A Great Adventure
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Chapter 1 • A Great Adventure ife with God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and Lall the angels is a great adventure. From a very young age I clearly remember that we went to church every Sunday and, as my father was a pastor, we moved from one place to another quite regularly. At the age of 14, I was at the Weena Skating Rink in Rotterdam, and I heard a voice saying, “Mattheus, why are you going to church?” It was a good question, and it shocked me. I had been aware of God’s existence from a very young age, and I remember warning people in the supermarket as a ten-year-old that they were going to go to hell if they did not accept Jesus as their Savior. I have to admit, this often caused great annoyance to my mother and sister. During one Christmastime, I wrote in big letters on my bedroom window that JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY, which further annoyed my sister! However, talking about Jesus was one thing, but giving my life and my heart to Him was an entirely different matter. I did not have a per- sonal relationship with Him. When I heard that voice at the skating 31 daretodream_V6_Final.indd 31 2/16/11 2:50 PM 32 DARE TO DREAM rink, I felt as if a hot liquid was flowing over my body and I can vividly remember feeling large tears running down my cheeks. My friends with me at the rink that day were all members of an evangelical church. That night the youth pastor of the church prayed with me, and I sur- rendered my life to Jesus. Later that evening, although I felt shy about sharing my news, I was able to tell my father and mother that I had given my life to Jesus. They were so happy that we ended up having a party to celebrate! A few weeks later, my father baptized me in the Baptist church, and the whole youth group from the evangelical church came to witness this important event. We had a wonderful time. In the following weeks, I continued to wrestle and reflect on the question I had heard at the skating rink. Why was I going to church? What is the function of the church? I came to the conclusion that I attended out of habit and that even though I was present during the sermon, I didn’t really hear it, and ultimately didn’t understand the message at all. In addition, I most certainly didn’t understand the church culture! I also concluded that I went to church because my friends did; and I not only had no personal relationship with the Lord, but I did not communicate with Him either. In 1993, I read an article by Brother Andrew van der Bijl (also known as God’s Smuggler) in a magazine. The article described how retirement facilities are filled with people who are still waiting for a call from God telling them what He specifically wants each of them to do. He went on to say that we are all called by God and that we don’t necessarily need to hear a clearly audible voice or a prophet who picks us out of a crowd and prophesies over us, before we obey God. It may happen, but is not absolutely necessary. He then wrote that he just goes ahead and does what God tells him to do in the Bible. He often compares the voice of God to a traffic light, with green meaning “go” and red meaning, “don’t go!” I began to see that indeed many people were complacently waiting for the green light daretodream_V6_Final.indd 32 2/16/11 2:50 PM A Great Adventure 33 in their lives when, in fact, 90 percent of the time, the light was already green! They just needed to go into everyday life following Jesus and being His hands and feet in whatever situation or community God placed them. Upon realizing this, I did just that and have come to learn that the light is more often green than red. Later on, Brother Andrew became my mentor and, when my sister married his son Jop, we became part of the same family. Jop also became one of my best friends. Marine Officer As a child I lived in the village of Pernis, which is on the edge of Rotterdam’s large harbor. Some of my most treasured childhood memo- ries are of the times I spent watching all the big seagoing vessels moving in and out of the harbor. I regularly saw one of the pilot boats going out to one of the many large ships waiting to come into the harbor. When the pilot boat came alongside, the ship’s pilot would climb on board, via a ladder, and then guide the ship safely into the harbor. I was fascinated and, in my dreams, I saw myself standing on the bridge of a huge ship in a smart white maritime officer’s uniform. I once prayed and asked the Lord if it was OK to go to the nearby mari- time building. I didn’t get a red light, so I got on my bicycle and cycled to the building. At the entrance there was a sign saying, “Prohibited Area,” but I cycled past it and went to the harbor captain’s office. As I arrived there, an older man came out of the building on his way to one of the ships. He introduced himself as Mr. Tazelaar, and he told me that he was a pilot and nearing retirement age. We started talking and, to my amaze- ment, he invited me to accompany him. You can imagine how exciting this unexpected trip was for me! We went out on the pilot’s boat to a big ship that had just arrived from China and, after a dangerous climb up the ladder wearing my wet shoes, I arrived on board. daretodream_V6_Final.indd 33 2/16/11 2:50 PM 34 DARE TO DREAM On the bridge, the pilot gave me his cap to wear. That day was a dream come true for me and, after having had this wonderful expe- rience, I wanted to experience more of this kind of life on board a ship. (Many years later, over a four-year period, I had the privilege of working with more than 300 different pilots in various parts of the world.) When I researched what training I would need to achieve my dream of being a marine officer, my teacher discouraged me from pursuing the higher level of education required, saying it would not be “realistic” for me as I only had the ability to attain a medium- level education. She then advised me to pursue a lower, more techni- cally-orientated course. Despite what I had been told, I chose not to abandon my dream of standing on the bridge of a ship in a white mari- time officer’s uniform. Disregarding all the advice I had been given, I enrolled myself at a marine officer’s training school. Again I received the same warning that the first three months would be too difficult for me, and again I decided not to listen to people, but instead to follow my dream. I believed that I would get my diploma with the support of my parents and by putting my faith and trust in the Lord. I was determined to succeed. The training was not easy, and sometimes it felt like I was going through some really “stormy weather,” but five years later, I received my diploma from the Nautical College; and shortly afterward, my dreams became reality as I stood in a white uniform as a marine officer on the bridge of the ship MV Anastasis. Sinatara The Anastasis belonged to a Christian ministry called Mercy Ships which was, at the time, part of the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) organization. At the time, it was the largest floating hospital in the world. The aim of Mercy Ships is to spread the Gospel in third world daretodream_V6_Final.indd 34 2/16/11 2:50 PM A Great Adventure 35 countries while providing practical assistance to the communities in the vicinity where their ship is moored. This is a wonderful way to give hands and feet to the mission Jesus called us to do. There were hundreds of volunteers on the Anastasis, ranging from the captain to surgeons, nurses, chefs, and waiters, and everyone paid a few hundred dollars per month to work on the ship. Every year the Anastasis went to a different port in Africa where, over a six-month period, thousands of medical and dental procedures were performed on those identified as being most in need. There were also dozens of people on the ship’s construction teams, and they built wells and small clinics in the area. While all this was happening, evangelism teams visited the vil- lages and towns nearby to share the story of Jesus with the local community. During my time on board the Anastasis, the ship was moored for a few months in a harbor in Madagascar, an island southeast of southern Africa. In addition to my work as a marine officer, I was also involved in evangelism and reached out to the local community on the days when I was not working on the ship. I was intensely affected by the poverty and the people I saw living on the streets there.