Unlock the Gate - Part II

By Robert H. Schuller

"I have set before you an open door and no one can shut it..

You have kept my word and have not denied my name." -Revelation 3:8

When the East Germans built the wall in Berlin, Frau Schulze lived on the ground floor of an apartment house smack on the border. The sidewalk was West Berlin, but the apartment house was in East Berlin. The windows on the ground floor were bricked up after a number of people had escaped through them. The remaining residents were moved to the upper floor apartments. 

"They moved me up, too, and when I got to the new place I sat there as if I were paralyzed," she remarked. She had no lights, but plenty of light from the searchlights outside. Her sleep was interrupted constantly with shots, sirens, the voices of West Berliners urging someone to escape and the vulgarities of the East German guards. 

Finally, Frau Schulze had enough. She climbed out on her window sill and was immediately spotted by West Berlin police. They called out the fire brigade with the nets and urged her to jump. Then she heard the door of her apartment kicked open and two East German guards grabbed her. Finally, she struggled free and jumped-to freedom. She opened the gate! It's never to late to begin!

Frieda Schulze was 87 when I heard her story. At 77 years of age she took the plunge toward a new life.

 "I still shudder a bit when I think about it," Frau Schulze said, "But it was worth it I couldn't stand their politics," she added, shaking a gnarled finger for emphasis.

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Jesus sets me free. I begin today with a clean slate!

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