Today is the anniversary of Corrie Ten Boom's birth and death (she died on her birthday). I'm not huge on "heroes" - I learned early in life that all our heroes have feet of clay (thank you Mrs. Baker, 11th grade English) - but Corrie Ten Boom is definitely on my short list. She would absolutely be seated at my dream dinner table.
If you don't know her story, read or watch The Hiding Place and the upcoming film Return to the Hiding Place. Corrie is one of the "Righteous Gentiles" honored in Israel for hiding Jews during WW2 and suffered in a concentration camp for her decision to do so.
But that isn't why Corrie is one of my few heroes. Corrie Ten Boom left that camp and spent the rest of her years as a "Tramp for the Lord" going around the world with a single message, "Jesus is Victor". In the early days of my walk with Him, I devoured every word I could find that she had written. God used her simple illustrations to instill in me an example of relationship and trust that I still strive for. One day I read a poem that, though not original to Corrie, was used by her in a dramatic fashion during her talks. She would hold up a weaving and show a tangled underside, with the threads all jumbled, while she recited words that hit me so powerfully I memorized them on the first reading:
My life is but a weaving
Between my God and me
I do not choose the colors
He worketh steadily
At times He weaveth sorrow
And I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper
and I, the under side
[at this point she would turn the weaving around to reveal a beautiful crown]
Not till the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly
Will God roll back the canvas
And unveil the reasons why
The dark threads are as neeful
In the Master's skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned.
My late mother-in-law heard Corrie speak in Tulsa once, but I never had that privilege. I hope that in heaven, though, I can be seated at her table at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Not so that I can hear her story though. I just want to be close enough to see her face as she worships Jesus, because I know written in every glance will be one phrase, "It was worth it all."
Rest in peace Corrie.
