Corrie ten Boom

What an amazing lady! I guess I never really knew much about Corrie ten Boom...just the general knowledge that she had helped a lot of people during a horrible time in history, suffered the tragic consequences, and then traveled the world the rest of her life telling others about Jesus.

After reading one of her books, Tramp for the Lord, it's hard to so casually sum up her life.

Last night, I read one particular passage about heaven that really clicked with me...I'll paraphrase the first part:

Corrie was speaking of a time when she was traveling in Korea with a Bible student who had been questioning the existence of heaven, due to the education he was receiving regarding a certain theologian's teachings. Corrie was angry that the Korean boys had to face the constant struggle of walking through their faith and then learning various forms of religion and theology in their schooling, which caused them to often times falter and lose their faith. Her answer to the student regarding the existence of heaven began like this...

(the story starts as she was driving through the countryside of Korea)

"There I saw the poorest shack I had ever seen. It was a tiny lean-to, made from materials collected from the garbage heap--pieces of cardboard, tin cans which had been smashed flat, old boards...As we drove past, though, I heard the beautiful voice of a woman singing. Seldom, even in the concert halls of Europe, had I heard such a sweet voice. We stopped the car and listened, for it was like the song of a skylark.

I said to the missionary who was traveling with me, "Do you know that song?"

"Yes," she said, "it says, Where Jesus is, 'tis heaven there."

Oh, how my heart leaped for joy as I heard this beautiful song coming from such a poor place. It is one thing to hear such a song in a dignified church, or pouring through the speakers of an expensive stereo set. But when one hears it coming from the poorest shack in the midst of such poverty, then it means something else.

I looked at the young theological student before me, "Jesus said, 'The Kingdom of heaven is within you' (Luke 17:21). Bultmann is wrong and Jesus is right. Heaven is not a myth or fairy story: heaven is a prepared place for prepared people. Theology in the hands of the Holy Spirit is a beautiful science. But in the hands of unbelievers it is death. If you want to find where heaven is, get out of your stuffy classroom and go back out into the countryside. Listen to the simple faith of those who read only the Bible and trust only in God, not in material things. What do they care if some theologian says that heaven is a fable. They have found Jesus, and where Jesus is, 'tis heaven there."

After just experiencing this a couple of weeks ago, I was like "yeah!". :O) God is good, so I just wanted to share that this morning.