Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren

When I look back at my photo album, from those days of leaving the Trudering house, there is something that stands out to me. There were no group photos of a celebration party like, when others had moved away.

When our moving date, at the end of December '78 arrived, I was trying my best to keep the girls occupied, while coping with the pregnancy nausea. Thomas, John, and a couple of the brothers, had to take apart all of the closets, desks from our private rooms, plus the office on the attic floor. Everything had to be carried down flights of stairs and then the puzzle began, of fitting the furniture into the Volkswagen vans. There was going to be quite a few runs into the city, unload the stuff, and then drive back to Trudering. Next they loaded up the “antique” kitchen cupboard, and last of all, the packed boxes from three floors in the house.

The girls and I, and Judy, tried to carry on with our day, knowing we would be waiting until the evening when the men returned. Their priority was to get the beds set up and the basics for the kitchen ready. When Thomas got back, he loaded me and the girls into the little “Ente Citroen” car to take us to our new home. This time arriving at the "Herzog Wilhelm" address, and walking up the wooden stairway, would be the beginning of a new era for our family. I was impressed, to see hard Thomas had worked that day, and had the beds already set up. Thankfully, the girls had a lot of practice traveling, and sleeping in different places. So we were off to a pretty good start.

One of my young adult granddaughters, has been listening to my podcast starting at the beginning. I have told her a few stories about when I met her grandfather, but she had some specific questions. So I decided to listen to Episodes 7, 8 and 9 to refresh my mind. I wrote those episodes almost 2 years ago and based them, not only on memories, but with the help of photographs and Thomas’ letters to his mother.

Those accounts of how we met, and the dramatic experiences we shared, makes me think of what Isaiah wrote in Chapter 43 to God’s people. “I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I, am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel your Savior.”

Even though Thomas and I, were far from seeking the God of the Bible, He was protecting us from being consumed, by deep waters and burning fires. Through His grace, we would be found of Him, and come to know him as our Savior. Now when I am writing about our lives in the late 70s, it could be assumed, that we were always Christians. But in reality, the first years of our lives, we were pursuing our own selfish dreams.

It wasn’t until God reached down, pulled us out of the deep waters, and gave us new hearts, did we learn what it meant to be a Christian. Though our past seemed like a lifetime away, we didn’t want to forget where we came from.

Getting started with this part of our story, I had to think of a verse in the Old Testament that says, “For who has despised the day of small beginnings?”

None of us can understand at the moment, what God isdoing, in seemingly insignificant things that happen. For those of us who walk, day by day with Jesus, we learn to see His purposes being accomplished over time.

One very important experience I had on that journey, happened shortly, after Thomas passed away. There were so many pressing decisions to be made that affected my family’s future. I realized then, that I had already learned to follow Jesus, by following my husband. All of our small beginnings, were part of the path God had placed us on. Together we had known the faithfulness of the Lord for 30 years. And on our last morning together, Thomas prayed for me.

After recooperating from jet lag, it was back to work, and our normal schedule at the Trudering house. It was good that Thomas’ friend, John, had also gone to the elder’s conference with us. They both had fresh inspiration and were happy to share their experiences at the next family meeting.

The time we had spent with our old friends from Living Waters, had been a reminder, of where we all came from. We were searching for the truth and found it in Jesus. Thomas and John used to preach on the streets in Eureka, and now, they were doing that in Munich.

This makes me think of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians in Chapter 2, where he wrote, remember where you came from; “You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked, according to the course of this world, "But God being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, made us alive together with Christ.”

The challenge in Munich, was learning to impart these things to people that God brought to us, from different countries. One truth that we had learned early on, I found in Thomas’ notebook titled “Erneuerung unseres Sinnes, Einleitung das Wort zu Praktizieren”, "Renewing your mind." An introduction to practicing the Word.”

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Welcome back everyone! And I would like to say, a special greeting, to my new listeners!

Now we had three little girls, joining us on the journey, of becoming a cross cultural family. We had returned for a visit to California after living in Germany for almost 4 years. Though Thomas had grown up in West Berlin, his roots in the Christian faith, had begun in California.

Our story continues! After returning from the elders conference, we took our girls with us to a gathering called the “Festival of the Son.” They were going to see some familiar faces, adults and children, they knew from our communal house in Munich. The festival had been a tradition in the early 70's for the "Jesus People" in northern California. It was an outdoor, camping event in the Santa Cruz area. Fortunately, we could borrow sleeping bags and air mattresses, from my parents. Our friends, Steve and Tony, were bringing an extra tent and everything else needed for cooking. Thomas and I, were looking forward to camping in the forest, but it would be a new experience for our daughters. It was going to bring back memories, of the many tree planting jobs, we had been on.  

When we arrived at the camping area, we were pleasantly surprised to see all the tents set up around the picknick tables and barbeques. Many of our old friends from Living Waters were there. It was like the old days, cooking and sharing meals together. It was the perfect opportunity to have some quality time with each other.

Thomas and I, were also introduced to a group of people from the new church called “Verbo” in Guatemala City. The original team from Eureka, had gone down there after the earthquake in February of 1976. It was a horrible disaster, with thousands of people dying and injured. This also meant, that thousands of people lost their homes, and live-lihoods.

It was springtime, we had just celebrated Thomas’ birthday, and we had another party with the Trudering kids, for Esther who turned three. Thomas’ had made for himself a strict work plan. In his notebook he wrote out his schedule that says; get up at 5:45, prayer at 6:30, breakfast at 7:30, Bible reading at 11:15. Sundays he got up at 6:30, and breakfast in the house started at 7:30. Once we had the Sunday services downtown that became a big  priority for the day for him.

In contrast to his responsibilities, we were always looking to make improvements, for our family life. During that time, we had agreed with everyone in the house, that Tuesday would be our free day. The men and women all had their own jobs, either outside of the house, or working in the “Glasblume” shop.

The next bold decision we made, was to have most of our meals as a family, in our room. Little Elisabeth, was six months old, and learning to eat. I found it frustrating, trying to supervise my three girls, in the community dining room. There were just too many distractions.

With our official name “Christliche Hausgemeinde,” we had set out on a significant new course. This effected all of us, as we learned together, how to organize a church service for the public. The men had been scouting out locations near the center of Munich. The two main conditions were, that it was affordable and available on Sundays. What they decided on was somewhat amusing; a Taekwondo hall. Besides the sport classes that took place during the week, there was a meditation group, that was following the teachings of an Indian guru. His picture hung on a prominent wall with the title, “the perfect master.” Fortunately, we were allowed to remove it when we came in, and replaced it with a temporary wall hanging, that Judi and I, had made.

None of us realized, how much work it was going to be, to transform that hall into a welcoming place suitable for a church service. We had a couple of teams that came early to set up each Sunday. The first step was rolling out a large carpet we bought to protect the floor. Then our new chairs were lined up in rows facing the front where the microphones were placed. A second team came with boxes of supplies for the room we used for the children.

In reference, to Naomi’s voice message in the last episode, I realized what an important influence the music had in her young life. She said she was surrounded by a Christian environment. In her memories, it was like we had meetings every night, with singing and worshipping God. In an interview for a Christian TV program Naomi said something similar: “I remember when I was four years old, that my dad taught me a song, and we sang it together at the Bible study meeting. We were always singing. My father was playing music every day, either guitar or piano. He always encouraged us to sing with him, it was fun, but above all else, it was about the Bible.“

Her story has led me to consider, how did music become such a normal part of our daily life. Within our community house in Trudering, Bible reading, singing, prayer and even fasting, was a normal part of the schedule. For Thomas and I, that lifestyle started way back at Living Waters.

Maybe you remember that in Episode 23, titled “A New Song” Thomas experienced a big transformation, in his identity as a musician. He quit playing his instruments, because he wanted to rid himself, of the pride he had developed. At some point, God gave him a new purpose, with his gift of music.

Here's the link to a song we learned, from Psalm 25, at Living Waters, "Unto thee do I lift up my soul." Be encouraged !!

https://youtu.be/tjqlkWhz-aA?feature=shared

This week marks two years, since I uploaded the introduction to the podcast, “Finding Purpose”. I had spent a few weeks, filing on the wording, so that it would represent the "Song of my Life". Then I found, the perfect background music for the podcast, from a song that Naomi had written. I cannot thank Debby enough, for her weekly editing, in the midst of her own busy schedule. And I need to add, a heartfelt thank you, to all of my family and friends for the encouragement. I still find it hard to believe, I have such a fun and time consuming hobby, and that you enjoy listening to my stories!

This week’s episode is about more important turning points, in our personal lives, and with the ministry work. One big step was when Thomas registered our fellowship as an association under the name “Christliche Hausgemeinde eV”. (Christian Home-Church) For the first time we had an official name instead of just being called “the Truderingers”. It wasn’t easy deciding on a name though, because it had to describe our work, which we considered was building a church. The German word for “church” Kirche, brought to mind the old cathedrals, that represented the state church, being Catholic and Lutheran.

At that time there was a church renewal phase developing in the US and in the UK.  It was common to call Christian Bible study groups, “church in the home.” The goal was, to live as the early faith-filled Christians, according to the example in the New Testament. For us it was perfect timing, to finally have an official name, because we started having open services at a rented hall downtown.

.....listen until the end to hear the miracle story!!

First what is clear, in looking back over our lives, is that there are two aspects to life. As the years go by, we are busy with different kinds of daily routines, depending on our jobs, our families and our age. Everything is always changing, the circumstances are temporary.

At the same time, there is the spiritual side of life, which is eternal. God is working in our hearts, teaching us important lessons, and steering our motives and desires. The foundational question is, “Who do we live for, and what is the underlying purpose of our life?”

We never know what the future holds, but hopefully we are learning to trust Jesus, that He has a good purpose for everything we do. As is written in Psalm 23, the result of following the good shepherd is that God’s “goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” This is what Thomas and I, and wanted to impart to our children, and to the many people the Lord brought into our lives.

On one sunny day in August of 1977, Thomas had the great idea of taking a group photo outside on the sidewalk, next to the Trudering house. You can imagine, how hard it was to get a crowd of 40 people all together, and positioned so you could see everyone. I was pregnant with Lizzy, and Naomi and Esther, were the only children in the group. I love the picture because it  tells some of our story, you see how many different kinds of people we lived with. Sadly, a few people got left out, because they weren’t at home that afternoon. I am happy to see, that some people in that picture, are still my friends today.