15. Jan, 2021
A BLOG ABOUT ME..
Who am I...?
I sailed for 15 years around the globe with ships from 10.000 - 20.000 Tons.
My rank was second deck officer ( 2nd mate). At sea we were navigating the ship and overlooking maintenance. In port we always were supervising loading/discharging 24/7.
For our licence to sail in this rank we were at High Technical school for about 3+1+1 years.
Between these years at school we had to learn in practic for around two years at sea.
All together from roughly my16th till 27th year learning to get my licence for ship's master..
After 15 years at sea and a life without the Lord and just doing it all my own way in all aspects of life, something happened that changed my life completely.
A first sign.
At this time satellite navigation was not available.
We were sailing in the South China Sea and trying to evade a large typhoon. The rainfall was so intense, we even could not see the front of the ship. On my watch in the afternoon we were not expecting to see any land. Being a 2nd mate I observed all instruments regularly.
But nothing told us that we were near the coast.
Suddenly the rain curtain was gone above part of the horizon. The strange thing was that it looked like in a cinema; The curtains left and right opened up to see the filmscreen, but there is still a curtain above the screen. Just like that..
Above and left and right of that spot the rain had not stopped.
And there were a few tiny islands off the coast of South Vietnam visible now.
After I plotted our position and altering our course to avoid running aground, the rain curtain closed again.
Lateron I thought: Only God can do such a thing.
Had the curtain not opened in time.... We had been in great danger without knowing it.
A second sign.
Yokohama bay. We were at anchor there when suddenly with great speed a very strong typhoon entered the waters of Japan. The winds were so strong that even with two anchors in the water and our engine at full speed ahead, we barely could keep our position to avoid colliding with other ships and not to be smashed on the coast.
Winds blowing at over 250 km/hour.
Suddenly all wind was gone and the sky overhead was beautiful in all kinds of colors.
Some of us thought that we had entered the eye of the typhoon.
But the typhoon was completely gone!
Only God can do such a thing!
A last waning?
After that, while I was at home for holidays, my father went shopping on my small motorbike.
A truckdriver did not see him and in this accident my father was so badly injured that he died that day.
When I heard this I asked myself the next few days:
What if... I had been in that accident instead of my father.
After 24 hours of struggle I bowed my knees and confessed all my sins to the Lord and repented.
A great relieve was my present: Jesus died for all my sins I did in all these years.
Peace, overwhelming peace, His peace was now mine.
The next day we burried my father and we were able to comfort many who came to the funeral that day.
Lateron I had to sail again.
In my spare time I studied all prophets in the Bible. And I asked the Lord all the time for His explanation of them. I was so eager to learn, but also asked the Lord: Only when you want me to understand.
So I learned a lot from Scripture without any other Christian around. And at that time ( 1980 ) there was no internet to ask other people.
The Lord with the Holy Spirit was my only Teacher.
All explanation of Scripture that I learned in that time I tried to write to a Chrstian friend, but it was too much for him.
So at a certain moment I thought that I better should quit with my job to write a book of it all at home.
So I wrote a letter of resignation as 2nd mate.
But we still had to sail some days to Africa.
We sailed somewhere south west of Sri Lanka in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
Then at my watch at around 02.30 at night on the 25th of december 1980, first Christmas day, suddenly there was a very bright green light straight above us. And this light went in a northern direction and just above the horizon it broke into pieces.
The sailor who was on watch with me called me, shocked as he was.
Later I learned that this meteorite was seen in the North of France and elsewhere
For me it was a sign from the Lord to go home and tell people what I learned.
So days later I was at home. And waiting for the Lord what to do.
A result is this website and much study in Prophecy untill now, 40 years later!