Our Cigarette-Smoking Angel

"Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels."           Hebrews 13:2 

Santiago, Chile!

Sweeping view of Santiago from Cerro San Cristobal, a huge park in the city.

"I can't believe we're lost already!", I told Steve (1) as we drove through the streets of Santiago. We had left our hotel only minutes ago and almost immediately got lost. Our plan was to drive north to the Portillo ski resort high in the Andes mountains near the Argentina border, and then drive west across the country to the coast by nightfall. But it was already mid-morning and we could feel precious minutes ticking away. Suddenly my spirits lifted as I saw come into view...a Starbucks coffee house! True, this wouldn't necessarily help us find our way, but we both loved coffee and we reasoned we could study the map whilst sipping on fine coffee and finding our way back on track.

Our First "Angel"
As we hurriedly studied our map at Starbucks, it wasn't immediately clear which way to go. Finally, Steve asked a fellow coffee drinker for help. After hearing our plan, this gentleman grabbed a pen and started scratching a map on a napkin. "You can get there faster if you take the bypass north out of Santiago. It will cost you a little but it's worth it."

The road north out of Santiago. The beautiful Andes mountains were on the
horizon and traffic was light.

In a short while we were on our way. There was very little traffic on the bypass and we made good time. "Maybe this will help us make up lost time", Steve said as we motored through the beautiful Chilean countryside towards Los Andes. "I hope so", I sighed, trying not to think that by now it was late morning and we still had a long way to go.

We made it to Los Andes without a hitch, but as we approached our intersection where we were to turn towards Portillo we ran into road construction. Unfortunately a detour took us off the main road in the opposite direction we needed to go. We soon realized we had no idea how to get to the road we needed. We tried to ask the construction workers directing traffic how to get to our road, but with little success. Steve knew a little Spanish, and I knew even less. They seemed amused at our attempts to communicate and I couldn't tell if they really couldn't understand us or if they didn't want to.

Road construction on the way to Portillo. Lots of big trucks, and progress was
slow. The scenery was spectacular though!

Here we were nearing Portillo. In the distance is a series of switchbacks in the
road, which made for harrowing driving because the snow made the roads
slick.

Our Second Angel
"Great, we're lost again. This is beginning to feel too familiar!" I said. "Pull over here and I'll ask someone for directions", Steve directed as we approached a gas station. He exited the car and went to a couple of motorists before one seemed willing to speak with him. I couldn't tell what they were saying, but soon Steve came back to the car and said to follow the guy to the next intersection, where he would turn left but we were to turn right. "Are you sure he understood you?" I asked as we pulled out of the station behind our new guide. "I think so", Steve answered as we came to a halt again behind a long line of stalled traffic due to the road construction. "He didn't know any English, but seemed happy to help us". Our progress was slow as we inched our car along, and after what seemed like an hour (but was probably only 20 minutes), we saw we were approaching an intersection. "Do you suppose this is our intersection?", I asked? "Apparently so!" Steve answered as he noted our guide was holding his arm high out of his window and gesturing towards the right. Relieved, we both waved back heartily in gratitude and turned right towards Portillo.

Steve Keeley at the Portillo ski resort high in the Andes mountains.

Portillo At Last!
Traffic was heavy and there was a considerable amount of road construction along the way to Portillo, but the drive was beautiful. It turned much colder and began to snow as we climbed higher and higher. Soon we saw what looked like a military checkpoint along the road, with a tunnel through a mountain just beyond. We soon realized we had missed the ski area and had apparently arrived at the Argentina border. We pondered driving through the tunnel just to say we had been in Argentina, but the military presence made us a little uncertain, and we were running late, too, so we turned around before we got to the checkpoint and headed back to the ski area. We were a little concerned they might get suspicious and try to pursue us, but that didn't happen (phew!).

The Aconcagua Valley is an important wine-growing valley in Chile; here we
are driving past a vineyard with stunning mountain scenery in the background.
I wish we would have had time to stop and enjoy it!

Rising Apprehension
Traffic was also heavy and slow going back down, and it was late by the time we got to the Aconcagua Valley, just west of San Felipe. "Maybe we should find a place to stay around here", I said as the sun sank towards the horizon, "It will probably be well past dark by the time we get to the coast, and finding a hotel then may be difficult"; we hadn't reserved a room anywhere. But as the miles passed, we didn't see anything resembling a motel, hotel, or bed and breakfast. We even detoured into the town of Catemu (I think), but didn't see anything we felt comfortable with.

As we left the town and pulled back onto the main road, my mind started racing about our options...could we find our way in the dark to Con Con, our destination on the coast? What would we do if we couldn't find a hotel? I knew there was a Radisson Hotel there, but we had no way of knowing if it had any rooms or even if we could find it. Would we have to sleep in the car that night? If so, how could we find a safe place? Steve was probably thinking the same things but neither of us really wanted to talk about it. We were still holding out hope.

Do We Have a Prayer?
But hope soon vanished as we came upon more road construction and a long line of stalled traffic. Tired, hungry, and discouraged, I finally breached the silence and asked Steve what he thought about our situation. As we talked, it dawned on us to pray. PRAY!! Steve and I are both Christians, and we were surprised we hadn't thought of praying about this before now. So we prayed. We asked Jesus to help us find our way to Con Con, that he would help us find a place to stay, even a nice hotel to stay in. Even as we prayed I was fearful we would end up sleeping in the car somewhere. I mean, clearly we deserved it, right? Since we didn't plan better. Oh me of little faith.

Our Third (Cigarette-Smoking) Angel
When we finished praying, we noticed the driver of a small tour bus directly in front of us get out to smoke a cigarette. Written across the back of the bus was "Con Con", which seemed almost to taunt us. We sat there for a few moments when Steve suddenly jumped out of the car and ran over to the bus driver. I was surprised by Steve's sudden exit from the car and wondered what he was up to. But he soon returned to our car and said "The bus driver is going to Con Con and said we could follow him". I was skeptical about whether we could keep up with or not get separated from him since it would be dark soon, but decided we had nothing to lose. Soon the traffic started moving and we followed him. At first it was easy to keep up with him. But then we entered a series of turns that ended at a toll booth. As we stopped to pay the toll, I could see the taillights of bus start to fade into the distance.

One of the few pictures we shot of the cigarette-smoking angel's bus.
Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of him!

"Dang, I really don't know where we are Steve. I have no idea how to get to Con Con from here". But Steve was pointing ahead and shouted "Look! He's waiting for us and is flashing his hazards so we know it is him!" Sure enough, the driver had slowed for us, and then continued to take great pains to make sure we stayed behind him, flashing his hazard lights and using his turn signals to alert us well before exits or turns were approaching. As we drove, Steve said "I think there is something going on here. I think the Lord is answering our prayer". It was then he told me that while we were stalled in construction, he had felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to go ask the bus driver for directions to Con Con. At first he (Steve) had resisted the Spirit's promptings, but then relented and went over to ask the bus driver. As he said this my spirits started rising, although I knew we weren't out of the woods yet.

Our cigarette-smoking angel was the antithesis of the cigarette
smoking man, who was the main villian on the X Files TV
series.

Con Con
I could tell from the road signs that we were approaching Con Con. Traffic was heavy on the four lane road we were traveling when, amazingly, the driver pulled over to the shoulder, jumped out of the bus, and came back to make sure we understood this was the Con Con exit. We thanked him profusely and tried to give him money as an expression of gratitude. At first he refused to take any money, but finally relented after we insisted. I was so thankful for that man's help that I could have hugged him! We called him our cigarette-smoking angel, and realized that following him gave us tremendous assurance we were going in the right direction.

Sleep in the Car After All?
By then it was pitch dark, and as we drove towards Con Con we knew we still didn't have a place to stay. After what had just happened, we agreed we should pray. So again we asked God to lead us to a safe, even nice hotel. I even uttered "the Radisson Hotel" under my breath. I knew it seemed almost selfish to request that, and maybe somewhere in my mind I felt God may expect us to sleep in the car or somewhere else uncomfortable. Suddenly Steve said "There's the Radisson, right there!" I almost couldn't believe my ears, but I could see he was correct...it was directly alongside the road we were traveling! So we pulled in to see if they had any rooms.

Me standing by the window of our hotel room with the mighty
Pacific Ocean just outside the window.

Extravagantly Answered Prayers
The clerk behind the counter was friendly, but told us that this was a busy time of the year, and especially on weekends. Since this was a Friday night, my apprehension began to rise again. Gosh, I thought, after after all of this we still might end up sleeping in the car. "This must be your lucky night", he said as he checked the roster, "we have one more room left."

The view outside our second-story window. I could have jumped directly
into the ocean, it was that close!

"I'll take it!", I exclaimed almost before he had finished speaking. Relief began to flood over me, and already I was thanking God for his provision. But God wasn't finished answering our prayers yet. While the clerk was preparing the paperwork, Steve had wandered over to the window and came back to report that the ocean was right outside the hotel. Cool, I thought momentarily before the clerk spoke again. "The room is on the ocean side". Double cool. But all I could really think about was hauling our baggage up to the room and go find something to eat. We were both famished after the day's adventures. It wasn't until we got up to the room that we realized the hotel was indeed right beside the ocean, and the windows could be opened to see the ocean, hear the surf, and smell the salt air! This wasn't a small answer to our prayer, but an extravagant answer.

My love note to my wife from the southern hemisphere.

...oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him...! Ephesians 1:19


We headed back out and soon found a nice seafood restaurant right beside the ocean, with a beautiful view, friendly waiters, good food, and even a local resident playing the restaurant's piano. His music wasn't professional but it sounded beautiful to us! After calling our wives back in the States to assure them we were okay, we headed back to the hotel. It was an incredible ending to an incredible day.

Epilogue
We left the window cracked open all night so we could hear the surf. In the middle of the night I got up and stood gazing for awhile out the open window. The southern stars were blazing, and a crescent moon was setting over the Pacific Ocean. I could sense God's presence and I praised him for his amazing creation, answered prayers, and the many "angels" he had sent to help us that day.

Footnotes:
(1) My friend and colleague Steve Keeley and I took this trip after attending an international conference in Santiago, Chile, in July 2009.