Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren

I have been thinking about the miracle of new life that Thomas and I, both experienced. There were also many other young people in our day who were healed and renewed. On the other hand, some of our friends, were not so fortunate. Even today, I know people whose family members, weren’table to get out of the cycle, of drug addiction. I was pretty surprised though, to hear Thomas saying in the last episode, that he never flipped out or ended up in a clinic. I think he had forgotten about the time in Berlin, when he went crazy and came to my work place. That was the end, of the good job I had, as a young American girl in Germany. I have told that story in a past episode!

Our survival and ultimate salvation, was the fruit of much love, perseverance, faithfulness, and long suffering that we received from both of our parents. We dragged them into so many stressful situations, and hardly gave them credit, for all of their help. At least this led, to my mom’s prayer group intervening, and begging God to keep us safe.

But another big aspect of getting us on the straight and narrow path were the men at Living Waters. They had set up a huge cross by the road with the engraved letters that said, “whosoever will may come.” That was not only a scripture from the Bible in Revelations, but it set the tone for their whole purpose of the ranch. The men who were the responsible leaders had also experienced new life in Christ.

Here's the link to my new documentary film:

https://youtu.be/7xRQhWdEpOc?si=LvM_pyqZg1LUVbtu 

Today, March 16th, I started writing this episode and realized that it’s Thomas’ birthday. He would have been 73 years old. My family would have had a party for him and made his favorite German cheese cake. Instead, I am listening to him tell about his life, and what was important to him. All of these stories, helped form the direction of my life, and also that of our daughters. In an old episode, I had included a recording that Thomas made to my dad. We had just moved to Germany, and were living with a group of people, in the old farmhouse in Nienburg. My parents were worried about our situation, especially because we were expecting our second child. Thomas assured them that the men were working on renovations, and at the same time trusting God for the difficult circumstances. He said we are willing, to accept the situation, because we believed the Lord had sent us there. In his words:

“When we broke down and realized that we were sinners, we asked Jesus to forgive us. We turned our lives totally over to him. Ever since that day, we knew that this was the way for our lives. Jesus opened up our hearts, gave us new life, and revealed himself to us. We had only one desire, to share the gospel.”

New Documentary Film on my YouTube channel. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/7xRQhWdEpOc?si=LvM_pyqZg1LUVbtu 

I have so many impressions about my new documentary to think about. I uploaded it on YouTube, a few days ago. I finally had the time to prepare the description and title for the film. It ties in perfectly with this particular episode, where Thomas described, the dangerous situation he found himself in. Besides today’s podcast, you can listen to more details in my older episodes.  Scroll back to Episode #17 titled “Undertow at the Beach” and  #18 “Home Birth-Faith Tested.”

Because I have both German, and English listeners, I have tried my best to translate each paragraph. After living in Germany for more than 50 years, I still had to look up some of the words. The day of this tape recording in Berlin, I was standing next to Thomas, and we were taking turns talking. So on with the story where I left off last week. Thomas’ words were; “Adieu to societies norm, we are heading for the hills.”

Here's the link to my new film, titled "Finding Purpose," Beautiful Masterpiece about True Love"

https://youtu.be/7xRQhWdEpOc?si=LvM_pyqZg1LUVbtu 

In my “hippie conversion” episode I ended with the fact, that Thomas and I, couldn’t believe we had become Christians literally overnight. We prayed together, that Jesus would forgive our sinful hearts, and our sinful ways. In those days we would have said “it blows our minds.” It was a unique experience, that both of us, heard the gospel message at the same time. Then laying in our sleeping bags, on the wooden floor of the dining room, we decided to pray. The men told us that Jesus is alive, and that he is the truth, and the only way to God. It was the first time we had met these guys, but we believed them. Before we went to sleep, Thomas said to me, ”We have been searching, and have tried everything else, so I guess we should try Jesus.”

The man who did the most talking that night, was named Tomas. He told us about his search to know God. He had grown up in a Jewish family, but hadn’t found the truth. I could relate to his story, because I had grown up in a Christian family, and was also searching. He said that when he found Jesus, he knew that his search was over. Of course I knew who Jesus was, but he said that if we give our lives to Jesus, we will never be the same. Our conversation was an intimate discussion, that took place late at night by candlelight, in the communal dining room. I was heavily pregnant, and uncomfortable, sitting on the hard redwood bench at the table. But hearing that Jesus is the light of the world, was so exciting that I didn’t care about any discomfort. I had no idea though, that our baby would be born the next night, plus no worries, that we didn’t have a place to live yet.

The spiritual condition of our souls, and the physical circumstances of our lives, was about to change in a radical way!

In the last episode, I ended with this statement, “I read the Bible for the first time when I was in jail.” Maybe you have heard the details about that crazy story. But when I told the Christian ladies at the meeting in Berlin, they were shocked. Of all places to read the Bible, this was not what they were expecting to hear. I told them that I had grown up going to church every week with my family. My parents, had even given me a Bible with my name, on it for my birthday. I believed that it was God's word, but I had never read it in away, that touched my soul.

One part of that story I hadn’t told the ladies, was that Thomas and I, were reading a different Bible at that time. It was popular in the hippie movement, and was called the “Aquarian Gospel”, meaning a new age religion. It told of a spiritual man, who was not God’s son, but had super powers. One time when I read it, I got a migraine headache, so I never read it again. I put it aside. On the nightstand, by the bed in the women’s correctional facility, was a Gideon Bible. When I read about Jesus, the words seemed to light up on the page. This cannot be explained except to say that God, in His great mercy, was beginning to open my eyes to the truth.

Usually Thomas as a pastor, was the one who had speaking engagements at various seminars and events. But this time, because I worked with the women’s Aglow group in Munich, we were both invited to speak at one of their meetings in West Berlin. The main purpose was to tell our story of how we found faith in Jesus. An important part of the meeting, was singing modern choruses, which we called “praise and worship”. Of all the places we had been that year, this was the most important. It was an opportunity, to get back to our roots, and share the gospel with people in Thomas’ home town.

Thomas’ mother Nadja, was also a part of the Aglow teamin Berlin. She had given her testimony at one of their meetings and told how her son had led her to the truth. So the ladies were interested in hearing his side of the story. This was out of the norm, inviting a man, but they liked theidea of hearing from both of us, and how all of us ended up in California. Today I will take you back to the beginning of our story, as we told it when we were 31 and 32 years old.

As if Thomas didn’t have enough projects going on thatyear, he and his co- elder Steve, had been scouring the newspapers for a new meeting place for our church. When I consider our lives at that time, it’s like Thomas had two families, that he was responsible for. Fortunately we had agreat team of dedicated men and women, who worked together on the church developments. Most of us had the example, of growing in ministry by encouraging the various gifts. The underlying goal, was to reach the people of our city,with the gospel.  

For the Munich church, one avenue in equipping and teaching, was the “Ernte” (The Harvest) newsletter. There was a regular section titled “Gebetskammer” (the prayer room). In a designed scripture box, at the top of the page was the verse from Matthew Chapter 6, “But when you pray gointo your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

In one particular issue there was a list of prayer needs for our friends in different countries. “The England team is still having struggles and delays concerning work permits and visas. Please pray for the team that went to Guatemala City after the earthquake. They have built housing for many people and in the process started a church. But they have to endure constant dangers within the city. So far they have been protected, though the political situation is chaotic, and there have been many terrorist attacks in the country.“

For the Munich church, Thomas wrote: “We absolutely need a new location where we can hold our church services on Sunday morning. Besides the fact that meeting on Friday evenings is not typical, it is important, that all of the families with children are able to join us.”

Not long after our flight home from California, we got some faith shaking news. At the end of July, the well known singer, Keith Green, had died in an airplane crash. I don’t remember how we heard about the accident; maybe a call from our friends in Eureka, or in the newsletter from his ministry. The report said that Keith and friends, had taken off in a twin engine plane on the private airstrip, of their ministry housing in Texas. Keith wanted to take  visitors on an aerial tour of the property. There were a total of 11 people, that included Keith, his two and three year old, plus a family with six children on that plane. Keith’s wife, Melody who was pregnant, stayed home, with their one year old daughter. The plane crashed after take-off, and it was determined later, that it was overloaded beyond the operating limitations.

Keith was an example as a pioneer in Christian song writing for Thomas. We had a couple of his tapes, and received his regular newsletter, called Last Days Ministries. We had a lot in common with him, coming from the Jesus People movement. I think we bought his newest tape, called “Songs for the Shepherd,” in California, at the Christian bookstore.

In my last episode I referred to our trip to California. Fortunately the invitation for the international conference in Santa Cruz was during the girl’s school vacation. I think for the Americans, it was scheduled for the long weekend of Memorial Day on May 31st. In Munich, the schools were closed for a two week vacation, that celebrated the Christian holiday of Pentecost. It’s called Pfingstferien in Germany. It is the next big holiday after Easter. It seems odd according to American tradition but in Germany it was normal. I say “was” because over the years, school vacations have been changing.

Thomas and I, couldn’t have known that after moving to Germany, we would be going back and forth to California, taking our children with us. It was my home, and Thomas’ spiritual home. Both worlds, Germany and California, were an enrichment for our lives. This was definitely something that God had set out for all of us.

I hope you are doing good and ready for part two of last week’s story. Our family had just returned from California to our home in Munich. Thomas had been inspired by the teachings we heard at the Elders Conference with our friends, who were also church leaders. As soon as we got back he was busy searching the scriptures and preparing for his up- coming sermons. This was a special one that he had given at our Friday evening church service. Besides the 80 to 90 adults in the congregation, we were always happy to have a few visitors, that were interested in hearing about the gospel. As usual, I will include tape recordings of Thomas in

The goal in reading the Bible, was to find God’s wisdom to man’s age old questions. For example, what should I do when difficult things come into my life.

https://youtu.be/N28qwVvVgfE?feature=shared