The Watchmaker of Haarlem

Casper ten Boom spent over fifty years bent over the workbench of his small shop on Barteljorisstraat in Haarlem, Holland. He was a watchmaker by trade, a man who understood the delicate art of keeping time — every spring tensioned, every gear aligned, every movement faithful. But when the Nazi occupation darkened the Netherlands in 1940, Casper turned his lifelong skill of careful keeping toward something far more precious than timepieces. He and his family hid Jewish refugees in a secret room behind a false wall, watching over terrified strangers with the same steady attention he gave his finest clocks.

When the Gestapo finally came on February 28, 1944, Casper was eighty-four years old. An officer offered to release him if he promised to stop harboring Jews. The old watchmaker replied simply, "If I go home today, tomorrow I will open my door again to anyone who knocks."

He died ten days later in Scheveningen Prison, still keeping watch.

The psalmist declares that the Lord who keeps Israel "will neither slumber nor sleep." Casper ten Boom understood this truth in his bones — that the God who watches over His children never clocks out, never looks away, never weighs the cost of faithfulness against the price of safety. Our help comes from the Maker of heaven and earth, and His keeping has no closing time.