I soon realized the men were all scared stiff, and that all of us would suffocate if the electricity supply was not quickly restored. Sweating profusely from the great heat underground, in my heart I recounted my past life and my future ambitions. Suddenly seeing in my mind's eye the three crosses on Calvary, I saw myself as one of the two thieves that had mocked Jesus. Like one of those two thieves, I then repented and said in my heart:
"Lord, if it be Your will I die in this mine today, which I surely deserve to do — I die as Your child, because You said to the penitent thief: `I tell you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise!' But if it pleases You to get me out of this mine alive, I promise to devote the rest of my life to You — as a Christian Lawyer, or a Christian Politician, or even as a Christian Preacher!" (Full story in Mijn Bekering: Jezus Boeide Mij, Kortenhoef, Netherlands, 1960.)
