Title: Tramp For The Lord (Link to Jacob's Well) 

Author: Corrie Ten Boom

Pages: 192

Release Date: 1974

Ease of Reading: Easy

Nonfiction

This is the first Corrie Ten Boom book I had read, although I have heard her name many times in the past.  Seeing the picture of her caught me off guard in much the same way as seeing a radio personality or someone who've you only talked to via the internet or phone would.  I had a picture of a much younger lady.  This book was put together after she was 80 and still doing evangelism around the world.  There are some very interesting stories and overall it's an incredible story that shows tremendous faith.  If there is one area that does hurt this particular book, it's that at times it comes across as a collection of previously told stories.  And towards the end some of the same themes seem to repeat as they do sometimes when you are throwing collections of stories together. 

A couple of things I really appreciated about the book.  One was the reminder of the evils that happened during the holocaust.  And still there were people who looked into the face of evil, and did what God led them to do.

Some other points of interest:

A discussion with her sister Betsie while in a concentration camp (Betsie died in the concentration camp 3 days after this conversation). 

"Must we live with them in Germany?" I whispered. 

"For a while," Betsie answered.  "Then we will travel the whole world bringing the Gospel to all - our friends as well as our enemies." 

"To all the world? But that will take much money."

"Yes, but God will provide," Betsie said.  "We must do nothing else but bring the Gospel and He will take care of us.  After all, He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.  If we need money we will just ask the Father to sell a few cows."

Final Destination

The travel agent wrote it all down and then asked, "What is your final destination?"

"Heaven," I answered simply.

She gave me a puzzled look.  "How do you spell that?"

"H-E-A-V-E-N," I spelled out slowly.

After she had written it down she sat looking at the paper.  At last she looked up.  "Oh, now I understand," she said with a smile.  "But I did not mean that."

"But I meant it," I said.  "And you do not need to write it down because I already have my ticket."

"You have a ticket to heaven?" she asked, astonished.  "How did you receive it?"

"About two thousand years ago," I said, noting her genuine interest, "there was One who bought my ticket for me.  I only had to accept it from Him.  His name is Jesus and He paid my fare when He died on the cross for my sins." 

I hear the bells ringing

"Up in that church tower," I said, nodding toward the belfry, "is a bell which is rung by pulling on a rope.  But you know what?  After the sexton lets go of the rope, the bell keeps on swinging.  First ding, then dong.  Slower and slower until there's a final dong and it stops.

"I believe the same thing is true of deliverance.  When the demons are cast out in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, or when sin is confessed and renounced, then Satan's hand is removed from the rope.  But if we worry about our past bondage, Satan will use this opportunity to keep the echoes ringing in our minds."