» ALMIGHTY
been merciful to them; their lives had been
spared.
My parents wrote to me from the city of
Tours that this constant stream of miser-
able refugees was passing by their house
day and night. Some were in automobiles,
some on bicycles, and thousands on foot.
When the automobiles arrived at Tours
the passengers were sometimes diminished
in numbers. All along the road people
were digging graves. The appearance of
the people at this time was terrible—they
appeared more like trapped beasts than
My ltortress
“Because thou hast made the Lord, which
is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habita-
tion; there shall no evil befall thee, neither
shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. Ifor
He shall give His angels charge over thee, to
keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear
thee up In their hands, lest thou dash thy foot,
against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the
lion and adder: the voung hon and the dragon
shalt thou trample under feet.
“Because He hath set His love upon me,
therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on
high, because he hath known My name. He
shall call upon Me, and I will answer him: 1
will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him,
and honor him. With long life will I satisfy
him, and shew him My salvation.” — Psalm 91.
1942
human beings. They trembled at the
slightest noise of an airplane motor, think-
ing the Germans were after them again.
God protected His people on their great
trek. In the bombarded fields He also
protected them. You have doubtless heard
of the whistling bombs. The whistling
bombs made such a terrible noise that each
person within earshot was sure the bomb
was going to fall on his own head. These
peculiar bombs were dropped on the people
for days, and not only were the bodies of
the people crushed and maimed, but their
nerves were worn to shreds. Many of them
became insane.
One of our members, pastor of the church
at Rouen, had the habit, when these
bombardments began, of calling his family
about him--his wife and little boy. They
pressed very close together, put ther
heads together so that they touched each
other, and then they prayed. And this 1s
what they prayed: © Dear God, if 1t 13 your
will to protect us, and to spare our lives,
we will be so happy; but if we must die,
let us die together.” God protected them.
While we were still in Collonges we read
in the newspaper that the German army
was fighting in Tours, that the city had
refused to surrender, so that there was
fighting in the streets, and the Germans
were taking house after house. We heard
that the city was completely destroyed, in
complete ruins.
My parents lived in that city. For weeks
we had no word from them. One day we
received a letter which my mother had
written. She said, “First, I want to give
vou the news of the family, and tell vou that
we are all in good health. At the time of the
invasion vour aunt tried to leave the city
with several small children. She wanted to
take refuge in the country with one of her
daughters. But each time they were ready
to cross a bridge over the river, the bridge
was blown up just before they arrived.
The Germans were everywhere along the
roads so they had to walk across the fields,
and in this way they walked for eight days,
sleeping at night in the bushes. Their
clothing became torn and their shoes worn
out. Finally they decided that the only
thing for them to do was to try to return to
their house in Tours.
“By that time the Germans were occupy-
ing the city. When they saw the children
looking so unhappy and sad, they took pity
on them and permitted them to enter the
city. They are now safe and sound. God
has protected them and given them their
lives.” And then mother continued:
“As for your father and me, we are still
here in the house. We decided that God
could protect us here in the home as well as
on the road. When the bombardment be-
gan we went into the basement, and re-
mained there for forty-eight hours. The
bombardment became so intense, and the
fires in the city so numerous that the
alt was almost suffocating. We could
hardly breathe. But God protected us.
Our house is intact. And your father has
even been able to continue with his work,
because he refused to leave the city. He
made his request to the German officers,
and they have permitted him to continue
his work.”
Everywhere God protects His children.
No matter what your circumstances, if your
heart is right with God and you ask Him to
protect you, He will answer your prayers.
I should like for you to read the ninety-
first Psalm. It is the Psalm most often
read in France since the war began. The
experience mentioned by the psalmist was
the experience of most of our members in
France during 1940.
If God is to protect us, His Spirit must
abide in our heart. If our churchmembers in
France have been able to pass through such
terrible experiences as these, it 1s because
thev have become acquainted with God,
and by the power of His Holy Spirit have
been obedient to Him. Sometimes it 1s
necessary for us to spend days and weeks
seeking Jesus. But when we find Him,
and the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts,
we must be careful not to grieve Him away.
No sacrifice is too great to make, that He
may abide with us. When the test comes to
vou, to each one of us, my prayer is that
each one may have found Jesus. France
had the warning in 1938; you have the
warning from Europe. May each one of us
know what it is to have the Spirit of the
Lord Jesus in the heart. When the tempest
comes, may we be able to pass through it.
May each one be found now dwelling “in
the secret place of the Most High” and in
that day be found abiding “under the
shadow of the Almighty.”
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