November 26
Lawrence Donkin served with a British infantry unit in the North African campaign. His capture by German troops in Tunisia was the start of an amazing odyssey. He was held in an Italian prisoner-of-war camp until Italy surrendered and his guards walked away. After weeks of evading the Germans he made his way to Switzerland where he was interned until 1944.
After the war Donkin returned to his home and wife in England. On a day in 1950, while starting out to sea, his wartime experiences flooded back into his memory, and he began to recall the many miraculous incidents that had enabled him to survive the war. His weapon had mysteriously jammed just before his capture, preventing him from firing at that moment, saving his life. On a dark night in Italy he had bumped into an iron bar that saved him from falling into a deep pit. Most important of all, while evading the Germans, he had picked up a New Testament lying on a schoolroom floor and had started reading it. In all these events, he became convinced that he was seeing “the preserving Hand of God and His saving grace.”495
Reading from the New Testament that he brought home from Italy, he came to Chapter 11 of Matthew and Jesus’ compelling invitation: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”(Matthew 11:28–31 KJV). Donkin’s response to that invitation changed his life forever:
So, I was drawn to the Lord Jesus and responding to his words, “Come unto me,” I received him as my Lord and Saviour, so, I, a sinner by nature was saved… I who was a prisoner of war and escaped am now a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ, and, after 40 years, I have never wanted to escape from him, nor will I ever want to.496
All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
November 27
James Norton wrote to his parents on April 15, 1945, describing that day as the “second-happiest day of my life.” He was finally able to write home and to tell them about the happiest day of all: when he was liberated from a German POW camp. Norton had been wounded and captured four months earlier during the Battle of the Bulge and described his captivity as “living hell.” He also described an important change within himself as he confronted the possibility of dying:
Death has faced me many times in the past months and by the grace of my Lord and Savior I am here today to write this letter. I always considered myself a good Christian until I was captured, and then I learned what a fool I had been and what it really means to have faith and the power of prayer. I prayed day and nite, and these prayers were heard…497
This young soldier’s experience reflects a very real spiritual truth. Christians often experience a closer relationship to God during times of stress. Rick Warren described this phenomenon: “Your most profound and intimate experiences of worship will likely be in your darkest days when your heart is broken, when you feel abandoned, when you’re out of options, when the pain is great and you turn to God alone… You’ll never know that God is all you need until God is all you’ve got.”498 If we come closer to God in a stressful situation, we can be thankful that we have been so blessed. Our continuing challenge, however, is to seek God in our everyday activities, without waiting for the next crisis.
We despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God.
November 28
The chaplain scanned the sky anxiously. After waiting for hours, he could see his airmen returning to base from the day’s mission. He counted their numbers as he tried to pray each one safely back home. He gazed at the rain-swept runway and waited until the last plane was on the ground before facing the reality that all had not returned. With a sorrowful heart, he took the letter given him hours earlier from his pocket:
Dear Mother and Dad:
Strange thing about this letter; if I am alive a month from now, you will not receive it, for its coming to you will mean that after my twenty-fifth mission, God has decided I’ve been on earth long enough and He wants me to come up and take the examination for permanent service with Him…
Some things a man can never thank his parents enough for, they come to be taken for granted through the years: care when a child and countless favors as he grows up. I am recalling now all your prayers, your watchfulness all the sacrifices that were made for me, when sacrifice was a real thing and not just a word to be used in speeches…
I die with many things to live for. But the loss of the few remaining years unlived together is as nothing compared to the eternity to which we go, and it will be well worthwhile if I give my life to help cure a sickened world, and if you and I can help to spare other mothers and fathers and younger generations from the griefs of war…
Pray for me; be proud of me, for I am proud of you. As you have done through the years for me, so now I do for you, and await your coming to me.499
This young airman’s letter is a sad but powerful witness to a strong faith. This is the faith available to all Christians, who rest in the certain knowledge of where they are ultimately going and in the fact that loved ones will eventually be with them in that blessed place. From God’s perspective, those who go sooner are even more fortunate than those temporarily left behind.
In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
