I was like Jonah August 2023

2. The Gospel Seed Germinates 3. An African Missionary in Germany? 4. Home Sweet Home 5. A Special Watchword 6. Back in Germany 7. An Exile to all Intents and Purposes 8. A Radical Activist 9. Problems With Infant ‘Baptism’ 10. Home or Hearth? 11. Back to Africa? 12. Flexing Missionary Muscles 13. Testing Times Part 2 14. Commencement of Cape Ministry 15. Back to ‘School’ 16. The Backlash 17. Under Attack 18. Hurdles of Publication 19. The Strong Eagle Wings At Work 20. Publication Fleeces Preface I was just like the biblical Jonah, running away in some way or other, sometimes also from divine callings and challenges. Thankfully, God got hold of me again and again. Too often I obstructed His purposes with me. Sometimes I double-crossed His plans through my activism and self-centredness. At other times, I was simply downright disobedient, doing my own thing, without even trying to find out what God’s will was. It took me very long to learn the biblical truth that it pays to wait on Him before acting. Like the Master, I had to learn obedience through suffering (Hebrews 5:8). I dedicate this booklet to the two people whom God used – possibly more than any other single person - to bring me back on His course when I was in danger of getting side-tracked. The inspiration to this effort at publication of autobiographical material arose from the fact that my best friend, the late Ds. Esau Jacobs, commonly known as Jakes, would have turned seventy on the 6th of December, 2006. My wife was the other one who pulled the brakes when I was too impulsive and spontaneous. She has in recent years also been to one to encourage and nudge me to try and get the one or other of many manuscripts published. Some of them have been on my computer for many years. Now she was the one to correct me once again when I wanted to rush ahead with this manuscript, challenging me whether my writing is not an idol. I was working full-steam – and going overboard to get this ready to finish it before 6 December 2006. I discovered that HIS(s)tory should come to the front of the queue of unfinished manuscripts, to be pasted on our website. The most important lesson I have probably learnt over the years is perhaps that adversity often turns into a blessing when one can accept it with grace and thankfulness. The other big lesson I had to learn again and again was that it is always good to wait on the Lord. Over the years I have written and typed many a page that never got published. I have learnt to be patient. We pray that many a reader may be blessed to read how God has been teaching and carrying me in spite of my obstinacy and doing my own, when I was like Jonah. Thus I present this work somewhat belatedly to Ann, the widow of my late friend Jakes and their son Alain. This is primarily intended as a tribute to one of the great unsung heroes of our beloved country. Ashley D.I. Cloete Cape Town, February 2014, last edited and updated in August 2023