Don’t you love to find a good hiding place? There is a house in Holland with a place you could hide and never be found! The house is very old. The secret place is on the third floor, away at the back of the house, in a small bedroom, with a space behind it just 30 inches wide. A tumble-down bookcase on the wall hides a panel that can be moved to let someone crawl in. But this hiding place was not made for fun. It was for saving lives.

In 1940, when Holland was invaded by Germany, this house was owned by the Ten Boom family. They were watchmakers. Their home above the shop was known as a place where anyone could come and find the love of Christ. A big pan of soup was always ready to welcome them. One daughter, Corrie, worked in her spare time with mentally retarded people, teaching them about God from the Bible. When she was told that she was wasting her time and energy, Corrie replied, “In the Bible I learn that God values us not for our strength or our brains but simply because He has made us. Who knows, in His eyes a half-wit may be worth more than a watchmaker” (Corrie Ten Boom with John and Elizabeth Sherrill, The Hiding Place, Revell, 1971)

The German forces that occupied Holland were determined to get rid of people they didn’t consider to be valuable—the handicapped, the elderly, the sick—and Jews. One night, a Jewish lady knocked at the Ten Booms’ door, afraid to go home to her apartment. Two nights later, an elderly Jewish couple joined them. Corrie and her sister helped them to escape. More came. But this was very dangerous, since the German soldiers could search the house at any time and arrest them for helping Jews.

And so, the hiding place was built, in Corrie’s room. Corrie and her family hid hundreds of Jews there, a few at a time, and helped them go on to safety.

Finally, on February 28, 1944, the Ten Boom home was raided by the German soldiers. Corrie and her family were arrested. But, search as they might, the soldiers could not find the hiding place they knew must be there!

Later, Corrie was the only one of her family to survive the prison and work camps. They had lived and died for people who were considered by many to be worthless. That’s what Jesus did, too, isn’t it?