men-talk

 "I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD,
WHO BROUGHT YOU OUT OF EGYPT"
With GOD via Cairo during the Egyptian Revolution in January 2011

On the 29th January 2011 my family and I got ready to move to Germany. On TV we saw the unrest that slowly built up in Egypt on the political arena. Already Egypt was cut off from internet and telephone. I made a couple of calls to find out whether it was still save to fly to Cairo. First we couldn't get any information of what was happening. Then I finally got a few confirmations that it was fine, again some others said that we shouldn't fly. By faith we stepped out and went to the airport, also trusting that the personel at the airport would have more information. We were told that the unrest in Egypt would not affect the flights.

Well after many hours flight we arrived at Cairo airport. Tourists were all over in the airport sitting on newspapers and boxes and whatever they could find. Some of them have been there already for 3 days. We were told that the military gave orders that planes may land in Kairo, but no plane was allowed to leave the airport. ... It was horrible. Passengers paniced and started fighting with the airport staff. I took my family to a save place and just waited.

Somebody told me that we would have to hand in our passports, otherwise we would not be counted and would not get another flight out of Egypt. I looked at the situation and I prayed. I felt I should not give any passport out of my hand, not yet...

No one new for how many hours or days we would have to wait. We were just told that Mubarak has dismissed the parliament... It was terrible. I played with my kids, trying to keep them in a good mood. We received coupons so we could get someting to eat... The supplies seemed to run out. All the time I sang the song "GOD will make a way, where there seems to be no way..." I sang it over and over and over again. My pregnant wife was lying on the floor, because she couldn't sit any longer. As I am writing these line, I feel some emotions coming up in me again and I feel exactly what I felt in those moments.

By 3h00 pm I went back to the airport staff to find out whether there is any plane. But I only got the same answer: "No airplan will leave Cairo." Then I got to speak to a young friendly Egyptian man. I asked him if he could change our flight booking to the next plane to Germany, it doesn't matter where in Germany. He tried his best and finally succeeded. He printed me new tickets. But when I looked at the tickets they said 11h45 am. That had already passed...

The displays were always showing flights in the same sequents "ON TIME" - "DELAYED" - "CANCELED", though almost no plane came into the airport, especially no international planes. Only the air force flew... In fact some planes never left their countries...

At around 07h00pm I went with my son to the toilet. I continued to sing the song "GOD will make a way, where there seems to be no way..." Then a friend came in and said that our flight to Germany was announced. I didn't believe him, because I didn't hear the announcement. Then a second friend came and told me that the flight was announced. My wife actually has heard the announcement despite all the noise in the airport, but she was not allowed in the men's toilet... I quickly took my family as fast as we could and ran to the overcrowed terminal. By GOD's grace we got into the plane, many others had to stay behind. Few hours later we arrived in Colone... GOD had saved us... It was a miracle. PRaise GOD and thank you for your prayers!

We will never forget this experience and pray for everyone who is encountering such situations. I never knew how much a pizza box can mean to one, till I was there myself.

Marcus, 06.04.2011

How I met Jesus Christ

As a small boy I grew up in different villages in Communist Germany (East Germany). I saw that each village had a church building, which bells were ringing every Sunday. I never entered a church building until the age of 8, when I went inside the ruins of an old church structure. Since I never personally new anyone who was a Christian this "thing about the church" always fascinated me. When I asked the adults, no one gave me an answer. About the few old ladies that went to church on Sundays when the church bell rang, we never openly spoke about. So years passed without my questions being answered.


At the age of 8 we moved to the city. Right in the center of town was a massive church structure. In the house were we moved on the second floor was the
office of the "Staatssicherheit" (which is the communist secret police service). Our neighbour lady used to go with me for walks in the nearby park. One day she said: "I am going to church now." I asked "What are you doing there?" "We sing nice songs." She replied. I thought that was my chance to see a church from inside and maybe get some answeres to my questions. I told her "I want to come with you!" This responce of a 10 year old scared her and she tried to get that foolish thought out of my mind. She thought by herself "What would the parents think?", "What if the "Staatssicherheit" will find out? They might accuse me of leading this boy astray from the communist values as defined also by Nietsche 'GOD is dead' and Lenin 'Religion is opium for the people'...

However I cried so much that she took me to my parents and asked whether it is fine if I would come with to church. My parents agreed and off we went... I will never forget the experience that I had in that massive old church structure of that Lutheran Church... When the prayed the "Our Father..." at the end of the service, I felt every word like power and fire in my bones... I wanted to know more about GOD, I just had to...

Some years passed. Every Saturday evening I would now go with our neighbour lady to church. One might not be able to believe that, but at that time I still hadn't seen a Bible.

One day I walked with friends through town. Somewhere on the side of the road was a person, who distributed small booklets, the Gospel according to John. I quickly strechted my hand out, however secretly and as fast as I could, to get one of these booklets. After I arrived at home, I went to my room, sat on my bed and took out this little booklet.

When I started to read I was shocked to read the name "Jesus" and "GOD". These were words the communist government had banned out of our school textbooks. They didn't even write B.C (Before Christ) and A.D. (After Christ) in our history books, instead they wrote "before our time" and "after our time"... At the same time these words appeard to me so holy that I was unsure if a human beeing was ever even allowed to print them on plain paper... This is the first time when I heard about Jesus.

A few months down the line, after the fall of communism and the re-union of East and West Germany a group of young people from Switzerland and Germany held an open-air-meeting in town, where they openly preached the gospel. Right there my Mom and I gave our lives to Jesus Christ. After some weeks, my Mom and I got baptized.

Just about two years later, GOD called me into the ministry. At the age of 19 GOD sent me for 4 years to Africa, where I attended Bible College, then ministered in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, South Africa, Swaziland and Vietnam... I worked in small offices of ministries and then GOD sent me to the German Embassy. Now we look forward what GOD is going to do next.

Marcus Hennig (01.08.2010)