Powerpoint Pictures: Hiding place from ten Boom house

98… 99… 100. [Uncover eyes]. Ready or not.  Here I come.

Do you like playing hide and seek?  It’s a great game isn’t it?  Lots of fun.

Do you have really good hiding place in your house? One which no-one knows about. One where the person you are playing with would never think to look.

I want to tell you this morning about a family that had a really good hiding place in their house. Not for playing the game hide and seek, but to keep people who were in danger safe.

This house in the Netherlands belonged to the ten Boom family.  The ten Boom family loved God and were followers of His Son Jesus.  And in the bedroom of Corrie, the youngest daughter of Casper ten Boom, who made and repaired watches was a very special hiding place.

During World War II, the Nazi wanted to kill those who were disabled or were Jews. One day, Corrie prayed, “Precious Jesus, isn’t there anything I can do for these poor people?” Well, the family decided that one thing they could do was hide people to keep them safe, in Corrie’s very special hiding place.

And for a number of years it worked. The ten Boom’s were able to feed, hide, and help lots of Jewish people escape.

But one day, someone who lived near them, told the police what they were doing, and soldier came and put the whole family in prison for hiding Jews.

Corrie and her sister Betsie ended up in a concentration camp, a type of prison in Germany. This wasn’t a nice place. They were treated very badly by the prison guards.

Betsie told Corrie that they didn’t need to be afraid because Jesus was with them. She said, “There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.” Even in the worse situations God can help so they need to keep trusting Him. She also wanted Corrie to learn to forgive people who treat her badly like her Saviour Jesus did.

Betsie sadly died in prison, but Corrie was eventually released and spent the rest of her life telling people about how Jesus was with her in prison and spread a message of forgiveness and love and salvation through Jesus Christ. She even had the opportunity to forgive some of the guards of the prison who had treated her so badly.

Even though there are lots of things we might be afraid of, we don’t need to be, because Jesus is with us. He says to us, “Do not fear; for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)

Corrie ten Boom is a great example to us of someone who learnt that she did not to be afraid because Jesus was with her, and she reminds us that we don’t need to be either. We can trust Jesus to be with us too, if like Corrie, we are one of His followers because there is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.

This talk was adapted from Everyone a Child Should Know by Clare Heath-Whyte.