Strawberry Fields Forever Peter Van Gorder ENGLISH

Memories of years gone by

I would now like to tell you the sequel to that summer of June 23, 1977. On that day I decided to hitchhike away with my Spanish classical guitar, a simple backpack with the bare minimum of clothing and sleeping bag inside...towards India. The first day I took two vehicles one that took me near Bologna and the second was a truck where I traveled with the driver all night. The next day, after hitchhiking all day, I found myself at the end of the day in Brindisi in Puglia where at the port I took the ferry to Greece. On the morning of June 26, the ferry landed at the port of Igoumenitsa (GR).

June 1977

 Today June 23, if my memory serves me right, it's been 44 years since in that distant year 1977 I left my city where I lived to venture out on a solo journey with the destination of the East in mind by hitchhiking. 

Jesus of Nazareth....Image of when Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple in Jerusalem.

40 years a go

Yes! That's how mine personal state was 40 years a go...but!? 

"Do you remember what it was like before you found the Lord, when all seemed lost to you, you were in great despair, and your life seemed meaningless, empty, and void of understanding? Do you remember how unhappy and desperate you were? The Lord heard your heart cry, and He reached out to you and took you in His arms in your time of need. And to do this, He probably used some person, someone who was a faithful witness, who was overflowing with thanksgiving and joy for the wonderful love of the Lord in his or her heart.

What if you had no purpose in life, no hope for the future, no one to go to when you were fearful, no one to comfort you when you were sad, no one to help you when you were confused, no way to get rid of your burdens of condemnation, no way to deal with the death of loved ones, no way of knowing where they had gone or if you would ever see them again, no way of dealing with loss or injury or illness or catastrophe, no one to help you when you are lonely? If someone helped each of us to know Jesus and His salvation, how can we fail to do the same for others? If Jesus loved you so much that He died for you, He also loved them so much that He died for them. Someone made it possible for each of us to know Jesus, and it’s now our responsibility to pass the message on!"

...Thank'x to a faithful Dutch missionary & Maria Fountain who recently wrote  this words, I'm still here now.

A true story

Helpful tips in this true story.

When the athlete was only a boy, it was obvious to everybody that he was blessed with special physical gifts. He loved all sports, and excelled at every one he ever tried.

When he was nine years old, his father handed him a warped wooden tennis racquet. From the first swing of the racquet, the boy was hooked! It wasn’t long before he was beating all the kids his age throughout the country.

By the time he was 12 he was regularly beating the best adult players in his country, and he could give tennis pros a run for their money. Everyone predicted he would be a world champion one day; that is, if he could only learn how to control his temper.

You see, when something went wrong, like when he missed an easy shot or if an umpire made a bad call, the boy had a fit. His temper got so out of control that he began losing matches he should have won.

One day his father came out to watch him in the finals of a big tournament. Sure enough, the boy started losing his temper, shouting, cursing, throwing his racquet. After 10 minutes of witnessing this obnoxious behavior, the father walked onto the court, and announced to everyone present, “This match is over. My son defaults.” And with that he walked over to his son and said in a stern voice, “Come with me.”

When they got home the father placed the racquet in a closet and said, “You are not to touch this racquet or any other racquet for six months, end of discussion.”

At the end of the six months, his father handed the racquet to his son with these words: “If I hear so much as one curse word, or see so much as one toss of your racquet in anger, I’ll take it from you for good. Either you control your temper or I will control it for you.”

The boy was so overjoyed to be able to play that he took to the sport with more passion than ever before. By the time he was 16, he was winning professional tournaments all over Europe.

With each tournament, the young man was getting better and better, and the press started calling him “teen angel”! You see, after his father’s suspension, the boy learned to manage his emotions even under the most stressful conditions.

Whether it was the first point of an easy match or the last nerve-racking point of a hard-fought final, his expression and demeanor remained the same. He was in complete control of his emotions.

He went on to become what many experts consider the greatest player ever. He won 14 major championships in all, including six French Open titles, the first when he was only 18 years old, and five straight Wimbledon titles. The one-time tennis brat, later known as “Teen-Angel,” was Bjorn Borg.

Borg would be the first to admit that learning to manage his emotions was the turning point in his tennis career,if not his life.Whether you are five years old or 55 years old, managing your emotions means understanding that you can’t always control what happens to you. But as Bjorn Borg learned, you CAN control your emotional response.—Burke Hedges, You, Inc. (adapted)

Lifeguard True Story

By Mark Ellis

As a 19-year-old lifeguard in Laguna Beach, California, he was living the lifestyle many only dream about.

“In the beginning, everything was a new adventure that reminded me of stories I had read as a young kid,” says Dale Ghere. In his free time he dove for abalones, lobsters, clams and halibut. He also pushed beyond his comfort zone with night dives, swimming through blowholes, and making rock rescues.

By the middle of his first summer as a lifeguard stationed at St. Ann’s Street, he was so excited about the beach he decided he would drop out of college and go to Hawaii to surf for several months. Then he would return home, buy a car, and hit the road to spend a year on the beach.

Then the unexpected happened. “I saw a small kid standing to the left of my lifeguard tower just fall over like he had been hit by a freight train,” Dale recounts. “As I turned to look at him I was suddenly hit on the side of the head so hard I was knocked out of my tower and into the sand.”

Hit by a water balloon with surprising force, he fell eight feet to the sand, unconscious.

When Dale woke up, he realized he was blind in his left eye. Locals at the beach called for help and he was transported to a police station and then to the hospital.

“While at the police station I can remember looking in the mirror on the cigarette machine. I could see the blood pooled in front of the pupil. As I twisted my head from side to side I could watch the blood move back and forth with my right eye. I was really scared,” he recalls.

When he arrived to the hospital the doctor wrapped his eyes and told him to hold his head still.

Then Dale got some jolting news. “He said there was nothing that could be done medically to save the eye. The only hope was that if I held still for two weeks, then the blood might be reabsorbed by my own system and my vision would return. If in two weeks my vision had not returned, I would have permanent eye damage from the water balloon.”

But a Great Physician bestowed healing mercies to Dale. “As it turned out, the eye was healed, the culprits were found, and I was given the wages I had not been able to earn while in the hospital. I was back on the beach before the end of summer and happy to be there. I did go to Hawaii that winter and learned that I really liked big surf.”

Fifteen years after the water balloon incident, Dale and his wife Marilyn were in a Bible study in South Laguna and the leader was discussing the topic of forgiveness.

“He suggested that we each think of someone we had offended and go to him or her, apologize, and ask to be forgiven.”

Dale began to probe his mind for someone he might have offended in the past.

Then something astonishing happened. A young mom in the Bible study said it would not be possible because she didn’t know the person she had offended.

“What do you mean by that?” the leader of the group asked.

“When I was a little girl I went with some older boys to throw water balloons off the cliff at tourists on the beach. We went to the end of the streets like Brooks Street and Anita Street. When we got to St. Ann’s Street, one of the balloons hit the lifeguard and he really got hurt,” she said.

“All of the others were blamed for his injury; no one told the police I was there. They were all punished, but not me. It was my balloon that hit him. I know because I watched it hit him in the head. I was so scared I never told anyone.”

At the end of her story Dale turned to her, looked her in the eyes, and said very simply, “You are forgiven.”

A quizzical look came over her face. “That is nice for you to say, but I need to say it to him.”

“You just did,” he replied. “I am that lifeguard.”

She began to weep as she realized the enormity of God’s special provision for this divinely appointed reconciliation. “That simple act of forgiveness put an end to years of torment for her and started a long and lasting friendship between us,” Dale says.

“Today you too can ask for forgiveness and begin a long and lasting relationship with Jesus Christ. Forgiveness gives us a new beginning and hope for the future.”