QUOTE (Corrie ten Boom) – Feb 28

Corrie ten Boom, “The Hiding Place” (Photo credit: Corrie ten Boom Museum)

“Now he was in front of me, hand thrust out: ‘A fine message, Fräulein! How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!’  And I, who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand. He would not remember me, of course—how could he remember one prisoner among those thousands of women?

But I remembered him and the leather crop swinging from his belt. I was face-to-face with one of my captors and my blood seemed to freeze.

‘You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk,’ he was saying, ‘I was a guard there.’  No, he did not remember me.  ‘But since that time,’ he went on, ‘I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fräulein,’ again the hand came out—’will you forgive me?’  And I stood there—I whose sins had again and again to be forgiven—and could not forgive. Betsie had died in that place—could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking?

It could not have been many seconds that he stood there—hand held out—but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do.

For I had to do it—I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. ‘If you do not forgive men their trespasses,’ Jesus says, ‘neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.’  I knew it not only as a commandment of God, but as a daily experience. Since the end of the war I had had a home in Holland for victims of Nazi brutality. Those who were able to forgive their former enemies were able also to return to the outside world and rebuild their lives, no matter what the physical scars. Those who nursed their bitterness remained invalids. It was as simple and as horrible as that.

And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion—I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. ‘… Help!’ I prayed silently. ‘I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling.’

And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.

‘I forgive you, brother!’ I cried. ‘With all my heart!’

For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God’s love so intensely, as I did then.”

~ Corrie ten Boom, “I’m Still Learning to Forgive”

In honor of Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch Christian and Holocaust survivor, who on this day in 1944 was arrested by Nazi police for hiding Jews.

Resources:
This Day in History – February 28
Corrie ten Boom Story on Forgiving

Related articles

• A Holocaust Survivor’s Story of Forgiveness
• Forgiving Your Death Camp Guard (Corrie Ten Boom)
• Soul Survivors
• 68) Will You Forgive Me?
• Corrie ten Boom – Original Portrait
• Corrie Ten Boom – The Hiding Place – The Righteous Among the Nations

“COST OF AN IRONMAN” – Nov 2

“For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?”  Luke 14:28

My personal triathlon journey started with the goal to just finish one.  I am two years and about $2,500 into this journey, after buying a road bike, a tri-bike, a membership at the City Pool, all the associated paraphernalia, and registration fees.  When I started this journey, I was not completely aware of the cost.  That ignorance was mostly due to my failure to do the accounting.  However, I believe I might have discovered my cost limit regarding the sport of triathlon.

I have flirted with the idea of stepping up to the next triathlon distance for my third year.  The next distance is the half-ironman or the 70.3.  I am apprehensive but not about combining the 1.2 miles (1.9 km) swim and the 56 miles (90 km) bike.  My concern dwells with the half-marathon run, 13.1 miles (21.1 km), at the end of those disciplines.

I have vacillated over that run.  I have made plans to do the race and then reconsider.  I read some more,  work out some more and I reconsider my reconsideration.  I have hemmed and hawed for about two months.

Additional motivation has come through reading blogs and watching videos of the recent World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.  I am enamored with the idea of being able to say that I am an Ironman; at least a 70.3 Ironman.  I think it would be cool to put the M-dot logo of Ironman on my pick-up even if it is qualified by the 70.3 distinction.

So, I decided to do it and I told a bunch of people that I was all-in. The Boise Ironman 70.3 is the event I have chosen as my inauguration into the half-ironman world.

However, their registration website surprised me.  The registration fee is $250. Registration fees that are less than $100 are what I have become accustomed  – $250 might just be too much.  I don’t know if it is worth it.  I have set off on this Boise Ironman goal without knowing all the costs.

I don’t know if I am willing to pay the price to become an Ironman.

Jesus taught that true discipleship must include planning.  A follower of Christ must be sure that they are willing to pay the full price of discipleship.  We are encouraged to consider the cost of the sacrifices we are willing to incur as a disciple of Christ.

Jesus calls us to give up everything.

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.  Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.  (Luke 14:26-27)

The only way I know how to count the costs of following Christ is to meditate on thought experiments:

Would I renounce Christ for the life of my wife?
Would I renounce Christ to stop the torture of my son or daughter?

Some followers of Christ have had to make that decision.

Would I keep my faith silent to keep my freedom?
Would I keep my faith silent to keep my wealth?

Some followers of Christ have had to make that decision.

Would I deny my convictions for friendship?
Would I deny my convictions for peace?

Some followers of Christ have had to make that decision.

Would I give up my life for the sake of the cross?

I don’t know what my reaction to these scenarios would be if I were to actually have to face them.  However, I know how I hope that I will react.  I hope that I am willing to pay all the potential costs for Christ.  I know what Jesus wants from me – everything.  That does not mean he will take it but it means that I treasure Him more than anything else.

The true disciple loves Christ more than all His blessings.

Whoever loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.  And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:37-39)

If I vacillate over the costs of discipleship in a mental exercise, there is a problem.  If I am not willing to pay the price in a thought experiment, then I will probably not be willing to pay the price on the day of the actual test.  We must be planners for the potential costs of our faith.  If we are not willing to pay the price for the strong tower then it probably won’t be there in our time of need.

If you are not willing to pay the costs, then you might not be a disciple after all.

Casper Ten Boom (Photo credit: Corrie ten Boom Museum)

When I consider these scenarios, I doubt my strength to withstand the test.  I know that I am weak.  I know that my strength will not withstand any of thought experiment scenarios within my strength.  The hope of my response does not rest in my strength.  My hope rests in the strength of God.  I have assurance that I will be willing to pay the cost of a true disciple on the day of trial because my Father will give me the strength when I need it.  Corrie ten Boom’s father, Casper ten Boom, expressed this truth beautifully:

And our wise Father in heaven knows when we’re going to need things, too. Don’t run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need-just in time.  (Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place)

I may not be willing to pay the price of being an Ironman, but I do know that I am willing to pay the price of a true Disciple of Christ because my Father, who knows what I need, will give me the strength . . .  just in time.

PRAYER: Lord, you know the doubt that plagues me when I contemplate trials.  You know the uncertainty when I wonder how I would react to the same persecutions that my brothers and sisters in Christ have endured.  Father, I trust you.  You know my heart better than I do.  You know that I love you.  Prepare me to walk down any path that you give me.  I will trust you to provide the strength that I need – just in time.  I pray this in the precious name of your Son,  Jesus Christ.   Amen.

“DON’T PUT YOUR FOOT DOWN” – May 18

“More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”  Romans 5:3-5

I have a bicycle ride that I think of as my little hill of pain.  This ride has a short span of road that is only ¾ of a mile long but it has three switch-backs and a continuous grade of over 10%.  We recently rode the ten miles out to this location of personal affliction and then up my little hill twice.

Oh, how I suffered.

On our initial ascent, I was very quickly down into my lowest gear and standing on my petals in a personal battle with gravity.  The grade is unrelenting and with each foot of elevation gained my poor legs increasingly voiced their displeasure.  In my desperation not to tip-over, I began to zig-zagg across the width of the road in a pathetic attempt to find some relief from the vertical grade of the road.

When I got to the top, I was a mess.  My feet were a little numb, my thighs stung from way too much lactic acid, my calves were threatening a massive cramp, and my lungs felt like I had just cooked them over a campfire.  I found a nice easy gear that allowed me to spin away my nausea as I joined my riding buddy.  He was riding back to me in annoyingly good spirits and asked me the question that I knew he would ask, “wanna do it again?”

The look on my face was sufficient to convey my displeasure and caused my buddy to laugh at me.  After a few more moments of spinning, my lungs were once again capable of powering words.  I explained to my compatriot that there is a difference between wanting to and knowing that I should.  I did not really want to ride up that hill in the first place but I knew that I should ride back up that hill.  It would be good for me.  So, we turned around, raced down the hill, and experienced the joy of hill climbing one more time.  It was worse the second time.

Climbing hills on a bicycle is just not very fun.  It is particularly not that much fun when you are training to climb hills.  The reason I go out to this particular hill of pain is because I have a hope for July of this year.  There is a ride called the Four Summit Challenge.  It is a ride over to two ranges and then back again.  The total ride has 5,714 feet of vertical climbing over 72 miles.  From what I understand, it is an absolutely beautiful ride.  I am looking forward to it.  It should be a fun day.  However, I do not have a lot of hope in being able to do that ride unless I can get some climbing training in before July.  I will not be able to enjoy the beauty of that ride if I am in agony.  Therefore, I am training on hills.

The key to climbing is to understand that it has less to do with what is going on with your muscles than it does with what is going on in your melon.

My little hill of pain is training me mentally just as much as it is training me physically.  I know that by being able to recover in a couple minutes that I can physically ride up this hill.  I have the physical endurance and strength to do it.  I am now working on the character to do it.  There are a variety of times when I was climbing my hill when I really wanted to put my foot down and end the discomfort.  I could stop it at anytime by just lowering my foot and admitting defeat.  However, I would never make it to the top of the hill if I gave up.  I would never attain what I am hoping to attain in July.  Suffering on my bike makes me stronger and gives me endurance; endurance gives me confidence and builds my character; character allows me to hope; without hope I would never try anything.

Suffering is just a fact of life.  No one likes suffering.  If you like suffering for suffering sake, then you are a little bent in the head.  However, suffering is unavoidable.  Everyone will go through difficult periods in their lives of varying degrees and durations.  Since going through some form of hardship is guaranteed, then we should determine beforehand what we are determined to gain from it.

We are promised that our souls can benefit from suffering but that gain is not guaranteed.

The reality is that suffering has caused many people to quit on their faith.  It has caused many to give up on their hope.  Hardship has resulted in some putting their foot down and stagnating in their faith for years.  Suffering is not just about enduring until life can get back to normal.  Life may never get back to normal for some. Trials are given to us to mature our faith in a way that only difficult times can do.  Suffering trains us mentally.  I don’t want to diminish physical pain and heartache, but the implications of suffering to our faith come from how we approach it in our minds.  Suffering can cause us to grow in our faith if we fight the battle of the mind.

We will probably go through struggles in this life that are beyond our strength.  God did not give you specific trials because He knows you have the strength to handle them.  They are given to us to teach us that we do not have the strength to carry them on our own.

“You can never learn that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have.”
Corrie ten Boom

Suffering causes us to seek strength outside of ourselves.  God has promised to be our strength when we have no strength.  His strength is all that we need.  A lesson of suffering is that we should not be living in our own strength at any time, much less when we face hardship.  The strength to endure is never in question for the child of God, who is trusting in their Lord, because we have a source of unlimited strength from our Father.  Suffering forces us to draw strength from beyond ourselves.  Hardship trains us in how to rely upon God for everything we need, including the strength to endure in difficult times.

Therefore, our challenge is to not give up. 

This is where character comes in.  Suffering sculpts our character.  Suffering teaches us who we can rely upon when the going gets tough.  The character of a child of God, who has been trained by suffering, is formed by faithfully following Christ through pain, discouragement, loss, and tears.  Their hope is grounded in a character that knows that they don’t have to put their foot down no matter how bad it gets.  They are confident that they will have all the strength that they need, when they need it.  They know that their Savior will be with them through all the pain and anguish; that He will never leave them nor forsake them.  Their faith can survive anything; they can endure anything because their hope is secure.  The Savior is sufficient.

Suffering teaches us that our hope is attainable.  How can you be confident that you will persevere to the end?  If you have never suffered, than your confidence is theoretical.  Suffering puts theory into practice.  Suffering shows us that our hope is not a fool’s dream.  It grounds us in the confidence that God can and will bring us to glory and we have the strength to fight the good fight to the end.  It is when we have endured through hardship that we learn from the practice of our faith that nothing can pluck a child of the King from His hand.

If you are currently blessed with a period of tranquility, then prepare yourself.  Determine in your mind now, to make the most of the suffering when it inevitably comes.  Prepare your heart to be trained and taught by hard times.  Draw your strength from God in the good times so that you will be ready seek your strength from Him when you need it most.  Stack the kindling of the goodness of your Lord and His word around you now so that when the darkness of trials come, the Spirit can ignite the treasures stored in your heart to be your beacon in the night.  Learn to recognize your Savior’s voice on the mountain top so that you can follow His whisper through the valley.

If you are enduring hardship at this time, then may I encourage you to lift up your eyes to your Lord and cry out to Him.  He is faithful and He will give you the strength that you need.  He can sustain you in your weakness.  He will sustain you for He loves you.  Don’t give up.  Don’t put your foot down.  He is sufficient and He will turn all the suffering you are going through into something gloriously good.  Hang onto the only one who can sustain you.  Don’t give up; Don’t put your foot down!

“Hardship often prepares ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.”
CS Lewis

PRAYER: Lord, I don’t want to suffer.  Father, you know that I don’t want to go through trials and tribulations.  However, I know that You will never leave me and You will never forsake me.  I know that You will give me the strength that I need, when I need it.  Forgive me for living in my own strength.  Lord, prepare me for the trials that I have ahead of me.  Teach me how to rely upon You in all things, at all times.  Prepare me to suffer well to your glory.  Help me to be a beacon while I walk through dark times.  Thank you for the assurance that it will be well with my soul no matter what the future holds.  I praise  you O’ Lord and pray this in the precious name of your Son, Jesus Christ.   Amen.