The Northland Age, Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Reading that verse from the Bible today in our local paper is a real inspiration for me, and I can only say, “WHAT A GOLDEN NUGGET.” I am thinking of course about the STEPS I have taken in my life.

There is a “once” and a “now” in my life, as we read in Ephesians 2:13. Once I was far away from God, but now I am near.

The second September 1958 is a very important date for me. On that day I passed from darkness to light. At that time I lived in Bottrop earning good money and climbing the ladder in my job.

In September 1962 I visited a mission station in Italy, in Isola Del Gran Sasso.

Bible school BRAKE in Germany.

Picture / Bibelschule Brake

I received my Bible training at the Bible school Brake in Germany from October 1962 until September 1965. During that time I spent one summer in London and the other two summers I was responsible for the meetings for children. We had our meetings in a tent, until it burned down. After that we carried our meetings on in a very big bus. The mission was the BARMER ZELTMISSION.

After applying to a missionary society and attending a course for candidates from October 1965 to June 1966 in Eppstein/Taunus and being accepted I went on deputation all over Germany in October 1966, before travelling by boat to Bangkok/Thailand to work there as a missionary.

Before going on deputation in October 1966 I worked for a short time in a bread factory and passed my driver licence.

In December 1966 I traveled by boat to Thailand, leaving Marseille on the 2nd of December with stopovers in Port Said and Singapore, and arriving in Bangkok on the 23rd of December just before Christmas.

THAILAND: Church Service on Sunday.

Picture / Alan Collingwood

In Thailand I worked as a missionary from December 1966 to November 1979, almost 13 years with furloughs in Germany and New Zealand. During that time I had a holiday in Malaysia and one week in London / Bulstrode, before my first furlough in Germany. During that time I also got married in Thailand and our two children were also born in Thailand.

1980 we stayed as a family at the Bible College of New Zealand, as it was called at that time and did more studies.

From December 1980 to September 1981 we were introduced into Maori work in Kaitaia in New Zealand. I passed my New Zealand Driver Licence on 19.  February 1981.

In September 1981 we began the  Maori work in Kaikohe and worked there until our retirement in 2004.

1982 I had a short furlough, three month, in Germany, while the family stayed in Kaikohe. On the way to Germany I stopped in Sydney and Indonesia (Denpasar, Surabaya, Lawang, Batu, Surabaya, Jakarta), and on the way back I visited Thailand and Christchurch.

Also today in my reading of the Bible from cover to cover I discovered this verse in the book of Zechariah:
“This will happen if you diligently obey the LORD your God.” – Zechariah 6:15

I am not saying that I have always done what the Lord wanted me to do and that I have always diligently obeyed the Lord, but it is my desire to be obedient to the Lord.

What I am reading about hymnbooks in the Daily Devotions (“Knowing and Doing the Will of God”) by J.I. Packer today, September 21, reminds me of my mother.

GLAUBENSSTIMME: Gesangbuch fuer Gemeinde und Haus.

Many years ago in Germany she used to have a special place for her Quiet Time in the house where she lived in Bottrop in the Ruhr District. I think that part of the house was meant to be eventually for the guests, but at that time it was not quite finished and the ideal place for her devotions. I remember her in that room not only with her Bible, but she also had a hymnbook with her, namely the Baptist hymnbook called Glaubensstimme fuer Gemeinde und Haus (J. G. Oncken Verlag, Kassel). I have actually a copy of that hymnbook in my possession. A friend of my mother very kindly sent it to me.

And this is what J. I. Packer says about good hymnbooks, and I think the above mentioned hymnbook is in fact a very good one. It contains hymns by Charles Wesley and Isaac Watts. J. I. Packer says that we catch the zeal for the glory of Christ from good hymnbooks, and he says that that is one of the best helps to holiness that he knows .

Sunflowers are very popular.

“DO NOTHING OUT OF SELFISH AMBITION OR VAIN CONCEIT, BUT IN HUMILITY CONSIDER OTHERS BETTER THAN YOURSELVES.” – Philippians 2:3

Who knows the name of this flower?

“‘And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.'” – Malachi 3:18