The Absense of Fear

The Hiding Place:
I remember reading this book back in elementary school and being fascinated, hanging on every word. I can still hear it being read by one of my teachers who was also my friend's mom, Miss Donna. Now that I'm reading it as an adult, it's much more powerful and terrifying at the same time. I remember never being afraid of what could happen to my family living in China. Stories like this inspired me and confirmed that we were there for a reason. And we were living a life that seemed to have died out to some extent. I find myself relating to Corrie ten Boom more than I thought possible. I know that feeling of wondering if/when you would be arrested for what you are doing even though what you are doing was right. I know the feeling of making background noise to disguise other noise; in Corrie's instance, a radio. In mine, a bible study and worship. I know what it feels like to have to speak in code to protect the identity of certain people and disguise importance with terms of passing.
If I forget everything else, I hope I never forget those things...because they are what sets me a part and gives me a foothold in history. I have had the great privilege of walking the path shadowed by martyrs, saints, and missionaries alike. And the survivors, like Corrie. My life is the play-by-play story that says God is watching and has my back. Sometimes I tell my stories and for a second the blank stares of the people I'm telling make me wonder if it happened at all. Wasn't it just a story I read?
And then I'm reminded of how easily forgotten these workers are. There are still people living this life; speaking in code, hiding people, breaking the law for the pursuit of what is right, just, and good. Are they so easily forgotten? Or are they simply ignored? An inconvenience that hinders us from truly enjoying the American Dream...a friend is somewhere in a third world country enduring persecution of their own free will.
I cannot let myself be blinded by that ridiculous lie: the American Dream.