Its 1982 and my life was crushed, a relationship gone terribly wrong. I was in a mess in a strange land and no one to turn to. Had to come crawling to my father for help, the government would not help me because I couldn’t speak the language and was from the apartheid South Africa. Alone and lost.
Well my dad got me onto a ship in a few days, that was a relief. I signed on in Aqaba in Jordan, after a few days I received a letter from my dad telling me never to come to his house again and how disappointed he was in me. Huh!
Got hold of a bottle of whisky and wanted to end it all. One of the crew caught me trying to get off the ship while we were anchored in the bay, weighed down and drunk sitting on the end go the gangway. Wanted to fall into the water to end this miserable life, but couldn’t. The next day I took the taxi boat ashore, with a new bottle of whisky. Hated this meaningsless life, why was I ever borne.
While sitting on the beach, (it was not prohibited to drink in a muslim country) and even worse to be drunk. I was angry and full of hate, couldn’t care less. Then some British marine soldiers came along and said something stupid, I was triggered and ready to explode, hated englishmen. Got into a fight with them, and it was so bad that the Jordanian military police had to take me by force.
Ended up in a dungeon deep under the ground, a terrible place with a terrible people. Some hours later i remember been pushed down a corridor at machine gun point and into a room. There were army officials behind desks and I knew that I was now in a bad situation. Standing there only in jeans, handcuffed and beaten up. I hated these arabs and showed no respect, still thought I was invincible.
But suddenly while on trial there the topic changed and I was telling them about Jesus and what I had experienced with the Lord. The vision on the wall and my baptism, otherwise I didn’t know much about the bible or Jesus. Then while telling them suddenly nothing, what just happened? Blacked out completely.
Today I truly believe in Devine intervention, and that day they saw the hand of the one true God step in to help me. For there was no way these guys were going to let me go. It was often that bodies ended up in the sea or completely disappeared from the face of the earth.
The next minute I was in the back of the jeep with some soldiers who then pushed me out while we were still driving. They dumped me out in the harbor area hopping I would go to my ship. I was barefoot and only had on a pair of jeans and very thirsty.
But instead walked back to the hotel resorts and drank more, now wondering what had happened over the last days. But everything was a blank.
Went back to the harbor area and had just missed the last taxi boat of the evening, it left in front of me, and I shouted that they must return but just got a finger.
Ran up the steel stairs behind me to the harbor tower where they over walk the harbor area. And as i got into the room and shouted at the man there asking him to call the taxi boat back for me. He laughed and was not willing to help, then another man came into the room locking the door behind him. I saw the situation as bad and exploded, I picked up a chair and threw it through the window. grabbed another and threatened to beat to guys brains out, I was like a desperate animal and had nothing to loose. They then called the taxi boat and let me go. As I started halfway down the stairs, they started spitting on me. Even more outraged I ran back up to want to kill them, when I heard the horn of the taxi boat waiting for me. They were lucky, I needed to get out of this place in a hurry.
When I arrived back on board I was sent to the captains office. He was upset and they all believed I was dead, they had tried to find out where I was but there was no way to do that. Nobody knew where I was. Told them my story and what had happened, they had known my father for many years and when I gave them the letter he sent me, they understood well my reaction.
So by the grace of God I’m still here and the journey goes on.