As a young officer in the German Army, Chris was on track for a what he thought would be success in life, one in which there was no room for God. However, some unexpected circumstances and a dramatic event on the other side of the globe started challenging his worldview and soon brought about a total change of direction.

<p>As a young officer in the German Army, Chris was on track for a what he thought would be success in life, one in which there was no room for God. However, some unexpected circumstances and a dramatic event on the other side of the globe started challenging his worldview and soon brought about a total change of direction.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Adverum Productions

Christopher Laubscher

Journeys Season 1

Should Christians Have Ecstatic Experiences?: Christopher’s Journey

Dan Millares

Searching for the Meaning of Life: Dan’s Journey

Cacyne Hernehult

Searching for True Love: Cacyne’s Journey

Maj Oblak

Can Faith Be Rational?: Maj’s Journey

Miikael Volkonski

I Would Never Become a Christian: Miikael’s Journey

Jan Haugg

Finding Hope for the Environment: Jan’s Journey

Conrad Whitaker

Beyond Rituals and Crucifixes: Conrad’s Journey

Samuel Jacobsen

Escape From New Age and the Paranormal: Samuel’s Journey

Grace Rose

Finding Peace at Last: A Miraculous Journey

Jonas Nygard

Hungry for More: Jonas’ Journey

Albert Jurgens

Learning to Trust the Bible: Albert’s Journey

Chris Berger

Existential U-turn: Chris’s Journey


I had money, responsibility and a good career ahead of me. Life was great and there was no room for God in it. But 1 night, On the other side of the globe, I came face to face with death, and things were never the same again. My name is Chris Berger. I grew up in a very loving family in Germany.

I was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran Church, but actually faith did not play an important role in our life. Some of my relatives were officers in the German army, so I was interested in the military. And I signed up for 17 years to become an officer and a medical doctor. And I realized that if you are motivated, you receive responsibility very quickly. Soon I had under my command 30 soldiers and equipment worth thousands of euros.

I enjoyed being in charge. I was in a relationship with a girl. I had money to spend so I could afford expensive toys. I bought myself a motorbike and whizzed up and down the autobahn at 200 kilometers, even more. I felt happy and I had no interest in God.

Then things started happening. I had not had a grandfather, but I had an uncle and he was like a grandpa to me. And then suddenly my uncle passed away. And for me it was really the first time in my life when somebody really close to me died. I was a young officer.

I thought of myself as tough, but I cried at his funeral and it really touched me. The question popped up in my mind, 69 years of life, is that all? And the only answer that came was, this does not make sense. There must be more to life. Not long after that, my girlfriend left me.

We had lived together for years and had become also very close. It means now I was grieving and alone. Before all this happened, I had been planning with a friend from the military to go to a trip to Brazil. In South America, I experienced the third shock. This was becoming really a life crisis to me.

On 1 side there were very rich people with luxury houses and cars, but on the other side of the street thousands of people lived in favelas, really in deep poverty. All this really made me think, what is the meaning of life? We visited Rio de Janeiro and we sought to go out 1 night. Our friends had told us, be careful, it can be dangerous and specifically don't look like foreign tourists. But we were young and foolish.

So here we are, late at night on the streets of Rio de Janeiro. A van drove past, but then it stopped and backed up to us. The next moment we were surrounded by 5 to 6 military policemen with guns. They had us put up our hands and took our wallets and documents. I had a can of CS gas on me, which is a knockout agent.

1 of the policemen found it and probably not knowing what it was, sprayed it in the face of his colleague, who collapsed. That's when the chaos broke out. I mean, we were shoved into this van. The leader was very angry and we drove off with blue lights and a siren on to the hospital. After we dropped off this officer who was injured, we continued driving and stopped on a narrow, dark road.

I was sitting in the front with the leader and suddenly he pulled out his knife and stuck it to my throat and said, we want more money from you. I had heard that the military police were very corrupt. And now suddenly I realized how serious the situation really was. I mean, here we were in a huge foreign city at night and the military police officer had his knife to my throat. This was the moment when I really prayed for the first time in my life.

And I said, I don't know if anybody is out there, but if you are there, I would really need your help right now. A car drove past at high speed, followed by a couple of police cars with sirens. Right away, the policeman in our van started the engine and followed the other cars. There was a car chase And when it ended, I could see from inside the car how the leading officer was mistreating the suspects. A moment later, the policeman that was left in the car with us, leaned over and said, okay guys, run.

We jumped out of that van into the dark street. I don't know how we found our way back to the hotel, we were very shaken. We were back in San Paolo with with our friends. All these things started to work inside me. In San Paolo there are many Adventists with hundreds of churches and schools and somehow I found myself on the campus of the Adventist University there.

Soon I was surrounded by students asking where I came from and so on. They took me to 1 of the leaders on campus. Here is a visitor from Germany and he invited me directly to stay in his home for the whole weekend, even though we just had met. It was Friday evening and we went to church. It was packed with young people singing and talking.

There was life, completely different from the impression I had of the church in Germany. On Sunday, the leader with whom I was staying took me out to a church in the countryside outside São Paulo. He was going to preach at 6 in the morning and to my surprise the church was packed. It suddenly hit me that I have many things, a good income and career. I had already 1 star on my shoulder.

I had influence, respect. But these church members who were materially poor compared to me, had something I didn't have. Something very attractive. Joy. Peace.

A sense of meaning in life. And I wanted what they had. These people seemed to have found the answer to the question I had. Then it was time to fly back to Germany, But I knew I could not continue in the army. We got off the airplane, I dropped off my friend at his house and drove straight to the theological seminary in Darmstadt.

It was evening. I knocked at the door of Dr. Heinz, who was the dean of the seminary. His wife opened the door. I excused myself, but said it was important.

When Dr. Heinz came in, I presented myself. I'm Christoph Berger. I'm an officer in the German Army. I'm not a church member, but I would like to prepare to become a gospel minister.

Could I start to study here at the seminary? I didn't know that there were all sorts of requirements to be accepted as a theology student. 1 of them was to be a baptized church member and be recommended by the local pastor. And on top of All that, the semester was already 5 weeks in. Dr.

Hines looked at me. He was a very special man and amazingly said yes, and then found me a place in the dorm to sleep. The next day I was sitting in class studying Hebrew and Greek and had no idea what they were talking about. My first exam was a week later. I knew that it would not be easy for me to get out of the army.

I discovered a paragraph in the German law that said that if you leave the army for the ministry you don't have to go to military court. So I was discharged from the army and 3 weeks later I was baptized in my parents swimming pool. Shortly before I graduated I went on a trip to Italy with 2 friends from the seminary. We ended up in Sicily In a small church with mostly elderly people, all the young people had gone for a youth event except 1 girl. I couldn't speak Italian and she couldn't speak German or English, So we could not communicate, but we clicked.

And 2 years later we got married. We have now been married for 28 years and are parents of 2 grown daughters. By God's grace, I have served as a minister, school and church administrator in Austria, Germany, Italy and also in Thailand. There have been some challenges along the way, but also many rewarding experiences. 1 experience was helping, for example, to start up in Germany a congress called Youth in Mission that brings together every year over a thousand young people.

Another 1 was helping to set up at Bogenhofen Seminary in Austria a bachelor's program for training Christian teachers, which has now been accredited by the state. Looking back, I stand amazed at how God intervened in my life and brought about a total change of direction. There is a text in the Bible that says, for what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul. I thought I had all I needed, but when my life turned upside down, I suddenly felt empty. I was then led to find the missing piece in my life, that sense of purpose that comes only through God.

♪♪ you

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Series

Journeys Season 1

Existential U-turn: Chris’s Journey

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Other Teachings in Series

Should Christians Have Ecstatic Experiences?: Christopher’s Journey

14m

Searching for the Meaning of Life: Dan’s Journey

14m

Searching for True Love: Cacyne’s Journey

14m

Can Faith Be Rational?: Maj’s Journey

14m

I Would Never Become a Christian: Miikael’s Journey

14m

Finding Hope for the Environment: Jan’s Journey

14m

Beyond Rituals and Crucifixes: Conrad’s Journey

14m

Escape From New Age and the Paranormal: Samuel’s Journey

14m

Finding Peace at Last: A Miraculous Journey

14m

Hungry for More: Jonas’ Journey

14m

Learning to Trust the Bible: Albert’s Journey

14m

Existential U-turn: Chris’s Journey

14m

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