Bill Self relates a story about Corrie ten Boom. Her imprisonment in the Nazi concentration camps for hiding Jews is chronicled in her book, The Hiding Place. After her release, she was traveling through Germany, witnessing to her faith. On a particular night she found herself in Hamburg, giving her personal testimony.

She talked about the horrors of concentration camps, the mistreatment, the torture, the humiliation that she and many others experienced. She talked about her own struggle to forgive those who had humiliated her. At the end of her address, she was standing in front of the little congregation when through that crowd of people she saw a face that caused her to freeze in mid-sentence. It was a face from her past. Much to her horror and dismay he began to walk toward her and flashbacks from the past began to cloud her mind. He was a prison guard at one of the concentration camps. He was more than just a prison guard -- he was the guard over the women's shower. Once a week all of the women in the prison were stripped and paraded through the shower like cattle. He was one of the ones who watched and leered as the women paraded before him.

As he walked toward her, all of those memories crowded into her mind. She was then faced with a decision as he reached out his hand and said, "Corrie, can you forgive me?"

Can you forgive me? Can we forgive? Can we forgive those who ask our forgiveness? That's difficult. Perhaps even more difficult is to forgive someone who does not ask our forgiveness and who could care less about our forgiveness. What about the person who doesn't want our forgiveness and continues to persecute us? Can we forgive that person?

Les Miserables, Victor Hugo's masterpiece, is (at least to this third rate theologian's eyes) a study in contrast of two men who have been touched by grace. One of those men is the main character of the play, Jean Valjean. Valjean has spent nineteen years in prison for stealing bread. He is now paroled but unable to find work. He breaks his parole, becomes a fugitive and is pursued by his constant nemesis, the officer, Javert. Valjean continues his thieving ways while he is being hosted by a priest. He steals two silver candlesticks but is caught and brought back to the priest. The priest not only lies to the officer, not only forgives him, but gives Valjean the candlesticks. In that moment Jean Valjean is converted. The remainder of his life is a reflection of the grace and forgiveness he experienced from the priest. He spends the rest of his life extending that grace to others: he rescues a man who has been run over by a cart. He learns a man is to be sent to prison because they think he is Valjean. Valjean reveals his identity in court, allowing the innocent man to be released. Javert meanwhile continues his pursuit.

The climax of the book occurs when Valjean is assisting a rebellion and the rebels have captured Javert. They are about to put Javert to death. Jean Valjean comes to his old nemesis, the man who has pursued him for nineteen years, and he grants the man his life. He sets him free, again a reflection of the grace and forgiveness that has been granted to him.