You may have heard bits and pieces of the remarkable story of Corrie ten Boom.  During World War II, she and her sister Betsie were imprisoned in Ravensbruck — a concentration camp — for the crime of hiding persecuted Jews.  Corrie lived to tell the story in her book, “The Hiding Place”.  Betsie, however, did not live to tell the story.

After the war ended, Corrie worked tirelessly on behalf of the survivors of the Holocaust.  She also traveled extensively, visiting over sixty countries, speaking and working for forgiveness and reconciliation between former enemies.  This she continued to do until she reached the age of eighty-five. 

But once, in Munich, only two years after the war ended, Corrie learned that forgiveness is not just a vague, abstract, sentimental idea.  It’s a personal event and a costly reality.  Very personal and very costly.

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You may have heard of a guy named Martin Luther and the little stir that he caused back in 1517 when he published his 95 Theses (with hammer & nails) on the door of the Castle Church at Wittenburg, in Germany. 

The Castle Church housed more than 17,000 so–called “relics.” Among these relics in which Wittenburg boasted, they claimed to have four strands of the Virgin Mary’s hair, a piece of straw from the baby Jesus’ manger, a nail from the cross, and a piece of bread from the Last Supper.

People would come to venerate these relics, in great hope that in so doing they would earn eternal favor with God.  In fact, the pope had decreed that those who did so on All Saints Day (November 1) could reduce their time in purgatory by over one million years — as long as they also made a little donation while they were there.

Well there was a monk named Martin Luther who had been studying his Bible, and he had come to the conclusion that all of this sort of business was vain nonsense, darkness, and superstition.  “Christ alone can forgive sins,” he declared.  “The pope has no power to forgive or to free souls from purgatory.  If he had such power, why does he not release everyone from purgatory at once?  Why does he not do it free of charge?”

So, on October 31 (the eve of All Saints Day) he went public with his critiques by nailing 95 Theses to the Castle Church door.

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Why did God make some of the things that he made?  Like ticks?  And when he made them, how did he evaluate them?  How should we evaluate them?  And how should that be unpacked and applied in our everyday thinking?

Listen to what Paul said in Romans 1…

“For what can be known about God is plain to [us], because God has shown it to [us].  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.”

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Ah… summer camp.  How does one describe it?

Faith–building lessons about the heroism of the Lord Jesus.  Silly games.  Camp food.  Silly songs.  Hayride.  Swimming.  Canoeing.  Serpent slaying.  Capture the flag.  Sports.  Bonfire.  Smores.  A cabin full of third & fourth grade boys.  The toilet in said cabin overflowing. 

And, oh yes… shaving cream fights.

In the year 354 A.D. a young Christian lady in Africa gave birth to a son.  Her heart’s desire was to see her son become a faithful Christian man, so she diligently taught him the story of creation, fall, and redemption—as it is recorded in the Bible.  She taught him to worship, love, and serve the Lord Christ, the Redeemer of the world. 

But… her husband was a pagan.  The boy would have a choice to make.

As the boy grew, it became obvious to everyone that he had a brilliant mind.  So, at the age of sixteen, he was sent away to study under the best of tutors, in the hopes that he would go on to do great things. 

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