Now that you've worked your way this far, I want to get personal. 42 years of my life are over. Maybe I have reached the middle of my life. Maybe I am already close to the end. My death line does not cross my life line at some point. It constantly runs parallel to it. When the crossing will come, no one can know. In this last section, I want to take you into my personal story. Some times of my life were so exciting that I wrote books about them. But most of the time my life was probably rather mundane. Many years can be summed up in a few words. Maybe that sounds familiar to you. Nevertheless, these years were also important. They laid the foundation for what I am and do today.
Where I´m from
My life's journey began on January 19, 1983, in a small town in southern Germany. Of course, I can't remember the first few years. What I do remember is that I was constantly afraid as a child. I dared to do almost nothing. As an early teenager, I wanted to become a carpenter, then a pilot, then a computer scientist. In the end, I became a doctor. Today I know that God could have used me in any other profession. But I was supposed to become a doctor, and since 2010 I have been doing so with passion and dedication.
A week after she graduated from high school, Lena and I got married. We grew up in the same church community. A sandbox love affair turned into an early marriage. We always had plans together. We both wanted a family. She wanted a bigger one than me. And we always wanted to do something with our lives. Our Christian faith is what gives our relationship a common foundation. In 2015, we bought a big house. We spent a whole year renovating it. In that year, I took my residency exam, spent six months in intensive care, renovated the house, and Lena had a fourth child. As a team, we overcame every challenge. This year showed us some limits. But we ignored them. Together, we managed it all. In April 2016, our big family dream began. We finally moved into our own home. Everything was beautifully renovated and stylishly furnished. We had a charming view. A private playground in front of the house. A pool in the garden. It was dreamlike.
What did you accomplish?
"The things you've already accomplished." I heard this statement again and again. For me, it had no meaning. Somehow there was always something new. For me, being a doctor was a calling. Here I found my fulfillment. I left the clinic early. I did emergency work for family doctors and later was part of a group practice. In eight years, I had doubled my salary twice. And a short time later, I lived out my professional adventure: I was an emergency physician. There were no sick days. I went to work willingly. 100 hours a week was no problem. I had fulfilled my professional dream and was fully committed to it.
Privately, things were just as good. We loved each other. We had been through many storms and many a tornado together in twelve years of marriage. The only thing that was still missing was a fifth child. On March 6, 2018, it was to be. A day that changed our lives forever. But more about that later.
Is that all?
"One day, when I have my ducks in a row, we will go to Papua New Guinea," I told my wife. I had seen a report about this country. Part of this archipelago had been a German colony in the past. And German virtues are still lived there. That's why I was interested.
But seriously. When do you have all your lambs in the dry? When the house is paid off? When the kids are out of the house? When you've survived your first heart attack? I didn't worry about that at all. Someday when I would be 50 or so. But now was the time to realize my dream of a comfortable life.
My wife Lena felt differently. The 19-year-old high school graduate's life goals had all been fulfilled. A home of her own, a VW bus, girlfriends, children, a husband and a doctor to boot. I heard from her again and again:
"Is that supposed to be it now? Not that it's not beautiful. But I'm in my early thirties and I've achieved everything." Our lives seemed completely predictable for the next few decades. The children would grow up. They would graduate from different high schools. All doors would be open to them. They would have no financial worries. Social status included.
There is more!
Mid-April 2017. We had been living in our own home for almost a year now. That evening, we were sitting on the couch at a friend's house. Marc told me that a doctor from Peru would come to Aglasterhausen. His wife and he had built a hospital for the Quechua in the Andes. The story was so impressive. I should definitely listen to it. My inner impulse was "No." I was not interested in the suffering of this world. My family and I were doing well. And I didn't want to change anything. But my wife wanted to go. The babysitter also had time on short notice. And so it happened that we arrived with little delay in the neighboring town of Aglasterhausen. To my surprise, the entire festival hall was filled to capacity. Only in the first row was a chair still free. I sat down without knowing that the man next to me was the main speaker. In the following hour Klaus-Dieter John told about the story God had written with Diospi Suyana. This hour was full of encounters that were simply unbelievable. This talk lit a fire in my heart. I felt, "There is more!"
After his presentation, Klaus-Dieter John came down from the podium. Short small talk. "Mr. John I am thrilled with what you are doing, I am also a doctor, urologist."
He didn't need me, because they had already had a urologist for years. And I wasn't sad about it either. My life had taken a completely different direction. I wanted to stay here. That evening I drove back to Mosbach. Klaus-Dieter John flew back to Peru a little later. In his luggage he had a small piece of paper with my name and e-mail address. "Just in case," he said.
It all changes.
For ten months, our lives went on as normal. I drove as an emergency doctor and had my practice. Lena was pregnant with our fifth child. Until March 6, 2018. Shortly after midnight, Jonas saw the light of day and made our family complete. That moment was adorably beautiful. It would be the last time I would have a newborn child of my own lying on my chest. I tried to soak up this moment with all my senses.
An hour later, I left the delivery room. I did what I had done after every birth. Above Mosbach there is an old wooden cross. I drove there and knelt in the ditch. It was a cold March night. Shortly after half past two. The moon was shining on my neck. I prayed, "Dear God, thank you that everything turned out all right." And then something happened that surprised me myself. I prayed all at once: "I know the chapter of reproduction is over for us, please show me what is the next chapter in our family history." Somehow this prayer had come up on its own. Confused, I drove home, slept briefly, and picked up Lena from the clinic around 4:30. It was an outpatient delivery.
The day went quite normally. Lena was at home with the children. I did the errands. But somehow the prayer did not leave me alone. I came home in the evening. Jonas was asleep and Lena came down the stairs. Right at the front door it burst out of me. "Lena.", I said. "I was at my cross again tonight. I prayed something very strange there: Please show me what the next chapter in our family history is." Lena was standing on the stairs a few steps above. She looked at me and said, "Have you checked your e-mail today? Klaus John wrote to you from Peru."
At that moment, my world stood still. All HE was waiting for was an answer. "Are you in? I have something new in mind. Are you ready to live my dream for your life?"
And as with our first kiss many years ago, this time too my wife beat me to it. She had long since made her decision and had the next question ready for me: "When do we start?"
Since that moment in March 2018, most things in our lives have changed. Every decision has has been given a new target coordinate and a new era has begun for us as a family.
My mission.
That night we decided to live this mission. We didn't know what was coming. And that was a good thing. But it was clear to us that everything would change. And it did.
In 2019, we set everything to zero. We sold our house, dissolved our household, sold the cars and I gave back my chair as a urologist. We gave lectures all over Germany and built up a circle of donors. For the next few years I would work in the mountains of Peru as a volunteer doctor. Klaus-Dieter John had promised me that there would be a lot of work but no money. Lena and the children would live with me in a third world region. We would move to the poor house of Peru. Just because of the conviction that God had called us.
On January 14, 2020, the journey began. Another step on our very personal mission. Today I know that God had planted and prepared his dream in my heart many years before. My choice of partner, my choice of career, our family, even our relationships with friends and patients, my practice, our home. He had prepared all of that for this one moment. After more than two years in the mountains of Peru, I learned that what matters is not what I have achieved professionally or what I own. What is decisive is what I am. I am a follower of Jesus. And I am obedient to his call.
One day, this chapter of our family history will also come to an end. And someday the last chapter of my life story will be written. In the introduction of my eternity book I only wish for a dedication. Written by Jesus, signed in red. The words, "Well done. Come." That's my vision of life, that's my super-ordinate goal. This is what I live for.
The next chapter is about what you can learn.