Electronic Ebenezers

Every person born into this world has a story to tell as the days and years progress. 

The story I would like to tell here is of the working of God in my life throughout the years from my birth.

I am not sure of the dates, but for some of the events I can at least give the year, and for some, the month.

My purpose of sharing this is two-fold. Primarily to give praise to God for His lovingkindness that has followed me all the days of my life, and is still following me. Secondly, it is with the hope that someone who reads this may either have faith in God kindled, restored or strengthened.

1. Birth (this date is precise) 14 November 1961. A story better told by my parents, and the doctors and nurses that attended me. What I do know is that the doctors told my parents at my birth that I would live for, at the most, three months, due to the problems I had. As soon as I was stable enough to be taken home for a weekend, my parents arranged for me to be dedicated to God. The minister of our church came and performed the dedication on the Sabbath and when my parents took me back to hospital on the Monday morning the doctors immediately asked "What happened?" My parents explained about the dedication and the doctors acknowledged the working of a Higher Power, saying that the most life threatening problem had disappeared! This has been a reminder to me throughout my life, since I came to appreciate it, that God has a Divine purpose for my life. This is true for everyone. Even if you are a stranger to God right now, remember it was He who formed you in your mother's womb and has loved you with an everlasting love, and He wants to know you personally, not just from a distance.

Childhood Years

• At the age of 5 for some reason, unknown to me, I became a sceptic. I started to doubt the existence of God and the Creation story.

Primary School Years at Hillcrest Secondary School, Bollihope Crescent, Mowbray, Cape Town.

• Every person desires to experience acceptance. It is something that is put in the heart of every person by God. One event that was a blow to my self-esteem was the day when over a small matter my two friends "booed" at me on the playground. It quickly attracted attention and other children joined in. Then all activity on the playground ceased and I found myself with my back against a wall with all the school children booing at me. I was between 6 and 7 years old at the time and it was kind of scary and confusing. Something happened that I will never forget, and that was what my older brother (by two years) did. He pushed his way between all the children till he got to me, and all he did was put his arm around me and stand silently by my side till the principal came out of the staff meeting and dispersed the crowd.
• I came to an early conclusion, which proved not to be true, that if I was going to find acceptance I had to perform well academically. I found that I would receive praise from some, and be hated by others. Teachers had their pets and I discovered that they were not all that enthusiastic about my good performance when their favourite pupil was not first in subject or class.
• When in Std.1 (Grade 3) I remembered staring out the classroom window wondering to myself what love was. People talked a lot about it, but I found it hard to grasp. It seemed so unreal.
• One funny event (maybe not so funny to some) happened in Std.2. I was again gazing out the window deep in thought when I became conscious of the teacher asking a question. I quickly raised my hand and gave the answer. It evoked a bit of a strange reaction. My classmates all looked at me with open mouths. I ignored them and carried on looking out the window. The teacher asked another question and again I raised my hand and gave the answer. This time I received some angry looks from my classmates. Ignoring them again I turned my gaze to outside. Upon my answer to the teacher's third question, the teacher spoke up, exasperation in her voice, "Nicholas, we are busy with a written test!" The dismay and embarrassment on my face caused my friend next to me to start laughing. If there was one day in my life when I wished the ground would open up and swallow me in, it was that day.
• In my primary school years I got a hiding twice from the principal and these both happened when I was in Std.5. The first was for playing a trick on a friend. In the ensuing chase around the classroom I decided to duck out the door and ran straight into the principal, who was on her way to investigate the noise coming from our classroom. The rest is history. The second time was when the principal noticed some smoke rising from the playground behind the school. Upon investigating she found me in the process of burning my maths books! I was upset and angry with the subject and the principal was indignant with my actions. The outcome again is history. A friend, who was standing outside the office, tried to console me by saying that he saw a cloud of dust rise when he peeked around the corner and saw the cane make contact with the seat of my pants.
• May 21, 1971. I was 9 years of age at the time, assisting a teacher in tidying up the chemistry lab after school at Hillcrest Secondary School just below Mostert's Mill. There was a drizzling mist enshrouding the mountain down its slopes past the school. I heard the three jets scream by at low altitude above us. then followed three explosions and the school building shuddered with the shock waves. I ran immediately up to Mostert's Mill, crossed De Waal's Drive using the pedestrian bridge and then ran up towards Rhodes Memorial. About halfway up I passed through a steel gate, and following the direction from which the sound came I continued running between the pine trees, everything eerily silent except for my pounding heart and distant traffic down below. The mist made it hard to see far ahead. As I neared the shoulder of the mountain thoughts started going through my head that I must not go further. The conviction became very strong, so I stopped and reluctantly turned back. I later learned that my father's best friend, Reggie Roos, from Langebaanweg, should have been on board, but they didn't wait for him. i also learned that it was postulated from the turning radius that the lead pilot mistook the Liesbeeck River for the Black River, which passed close to where I stayed at Riverside Estate, Sybrand Park, which were approximately two kilometres apart. Indeed a tragedy and I was spared the trauma of being first on the scene at 9 years of age.

High School Years.

If there are any errors picked up by friends and enemies, your feedback will be appreciated.

Went to Oude Molen Technical High School, Pinelands, Cape Town

Principal:                     Mr. Du Toit

Vice Principals:            Mr. Rollo                      Maths 9 and 10

                                    Mr. Buckle

                                    Mr. Truter

Teachers:                     Mr. “Papa” Raath        Physics and Chem 9 and 10

                                    Mr. O’Connor             Eng 10

                                    Mr. Hagan                   Electrical 9 and 10

                                    Mr. Truter                    Afr 9 and 10

                                    Mr. Myburgh               Tech Draw 6 – 10

                                    Mrs. ?                          Eng 9

                                    Mr. Snyman                 Science 6-8

                                    Mr. Murray                  Electrical 7 and 8

                                    Mr. Olsen                     Electrical 6

                                    Mr. Haupt                     Fitting and Turning 6

                                    Mr. Muller                     Wood 6

                                    Mr. Mostert                   PT

                                    Mr. Lotter

                                    Mr. Tenbergen?              Math Olympiad training

                                    Miss. Vd Westhuizen      History and Geography 6 and 7

                                    Mrs. Holthauzen             Afr 6

                                    Mrs. Verster                   Maths 6

Mr. Brandt                      Eng 6-8

Papa Raath – the teacher who gave me 96% instead of 100% because he wanted me to know that I did not know everything. Who caught me doing homework for another teacher in his class and he “raised me up” from my seat by means of my left sideburn, till he had me standing on my seat to alleviate the pain. I never did it again! Felt bad that my innocent friend, sitting behind me, got the rubber stopper which Pappa Raath threw at me and I had ducked. At first I thought it was my friend who did something wrong, until my sideburn was taken in hand. How self-deceived can a person get?!

Mr. O’Connor – the teacher who took a class from all failing in 1^st quarter to majority pass (in my case a B) in the finals.

Mr. Hagan – the teacher who did not embarrass me when I blew up a multi-meter in my stupidity, and who helped me finish my welder in finals when I ended up in hospital because of a spontaneous pneumothoracy (the first of several to come in the ensuing 6 years).

Mr. Truter – who always encouraged me to aim high, did the book ‘Raka’ by NP van Wyk Louw with us (his PhD study) in finals – I hated it but did my best for him – he got upset when he heard I did my composition from a Christian perspective saying I would not get an A because the examiners were atheists (he was right, I got a B).

Mr. Rollo – an innovative maths teacher, though I feared he may injure himself with some of his antics in the class to demonstrate maths principles, who gave me the liberty to work at my own pace while sitting right in front of his desk (I went racing through the syllabus, focusing on understanding proofs rather than memorization of formula, and application of formula from every possible point of view).

Mr. Olsen – an interesting man who took us on hikes in the Silvermine reserve near Fishhoek / Clovelly, and taught us how to be thorough in our work, even when it comes to putting a plug on the end of an electrical cord.

Mr. Haupt – who taught me the skill of using a hacksaw and a file.

Mr. Muller – who taught me how to work with wood and take care of our tools, learning from him the meaning of the text “I will guide you with Mine eye”.

Mr. Myburgh – a man who was good at his job when drawing and teaching us to draw.

Mr. Lotter – the man who tried to persuade me that the staff were right in their judgment of giving the trophy and prize for Tech Drawing to another student who beat me in one test by a few points inspite of the fact I beat him hands down in all the major exams. I was never convinced but accepted it coming from him, for I considered him one of the most spiritual members of the staff.

Mr. Buckle – who gave me cuts for one misdemeanor in an almost “spotless” school career, namely breaking neon lights in a passage after losing my grip on my overalls which I had been swinging around vertically.

Mr. Snyman – who encouraged a budding scientist (explosives engineer to be more precise), providing me with chemicals to make dynamite but with a faint smile on his face left me mystified as to what glycerol was and where to find it. I bless him. I packed up that career when I saved a close friend from death, by the grace of God, when doing an experiment.

Mr. Mostert – will always be remembered for holding my ear when we all formed a circle in Mr. Snyman’s classroom while we were subjected to an alternating electrical current. It was an “electrifying” experience.

Decisions made during these high school years:

• To be baptised. (Sabbath 29 November 1974) more out of emotion that understanding.
• To avoid athletics because of Sabbath keeping – outran the schools 100m, 200m and 400m champs leaving them in the dust. [I’d rather have Jesus than worldly applause… and be held in sins dread sway. I discovered the danger of pride – It feels no need!]
• Stopped playing chess
• Stopped competitive sport – table tennis
• Started reading Steps to Christ behind workshops at break time 1977.
• Became part of a youth group (founding member) that would grow from 3 to 60.
• Started to play guitar seriously in 1978 for youth group.
• Started reading Thoughts from the Mount of Blessings end of  1978 and started an exercise routine and cold showers early in the morning.
• A very special experience that I had, realizing afterwards it was a revelation of God’s personal love for me, took place in 1978-1979 over several months and resulted in several important decisions impacting on my lifestyle and relationships, the full import only unfolding as the years progressed. Walking through the passage at home, past my Dad’s bookracks, on my way to the kitchen, a certain book caught my eye. I reached out for it without thinking, opened it and my eye fell on a paragraph which I read. As I read it, a voice spoke gently but firmly, “You need to make this change in your life and you need to do it now!” The issues involved were successively:

                    Stop eating between meals

                    Exercise
                     Water

                     Stop eating meat

                     Trust in Christ’s righteousness

Events that took place in those years:

•       During 1975 I was part of a youth group in Mowbray with my brother. It was mainly for senior young people 18 upwards. However, even though we were much younger, we were accepted by the group. John Webster, then a recent graduate from a theological seminary, was the leader. One event that had a marked effect on my life was a camp that he organised in Hermanus. It was different from other camps in that it was service oriented and this we only discovered Friday night at camp after a bakkie (pickup) arrived loaded with paint, ladders and equipment. We held church in the local community hall, then after lunch we held a branch Sabbath school for children from the community in which they were told Bible stories with the aid of picture rolls. Saturday night we showed a movie on the life of Martin Luther to which all were invited. Sunday morning we grabbed ladders and wire brushes and starting scrubbing down the walls of the hall. Others followed with the paint. Once the hall was painted inside and out we went out two by two into the community with hammers, nails, screwdrivers and screws, paint and brushes and fixed gates, doors, windows and painted gates and doors for people as we went down the street. The smiles, the thankyou's, the waving hands as we left would never be forgotten. The good feelings that was experienced from doing good to others was a valuable lesson learnt.
•       I loved cycling and in my teen years I would traverse the Cape Peninsula alone or with friends. I grew up at 13 Mount Claire Street, Riverside Estate, Sybrand Park. It was located just over the Cape Flats railway line from the suburb of Athlone. From my home base I would ride to Simons Town, Hout Bay, Camps Bay, Blouberg, Bothasig and beyond, and to Durbanville. Some funny things happened to me and some experiences were sobering It was on some of these trips that I began to sense a Divine Providence watching over me. First the funny ones and then the serious.
•          One day I was going with my brother, Derek, to visit our Grandmother. We each had our preferred routes. My brother, being the elder, said we should go his route since there were less stop streets, while I preferred the shortest distance between two points. I tried hard to persuade my brother but he would not budge. He turned right while I kept going straight. On the last moment I decided I would choose my brother’s company rather than my way. We were riding at a moderate speed and as I turned I rode straight into the curb. It all happened so quickly! I had grabbed both brakes to try and stop and the next thing I knew I was sitting on the grass pavement with my hands still holding onto the handle bars and the bicycle behind me, the front wheel pressing into my back. I had done a complete somersault. Fortunately my bicycle was not damaged and the only part of me that was wounded was my pride.
•          Another day, following my brother’s route to our grandparent’s home, we were riding past the park, when I noticed that the chain on my bicycle was rather loose. Pointing this out to my brother, I pushed the chain down midway with  my foot. The problem was I was looking there as well instead of at the road. The next thing there was a ‘bang’! I found myself spread-eagled over the bonnet of a VW that was parked facing the wrong way on the left side of the road. Was I glad it was not moving, as well as the fact that the owner was not in it or nearby. I felt a little sore, but was more concerned about whether anyone had seen it happen. I busied myself with my bicycle to proceed with the trip and make everything look ‘normal’. Trying to get the handle bars and front fork to be in right relationship to each other I became confused. When the handle bars were in correct position the fork was facing backward. When the fork was facing forward, the handle bars were the wrong way. Thinking the handle bars had twisted, I gripped the front wheel between my legs and twisted the handle bars into position. Then I discovered that the brake cables were getting twisted around the front pillar. Confused, I sat down on the pavement and stared at my bicycle. Then it dawned on me that with the impact the fork had been bent backwards, but so perfectly retaining its shape and curvature that it was a mirror image to its original shape. Well, with mortified feelings and aching shins, I started walking to my grandmother pushing my bicycle along, vowing to myself I would never make that mistake again!
•             Kirstenbosch Gardens was one of our favourite destinations. The homeward route was the greatest part because it was downhill and a winding road. The day I had this crazy experience we were a group of about five guys. It was in the days when racing bicycles were the “in” thing with the curved down handle bars and 10 speed gears. My friends and my brother had converted their bicycles, but I still had a plain bicycle with straight handle bars and only one gear. When we headed home they all quickly changed into top gear and were “hammering” it down the road. I called to them to wait for me, but it fell on deaf ears. So not to be left behind I “hammered” it out on my single gear, peddling as fast as I could and ‘lo and behold’ I found myself gaining on them. A car breezed past me and at that moment disaster struck! The chain jumped off the back gear and jammed between the gear and the wheel, causing the back wheel to lock and I found myself weaving all over the road trying desperately to stay on my bicycle and keep control. Eventually I came to a halt and as I sat there panting I broke out into a cold sweat, when I thought of what could have happened if the chain came off a few seconds earlier when the car was still behind me.
•              Rhodes Memorial was to my teen mind the ultimate cyclist’s challenge. I remember the year was 1977, because I had a good friend named Louwie Louw and we did a lot of crazy things together in that year. I had converted my old Raleigh bicycle to a five speed with drop bars and he had a commercial racing bicycle. The idea was to cycle all the way to the top. There was to be no pushing our bikes up hill. One morning during one of the school holiday periods we put our plan into action. It was very quiet and very little traffic on the road. We sweated it out to the top and congratulated each other. Then looking at each other with a knowing grin, at the thought of the down-hill leg of the journey, we turned our bicycles around and started the descent. We stayed next to each other all the way down, in top gear, our feet flying in circles, not able to go any faster. We saw the cattle gate at the bottom approaching and we suddenly thought of the danger to our wheels. Just beyond the cattle gate, just a short distance, there was the barrier beyond which De Waal Drive passed by. In a flash we saw our two fold predicament and decided on a plan of action. We would ramp over the cattle gate and Louwie, being on the left would go left at the bottom and I would swoop off to the right. Thank God for His kindly providence that day so that we are both alive to tell the story. We jerked our bicycles into the air as we hit the small up ramp of the cattle gate and we sailed over it without a hitch. We landed on the other side and swooped off in opposite directions. It is written in the Bible that foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child and the rod of correction will drive it far from him. In the next moment I realized my foolishness…, a lack of fore-thought. In front of me was an intersection where traffic coming up from Kenilworth went onto De Waal Drive to go towards Cape Town! There was no traffic, much to my relief, and I continued my wild swoop to the right, through the STOP and then to the left, passing under the bridge and stopping about a hundred meters beyond it without any damages. My friend Louwie was not that fortunate. When he turned left, it was into the parking lot… which was not very long! He ended up mounting the pavement and getting plastered against the zoo fence. Please do not ask me what speed we were doing. I have no idea. I leave it up to your imagination and reasoning.
•            Those of you who watch sport on television have often seen how motorcyclists negotiate turns at high speed. Well, for teens who rode bicycle every day, it became an extension of their body, and every now and then we get a “bee in our bonnet” to see how we can push the limits. It happened with me as I was heading home one day from the suburb of Mowbray, having turned off Main Road (?) into Klipfontein Road that went to Athlone. As I approached the bridge next to Mowbray Maternity Hospital (where I was born) I got the idea to see how fast I could go down the bridge without my peddles hitting the tarmac as I would lean over during the swoops to the left and to the right. I could not see any traffic so I sped up, went over onto the right hand side of the road and swooped to the left, then racing down the portion parallel to the railway line I then proceeded to swoop to the right. That was when my heart nearly stopped! There was a traffic jam for some reason and not far from me was a large dump truck in my path. At the speed I was going there was no way to pass to the left or the right. I instinctively threw my bicycle to the right into a broadside braking action. Skidding towards the truck in this broadside position I realized I was going to hit it! Closing my eyes I waited for the impact… but it never came. I opened my eyes and found I was still lying at an angle, still on my bicycle, my right foot still on the ground and my head, i.e. my left ear, was touching the broad steel bumper of the truck. I was kind of shaken up and road home soberly reflecting on the incident, wondering how I came to such a sudden and timely stop. Slowly I was becoming wiser, but without the intervention of a kindly Providence, it would never have happened. I would have died before it was realized. In later years, as I would reflect on my life, a paraphrase of one of the proverbs from the Bible became very clear to me. “The careless are destroyed by their lack of concern”.
•            It was school holiday time again and I had been visiting a friend in Goodwood. The time came for me to return home and in the afternoon sunshine I started out on my homeward journey, a route that crossed over the bridge, passed the Show Grounds, then would pass through Thornton and Pinelands, then towards Mowbray, a short stretch on the M5 and finally the last leg down Klipfontein Road past Red Cross Children’s Hospital. I unhurriedly headed up the bridge that crossed over the railway line that served the northern suburbs and then started free-wheeling down the other side. About half-way down I suddenly pulled the brakes and stopped. For a moment I just stood there and then started wondering why I had stopped. I had made no conscious decision to stop. I sat on my bicycle continuing to wonder about my action when a large front loader came roaring past me. I sat watching it as it continued down towards the intersection at the entrance of the Show Grounds, where I would turn right on my journey home. Suddenly, the driver seemed to lose control and the vehicle mounted the pavement, continued a stretch with the left wheels on the pavement before returning back onto the road. I went ice cold! It had happened at the spot where I normally stopped and waited for traffic before crossing to the island so that I could turn right at the intersection to go into Thornton. If I had not stopped, I would have been there waiting for the traffic to pass so that I could cross over, and I would have been run over by that big machine! That was the day that I began to realize that God was watching over me and had a hand in the affairs of my life and that He cared for me.

•        During the period from 1975 to 1977 I had two experiences that would stay with me forever. One occurred during a school holiday when I was alone at home, sitting at the kitchen table one morning. The second occurred when we were travelling to church one Sabbath morning and were driving past the Red Cross Children's Hospital on our way to Brooklyn.

•        In 1977 A friend of mine, one day while reading a Christian magazine called Signs of the Times, came to the realization there was a great controversy between good and evil, between God and Satan, and that he had to make a decision which side he would take. He chose to follow after God and good. He started studying the Bible with my Dad and coming to church with us. One Sabbath he made a decision to be baptised. We were witnessing a baptism and when the minister made an appeal for any who were experiencing the call of God to take a stand, the venetian blinds on the window next to us started to rattle opn and closed, first up and then down, while the was not a breath of wind. I watched my friend, but he was not distracted. He took his stand. I saw him change from a young man who had sharp tongue and who was very sarcastic to a loving and lovable Christian. This made me sit up. I had started to become very disillusioned with religion and felt like a hypocrite. Seeing the transformation in my friend's life I wondered what he had found in my religion which I had not yet found. The desire to seek for it earnestly was kindled.

•              In the year of 1978 a childhood dream turned into a passion. Yachting and yacht designing. Not knowing anyone in the yachting world I had never sailed and being a shy, introverted person by nature, I never thought of approaching people in that field. Instead I would go to the harbour and the yacht basin and study the ships and the yachts, buy magazines and books on the subject with money I earned from my newspaper delivery job. I would follow the Cape to Rio and the Whitbread Round the World races. I would then spend hours with a piece of hardboard as a drawing board drawing up plans of my “dream” yachts. A friend, Louie Kriel, would join me in this passion and we would spend many hours together studying, drawing and sharing ideas and dreams. My main objective in life was to become a designer of racing yachts, and my dream was to not only design a winner but also to sail it!

•               In the latter half of 1978 I experienced a fall on the ice rink at the Goodwood Show Grounds, while skating with hockey skates loaned from a class mate. (Enjoyed the extra speed!) Ended up with cracked skull (temporal area). Had a black eye. While sitting on the pavilion of the rink waiting for my brother to come and fetch me, I started to examine my face and found the bones on the right hand side were out of place. Comparing the position of the left with the right, I repositioned the ones that were loose on the right. After that a still small voice said to me, “Get back on the ice so that you do not suffer shock.” I skated for another hour before my brother arrived. I went to Groote Schuur Hospital, had x-rays taken, all bones were in the right place but discovered I had a broken nose with a deviated septum from other accidents in the past.

•       June 1979: Operation to repair nose. Underwent general anaesthetic 3 x in 1 ½ weeks. 1^st time to correct deviated septum, 2^nd time to have splints put in place after some healing had taken place. 3^rd time to remove splints because an abscess developed under splints. Pain was incredible. Morphine did not touch sides with it (even after 3 shots).
•       September 1979: Lung collapsed for 1^st time just before matric finals. It happened as I was walking from Gardens Commercial High School to Cape Town Station after having attended a Computer Science class. I had a suitcase loaded with school books. Felt like I was having a heart attack because I experienced a pain running down my left arm. My left lung had collapsed against my heart. Pain was excruciating. Doloxene painkillers had no effect. Just had to grit my teeth & bear it till I had fully recovered.

•       At the time I was in Groote Schuur Hospital I remember looking out the window over Table Bay and asking God, “Why can’t I lead a normal life like everybody else?” Rather naïve question, considering I was lying in a hospital full of sick people. What I appreciate about God (Jesus) is that He did not put me down. He quietly answered, “While I am not to blame for what you are going through I will be with you through it all.”

•       Around this time, one Friday evening after a youth meeting, as I was walking down the stairs of the pastor’s house in Goodwood, God spoke to me again. This time it was an instruction, “Give me your dream.” I was stunned and stopped in my tracks down the staircase. I was confused to say the least. I wondered to myself, “How does one give someone else your dream?” My answer to God was simply “I don’t know how”.