On Corrie’s Street
One recent evening, my husband and I walked up the cobblestone street to Corrie ten Boom’s house in the Netherlands, a dream come true. Having read “The Hiding Place” countless times, all the WWII visions played before my eyes – Corrie peddling off past curfew to deliver a message for the Resistance, Corrie and her father walking arm-in-arm for their daily stroll through town, and even Nazi soldiers banging down doors. So much happened here.
As we reached the house, a vision I had not anticipated played before my eyes – five women creating a TikTok dance video (hip thrusts, etc) right there beside Corrie’s front door.
Surely they had no idea that not that long ago a man knocked here, desperately pleading for help from Corrie when in fact he was a traitor luring her family into a trap.
Behind the dancing ladies, no doubt inadvertently featured in their video, was the side door where Corrie, all her siblings, and their elderly father were marched out later that evening by soldiers. They were prodded down the alley, all headed for prison and concentration camps. The girls now shrieked with laughter as they messed up and had to start over.
And directly above, three floors up in Corrie’s house, six people she was hiding had stood cramped and claustrophobic in a secret closet that night. Soldiers ransacked the home searching for hours but they remained undetected for three days, finally slipping out that same alley door.
We stood to the side, hoping to grab a picture of the house when they were through dancing, but these were determined women and we came back for our picture the next day.
Knowing what I do about the Ten Boom family, I’m guessing they would have had some kind word for the gyrating group of girls, pointing them to the love they seemed to be craving. They probably would have invited them in for soup.
The Ten Booms passed on the flame of Christ's love everywhere they went, even the very darkest places. It was an honor and joy to be in their home, stand in their rooms and hear their stories. Hopefully I can tell you more sometime.
