I’ll never forget the first time I met Corrie ten Boom. Over a cup of soup, she shared her love for the Jewish people with me. I told her a little of my own family’s story of suffering at the hands of people who claimed to be Christians and she said, “You can’t love God without loving the Jewish people.”
You and I know the story of the Hiding Place—how the ten Boom family risked so much to save the lives of hundreds of Jews from the Holocaust…and the incredible price they paid for their faith. But it’s a story at risk of being forgotten. So many people today are shocked when I share the ten Boom’s amazing story with them—they’ve simply never heard it before. And right now that story is needed more than ever before. 
The ten Boom’s story starts with a prayer meeting Willem ten Boom began in the family clock shop in the 1840s…and continues through decades of faithfulness…culminating with a family risking everything to save Jews from the Nazi death camps. Hundreds of Jews passed through the family’s home, staying for days or weeks as they fled certain death at the hands of the Gestapo.
Then came the fateful day when the entire family was arrested. The elderly Casper ten Boom, 84 years of age, was offered his freedom if he would promise to stop helping the Jews. Despite the dire warnings, he refused. He said, “I am too old for prison life, but if that should happen, then it would be for me an honor to give my life for God’s ancient people the Jews.”
Ten days later, he entered the presence of God, receiving the honor due to a faithful servant. Corrie and her sister Betsie were sent to the dreaded Ravensbruck prison camp where Betsie died. But Corrie survived until she was released due to a “clerical error” just days before everyone her age in the camp was executed.
Corrie devoted the rest of her life to telling her story and sharing the Good News with the world. She lived to the ripe old age of 91, and it was one of the great privileges of my life to spend time with her on several occasions. Her love and courage are an inspiration and example to all of us still today.
