My Story 16

One day, when I was in the army, I remember being upset after a rough day. I don't remember what the cause was, but I thought maybe going to a movie would get me over this. I was by myself. All my army buddies were in a pub (kroeg) somewhere. I had one friend, Martin, who was an alcoholic. Dozens of times I had got him out of the pub, bought him coffee and walked around with him to sober him up. If he would be spotted drunk by the Military Police when he came back to the barracks, he would surely be in trouble. Sober, he was a real fun friend, and we just clicked.

But this evening I felt it was me that needed some help. Maybe a nice movie? All the movie theatres were running films that did not interest me. I came to the last one all the way in Heemstede, a town bordering Haarlem. It began to rain. I decided that I would go inside, at least until the rain stopped. I did not know that this particular night, inside, the North Holland Philharmonic Orchestra was performing an "All Mozart" night. I was not familiar with the classics at the time.

Then something changed! I sat down on the last row on the edge of my seat, and before I had unbuttoned my wet coat, I was overcome with emotion. "Whoever wrote that music, understands!" Understands me and all the feelings I have been through. This music was like a language I did not know, and yet it spoke to me. It was as though it exactly matched my feelings, even that God spoke to me, and comforted me. From now on I am into classical music!!

In the meantime I kept on rescuing by drunk friend Martin. He lived in Enkhuizen, in a little house built in the sixteen hundreds. His mom had heard of our friendship and told him to invite me for a weekend. She slept in one of these old time "bedstedes", basically a closet built to hold a double bed. I crashed in the attic, and slept OK.

On Saturday night Martin invited me to a dance. Man, I have not ever felt more out of place then there. I will spare you all the evils I witnessed. It was horrible, but it also underscores the fact that people need Christ! It was not like the pure atmosphere that I had encountered with classical music. This so called music was rough, coarse, more like swearing I thought. A world marching to Hell to the beat of Rock and Roll. That was my feeling, you may have a different opinion.

I decided that I would check all forms of music and theatre, go at least once. And it began in the army. They had a committee inviting all kinds of entertainment to our small auditorium. An operetta, a magic show, stage shows, dances, hypnotist...... I remember the hypnotist very well, he called himself "Professor Roland". Very interesting! That night I had a toothache. It hurt pretty bad, and it kept me awake. So, halfway between a waking and a sleeping state, it occurred to me that a hypnotist would be able to tell me: "No Pain!" wouldn't that be nice. At that moment the pain was gone! I poked around in my mouth, really, the pain went away, suddenly. It was gone for a few days, it came back and I had the tooth pulled.