ccm Cross 0056
Saturday December 9, 2017
Kgale Hill
Gaborone, Botswana
ccm Cross 0056
GPS/DMS 25°06’51.2″S 25°39’33.9″E
Additional photos after Testimony
4490 cdd Kgale Hill
Cyber Daily Devotion
Volume 18 Number 260
Today’s Author: Pastor Bill
Scripture: Psalm 24:3
“Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place?” NKJV
Hello, my name is Carl De Bruyn — my friends call me Callie. Our Botswana friends call me Rapula (Rain Man). This is my Cross testimony of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ in my life.
I grew up in South Africa on a farm near Mafikeng in South Africa. My dad was a farmer. We did it all. Cows, chickens, sheep, pigs and crops. We milked our own cows. We made our own cheeses and butchered our own animals. We all worked hard and we ate very well.
As hard as we worked we also dedicated our lives to the Lord. Every Sunday was time to rest and recharge our lives. We woke early and packed a picnic lunch and headed 25 miles to church. We all participated and after service we ate our lunch under a large tree. The second service started at 2:00 PM and we engaged in church all over again. By the time we returned home it was dinner time and we had been refreshed for another six days of school and work. Our family life was disciplined and steeped in the Lord.
High school was a special time of learning. I paid attention and wanted to be a teacher. I met Marinda in high school and we both shared the desire to teach. We attended the same university and married in our final year of school. Upon graduation, we taught in the same school. Children were our passion. Then the Lord blessed us with three children of our own, all girls. They are the joy of our lives and now one of them has two children of their own.
We taught in schools together for a season. Then I became an administrator. Eventually, becoming the head education administrator for Bophuthatswana South Africa Homeland Schools. This entire time I was active with Youth for Christ as a board member.
When our teaching and administrative season ended, the Lord directed us to raising ostriches. A new kind of farming for us. Then I received a phone call from the President of Botswana. He had heard about our success raising Ostriches and wanted to hire me as a consultant to help develop his herd. I was pleased to be of service.
Our season of entrepreneurship was just beginning. Our children were growing up and we started an electronic collection process for companies. Followed by a small industrial shop repairing diamond polishing equipment.
It was January 2013 and I was the vice Chairman of Youth for Christ Botswana. We had been looking for a way to make a statement to our community for Jesus Christ by building a Cross.
I met Pastor Bill through his internet ministry Cyber Daily Devotions and learned he was planting Crosses in Africa. We made contact and before I knew it He and Pastor Carol were on their way to Botswana. They had shipped a Cross from South Africa and they would arrive about two weeks after the Cross was scheduled to be delivered.
Pastors Bill and Carol arrived right on schedule but the Cross was lost Crossing the border from South Africa to Botswana. I asked a missionary friend of mine in the Kalahari Desert ministry if he would step in and plant a Cross for us. He did. That was Gawie Joubert ccm Cross 0043, the tallest “Bushman” in the world.
Pastors Bill and Carol left Botswana after planting the Kalahari Desert Cross and Marinda and I kept looking for the Cross.
November 13, 2013, I was at work and during the noon hour I was on my way to the bank. Traffic at that time of day was usually a hectic mess so I decided to use my motorcycle. I was not far from my office when I entered a traffic intersection. I had noticed along my way how hot it was. 40+ degrees Celsius (more than 104 Fahrenheit) and I said a prayer that if anything should ever hit me on this motorcycle that the angels would protect me from that heat and my body would not be damaged beyond comprehension. A few moments later a car ran a red stop light and hit me. The driver was looking at the passenger and not paying attention to driving or me. She plowed into me head on.
In an instant I was laying on the boiling hot asphalt. I was wearing a strong and sturdy helmet which protected my head as I flew landing flat on my back. I was lying on the boiling hot asphalt road.
Another lady stopped her car immediately and came to my aide saying she saw everything and the car driver was at fault. She ran pass me and threw her hands into the air stopping an oncoming 30-ton truck. She called the police who were there in minutes. She also called an ambulance. They came a few minutes later. I lay on the hot road burning up. A policeman reached inside his car and took out his floor mat positioning it between me and the road surface. After all the details were sorted out I was taken to the hospital. That was the beginning of my journey as I trusted in the Lord and Jesus showed His faithfulness.
Pastors Bill and Carol returned to Botswana in January 2014 and we planted ccm Cross 0055 for Youth for Christ in Mochudi, Botswana. This is the original Cross that was lost during transportation into Botswana.
After planting the Cross, we had lunch and as we talked we looked out our window at the Mountain called Kgale Hill which overlooks Gaborone, our capital city. Pastor Carol asked, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could place a large Cross on the mountain overlooking the city with the Holy Spirit “Fire in the Hole.”
The next day we met with the owners of the mountain. The Roman Catholic Church. They granted us permission for the Cross.
We planned that the next year Pastors Bill and Carol would return and together we would climb the mountain and plant the Cross. Youth for Christ has set up Christian clubs in High Schools throughout the country. Once a year they gather together making a prayer walk up the mountain for a day of prayer. That would be when we could gather 100 plus strong young people to carry the Cross and materials up the mountain.
The process of recovery from my accident took me on a journey no one could have predicted. The boiling heat of the road, which the Lord so promptly took care of, was just the beginning.
Since then I’ve had 12 surgeries to repair a broken pelvis, damaged left shoulder, internal bleeding, broken left leg, damaged SI joint (sacroiliac joint), damaged spine and a damaged arm. All these surgeries delayed our walk up the mountain with the Cross.
Through it all the Lord has been faithful. It took five attempts for the doctors to secure my pelvis and back. Now after three years I can walk with the help of crutches/walking stick.
This all began with a desire for a prayer walk up the Kgale Hill Mountain. Jesus has been faithful to restore me, and we will be faithful to complete the Cross project by planting this Cross on the mountain.
“FIRE IN THE HOLE.” We planted this Kgale Hill Cross, December 9, 2017, on the mountain. I was unable to walk up the mountain with the crew but they faithfully planted it as designed. We are clearly making a statement that Jesus Christ reigns over Gaborone, Botswana. Jesus Christ is Lord!
My favorite Bible verse is: Psalms 73:28 “But as for me, I get as close to Him as I can! I have chosen Him and I will tell everyone about the wonderful ways He rescues me.” TLB
Prayer: Father thank you for choosing Callie and Marinda to complete Your Cross on Kgale Hill Mountain declaring Your Glory over Botswana, Africa. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!