Börje Flygman was a wreck but Jesus saved him

Life was over for Börje Flygman. Drugs and a destructive life had taken their toll. But what his parents and the social authorities at home on Gotland thought was impossible turned out to be possible for Jesus. Börje got a whole new life when he was saved.
The hiding place was perfect. No one would find him here. The ring wall in Visby was to be his burial chamber. Börje Flygman was 21 years old and had decided to end his life. One of the castle-like extensions in the medieval defense facility would be the place where everything ended. A deadly cocktail consisting of a large number of magnecyl tablets, beer and spirits would be his tool to be able to check out of life.
But it did not go as planned. A friend found him and managed to get his drug buddy to Visby hospital where he had his stomach pumped. The woman who sat extra awake with him when he woke up said a few words to him that Börje has never forgotten.
– Well, you’ve woken up to life now. You are not meant to die, because there is someone who has a meaning to your life.

Went to sea

Childhood and growing up on the farm in Lokrume on northern Gotland was difficult for Börje. His parents divorced early and his stepfather abused him. In 1969, when Börje was 16 years old, he went to sea. It was five years on the lake, which for Börje meant that he sailed around the world. But his time as a sailor also meant that he came into contact with drugs and soon became stuck.
– When I came back to Gotland again in 1974 after my five years on the lake, I was a wreck, a human wreck, says Börje Flygman when Inblick visits his home in Karlholmsbruk in northern Uppland.
It turned out on his return to Gotland that it was very easy to get drugs there and Börje soon found good friends to do drugs with. It was one of these friends, Jejja Eklund, who saved Börje’s life when he tried to commit suicide in the ring wall, his third suicide attempt.
However, his friend Jejja would face a very cruel fate. After injecting heroin that someone spiked with rat poison, he died.
– I cried and mourned. Jejja saved my life and then he himself would die that way, says Börje.
By that time, Börje had already begun a completely different journey that had taken him away from drugs and into a new relationship with Jesus. His mother had lost all hope of him and the authorities on Gotland had grown tired of his wild life. It was decided that the hopeless addict would be sent to Bredbygården outside Örnsköldsvik for rehabilitation. In addition to a nursing home, Bredbygården also consisted of a Bible school.

Saved and free

The stay at Bredbygården led to Börje being saved and freed from the drugs that had held him captive for so many years.
– On October 17, 1974, I was saved. Jesus saved me. It’s the best thing that has happened in my life. When I called my mother on Gotland and told her that I had received Jesus, she said that I had gone crazy. But then, several years later, I had to bring both mother and father to Jesus, says Börje.
– Without Jesus, I would have been dead a long time ago. But imagine that Jesus saved me and that he gave me a wife, five children and nine grandchildren. It is God’s grace right through.

Wrote a letter to King

Börje felt quite soon after his experience of salvation that he wanted to tell the whole world about all the wonderful things he had experienced.
– One day I came up with a really phenomenal idea. I was going to write a letter to an important person and tell him that Jesus had saved me from a hopeless life of drugs and crime.
– I wrote down my testimony as nicely as I could and ended the letter with the following words: “Listen, this was the coolest thing I’ve been through. You should also experience this. ”
When this was done, he put the letter in an envelope, licked it again and put a stamp on it and wrote the only address to the recipient that he knew: the King. The castle. Stockholm. Then he put the letter in the mailbox.
Fourteen days later I received a reply from King Carl XVI Gustaf. It was a letter with the Marshal’s Office’s monogram on it. “His Majesty the King wishes you the blessing of the Most High,” it said.
44 years have passed since Börje was saved. After training as a pastor at the Bethel Seminary in Stockholm, he has spent many years traveling around schools where he provided information about drug abuse, testified in congregations, worked with relief shipments, organized tent meetings and campaigns.
Today, Börje is retired and can look back on a life that has included both joy and sorrow. But time and time again during our conversation, he returns to how enormously important it was that he was saved that autumn day at Bredbygården outside Örnsköldsvik.

“The best thing that happened”

– That I received Jesus is the best thing that has ever happened to me, says Börje with tears in his eyes.
As the incurable evangelist he is, Börje longs to come out in churches and in the media and other contexts to tell as many people as possible about all the wonderful things that this Jesus has done in his life.
– I am passionate about this, says Börje Flygman.

GÖRAN JACOBSON

With permission from the magazine  Inblick.

INBLICK  is the news magazine that describes the surroundings from the little person’s perspective. With weight in Christian opinion issues and a clear stance for “these my little ones”, news reporting with a social focus is conveyed. In each week’s newspaper, there are also several wonderful reports about  what Jesus does in ordinary people’s everyday lives.  Coming out on Thursdays. Contains detailed TV appendix from  Kanal 10  and Kanal 10 Norway.