Brother Andrew was born in Denmark in 1928. Brother Andrew soon grew up and in around the 1940’s he joined the Danish army and left for Indonesia as a part of a force that was trying to maintain Dutch colonial rule in the country. While in Indonesia, Brother Andrew was disillusioned by war. He had gone into the army thinking that he would be met by the glories of righteous battle. Instead, he was haunted by having taken part in an illegal massacre of an Indonesian village. It so shook Brother Andrew that he took to wearing a bright white straw hat while on patrol, hoping that an enemy fighter would easily see him and take his life. God preserved him, however, giving him instead an injury in his ankle that landed him in the hospital and unable to walk around for several weeks.
In that time, Brother Andrew began paging through the text of a Bible that his aunt had sent him. He had grown up in a Christian country, but he had honestly never really given any time to actually reading the text of the Christian faith he called his own. It made an impact and Brother Andrew had an experience of God’s Word that he knew he had to share with the rest of the world.
Returning home, Brother Andrew began making visits to European countries near him that were under Communist rule and where Bibles were often outlawed. Reading Revelation 3:2 (“Wake up and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death”) he decided that he would begin to smuggle the Word of God into those countries. Since that time, Brother Andrew and his organization “Open Doors” have smuggled countless Bibles into countries that are hostile to them (partially countless because they would never keep a record that might incriminate them).
We all have points of disillusionment, points where it seems like we’re at the end of our rope. In those moments is often when we can hear God the clearest. That is where Brother Andrew heard Him clearly. As the author John Zahl says, “God’s office is located at the end of your rope.” At the end of his rope is where Brother Andrew found God speaking clearly. Could God be calling you into the office?
p.s. thanks to my dad for “smuggling” me this great story