Corrie ten Boom is my personal hero.

Do you have a personal hero?  Who is it?  Have you thought about it?

I have a personal hero.  It’s Corrie ten Boom.  If you’ve never heard of Corrie ten Boom, she’s a Dutch woman, whose family hid many Jews during the Nazi reign.  Her family was turned in by a spy, and Corrie’s family was sent to the concentration camps.

I had never heard of Corrie ten Boom, until I checked her autobiography, The Hiding Place, out of the library 15 years ago.  By the end of the first chapter, I was drawn in to the story.  I finished the book within days.

What struck me about Corrie is that even though she struggled with being bitter toward those who harmed her and her family, in the end she chose to forgive.  I don’t know if I could.  I thank the Lord that I have never been put in a situation so horrid. But I think I would be prone to bitterness, if I went through something so awful.

And that is why Corrie ten Boom is my hero.  Despite the trials and hardships she went through, she chose to entrust justice to God, and chose to forgive those who wronged her.

In a world where we idolize the glamorous…Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan….I’d rather look up to someone with inner beauty.  Corrie ten Boom passed away at age 91 in 1983.  I suspect that by the time she died her physical appearance was one of an old woman who had survived much in life.  But her heart and her words spoke volumes about the kind of person she was.

Corrie ten Boom certainly won’t be remembered for how much money she had.  I’ve never heard that she was a good looking babe when she was young.  But her faith and her attitude will be remembered for eternity.  And that’s exactly the kind of hero I want in my life.

Who is your hero?  Why do you look up to that person?  Leave a comment!