Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren

    We were surprised to receive a quick note from Nadja that she had booked her flights. She would be arriving on January 18th and staying until February 11th. I called my parents from the dome at Living Waters to give them the good news, and then we   could all start making plans for her stay. Thomas had promised that we would be waiting for her at the airport in Sa...

I hope you enjoyed my surprise video podcast. Since my story, has included my daughter Naomi’s beginnings, we thought it would be fun, to give you a peek into our lives today. We have created a series of video interviews, titled “Conversations with Kristine”. I hope you enjoy our “up and coming” discussions, that will be interspersed between the normal episodes.    As a reminder to...

VIDEO PODCAST #1 Welcome Friends! I have a special surprise for you; a new addition to my audio, story episodes! I have received many lovely messages, from my “Finding Purpose” listeners, over the past few months. Often the question comes up; “How did I get started doing a podcast in the first place?” So I decided, to let you on the personal side of my life, by doing some video podcasts. For the f...

I was thinking about how to begin this episode, which will include our visit with my parents and our hippie friends, when this word came to my mind - hippiedom. I was thinking of our lives back then as a journey out of “hippiedom”. All of our new experiences, were going to affect the relationships we had, with everyone we knew. The challenge we had at the time, was learning a new way of communicat...

   After hearing Jim Durkin’s sermon in Eureka that day, we had a lot of food for thought. We continued being busy with daily life at the ranch, but both of us had lasting impressions, because of the things that Jim had said. There were probably at least, 400 people listening to him, but we received his words as if he was speaking personally to us. He didn’t even know Thomas and I,...

For one of those teams, the trip ended tragically. Thomas and I were at the Big House, when one of our friends came in, and said they just received terrible news. One of the trucks that was on its way back to the ranch, was in a car accident. We were in disbelief as we listened to the report. Our friend Jim Layne, and his young son, were in a truck with another man, and a woman. We were told that...

At the end of the last episode, Foundation Laid, I spontaneously said; we find blessings in the shelter of our Father's wings. That gave me another image of the family being a home, a place of shelter. The building of a physical house requires a foundation, and so does the inside of it, the home. There needs to be a plan, a blueprint to follow, both for the outer building, and a plan for the famil...

I would like to continue with a similar subject, from the last episode titled “A Fathers Love”. There is a blending of this theme that took place in my life, receiving God’s love as my Father, and then that of my own father, and my husband as a father. Remember the words of the song, “Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we be called the children of God.” The foundation of...

Welcome back everyone! We barely had time to get adjusted to our communal family at the Big House, and it was time to pack up again. We were going on the next tree planting job and would be gone for three weeks. So much for leaving the tipi life behind, we would soon be out camping in tents, with a team of 15 people, in the mountains. We had a 200 mile drive ahead of us, partly on windy roads thro...

The last midnight event we had, was when the school bus was burning, and all the men were out in the dark, battling the fire. The next midnight meeting, was a planned prayer time at the dome. It was time to go into battle, for the souls of those, who lived in the hills around us. We didn’t know what was going on in those hippie communes, except for sure there were drugs, and an excess of alcohol b...

All of us know how wonderful the gift of music is. It helps us express our feelings, our doubts and fears, our joy and our sorrows. The deepest of emotions can be conveyed through the music, it even has the power to bring back memories. Both the writer, and the listener, are impacted in some way. That’s exactly what Thomas was finding in the Psalms; all of David’s life story, written down in songs...

I hope you are enjoying listening to my story, particularly how my life changed after meeting that 18 year old Berliner boy, named Thomas. From that time on, my life had been woven into, that of his family, and particularly his mother. To understand more of that relationship, you would need to hear my earlier episodes. The saddest thing for his mother Nadja, was when we announced, that we were mov...

On returning from our tree planting adventure, a letter from Thomas’ mother in West Berlin, was waiting for us. He had written her a letter about our new baby, and our new life at the ranch. Maybe you remember in Episode 23, I had translated some of his letter. Now we had her response! It was full of questions, and her defences about her religious beliefs. He had been exchanging letters with her o...

On returning from Eureka that Sunday, we were tired but filled with inspiration that would move us onward. It had been a long day of travel, and lots of fellowship, you would tend to think we came home exhausted. But that wouldn’t have been the case, we were only 23 years old. It was another one of those evenings where Thomas and I had lots to talk about once we were back in our tipi home. Gradual...

It’s not, that there is anything wrong, with being a vegetarian. But since, it had been a big part of our spiritual philosophy about being holy, it was a belief that had to go. The Lord was challenging us step by step, to let go of our old values, based on false religions. As in all areas of our new lives, we were looking to the Bible, for instruction. One scripture, that we had already become fam...

I was so excited, finally the weekend had come when my parents were going to visit us at Living Waters. We hadn’t seen them for 3 months, since moving away from the Bay Area. Now everything had changed. Like Thomas had written to his mother, we experienced the miracle of a home birth, and at the same time an even greater miracle, we found the truth. He wrote that God had opened our hearts, to rece...

Thomas and I, were loving our new life out in the country, and being parents of a sweet little daughter. We had been converted, and were living the reality of being like children, trusting God as our Father, and excited about every new thing we learned. We didn’t have any worries, we had been set down, in this beautiful place in the Redwoods, to grow up. It was like heaven on earth. Some of them h...

Since Thomas, had thrown his marijuana into the bonfire, and vowed to never do drugs again, the reality of being delivered from his emotional addiction, was freeing for both of us. He knew, that the Lord had brought him out, of that horrible pit, and had set his feet on a firm foundation. He was confident, that God, would guide our footsteps from now on. The challenge we faced, was to learn how th...

Simple living, and simple faith, was what we were looking forward to experiencing at the Living Waters Ranch. We had just moved in to our tipi home. I had fun decorating and making it cozy, with Indian bedspreads and my home made pillows. I laid my silk tablecloth from London over the trunk, that we had placed, at the head of our mattress. It was the perfect spot, for the oil lamp, and our new Bib...

We realized that it wasn’t just the two of us anymore, we were a family now, and had a new responsibility as parents. We had just stepped over the threshold, not only of this little cabin, but into a brand new life together. Remember awhile back in Episode 17, I talked about when we were standing by the road in Mendocino hitchhiking. Then Thomas said, “I guess we are Christians now, but we are not...

I heard the guys from the front of the truck exclaim, there it is, the cross, we’re here! It was a bumpy dirt driveway that we turned onto, and I knew that it led up to this unusual looking building with the dome roof. Thomas had already been there twice, but this was my first time. I had mixed emotions, realizing, that we would actually live there and I didn’t even know anyone yet. Thomas jumped...

Our new faith was being tested. We had a brand new baby and now we needed a home. Our hearts were being changed in a deep way, especially Thomas because of his near death experience. We were still on the search for a commune where we could live with our tipi. Were we willing to find out what it means, to be changed through believing in Jesus? I knew the first day after we had prayed together, that...

After Thomas and I had prayed that night, we knew we were changed, and said to each other, ”I guess we are Christians now”. But we couldn’t have imagined, that Thomas’ new faith, was about to be tested by fighting for his life in the waters of the Pacific. We didn’t know yet, that just believing, wasn’t enough. God desired a commitment of love, and faithfulness to Him, as our Father. Thomas’ strug...

It was hard to describe what we were feeling listening to them. It sounded exciting, and overwhelming, at the same time. So many thoughts were running through our minds When I woke up the next morning, the first thing I thought of was our prayer, and that they told us we would be different. I was wondering how that could happen. He told us that he didn’t expect the waves and undertow to be so stro...

Thomas and I needed a sign from the universe, where should we go, and how would we get there? We had been so sure about our decision to leave the Bay Area, and head for Howards Creek. Now we were doubting everything we had done so far. Had we made a mistake in leaving Hayward? We decided that evening, after finding those No Trespassing signs, that we would take the time to seek the I Ching book. W...