Warning: Christian Content

I was talking to somebody tonight about Audrey Hepburn, who was sort of Dutch. She suffered through the Dutch famine under the Nazis. That got me to thinking about another resident of Holland who had a difficult time in those years. Her name was Corrie ten Boom.

She wrote a wonderful book about her experiences. I believe it's called Tramp for the Lord. She belonged to a family of very devout Christians, and as so many Christians do (believe it or not), they felt they had an obligation to be good to the Jews. So when the Nazis showed up, she and her family hid Jewish strangers in a secret room in their house. The story has a lot of similarities to Anne Frank's diary.

The Nazis put Corrie and her sister in prison, because they protected Jews. The only thing they had to sustain themselves during their captivity was their faith. If you're a Christian and you have ever "stepped out in faith," as the saying goes, doing God's will and counting on Him to take care of you, this book will really speak to you. I did something like that once, but it was over 20 years ago. Hard to believe it has been that long. Corrie ten Boom ended up traveling the world, preaching the gospel out of a suitcase.

I learned about Corrie ten Boom because my grandmother was a Christian, and she had a copy of the book in her house. I used to read it from time to time when I was visiting. I wish I had asked for it when my grandmother passed away. For all I know, I did, and it's here some place. But I don't think so. I'd remember. I think I'll order a copy from Amazon.

It makes me sad, thinking about this lady. She and her family were such simple people. They just tried to do what they thought would please God. That was about the extent of their metaphysical pondering. The Jews were in trouble, therefore they took them in. The Nazis didn't like it? Too bad. God was bigger than the Nazis.

We're so polluted these days by worldiness. We're cruel and lustful and vain and obnoxious. I wonder how we will be judged compared to people who came before us.

I'm going to read that book again. I highly recommend it. It's a pretty good story, even if you don't believe in God. And if you're not a Christian, it can give you a lot of insight into the Christian mind at its best.

If you're feeling like you've done a little too much for yourself lately and you've lost sight of what matters, I have a couple of links I've posted before. The first goes to World Vision. It's an honest, effective Christian charity that seeks to convert more by example than exhortation. The other goes to the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. If you want to help one Jew move from Ethiopia to the Promised Land, they'll do it for $350. You can help elderly Holocaust victims in Israel, or elderly Jews in the former Soviet Union.

Whoops, I'm wrong. The book I'm thinking about is called The Hiding Place. She wrote a book called Tramp for the Lord, but it came later. And here's a link to the Corrie ten Boom website. She's also on Wikipedia.

Now back to blogwars and hell-raising.