My Journey Home

So! I am 70 years old today the 22nd of November 2008. 70 is quite a land mark. The Bible states that three score years and ten is about the limit but by reason of strength another 10 years is possible too.

With modern medicine and taking care of ones body, which I haven't done as I am well overweight and need to lose 15 to 20 kilos of excess baggage, (I am trying but could try much harder), it is possible to live to middle or late eighties. My dad made it to 82 and died of skin cancer which spread into a huge cucumber growth, jutting out from his face and then into his whole body and was very unpleasant and my mum died at 75 on the telephone. They died within a month or two of each other which was the mercy of God as they were a devoted couple and would be very lonely with one gone.

I envy Mum of her death as it probably was quite quick. Dad took a long time about three months before he went into a coma and then soon died.

My friend and son, a keen and dedicated Roman Catholic, told me that Old age, Sickness and Death are great levellers and humblers to prepare us for the next life which is actually the only permanent one and is quite inevitable.

Only those of us who have learned to love and forgive even our bitterest enemies will make it straight into the Heavenly Kingdom. The rest of us who hang on to our pride but still want to go to Heaven, will have to slog it out in a place Catholics called Purgatory which is a learning place to master the skill of Loving and forgiving everybody.

This seems to be all about death doesn't it? Well we are all old as we could die today or tomorrow. Thank God we don't know. We are all on Death row if you think about it. Of course we try not to and try hard to keep death at arms length.

So what is going through my mind as I type this early in the morning before all the rest get up. I really had my birthday last week end as that fitted for me to receive my very best birthday present ever. I bet you are trying to guess what that present was and still is? I was divorced 30 years ago and have had almost no connection with my previous family except for small tidbits of news from time to time.

My present 7 kids were very interested to get in touch with their half brothers and sisters and totally unbeknown to me had contacted my youngest son from marriage number one about a year ago and had secretly been planning a reunion. This particular son called A, also unbeknown to me, had become a serious and practicing Roman Catholic some ten years back. So last Saturday a young man stepped out of the car having been picked up at the airport by my son M and smiled and called out "Hello dad! Everything is cool." He was 34 years old, handsome and has four kids and lives in Montreal Canada. I had to keep pinching myself for the 36 hours he was with us and it was the most amazing experience. He was so so nice and all my 7 present kids adored him. He was such a joker and yet serious and extremely loving. That was it, LOVING! It oozed out of his eyes and every part of him and it was contagious. We all caught it at least for a short time. He was amazingly forgiving towards me which showed us all he is well down the road towards God's Kingdom.

Since the age of 16 when my brother aged 24 was tragically drowned in a sailing accident in 1954 on the river Forth while at Edinburgh university, I have been searching for a deeper meaning to life than just existing and looking for fun.

My life seemed to be full of so many disappointments and the high points of success seemed to wear off very quickly leaving one empty and unhappy. Success and failure were both empty and I have since found out the reason for this. We have been designed extremely intricately and cleverly and uniquely by our Maker and He has wired us in such a particular way that we can never ever find true lasting happiness except by being reunited with Him. Money, Power, Health, Alcohol, Drugs, Sex, Human Relationships and Success are goals that when reached provide only momentary kicks and then ware off. In my 70 years of bitter experience having traveled extensively (Over 40 countries!), this is what I have found out to be really True.

So! For the next amazing thought that is also going through my mind and is still not yet complete is about my second Birthday present which is still in the process of being worked out.

My second marriage was to a very nice and charming divorcee Portuguese Lady called P who was a friend and supporter of the Christian sect that I belonged to at the time. We called her P and I met her while running away with two of my children from my first marriage and on the run in Europe.

That is a story in itself. I had to eventually return the two children and not surprisingly was firmly divorced by my first wife.

In my second marriage P and I had a daughter called A and shortly after that we broke up and I rejoined the sect full time. The break seemed at the time to be pretty permanent and I won't go into all the whys and wherefores but suffice it to say that I am sure that I was very much to blame although at the time I didn't feel all in the wrong. P is living alone in Brazil. I really hope to make contact with her if that is possible.

A few evenings ago my daughter A miraculously found the email address and telephone number of A aged 32 and a manageress of a central London Hotel. She, like all of us, seemed overjoyed to make contact with us all and we were all in tears our end. This is particularly amazing as I had been lead to believe that P and her daughter had been killed in a plane crash while traveling inspecting coffee and tea plantations belonging to P's father over the island of Timor about 26 years before.

It seems to me that life does not begin at 40 like the old saying but at 70. It is no secret that my life has been quite a mess and you can learn more of the details in my book "Vagabond Faith." which is hopefully soon coming to completion before I die. As much as my life has been a mess so much has it been an extraordinary experience of receiving grace upon grace from Jesus Christ whom I have lamely being trying to follow for the past 45 years. The high point came when we all as a family converted to the Roman Catholic Church about 8 years ago and my third wife and I started living together as brother and sister so as to be eligible to partake of the most awesome Holy Eucharist or Communion bread given out at every Mass.

I hope that will explain a little about the update. Of course I my partner and sister and most importantly my best friend in the Lord and I go out every day and continue our missionary work in promoting Jesus Christ to a Hurting World. This is how we are supported from donations and make ends meet.

Our five singing children, are on their way to the USA California in January 2009 for a link up with Record Labels and TV Stations to do their second Album. I really wish them the very best as they are excellent singers and their hit song Perfect Day and Carry me Home together with their Album are for sale in all the major outlets in Germany Switzerland and Austria. If you go to youtube and type in king family Perfect Day or to www.kingfamily.de you can find out more about them.

Jemmy 9 and Shelly7, will stay with us in Germany as they are in school here in the Cologne area.

As for the future? Only God knows but I am sure of one thing that Prayer is very powerful and God is doing amazing miracles among us. The best is always still to come. The future is as bright as the promises of God.

So that's all for now and I hope you can rejoice with me in the miracles we are experiencing. There is still a long way to go as I try to seek out and find those children that I neglected and make peace with them and see them before I die.

For the ones that have not yet joined us in love and forgiveness I can say, "Yes you had to grow up without a father but now you have the opportunity of joining up with 11 brothers and sisters." 8 are reunited already.

Actually there is something even more awesome than having such a big family and that is being reunited to our Creator through Jesus Christ who died on the cross out of love for us lost souls and joining the Church that Jesus Christ Himself started some 2000 years ago. There is nothing more awesome than having a personal walk and relationship with Jesus and the Blessed Trinity of God the Father and His Son Jesus linked together by the Holy Spirit of Pure Love.

Thanks so much for reading this and please feel free to ask questions and contact me at michaeljaffrayk [at] yahoo.co.uk or by phone 00491602363235