Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren Kristine van Dooren

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 is
doing, 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.
At the end of the meeting and after all of the guests were gone, everyone pitched in packing our stuff, stacking the chairs and rolling up the carpet. For the first meetings, we were excited and nervous, to see who would come and what the atmosphere would be like.

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