The 500km route that Vlooi Terblanche (inset) is walking from Plettenburg Bay to the KMMC 2014 at Middelburg. He is carrying a cross on the journey. The cross on the map is 20km short of Aberdeen, his current location.
The last week of walking through a long, flat, desolate stretch of the Karoo has been lonely and mentally tough at times but “I thank the Lord for accompanying me and for making me stronger and showing me what He is busy doing,” says Vlooi Terblanche two weeks into his trek from Plettenburg Bay to the Karoo Mighty Men Conference (KMMC) near Middelburg.
“So what is the Lord busy doing?” I ask Vlooi who has reached his overnight farmhouse accommodation about 20km short of Aberdeen.
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“He is telling people if you are willing to change your life I will bless you like I have blessed this man,” he says, marvelling at the “love, grace and mercy” that God has poured on him since he encountered him at KMMC 2013.
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His long days of walking have been made even longer because of motorists who stop to talk to the man in the middle of nowhere carrying a cross with the words “Jesus loves you too” and the dates of the KMMC which starts on Friday, April 25
Today he got to share his testimony with three motorists. Yesterday a bakkie driver who had driven past him a little earlier stopped to question him after turning back because the meeting he was on his way to was cancelled. After Vlooi shared how God had delivered him instantly from alcoholism and an adulterous lifestyle, the bakkie driver — “a big man” — burst into tears and said he needed help with similar problems. Women drivers have also been stopping and asking him to pray for their men who lead separate lives from them filled with drink and secret sin. At a Christian women’s camp in Willowmore that he got to address last week he also met women who were deeply hurt and bitter because of their husbands’ drinking and womanising.
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“People are crying out for the Lord’s help,” he says.
Vlooi says however that the farmers on his walking route who are providing him with accommodation and food each night “are just all Christians!”
Two nights ago he spoke to 100 people — mostly farm workers — at a Christian gathering in a big farm shed. The people from various farms shared a Passover meal together. He says that typically the farmers and their workers in the area pray together on their knees and draw inspiration from Scripture before starting their day’s work.
Tomorrow he will arrive in Aberdeen where he has been asked to address a group of young men. Looking further ahead he is trusting God to see him through some zero degrees temperatures and rain that are forecast before he reaches his destination next week.
Anybody who would like more news of Vlooi’s journey can join him on his Facebook page where he shares his experiences.
Jesus used minuses in life coz there was an abundance of GRACE!He saw the sick,the fish and loaves,the deformed and so we come as weak for in HIM we have an abudant life of PEACE,LOVE,COMPASSION AND PATIENCE.Vlooi jy is daar waar mense dit kan ervaar….
Amen. Hoe mooi klink die voetstappe van die wat uitreik na ander -vir Jesus!!!