers. I asked “how much for a blessing?” A girl there stated “100 rmb”, I thought to myself….”what a rip off” and I started back downstairs. But something kept on making me go back. I did this a number of times before I decided to make a blessing. “What should I wish for?” I thought. You could make a wish for anything, wealth,love,success…etc. Of all things, I made a blessing for my family (which was not too close). Unbeknownst to me, I did this 3 hours to the minute after my father died.

The “Dream”: One month later I had a strange dream. I was sitting with my brother and my daughter, when my father sat down beside us. Being surprised, I looked at my brother to see if he sees the same thing. My brother glanced at me, I took as to ignore my father. But I couldn’t, I turned to my father and asked…”where were you”? He smiled and stood up and walked away. I began to follow him and I remember vividly what he was wearing and even felt the mole on his back when I touched him. When I finally caught up with him, we sat and I asked…”How are you?”. He turned to me and said….”I’m not happy”. This surprised me because I thought heaven was supposed to be a great place. I asked him “why”? Then he told me it is because “the family is fighting”. Now this was true because after his death, there was a “money grab” going on in the family. I remember, I started to cry. He then turned to me and said….”don’t worry, I will always look after you”. That is when I woke up bawling.

Year later: I was in Guangzhou watching TV, when all of a sudden, the lights went out. I got up to see what was wrong . I found the fusebox tripped, so I turned it back on and went back to my show. Later it went out again, this time I wanted to investigate the cause. I found my rice cooker (less than a year old) was shorting out. I got the rice pot and started cooking it on the stove, then went back to the tube. A few minutes later….BOOM!!!!!!! I sprang up and went into the kitchen to find the thick glass cover on the rice pot exploded into a million pieces. I stood there puzzled to why this happened.Then I realized, it was the anniversary of my father’s death. The next day I burned incense and paper.

The “Grave”: On my subsequent return to Hawaii the first 2years, I visited my father’s grave. The first year I went, I ran into my second oldest brother there….strange. The second year, I ran into my first oldest brother….stranger yet. Keep in mind, if any of us came 5 min before or after,we would have missed each other and these visits were totally random and this was my only visit on each trip. Looking back, I took this as my father wanting the family to reunite.

The “Shenzhen incident”: On a winter holiday from teaching,a foreign teacher Walter and I went to Shenzhen. We went to a place called “SeaWorld” which has many restaurants. To make a long story short, we walked into a “restaurant scam”. They wanted 3,000 rmb for some drinks. Not willing to pay, I insisted on calling the police. The owner said…”no police”! I then knew we had to make a “run for it”. When the owner picked up a heavy ash tray, I made my move out of there. They then jumped me and started beating me. Walter took this opportunity to run and made it out of the door. He desperately started looking for help. This was not an easy task, he was looking for a foreigner who could speak Chinese. He did find one relatively quickly and this man called the police and I was saved. Here is where it gets very strange……

The man Walter found, so happened to have taught at the VERY SAME SCHOOL Walter and I did (we came from Harbin and it is across the county) AND before Walter came to teach in Harbin, he emailed a teacher from that school, to get information about living there. IT WAS THE EXACT SAME TEACHER!!!!!!!!!!

Think about this. We are across the country of a 1,000,000,000+ people. What are the odds of finding a person you emailed (who you never met) in the “hour of need”?????????

This goes beyond chance, beyond coincidence. It is like hitting the lottery twice in one day.

Stranger still, this happened on my father’s birthday!

From these events, without a doubt in my mind, I believe in “life after death”. I have personally benefited from this, knowing my father IS watching over me and protecting me. I urge everyone reading this to take the time to honor the family who lived before you.

It is their life that we owe our own to.