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Key Bible Verse: Give generously, for your gifts will return to you later (Ecclesiastes 11:1). Bonus Reading: Ecclesiastes 11:1-10

Less known than his Aunt Corrie, Peter ten Boom was part of the family that provided a safe house in Haarlem, the Netherlands, to which Jewish people escaped during the Nazi occupation.

Peter and others extricated hundreds of Jewish children from orphanages ahead of the S.S. troops, who were collecting them to ship to concentration camps.

Peter also played the organ in a country church. Though it was forbidden by German decree, one Sunday Peter pulled out the stops and played the Dutch national anthem, while shocked but proud churchgoers stood and sang the words. For this act of defiance, Peter, then 16, went to prison.

After the war, Peter went around the world with the same message as his famous aunt: that forgiveness is the only answer to hatred.

In Israel on one of his tours, he was felled by a heart attack. Prompt surgery was essential to save his life. The cardiologist spoke with his patient before the operation. "I see your name is ten Boom. Are you by any chance related to the ten Booms of Haarlem?"

"Yes," replied Peter. "That's my family."

The doctor replied, "And I'm one of the babies your family saved!"

—Harold J. Sala in Heroes

My Response: How have I invested in others?

Thought to Apply: A man there was, though some did count him mad / The more he cast away the more he had.—JOHN BUNYAN (author of Pilgrim's Progress)

According to an e-mail to Men of Integrity from Emily Smith, author of A Visit to the Hiding Place: The Life-Changing Experiences of Corrie ten Boom, a book written for the Corrie ten Boom Museum in Haarlem, Holland, this article contains factual errors.

"This is what actually happened," writes Ms. Smith. "On a trip to Jerusalem, Peter needed to see a dermatologist for a rash. Peter selected the doctor from the phonebook because he had a Dutch name. The doctor asked Peter what he and his family were doing in Israel, and Peter said they were on a singing tour.

"As they talked, Peter told him about his work with Corrie in the Dutch Underground and about how the ten Booms had hide Jews (including saving Jewish babies from an orphanage). The doctor did not know anything about the ten Boom family. Out of thanks for Peter's family doing so much to help Jews, the doctor did not charge Peter for the office visit."

Adapted from Heroes (Promise, 1998) by permission.

Copyright © 2006 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Jesus, fill me with the abundant life promised in Your Word. Give me Your wisdom to live right.

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