Chapter 1 4th Entry

Chapter 1

Chapter 1 4th Enter

I have thought long and hard on whether or not to include this next account of my life, but because I feel it will have some value to a lesson learnt, I will proceed with it. By the end of standard nine I was playing first team rugby and with the strong tradition of Potch Boys, admired by most.

What I am about to pen may seem somewhat conceited, but that is not my intention. The reason I have included this next story is to demonstrate the pitfalls of being popular and admired on the sports field. I suppose we all strove for recognition growing up in one form or another that is just the way life is. Not that this changes as we get older. I am convinced, however popular or admired we are, we can be a lot further from the truth than we have realised.

Potchefstroom Boys High is a school full of tradition. One of those traditions was for the pupils to have a poll prior to the voting in of the new prefects and head boy for the school and hostels. It was that time of the year and the pupils new it as “Beak Fever Time”. What that simply meant was every potential candidate looked to fall into favour with the voters. Personalities changed as boys played the Jekyll and Hyde game. The reason for this was to win popularity and get the vote and end up as a prefect. Many privileges accompanied that position and as head boy you were guaranteed your own room. The vote was tallied and gossip began to filter throughout the grades of who was in and who was out. The results were soon to be announced. I had just turn eighteen years old, and I was now even more stubborn and self-willed than I was as a child. The law of the land stated that I was permitted to drink alcohol and no one had the right to stop me, or so I believed. I was also chairman of the Darkroom Society and had the only key to the darkroom. What I and a few mates did on occasion was sneak off into the darkroom and drink beer. But soon others got wind of what we were doing and they would also ask me for the key so that they could do the same. I did not object! I had a trommel (chest) in which I stored my darkroom equipment, it had been emptied out so that space could be made for the empty beer bottles and when it was full I would take black bags, empty out the trunk and with nobody the wiser I would then walk to the bottom gate of the school grounds and leave the bags outside for collection by the rubbish removal company. Everything was going according to plan until one night during our official study period; a housemaster caught me with the smell of liquor on my breath. This was now the final straw and I ended up taking the rap for all the empties they found in my trommel. Here was another example of pride and deceit as I believed that I would be more respected by my friends because I refuse to tell the headmaster who I had been drinking with and this did earn me some respect, but not from him. The authorities felt it was time for me to move on and so I did. This left the boys having to revote and rethink their original nominations. Life is surrounded by the perception of a warp sense of reality, here I was a rebel acting against authority and yet I could well have been voted into a position of authority. A position that was meant to enforce the school’s law by making sure that the rules of the school were adhered to. It is easy to see my sin but are you able to see the sin of others in this account? They were quite willing to see me get kicked out but were not willing to assume responsibility for their own actions and stand with me in the punishment. We must acknowledge that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and therefore here is proof once again of sin in the camp and that we need someone to rescue us from ourselves. Thank God for Jesus Christ His Son!

I now needed to attend a new school and because both my step brothers Mike and Gavin had attended Greenside High that was the obvious choice. Not much had changed with regard to my attentiveness in the classroom, my marks never ever came close to the grade average, it was sport I was interested in not schoolwork. Gavin had been head boy in the year of 1982 and by default this placed me in a good position to be interviewed by their head master. I sat in his office with Don (step father) alongside me, the principle has some concerns, firstly I had been asked to leave Potch boys, not quite expelled but was there any real difference. He was concerned about my report card; he could see that I was not going to win them any academic accolades. It was not long into the interview when the direction took a drastic turn, we move very quickly off the subject of academic achievements and onto the subject of rugby; I played first team rugby for Potch Boys and this interested him. Greenside prided themselves in that arena, in fact the springbok James Small was two years my junior. I can vividly remember his question and then my reply. He asked, “Did you play rugby for your 1^st team.” I answered positively and then in front of my dad he categorically said, “You help us and we will help you.” What he meant by this was it looked dubious that I would pass that year, but if I played rugby for them they would turn a blind eye to my academic results, if need be. He did not quite say it like that but it was obvious to read between the lines. Whether or not they help me with my year end results for standard nine I cannot be sure, I however passed and that was that.

At the end of that year, the night before my annual vacation in Plettenberg Bay, I had just turned eighteen years old and acquired my learners licence for driving a motor vehicle. I decided that it was a good night to go out on the town. I picked up Franco (Goose); today we are still friends and brothers in Christ. We were in my mother’s Ford Escort and he had a driver’s certificate. South African law states that with a licence driver in the passenger’s seat I was legally allowed to drive with a learners permit. We decided that the Ox-Box in Rosebank would be our destination. The night took on its usual pattern. We conversed about our upcoming holiday while we drank a lot. It saddens me to think how society and peer pressure moulds and shapes us to reason with such folly. Drinking as a teenage and to imbibe a lot of alcohol was hip, go figure! At the end of the evening after last rounds were called, it was time to head home.

I will remind you that I had not yet responded to the gospel and was not yet born again, my eyes were not open to spiritual true’s and it would have been impossible for me to enter heaven.

“Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."” (John 3:3)

“Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5)

With me behind the wheel and Goose in the passenger seat, I decided very foolishly to test the cornering ability of my mother’s Escort. After all the tyres on the car were old and they were being replaced the following day. Not for one minute did I consider my friend, some friend I was, or even for that matter neither did I regard the other cars on the road. Frankly, I was oblivious to the fact that we could die that evening. No one knows when their end will come, but when we are reckless and temp fate we lack wisdom. If death had called out our names that night, the reality of hell was real. The nearer I got to home the faster I drove, like I said; “dumb, dumber and dumbest”. The faster I drove the more Goose would squeal in horror; this then provoked me to drive even faster. It seemed rather amusing at the time, but there was nothing humorous about my stupidity.

Then it happened, travelling down Buckingham Avenue from Rosebank towards Craighall Park with my foot flat on the accelerator and Goose screaming raucously next to me, with his seat belt fastened as mine lay flat against the door panelling in its original position. The approaching corner had a petrol station on it with a block of flats above and three stationary cars parked on the corner. As I came into the bend the tyres began to screech as they had lost traction on the tar below, the car then bounced in the corner until the back left tyre hit the curb and before we knew it we were airborne. The Ford Escort was on a collision course with one of the petrol pumps.

Fortunately, the row of parked cars stopped us before the pumps, while we were airborne my life flashed through my eyes, this was my first real understand of what is meant by “my life flashed before my eyes”, this phrased is often coined but it was now a reality in my life and this would not be the last time it happened. But if it was not for the grace of God I am certain I would not be typing now on this keyboard, I would have been food for the maggots long ago. There was a thud as the Escort smashed into a parked Mercedes Benz. The vehicle came to a standstill on Franco’s (Goose) side. I remember shouting, “it is going to blow!” Before you could count to three, we were both outside the car running down the road just in case there was an explosion, thankfully there wasn’t one! We had escaped without as much as a scratch. How I cherish that old rugged cross the more I reflect on the mercy and grace of God. With both of our adrenalines pumping profusely it was now time to get back home and break the news to my parents. Lies, lies and more lies I confess, I somehow had to wriggle my way out of another tricky situation. The forgiveness of God could never be place on a scale and weighed, all the scales in the world would not handle the weight, His forgiveness is immeasurable, and for all those who exalt themselves above the word of God will regret the day they were born, when they eventually open their eyes in torment.

“Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:14-15)

Repent I say, call out to Jesus before it is too late!

Once again I walked away from this incident with my life intact. Not only my life but also with my good friend Franco’s life, he too had not repented and confessed Jesus as Lord. Hell gapes with its mouth, devouring the unrepentant sinner, the thought is unbearable, what a horrific place and some have already understood the reality of it, even now many who we have known, those who have passed from life to death have had their fate seal in that wicked place. However I am can gladly say that Goose belongs to the Lord Jesus. This is another example of the mercy of God and is palpable for all to see!