If we keep on praying and trusting Jesus each day, and our faith will grow more and more.

A serial story of a boy named Rasca who learned to trust Jesus during World War II in Poland.

Rasca could hardly wait to get home.  What an exciting day it had been.  First there had been the visitor in Children's Church who had told them how much Jesus loved them.  Then his Teacher had asked who would like to give their lives to Jesus.  Rasca had jumped up and said, "Yes please!"  All the children had laughed, but Rasca didn't mind as he felt such joy as he asked Jesus to come into his heart and save him.  Now he could not wait to tell his parents about what had happened to him.

"Moma!  Papa!" he shouted as he slammed the front door closed, "Guess what happened to me today?"  He then excitedly told them how Jesus had come into his heart and made him full of joy.  "My teacher also read 2 Thessalonians 1:3 to the Class.  It says that we need to trust in Jesus so that our faith will grow.

That night Rasca went to bed with a singing heart and fell asleep dreaming about how he was going to serve Jesus with all his heart.  But downstairs, his parents listened with alarm to a very serous radio announcement.  War was declared against Germany!  The people were warned that an invasion by the enemy was expected at any moment.

The next night Rasca woke up with a fright.  He could hear the sound of explosions in the distance.  He ran to the window and gazed in amazement at flashes of gun fire and bomb bursts.  He saw shadows running along the street and realised that refugees were streaming past his house.

Rasca ran down the stairs, "Moma, what are we going to do?"  His mother calmly replied, "You remember what you told me about that verse in 2 Thessalonians?"  "Oh yes, Moma," said Rasca, "That your faith is growing more and more."

"Well then," replied Moma, "Now we need to ask Jesus to help us."  So Moma prayed with Rasca, "Jesus keep Rasca safe and help him not to be afraid."  She kissed him and sternly said, "Now Moma and Papa need to go out and find out what we must do.  Go back to bed in the meantime."  And so Rasca climbed back up the stairs again and into bed.  He prayed, "I know You will keep me safe Jesus!" and pulled the blankets over his head.

Rasca woke up sometime later as air-raid sirens began to wail.  The sound of gun-fire was now much louder.  A cold shiver went up his back as he heard the sound of aeroplanes coming nearer and nearer.  He tumbled out of bed and ran downstairs.  He looked in every room but his parents weren't at home.  "Quick," he muttered, "Moma said I was to hide under the stairs."

He ran and slid under the staircase just as the scream of a falling bombs grew louder.  Rasca cried, "Jesus please save me!"  Rasca felt the ground heave under him and it became pitch dark as the lights shattered.  He trembled with fear the walls of the house around him collapsed as with a loud crash.  He coughed as a cloud of dust covered him and yelled as planks from the stairs creaked and then fell on top of him.

Rasaca lay unconscious for many hours, but at last he groaned from pain - he could not move!  "I'm trapped beneath all these planks!" he whispered and began to struggle when he smelt smoke.  "Oh, Jesus, help me not to panic, because my faith is growing more and more."  Rasca lay there helpless and just when he felt the heat from the roaring flames, someone lifted the planks off his body.  "There little one, you are safe now."

The fireman carried him outside into the cold night air and laid him gently on a stretcher.  An ambulance took him swiftly to a makeshift hospital where a doctor bandaged up his cuts.  Fortunately Rasca had escaped serous injury.  "You can sleep here tonight," the doctor kindly told him.  Rasca lay back in his bed and whispered, "Thank You Jesus, You certainly heard my prayer tonight!"

Later that night a nurse woke him.  "Your parents were killed in the air-raid," she said as she tried to comfort him.  Rasca cried as fear and sadness swept over him.  He lay shivering and whimpering through the long night.  Next morning he was told to go to the shelter at the school where all the homeless were being cared for.  He stayed there for several days crying himself to sleep every night.

The day came when someone ran in one afternoon.  "The Germans are coming!" he shouted and ran out into the street again.  "Quick!" shouted the warden, "You must all flee or you will all be killed!"  People panicked as they thrust their few belongings under their arms and rushed out into the street.  Rasca quickly gathered up the blanket and a parcel of food that someone had given him.  He found an old pram outside and put things inside and followed the fleeing people down the road and out of the village.   "Now what will happen to me?" he wondered.

As he hurried along, Rasca remembered part of the verse his teacher had read: "You will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering."  He sobbed, "Jesus please help me find my way!"  Just then a fighter plane swooped down and began to machine gun the road.   Rasca was thrown into the ditch as a bomb blasted nearby.  Covered with mud, he struggled out only to see parts of his pram strewn all over the road.  It was totally destroyed!

Worse was to come, as he heard the dreaded rumble of tanks and then the screech of brakes as a convoy of soldiers appeared.  Rasca quickly scrambled into the ditch again and crawled through into a wheat field that lay beyond.   Fortunately he found a haystack and hid inside it just as the soldiers began to fire their rifles and search the haystacks around him.  They thrust bayonets into the haystacks and people crawled out screaming.

Just then he heard footsteps and his heart nearly stopped as a bayonet plunged into the hay right next to him!  Rasca burst out of the hay and pushed past the surprised soldier.  He ran for his life round the side of the haystack, right into the muzzle of a submachine gun!  "Stop!  Or I will shoot you!" ordered a huge soldier.

Rasca was suffering, but his faith in Jesus was growing.  He saw that Jesus was helping him through all the bad things that were happening to him.    Could Jesus help him now?  Should he run or would he be shot?  You will have to come next time to find out!

Rasca had run right into the muzzle of a submachine gun!  "Stop!  Or I will shoot you!" ordered a huge soldier.  Rasca was too scared to move.  Could Jesus help him now?  Should he run or would he be be shot?  All around he heard screaming as those who tried to run away were shot.  Eventually, people were herded together and a soldier selected all the strong ones.  Rasca's fear subsided when he was also chosen.

He and the others were forced to march all day.  He grew miserable as the day became colder and rain began to fall.  As evening came on, they eventually came to a railway station.  "Into the truck," ordered a captain and Rasca wearily pulled himself into a stinking cattle truck.   The people continued to be crowded in until they were like sardines in a can.

The train jerked into motion and freezing air whistled in through the slats of the truck.  Rasca was pushed into a corner and this saved him as the press of bodies kept him from freezing that night.  However, many others died of the cold.  All next day they rattled and bumped on what seemed an endless journey into Germany.

At last they came to a concentration camp.  They were hustled inside and divided into groups.  Rasca was put into a large wooden hut.  His heart fell as he discovered that his bunk had missing planks where previous inmates had burned them for firewood.  Next day they were ordered out as a work party and had to unload ships at the docks.

Life was very hard as they were given hardly any food, and day by day they laboured from dawn to dusk.  Rasca grew thinner as he was forced to eat the disgusting cabbage soup and mouldy black bread.  Each night he climbed exhausted into his bunk and tried to sleep shivering under his thin blanket.

He saw suffering every day as the people grew weak from hunger and were beaten if they slacked off their work.  One day Rasca met a man called Petro.  They spent much time together and became great friends.  But, the day came when Rasca also got sick.  He lay shivering on his bunk from cholera and was too weak even to lift his head when Petro came to feed and nurse him.

Many of the weak and sickly had been sent to their death in the gas-chambers.  Would he be next to go?  He was so weak!  Later that night they heard jackboots coming towards the hut!  "Quick!  Hide and I will tell them you have died," whispered Petra.

So Rasca hid under the lower bunk and lay as still as he could.  Petro covered him with old blankets as Rasca lay there shivering so much that he was sure that the bed was shaking.  Would they find him?  And if they did, what would they do to him?  The soldiers came in hut and started searching each bed.  Rasca held his breath as a pair of jackboots landed right by his face.  Dust tickled his nose and he was going to sneez!

Rasca thought of his favourite verse, "Remember your growing faith and trust in God."  And you will have to come next time to find out what happened!

Petro sat calmly on the bunk as the soldiers went from bed to bed checking the occupants.  He did not know that Rasca wanted to sneez so badly.   He calmly said, "They have taken Rasca away.  You can see that!"   A sergeant pulled the rags off Rasca's bed and grunted as he moved to the next bunk.  They went slowly down the hut checking each bunk.  At last, the sound of boots grew fainter as the soldiers moved to the next hut.

Rasca crawled out from beneath the bunk and sneezed loudly.  He threw his arms around Petra and exclaimed, "Whew, that was close!  Thank-you Jesus, You kept me from sneezing!"

Several days later they woke up late.  The camp was very quiet.  One of the prisoners went outside and came running back.  "The Germans are gone!" he shouted.  Everyone poured out of the hut.  It was true - the camp was deserted!  "Listen!" whispered Rasca to Petra, "I can hear a band!"  Soon all the prisoners heard it too and rushed to the gate.  As they crowded round the gate, a jeep drew up and a grinning soldier climbed out.  "The Yanks are here!" he shouted and the prisoners began to cheer.  They were free at last!

The Americans came in and took over the camp.  Now there was food in plenty and even chocolate and ice-cream!  Rasca was as thin as a rake, so he was kept in hospital until he began to feel well again.  One day as he looked out onto a sunny spring outside, he thought, "What will happen to me now Petro has gone home?"  Rasca prayed, "Lord, You have kept me alive.  Please look after me for I am all alone."

One day a nurse came bustling into his ward.  "You have to leave now," the nurse said, "You are well now, and we need your bed for other patients."   Rasca went sadly out of the clinic.  "I'm so sad and lonely God," he said.  As he went slowly down the steps he almost fell over when he saw Petro standing at the bottom!

"You're here!" Rasca shouted with joy as Petra threw open his arms and swept him into a huge bear hug.  "Yes, and here's my wife, Anna.  We want you to come and live with us."    That night he went to bed in a brand-new bed.  As his new parents kissed him goodnight, Rasca hugged them and snuggled down in the warm blankets.  He had a home, plenty of good food and parents who loved him!

Gratefully he prayed, "Thank You Lord, now I really know how much You love me!  You have looked after me and given me a new home and parents!  And You have made my faith grow more and more, just as Your Word said it would!"

And boys and girls, God will look after you and care for you in the same way.  Just keep on praying and trusting Jesus each day, and your faith will grow more and more, just as the Bible says it will! God bless.