The last day was the hardest. Five years of planning had gone into this, three years of working silently in the night to make every detail perfect. Now the day was finally here. This time tomorrow they would be free — or dead! This night seven people would attempt to crash through the Iron Curtain from Czechoslovakia in a homemade tank.
Only one job remained — to get through this day, pretending that it was no different from any other. They could not say good-bye to anyone. It would not be safe.
In his automobile repair shop, Vaclav Uhlik pretended to do his usual work. Darkness came at eight o’clock. Now there was nothing to do but wait through the hours until the last light went out in the village.
With Vaclav would go his wife Marta and his two children — Eva who was four and Vaclav who was six. Even the children did not know what would happen that night.
Vaclav Uhlik crossed the yard into his shop. He did not need a light. After all these years of preparation, he could easily find every piece that was hidden there to form the tank they would escape in.
Anyone coming into the shop during the day would have seen only heaps of rusty scrap metal and the stripped framework of an old British tank. He had fitted this tank with a flatbed to haul wood from the forest.
Anyone surprising them in the night would have seen a very different vehicle. For three years they had been building, piece by piece, a top for the old tank. Dismantled, it looked like a pile of discarded scrap. Assembled, it was transformed into something that looked, at least in outline, like one of the tanks used by the border patrol. By practicing for many nights, they were able to put their tank together in
35 minutes.
Once it was dark all through the village, they began to dig out the hidden pieces of armor plate and bolt them into place.
At two o’clock a.m. Vaclav woke Marta. There was not much for her to do. There were no personal possessions to be packed. With seven people in the tank, they could take only a feather mattress and a couple of blankets needed for padding the steel floor. All of them had never before been in the tank together. Up to this time they dared not let the children see it. It was a tight squeeze now with each person jammed against the next. Sitting in the driver’s seat, Vaclav was the only one who could see out. When everyone was in place, he started the tank and turned it slowly into the sleeping street. The village was completely dark. They got through it without seeing anyone.
Once outside of town Vaclav increased the speed to 40. The bolted plates of the tank rattled and banged fearfully. They passed a car and then a milk truck. Then they passed two military policemen on foot. They waved a greeting to the tank, and Vaclav blinked the lights in reply. He stepped up the speed to race the dawn.
Three miles before reaching the border they had to pass a large camp where 500 border policemen lived and went on and off duty. Vaclav had never passed it at night. He did not know what time the shifts changed, nor what guards they had posted. He pushed the speed up to 60 miles per hour. They rattled and banged past the camp’s gate.
As they approached the fence that separated them from freedom, the road made a right-hand turn and ran parallel with the border. When they slowed to make the turn, Vaclav’s heart stood still. At the turn in the road stood a border guard!
He had to drive past him slowly, and the guard could not help getting a good look at them. The sky was growing light; dawn was creeping over the fields. In Vaclav’s mind’s eye he could see every mismatched bolt that would draw the guard’s attention.
Vaclav held his breath, expecting him to reach for his gun. He didn’t. It was still early, and he must have been half asleep. He waved them on.
More danger lay ahead. Three hundred yards from where the guard stood was a swampy place where Vaclav would have to make a full stop to raise the tires and lower the treads that would take them through the marsh.
Vaclav turned the steering wheel sharply toward the electric fence and came to a stop. With both hands he grabbed the lever that operated the treads and pulled with all his strength. Nothing moved. He pulled again frantically, and they still wouldn’t go down. He jerked and jerked again. Finally, with one last tremendous effort the treads went down.
He moved faster than he ever had before. He flung the tank into gear and floored the gas pedal. There was a bouncing jolt as they hit the wires and tore them loose. There were deafening roars as land mines exploded and blinding flashes of light as flares began to blaze all along the broken fence.
In the soft ground of the marsh, the tank slowed to a crawl, but it did not stop. It slogged on through the swamp and finally got out on the other side on a road that led to a new life. They were out! They were free!
The desire to escape from communism was very strong in Vaclav and his friends. Communism was like a terrible wall that separated them from freedom. Sin is also a wall. It separates the sinner from God. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:2323For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23)). To have freedom from our sins, we need God’s help. Vaclav Uhlik and his friends worked hard to build something that would take them to freedom. For the sinner, the work has already been done. The Lord Jesus Christ took the punishment for our sins on the cross. God loved the sinner so much that He punished His Son instead. “God [commends] His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:88But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)). If you will take Him as your Savior, then you will be free from sin. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:3636If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (John 8:36)).
These brave people escaped from the slavery of communism. But there are many people still trapped in the slavery of sin who have heard there is a way of escape, but have not taken it. There is only one way, and it is very plain: It is through Christ and His death on the cross. Won’t you take Him as your Savior today? “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:66Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)).
Messages of God’s Love 7/25/2021