“When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.” ~ Corrie ten Boom                                                 Corrie ten Boom was a remarkable woman.  She and her family were Christians who lived in Holland.  When the Nazis took over that country during World War II, the ten Boom family courageously helped Jews escape the Holocaust.  The family was arrested in 1944.  Her father died in prison within 10 days.  Some of the family were released, but Corrie and her sister, Betsie, were sent to a concentration camp.  Betsie died there, but Corrie survived and, later, aided Holocaust survivors in Holland.  Corrie learned many lessons in the price of discipleship, not the least of which was how to forgive her enemies - embodied by one of the most cruel guards in Ravensbrook who had asked for her forgiveness.  She wrote several books, the best known being The Hiding Place and spent her life as a motivational Christian speaker all over the world.  She died in California in 1983 at the age of 91. [1]

 

I saw this photo and quote on a Facebook post shared by my friend, JF.  It immediately spoke to me because I've been feeling, as many of you have, that this nation is going through a tunnel.  The negativity of this campaign has made it difficult to sort out the facts from the accusations - find the wheat and blow away the chaff.  It hurts my heart that average Americans can be so nasty and hateful to other Americans in their comments to one another and about the candidates.  It is a challenge during these next few weeks not to allow myself to become engulfed in this darkness, wondering if there is really a light at the end of the tunnel.

 

The quote also spoke to be because I know Corrie's history and her courageous and faith-inspired fight against one of the most evil regimes of the 20th century.  I've been studying a course called "The History of Hitler's Empire."  It is terrifying to see how quickly all goodness and liberty were lost in Germany.  His rise to power was all legal, but once there, legal became what Hitler said it was.  An honest, hard-working, and God-fearing people thought they were voting for one thing and they got something else, even though Hitler made no secret of his anti-Jewish sentiments when he first gained some notice right after World War I. 

 

A few stood up to him, like Helmuth Hebener [2], who was beheaded at age 17 for telling other Germans the Emperor was naked. Most were quickly terrorized and silenced by the fears for their families.

 

Finally, this quote spoke to me when it said, "Trust the engineer."  My engineer is the Lord and I have to trust Him that there will be light at the end of this particular tunnel.  It may or may not be the light I am praying for, but I trust that those who love Him will be ever in His hands, no matter what.

 

In the meantime, I plan to:

• Pray about the candidates and issues, and then
• Vote my values based on the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

Our fathers' God to Thee,
Author of Liberty,
To thee we sing,
Long may our land be bright
With Freedom's holy light,
Protect us by thy might
Great God, our King. [3]

[1] Biographical information from Wikipedia

[2] Hebener was a young member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

[3] America (My Country Tis of Thee)

Text © 2012 Gebara Education

Picture of light at the end of the tunnel from www.incitefaith.com