April 3, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Thursday, April 3.
I love movies! All kinds of movies. Old movies, new movies, big blockbusters, little art films, old westerns, screwball comedies, horror flicks, serious dramas, true crime documentaries - you name it! I love movies! All kinds of movies.
Well, I must admit, there’s one genre of film that isn’t at the top of my “must see” list - religious movies. This is surprising since I grew up in the church and have spent most of my career there. But Hollywood’s take on religion usually leaves me cold. The Cecil B. DeMille type epics like “The Ten Commandments” turn cherished Bible stories into melodramatic spectacle. And whenever Hollywood tries to portray a church service or a person of faith it usually comes out as a ridiculous caricature of reality. That’s my review, at least.
But in 1975, I saw a movie with a group from my church, a religious film produced by the Billy Graham Association, and it has been on my top ten list ever since. It’s called “The Hiding Place”. The gripping story takes you back to 1941 in Nazi controlled Holland. A Christian family, the Ten Booms, decide to hide a family of Jews in their home. German soldiers raid the house, but don’t find “the hiding place”. Instead, they arrest the Christian family and send them to a concentration camp. Only one member of the family survives - a young girl named Corrie.
After the war, and until her death in 1983, Corrie Ten Boom lectured around the world about the power of God’s love, the power of forgiveness. And she wrote a book about her experiences, a book that inspired a movie, a movie where Hollywood finally found the true heart of faith. A movie inspired by Psalm 32:7.
“You are my hiding place, O Lord.”
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
