The Eight “Twenty-Threes”
William Shih-Chieh Hung
God may not be visible to our naked eyes, but if we allow ourselves to be close to Him through our faith, then we will understand the true meaning of “God is always with us”, and realize our intimacy with Him is stronger than actually seeing Him in person.
Our family has our own Thanksgiving Day on January 23rd of each year. This is the story of how it began:
19 years ago, with USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) documents in hand, we applied for immigration to America in China. Since our family has long suffered political repression, we have been told by government officials that they will never approve our application to emigrate. But we are film believers of the Bible’s proverb “The King’s heart is in the hands of God”. After 5 years of our heartfelt prayers, they were miraculously answered: Me, my wife and our youngest son were approved for emigration. We left China for Hong Kong on January 23rd, 1979 (The First Twenty-Three); At that time China and America did not yet to establish diplomatic relations, so we must wait in Hong Kong for our visas from the U.S. Consulate there. We waited eleven and a half months before we finally received our visas. As our physical exam certificates were only valid for one year and were about to expire in two weeks, we immediately purchased our air tickets from the Four Seasons Travel Agency upon receiving our visa. I was shocked to hear from the agency staff said that the flight on January 23rd was the only one with seats still available. Hearing that makes me realize this was all God’s arrangements.
On the night of January 23rd, 1980, we left Hong Kong for USA on a Singapore Airline flight (The Second Twenty-Three). As our plane headed east and crossed the International Date Line, the time fell back by almost a day, and so when we first landed in America (on Honolulu, Hawaii), it was still January 23rd (The Third Twenty-Three).
On November 23rd of the same year, my eldest granddaughter Yi Chen was born in Shantou, China (The Fourth Twenty-Three).
In January of 1983, my daughter Sandra was about to give birth in Hong Kong. Me and my wife were constantly praying and we both had a premonition that her son will be born on the 23rd for sure. So, we wrote to our daughter and son-in-law beforehand and suggested that, if their son will be born on the 23rd, then we will designate that day as our family’s Thanksgiving Day. Another miracle: Our first grandson Henry Yick-Yan Lo was indeed born on January 23rd, 1983. (The Fifth Twenty-Three).
In January of 1985, my youngest son Gary left his old job for a new one at a big factory. As me and my wife are of the conservative minds, we both felt that it’s much easier to stay put than to start a new job. We began to wonder if he had made the right decision, and so we looked for guidance from God through our constant prayers. Luckily the factory decided to officially hire him on the 23rd, before the end of his probation. We both understood this was God’s idea and so our hearts and minds were at peace. Turns out the job was a good and steady one; Eight years had gone by but it felt like he just started working there yesterday. Even my eldest son went to work for the same factory when he himself immigrated to the US four years ago. (The Sixth Twenty-Three).
Around that same time, my youngest son Gary also became engaged. His fiancé did not yet to believe in God and so, per Chinese tradition, her family wanted to choose a fortuitous day for the engagement. As we are firm believers of God, we left the matters in His hands and went along with it. To our surprise, our future daughter-in-law chose a lunar date that happens to fall on June 23rd (The Seventh Twenty-Three).
As Gary’s engagement date approached six months later, his fiancé’s family hired an astrologist to find the fortuitous day for the actual wedding. The astrologist settled on the lunar date of December 14th. I compared the lunar date with the Western calendar with fear and trepidation, only to found out that it’s January 23rd, 1986! We were in a state of shock and awe, yet we also strongly felt that the wedding has God’s approval and blessing. We jubilantly praised God by singing “Hallelujah” (The Eighth Twenty-Three).
So, in a span of eight years, from 1979 to 1986, eight wonderous events happened to our family on the same day of the 23rd. And of those eight events, six of them even occurred on the same day of January 23rd. These eight joyful events could not possibly dictate the date of their occurrence, especially the birth dates of our granddaughter and grandson. Even if medical technology had advanced tremendously in our times, it’s still well-nigh impossible to designate an exact date for babies to be born.
One could say it’s a coincidence if it were two or three events, but having eight “Twenty-Threes” was hardly a coincidence. God not only used these coinciding events to show that He is indeed always with us, He also strengthened our family’s confidence, and allowed us to exalt his wonder through these events. Our family’s journey from escaping hardship to being embraced by His glory is more fascinating and unpredictable than a stage drama! Because of this, about eighty of our closest friends and relatives back home are now true believers of God.
My parents may have given me vision, but I could not see God. Nevertheless, in my spiritual heart and mind, the presence of God has never been clearer.
William Shih-Chieh Hung
November 22, 1992
Written at the East Bay residence near San Francisco
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