They Had a Secret
Mark 4:35-41
Illustration
by Bill Bouknight

Some years ago the late, great Norman Vincent Peale visited Europe. In Belgium he went to what used to be a Nazi prison camp, between Antwerp and Brussels. His guide that day told him that he remembered the morning when the Nazis arrested his own father. They brought him to this very camp and shot him. Dr. Peale asked the guide, "How did those prisoners stand up against the awesome fear that must have haunted this place day and night?" The guide replied, "They had a secret." The guide took Dr. Peale to a small cell far back in a corner where there was just a little slit in a stone wall. "Now," said the guide, "reach inside there and tell me what you feel." Dr. Peale reached inside and said, "I feel a stone statue, the facial features of a statue." The guide said, "What you are feeling is the face of a statue of our Savior Jesus Christ. Those men and women in the darkest hours of their hopelessness would come here and put their hands on His holy and loving face. It was this that sustained them and gave them victory over their fears."

Note: This Camp does indeed exist but we have not been able to substantiate the statue story. Might be introduced as "Norman Vincent Peale recounts a personal experience..."

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