Do your part to help those in need

Dr. Jim Denison described his visit to the Dallas Holocaust Museum in his Feb. 2, 2018, Daily Commentary.
He told of an incredible story that was featured in the museum at the time. He was so moved by it he bought Marion Schreiber’s, The Twentieth Train, in the museum’s bookstore. Here is a condensed version of the story. A train left the Mechelen transit camp in Belgium on April 19, 1943, bound for the Auschwitz death camp. It was the twentieth time this train was making this trip. On this trip alone it was transporting more than 1,600 Jews to certain execution.
Three men committed themselves to stopping the train and freeing as many prisoners as they could. Their leader, a Jewish doctor named Youra Livchitz, was a brilliant young man who could speak Latin, Greek, German, and French. He was a writer, and an actor who had the ability to inspire those around him. Until the Nazi occupation his options for the future had seemed almost unlimited. Perhaps this is what motivated the young genius to recruit two non-Jewish friends, Robert Maistriau and Jean Franklemon, to help him that night.
Armed with only a lantern, a pistol, some red tissue paper and two sets of pliers, the three devised a plan to stop the train. They created a makeshift stop signal and when the train ground to a stop, Livchitz fired his pistol to attract the attention of the Nazi guards as Maistriau and Franklemon ran to the railroad cars and began prying open the doors with their pliers.

Jewish prisoners, seeing their opportunity to escape, quickly began streaming out of the train cars. Tragically, 23 died in the escape attempt, but amazingly, 231 Jews disappeared into the countryside. The neighboring Belgian people befriended them and did not betray a single Jew that night.
Youra Livchitz also evaded the Nazis that night and went on to help other fellow Jews. He was eventually betrayed and captured but managed to escape only to be betrayed again. Soon after his second arrest this little-known hero was executed. However, his co-conspirators both survived the war; Franklemon lived until 1977 and Maistriau died in 2008.
This statement by Albert Einstein is on display in the Dallas Holocaust Museum; “The world is too dangerous to live in not because of the people who do evil, but because of the people who sit and let it happen.” Many years earlier, the Bible made a similar point, “…it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.” (James 4:17, NLT).
Find someone in need and help them. Call a hurting friend and encourage them. Do not sit idly by and complain that the world is a mess, when with God’s help, you can do your part to make the world a better place.
During four decades as a pastor, Tim Richards has served five churches, three in rural Missouri and two in St. Louis. He may be reached by email at iamtimrichards@yahoo.com.