Spiritual Lessons
Spiritual Lessons Everyone Should Learn Johannes Adendorff, the author of A Different Plan, provides some helpful spiritual lessons to guide people through their everyday lives. From facing bullying as a child to being in the military, to moving across the world to find my soulmate and facing significant personal challenges, I realize now that God […]
Facing Cancer
Facing Cancer with God Johannes Adendorff, the author of A Different Plan, remembers facing the pains of lung cancer with the help of God. I had cancer. “Could we schedule an operation for tomorrow?” the doctor asked, the urgency in his voice clear. “We need to get the tumor out as soon as possible.” I […]
The Spirit of Fear
Challenging the Spirit of Fear with God Johannes Adendorff, the author of A Different Plan, reflects on challenging fear through prayer, practice, and faith. After my parents’ farm in South Africa was robbed, I was in a state of fear. The place where I had grown up, the place of safety in which I currently […]
Finding a Soulmate
Finding a Soulmate Johannes Adendorff, the author of A Different Plan, remembers how it felt to meet his wife after years of praying for God to send a soulmate his way. It had been years since I’d first prayed to God for a good relationship. Now, living in Germany, I was readier than ever to […]
A Miracle
A Miracle in South Africa Johannes Adendorff, the author of A Different Plan, learns of a friend’s challenges and helps her find a new perspective…with some incredible results. Wherever I went in the world, I tried to come home for haircuts. My hairdresser, Martha, was a middle-class South African woman in her mid-thirties. She always […]
Promotion
What It Feels Like to Get Promoted Johannes Adendorff, the author of A Different Plan, describes the excitement and uncertainty that comes with promotion—and how talking to God can help. I sat back in my chair, staring at my computer screen. It was just another day in the office as a software developer. Except, today, […]
Attack and Robbery
Living Through an Attack and Robbery Johannes Adendorff, the author of A Different Plan, recalls the attack and robbery at his family’s farm in South Africa. My father hired a farmhand named Samuel who liked to drink. He’d commonly come to work hungover or drunk. One day, he was so drunk he could hardly walk […]
Forgiveness and a Promise
Forgiveness and a Promise in South Africa Johannes Adendorff, the author of A Different Plan, makes a confession to his parents and finds a new church in South Africa. One weekend, I sat down in my parents’ kitchen, yawning as the afternoon crept on. My work as a programmer was going well, and work was […]
Returning to South Africa
A Broken Country Johannes Adendorff, the author of A Different Plan, returns home to South Africa and realizes that time has slipped by—and the country has changed more than he’d ever thought possible. As I stepped off the plane into South Africa, my homeland, I drew in a deep breath. I’d left America after years […]
Hearing God Speak
Johannes Adendorff, the author of A Different Plan, finds direction in his life and decides to return to South Africa. One of the first times God actually spoke to me was when I was jobless. I’d been going to church in the U.S. after years of trying to fill a growing emptiness inside my heart. […]
Choosing Jesus
Johannes Adendorff, the author of A Different Plan, describes making a change and giving his life over to Jesus. All it took to get me back to church, after years of avoiding it in favor of the open skies and skydiving, was a friend. My friend, Randy, introduced me to a woman who brought me […]
Full-Time Skydiving Career
Johannes Adendorff, the author of A Different Plan, travels to the U.S. to skydive with the best in the sport, breaking a world record alongside other professional skydivers. Full-Time Skydiving Career: Becoming a Professional When I first arrived in America, I had no idea where I was going to go—only that Colorado had the best […]
Becoming an Adrenaline Junkie
Johannes Adendorff, the author of A Different Plan, realizes his passion for skydiving, beginning his journey as an adrenaline junkie. Learning to Skydive “Got any experience in parachuting?” my skydiving instructor asked me. “Well, I was a paratrooper,” I said, feeling strange to say that in past tense. “I have more than a hundred static […]
Becoming a Soldier
Tryouts for South Africa’s Paratrooper Battalion Johannes Adendorff, the author of A Different Plan, learns what it means to be a true soldier as he tries out for the Parachute Battalion in South Africa at the age of eighteen. “Pick it up!” someone in the distance yelled. “Let’s go!” Faster, I told myself. I didn’t […]
Overcoming Bullying
Johannes Adendorff, the author of A Different Plan, relives years of facing bullying at boarding school, only to find light and faith at the end of the tunnel. “Run, Vulture, run.” It was 1983, my tenth-grade year at Grootberg boarding school. Forty boys stared down the corridor at me. While I’d endured years of bullying […]