Chapter 2 & 1st entry

Chapter 2 & 1st entry

A dream comes true

Hanging onto the railing of the yacht as it's bow cut through the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean Sea from Island to Island. I would soon be amongst the magical Greek Islands; the wind in my face and anticipation in my heart. What more could a healthy, virile twenty year old, red blooded South African male in the prime of his life want? Only hours away for some more wine, woman and song! What a scary lost thought, nevertheless a true one. All I was looking for was a nonstop party! These were the thoughts that accompanied me on my flight from London to Athens.

The Island Mykonos and its resort club became my home for the next three months. This had to be the answer I was looking for. Sunshine, the sea, women, wine and song surrounded me. Had I arrived? The flesh loved this! The freedom to indulged and feast on everything my senses craved, all this readily available and an answer to my drives and needs at my fingertips. I was in a country that could help me quench my lusts. Despite this, having my fill and embracing the lusts of my flesh that were available to me, I was still empty and unsatisfied, maybe you can also relate to the point I make.

There was a man years ago a king, the son of King David, his name Solomon. What Solomon did was to make it his life time goal to seek out wisdom. He indulged in every fantasy his heart desired and then penned his summation on his findings, this was his conclusion to life; “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2)

Amazingly, I was feeling exactly the same deep within my soul, I just hadn’t realised it yet.

In looking back on my life I realised that it was at this point in my life that the call of God began to echo through my life. I began to demand answers. However, as real and as demanding as I found this groaning within, and the need to find answers, all it took to rob me of the answers I was searching for was the next adventure that presented itself... a yacht and the Greek islands. How fickle and shallow are we? Let me speak for myself and not for others, how fickle was I? However, praise the Lord Jesus, who is the King of Kings and the one who came to rescue those who were lost and undone – even me. Tyrone a man blinded by sin and not yet ready to embrace the truth. How much more merciful did God have to be with me? How much more fortitude did He have to show? Little did I then know of how merciful, tolerant, forgiving and long suffering God actually is, but that in time and through experience I would come to taste of that mercy, and I trust that you too will glorify Him as you witness His wonderful grace and mercy as my story unfolds. It will almost seem impossible, but the truth be known, the Lord Jesus is merciful and He will prove by action that He is the Great Shepherd and He will seek out all those who are lost and rescue them from hell and damnation. How often I have stood on the brink of hell and not been swallowed up by it, just when I though all hope was gone, my Saviour came to the rescue, praise His name! He will not lose anyone whom the Father has given Him.

“And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” (John 6:39)

My construction life and handyman work came to an end, maybe now on this yacht “Sea Jay” and on the seas of the Greek Isles I would find the peace I was looking for. Here I was in a place that apparently is most peoples’ dream, on the beautiful blue waters of the Mediterranean Seas travelling between Islands, what bliss! Was I about to find the answer to life I had been searching for, for so long? I had never voiced it amongst friends but deep down I was searching for truth. Could theses turquoise waters of Greece provide me the answer, maybe it was here that I would find peace and purpose, once and for all? Here I was on day one on the yacht surrounded by beautiful blue seas but hanging over the side of the railing feeding the fish and it wasn’t because I had a fisherman’s line in the water, no! I was vomiting my guts out! Here is one of the most valuable lessons I have leant and still in principle I am continuously taught by this lesson. Things are not always what they appear to be; in my mind I had painted a serene picture of a yacht and blue seas, with me in the centre as the benefactor of pure bliss. How wrong was I? Getting sick and hanging over the side of the boat was not an option I had considered. However, that is exactly how day one started. Here we see once again I was exposed to another snare that life threw at me, keeping the truth of God and salvation through His son far from me. Decoy after decoy, look at your own life and consider the point I make, can you relate to my experience, if your answer is yes to my question, then the call has gone out to you as well, repent and believe on the Lord Jesus.

I was losing count on how many decoys life had thrown at me, this must have been decoy one thousand two hundred and twenty four or whatever number it was.

It was just another decoy in life with a subtle deception that the father of lies (the devil) establishes by craftily deceiving all those blinded by sin. His beguiling hooks the world, it had obviously captivated me and I was following with complete commitment that was obvious, I was travelling down the wrong road and on the way to destruction, on my way to hell! The devils sole purpose is to point people in the opposite direction to the “truth”. The Lord Jesus is the truth; everything outside of Him comes from the devil and its foundation is based on lies. Those lies come in many different forms...

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)

How did those lies play out in my life? It could be as simple as trying to hold my breath a little longer while spear fishing; or it may be to spear a slightly bigger fish than the time before, as fish were hard to come by especially in Greece as those waters had been raped through time and their aquatic population was nearing extinction. Instead of drinking a small bottle of Ouzo I would be able to drink a large one and still stay on my feet. Maybe my few inhibitions would vanish as I was able to conquer the next woman that crossed my path. Simple fruitless snares that deceive!

What blindness, what confusion, what a place to find oneself! However, in the same breathe this is where I was and how I was driven in life. This was it! Everyone around me would have longed for my position, let’s face it at the age of twenty I was living life amongst the lifestyle of the “rich and famous”. Sure, I was only a deckhand but I witnessed all they witnessed, I swam in the same sea, I even ate the same food. Everyone wants what I had, even my little brother Ryan now at the age of eighteen is training to be a deckhand and then a skipper so that he can quench his dream, which may give temporal satisfaction for a time, but it will eventually catch up with him, like it did with me, leaving him empty and needing more. “THE DECOYS OF LIFE”! Watch out for them they prowl the empty hearts at night waiting in the shadows they are the lures of “the evil one”, they are the devils traps!

The days before took on the same pattern as it had done the day before, decoy after decoy. It may have played out slightly differently but it always had the same shape, if you know what I mean. Even when conversing with young men from other countries, while we discussed our drives and all we searched for, hunting for satisfaction, my conclusion is that we were the same as we looked for our next fulfilling moment.

We eventually docked on the island Kos, were we planned to stay a couple of weeks. One night I was at one of the nightclubs, and unbelievably it was called “Heaven”. Everyone know the benefits of heaven, they know it as something we all aspire to, even a club that was filled with debauchery, everything that heaven is not, it was pretending to be. Think about that! Deep down we all ask questions, it is the way we have been created, body and soul is our make-up. We lust and look to gratify our fleshly desires, but there is also our spiritual desire that needs quenching, hence all the different religious views found in the world. But none of them outside of Christianity will ultimately quench the inquiring mind once and for all. Once God opens one’s eyes, it is only then that we will see spiritual truths that can only be found in and through the Lord Jesus. That is the stance of the Bible, whether you believe what it teaches or not, that is your choice. You cannot say I believe the bible is a good book but all religions will make it to heaven. If this is your view point, then the bible is not a good book, as it opposes any who resist the Lord Jesus as God and man, and it even goes as far to say this; “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” (1John 5:20)

Back in the club a friend and I were minding our own business and before long a 5ft 2” Greek confronted Greg my travelling companion. He had a hairy chest and was showing it off to everyone with a large crucifix hanging from his neck. So many decoys and lies all around us, this crucifix depicted Christ’s sacrifice and how He turned the other cheek to all those who mocked and scourged Him. See the message and signal this little man was sending out, He was apparently religious, that was obvious to note because of the crucifix on his neck. However, he was not a peace maker, so this then followed, words then broke out between him and Greg (Sledgehammer Grant) and testosterone filled the room. And then it happened he slapped Greg through the face and that was that and punches began to fly. Greg was close on six foot and had some boxing experience, the inevitable happened, the Greek ended up on the floor defeated. No sooner had he got up and disappeared when a gang of about fifty Greek men surrounded us, with one thought in mind, to destroy – there was no thought of deliverance, all this puny little man wanted now was revenge for the humiliation he suffered in front of his English girlfriend. So much for the crucifix he wore! We knew it was now time for a disappearing act if we wanted to come away with our life intact. We managed to slip into the crowd while the Greek debate was on, for once their talking and worldly knowledge acted in our favour, they all needed to be heard and had taken their eyes off us.

Making our way back to the boat that was still our quarters and somewhat intoxicated, about halfway back to safety, there was a sudden roar from behind; I felt a branch from a tree meet my back. A scuffle followed during which a car began to speed toward us, the drivers tone roared with engine revs with the intention to destroy and terminate, I am convinced if he could of knocked us over he would have. I felt Sledge yank my arm. It was now time to get the legs moving. As I looked at the mob of at least fifty men who were bearing down on us with all sorts of weapons in their hands, as tired and as smashed as I was, my legs found new life and I started to run.

On reflection this scene could easily have come out of a script from Hollywood or the movie “Run Baby Run” based on the book written by Nicky Cruz. He writes about His life as a gangster, and how in due course he found deliverance when he came face to face with the Lord Jesus. In one scene, Nicky Cruz encountered the preacher David Wilkerson who exposed him to this wonderful gospel. Cruz resisted him, but that night he tried to sleep, he felt an awareness of an unseen presence surround him. It probably was God the Holy spirit, who will convict us of sin, righteousness and judgement. This experience later resulted in him calling out on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and acknowledging Him as the one who had died for his sins, Cruz now confessed Jesus as Lord!

When God places a call on our lives, if we have been chosen then it is impossible to escape. There is no point in trying to resist God’s will as His purpose will always be achieved. I read this book at the age of sixteen, I remember whilst in the hostel at Potchefstroom Boys high I also had a similar experience where I could not sleep one night, and it was eerie. I cannot speak for Nicky but I can speak about my encounter. One night sleep eluded me; it felt as if someone was watching me. This was rather scary and it troubled me, I needed answers! I discussed what had happened to me to my friends hoping to find an answer, but they looked at me a little confused so I forgot the about the incident and got more involved in sport... God’s mercy had already begun to call my name even before that, but I chose to ignore the call.

Back in Kos, as neither of us was ready to die, escape was in the forefront of our minds. Our escape was over walls and onto roofs of houses and eventually we found ourselves free from the threat of destruction. Even in that incident there was excitement, adrenalin had pumped through my body and left me feeling rejuvenated. I wouldn’t have been that rejuvenated if I had died and opened my eyes in hell. Although the pump through my body was good for a while, this pleasure, like all the others left me, and the void of emptiness found me once again.