Nr.97 ended with: “You may not see it that way, that’s o.k. We have our convictions and respect others who have different views.” (See richardandmarina.net).
We must now go back a bit, to the winter of ‘73/’74. We were still living in Edegem, a suburb of Antwerp. The church in Antwerp was growing and doing well. My co-worker was doing a great job, while I was still active in that assembly too, but at the same time turning my attention eastwards towards Beerse and even further. I now had two Bible studies in the Beerse area and I had also started two studies in the eastern province of Limburg. These had come about through contacts of a young couple close to Beerse. The man had a friend in a town called Peer, to which he introduced me and he also had an older brother a bit further south. The brother and his wife invited me to their home and when I arrived, there was another couple, friends whom they had invited to be present.
It turned out to be a very interesting evening, as I explained the Bible to them. We actually had sort of a mini Bible study, which was totally new to them. It must have lasted about 3 hours, and then I mentioned that I needed to go home as I had at least an 1½ hour drive home. I asked permission to close the evening with prayer, as I did in every home I was invited to. Never has that been refused! I prayed and when I was finished it was very quiet and they looked at me not knowing what to say. I believe the Holy Spirit had touched their hearts, in fact I know He did, because the lady friend told me later that as I was praying she knew this was it, this is what she needed and that same evening she accepted the Lord. I wanted to get up, but all at once the questions came, why did you not make the sign of the cross, and why did you not pray the “Lord’s Prayer” and “Hail Mary”? It took another hour to explain all that.
Sometime later I visited the couple in Peer and that visit was just as interesting, maybe even more……! (See richardandmarina.net).
richardandmarina 